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Ah, Minnesota… The land of 10,000 lakes…. What a perfect spot to host a wakeboard/wakeskate event.  Then why did we here at Liquid Force not even use one of the 10,000 lakes for our event…  Because we once again took wakeboarding to the people and the streets...
 
June 17th was a big day for the wakeboard/wakeskate community in Minneapolis.  The day started out with the Upper Mississippi Shakedown, a local contest in downtown Minneapolis put on by Matt Mueller of MN Inboard with support from The House and Midwest MC.  The event took place on the Mississippi river which runs right through the downtown portion of Minneapolis.  There were about 60 riders of all levels that turned out for the event.  The conditions were perfect all day until it was time for the outlaw division double up contest.  This would begin the Slide Show portion of the day, as all of these riders would also be competing in the rail jam later in the night.  The local rippers were being judged by Aaron Reed, Shane Bonifay and Shawn Watson.  The wind kicked up, but the guys competing went out and threw down because they knew they were getting judged by some of the biggest names in wakeboarding and wakeskating.  With white caps turning the Mississippi into the mighty Mississippi, Collin Ryan showed everyone how to ride in rough conditions. Even though the water was blown, the Malibu LSV was still kicking up some enormous double ups.  Collin won the double up portion of Slide Show with a huge hoochie to blind way into the flats.  It was very impressive and got Shane and the crew fired up.  Not to be forgotten was the performance by local hero, Mike Bros.  He came in a close second as he went huge off the double-up, as well.

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This was the second Stop of the 2006 Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup series organized by the International Waterski Federation. Seven Stops around the world are involved with a total cash prize fund of US $780,000. This was a Wakeboard Stop.
 
In 29C sunshine beneath the Casino Barriere, the World Cup Qualifying Heats got off to a perfect start. The 15,000 spectators on site for the opening day on Saturday enjoyed the calm conditions. Enghiens-les-Bains’ thermal lake produced some high class performances. Athletes totaled 29 from 12 countries.
 
In the Ladies event, Meagan Major (USA) pulled off a Tantrum to Blind maneuver, rarely seen in competition, to secure her place in Sunday’s final four. Others to succeed in getting through were the 2005 World Champion Andrea Fountain (NZL), Sunni Ann Ball (CAN) and Emily Copeland (USA).
 
In the Mens Heats, Danny Harf (USA) looked to be in predictable winning form as he lined up to meet Brett Eisenhaur (AUS) in the Head-to-Head Finals. The others to make it into the final eight were Phillip  Soven and Chad Sharpe (CAN), Rusty Malinoski (CAN) and Morgan Krause (RSA), plus Andrew Adkison (USA) and Jeff Weatherall (NZL). One of the largest Fireworks displays seen for many years , visible from the Eiffel Tower, and a Jazz festival on Saturday night, added greatly to the party atmosphere.

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I can remember several conversations a few years back when inboard owners took shots at Tige's taps system/trim tabs.  Back then, everyone pointed to the inferior hull design as being the problem.  Now that almost all the inboard manufacturers have boats at 23' and above, trim tabs seem to be en vouge with manufacturers.

Now it seems that you can retro your older MasterCraft and other boats with trim tabs.  Lenco Marine has introduced a trim tab for MasterCraft boats available at distributors like Boaters World with decent warranties.  If someone has done this, let us know!  Seems like this could allow you to shape the wake and smooth out the ride with all that weight in the back.

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Gibbs Technologies, a high-speed amphibian (HSA) technology specialist, has unveiled a prototype of what it says will be the first commercially viable high-speed amphibian quadbike/all terrain vehicle (ATV), the Quadski.

The Quadski represents the third demonstration of Gibbs' HSA technology following the successes of its Aquada and Humdinga vehicles. The Quadski is capable of travelling up to 50 mph on land and water and makes the transition at the flick of a switch.

Click here to to see cool!

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