Nestled atop a hill overlooking the Carnation Valley region of Washington state, Radar Lake was one of the first private, man-made ski lakes in the world. The land was ­originally bought and developed by Herb O’Brien in 1972, and since then, the legend (and envy) has only grown exponentially. Because Radar Lake is most often described as indescribable, we figured it would be best to hear about it from the lucky guys who have been able to visit it over the years. Oh, and if you’d like to ride there one day, you’re probably going to have to keep dreaming …

“There is this special feeling when you’re at Radar that’s unlike anywhere else I’ve been in the world. Once you go through those gates and you’re on the grounds, it’s like time stops and nothing else matters. Whatever you had going on in the real world doesn’t become a concern anymore; you’re just at this magical lake, taking advantage of everything it has to offer. Of course, you can’t say enough about everything that’s gone down there: the video sections, the photos, the progression. But for me, Radar is about that feeling.” — Parks Bonifay

“Radar Lake is a magical place with a lot of nostalgia. It has had a profound impact on all of towed watersports, not just wakeboarding. I consider myself really lucky to have been able to go there as much as I have over the years. My favorite memories are usually just the vibes that come with being there with the boys, but one that really stands out is when I won Trick of the Year in 2011 with the step-up gap we built. Herb was there watching all of us ride, and he was really in tune with what was going on. After any of us hit it, he would talk to us about how it felt and what we were thinking. That was really special to me.” — Erik Ruck

“When I first went to Radar Lake, it was nothing like I expected. Photos don’t even do it justice because of how unique it is. The trees, the views … it’s unreal. ­Radar Lake is really Herb’s dream lake that he created out of nothing. Its story is really almost unbelievable. Knowing the history of Radar and what it has done for watersports over the years, it’s really special for me to have been a small part of that. We’ve done a lot there to push wakeboarding — all the crazy rails, gaps, stunts and stuff — that is really cool to look back on.” — Danny Harf

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To get a clearer picture of Clear Lake’s colorful past, we spoke with some of the pros who currently call it home, as well as a few other experts. Current residents include Erik Ruck, Shane Bonifay, Jimmy ­LaRiche, Jeff Langley, Marc ­Rossiter and Collin Harrington (who ­recently moved out in January after living there for 14 years), and experts like former editor of WBM ­Kevin ­Michael, wakeskater Aaron Reed, and photographer Joey Meddock have spent countless hours on its water. The stories are hilarious, but the sentiment remains the same across the board: Living on Clear Lake has a certain vibe unlike any other lake in Orlando, or any other lake in the world, for that matter.

Jeff Langley

THE RESIDENTS

What makes living on Clear Lake particularly unique is the neighborhood built around it and the sense of community that neighborhood gives the riders who call it home. Much of the lake’s residential area is comprised of a series of canals that connect to the lake. From above, the canals look just like streets of water, giving residents backyard access to the main body. By boat or by land, if you live on Clear Lake, your neighbors are literally around the corner. For nearly 20 years a lot of riders have called those canals home — so many, in fact, that naming them all is probably impossible. But when you get a directory as long as Clear Lake’s past and present pros, it’s bound to have a significant impact on the sports.

Erik Ruck

ERIK RUCK:

“I’ve lived on Clear Lake for over 15 years now, and I think one of the coolest things about it is that it’s always been a worldwide refugee camp for wakeboarding and wakeskating misfits. A lot of dues have been paid, and a lot of guys have worked really hard to push themselves and the sport. It’s been really cool for me to watch; I’ve gone from a young rider pushing things myself, to a lake regulator trying to make sure guys are following the rules and staying in their lanes, to an elder statesman enjoying the show. The best part, though, is that everybody living here in the ’hood has always had each other’s backs, and we’ve had a lot of fun along the way.”

Jimmy LaRiche

JIMMY LARICHE:

“It’s pretty crazy to see how generations have come and gone over the years. Even Adam Errington has moved out now and on to other things. Younger guys are starting to move in too. When I first moved to Clear Lake, I was intimidated about doing it because of the pros who’d been living there before me. I was looking at buying one of Daniel Watkins’ old houses, but before I bought it, I called Ruck to basically ask if it was cool if I moved onto the lake. He was the leader of Clear Lake at the time, and I didn’t want to piss him off by being the new kid in town poaching his turf. It was definitely funny going from living in Rusty Malinoski’s pool house in the country to living on Clear Lake. That’s how I learned about wakesurfing and lake parties!”

SHANE BONIFAY:

“I think I’ve lived here 13 years. … Sometimes I lose track — I spent a few in Clermont with Parks — but Clear Lake is part of who I am. The friends I’ve made and the sense of community that is here can’t be replaced or duplicated. Everybody is friends, and wakeboarding is only a phone call away. Or you do what I do and just drive your Jet Ski out to Jimmy’s G23 and make him pull you whenever you see his boat out on the lake.”

Marc Rossiter

THE ‘HOOD

One of the defining characteristics of Clear Lake has more to do with where it’s located rather than who lives there. Just south of downtown Orlando, the main residential area of Clear Lake is less than 1 mile from the Orange County Jail, and much of the surrounding neighborhood is affectionately called “the ’hood.” While we’ve never heard stories of riders feeling totally unsafe or sketched out, let’s just say you wouldn’t want to get lost finding your way to Clear Lake at late hours of the night.

COLLIN HARRINGTON:

“Your view of Clear Lake all depends on which way you come into the Isle of Catalina where most of the houses are on the canals. You either come in the main entrance off the main road, and everything seems fine, or you come in off a side street and you pass some really sketchy gas stations and shops, and you feel like you’re in the middle of the ghetto.”

JIMMY LARICHE:

“If you ever have any industry people over to Clear Lake for the first time, like at Surf Expo or anything, they can get pretty wigged out. It’s funny, ’cause on one side you’ve got the ghetto, and on the other, just a few minutes away, is one of the nicest malls in Orlando with a bunch of great restaurants. The worst part is that Carl (Jimmy’s yellow Lab) howls at police sirens, and we hear those a lot …”

Tony Carroll

THE LIFE

Because of the structure of Clear Lake’s neighborhood on the canals, life there for the riders is tight-knit and fun-loving. There are always guys to hang out with, and there is always something to do. But beyond hanging out and neighborhood vibes, Clear Lake is famous (and infamous) for some of its extracurricular activities. Much of the shenanigans in recent years have been documented via social media but, truth be told, the parties of today don’t hold a candle to those of yesteryear.

KEVIN MICHAEL:

“Clear Lake is notorious for its parties, more so than any of the other Orlando lakes with multiple riders living on them. Shane Bonifay has had at least 40 birthday parties on Clear Lake. He’s not even 40, but he’s had at least 40 parties.”

SHANE BONIFAY:

“My birthday has always been the kickoff party of the season, of sorts. And it’s somehow become legendary. I don’t even invite or ask people to come anymore, it just happens every April 4. It’s my ­favorite things all combined in one day: Clear Lake, ­wakeboarding, friends, sun and partying.”

ERIK RUCK:

“The early days of Clear Lake are lucky there wasn’t social media to document the shit show. I’m glad that we can just keep those as memories. But there have been some epic get-togethers out here. Feet on Fire was an annual barefoot contest Dan-O used to host when he lived with me. He and Watkins would get athletes from the wake, water-ski and show-ski worlds to come out, compete and have fun. Everybody looked forward to them, and it created a cool sense of community. And the after parties — and during parties — were pretty all-time.”

JIMMY LARICHE:

“My favorite party ever anywhere was the goodbye party we threw for Daniel Watkins when he and his family were moving back to Australia full-time. He was a legend in wakeboarding, obviously, but also a huge part of the Clear Lake community. We wanted to surprise him, so I had 50 or 60 people come hang out at my house while a couple guys took him out on a pontoon boat for ‘one last hangout cruise.’ Of course, the pontoon broke down while they were on the lake, and he arrived at my house two hours later than planned, so everybody there was already in full party mode, but when he came in, he was so surprised and started crying. We had a hell of a celebration that night. I’ll never forget it.”

THE RIDING

What it always comes back to for our sports, though, is the riding, and Clear Lake has seen more than most. In fact, it could easily be argued that Clear Lake has more media coverage than any other body of water. From covers of magazines to video sections to dumb ­Instagram posts of bass fishing by riders not riding, Clear Lake has been part of everything. In fact, Clear Lake has played a more important role than most casual fans probably realize.

AARON REED:

“Thomas Horrell was the first rider to move onto Clear Lake, and that was right as Cassette was getting started and growing in the early 2000s. We spent a lot of time out there. The majority of ­Sfumato was filmed on Clear Lake, and a lot of firsts went down there, so there is a lot of wakeskating history there. Danny Hampson did the first frontside flip, Thomas did the first frontside big spin, I did the first backside big spin — all the lines in the video, all on Clear Lake. What was funny looking back is that was right when all the Pointless guys were in their heyday too. They’d all come out onto the lake to party and wakesurf and send rollers everywhere. Thomas would get so fired up, and in typical Thomas fashion, it was pretty comical.”

SHANE BONIFAY:

“A lot has gone down on Clear Lake over the years. All the rails, all the photo shoots; there’s too much to list. But two things that stand out to me are Parks’ Double or Nothing and filming for Box of Fun. Double or Nothing was right at a time when guys were really charging off double-ups and doing cool stuff. That contest was fun and really progressive. And Box of Fun was just like it sounds. Making that video with all the Clear Lake crew was a blast.”

There are a lot of factors that come together to make Clear Lake the special, weird, iconic, fun-loving, ghettoish place it is. From its location and construction, to the riders who have ridden on it for the past 20 years, Clear Lake has seen a lot and provided even more for the progression and fun of wakeboarding and wakeskating. While generations of superstars and grind-it-out riders come and go, one thing will never change, and that is the lake itself and the sense of opportunity it provides for those looking to chase a dream in the Mecca of wakeboarding.

ERIK RUCK:

“Clear Lake can do two things for your career: It can either catapult it quickly, or it can trap you in the downtown scene. From there, you have a choice about what you want to do. Some guys have chosen wisely. Others, not so much.”

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How To: Find the Rhythm in your Riding | Words: Brandon Judd | Photos: Jason Lee

Make It Look Easy

What does rhythm have to do with wakeboarding? More than you might think. In this instructional How To, we will walk you through three genres of rhythm using three specific tricks as examples to help you capture a better overall rhythmic flow in your riding.

The first and most basic aspect of rhythm is the pendulum swing that riders use to connect tricks back and forth, specifically targeting the edge out, the coast and the approach back into the wake. There is a lot of hidden momentum that can be taken advantage of. Ever wonder how pro riders make it look easy? Well, that’s because it is physically easy for them. Once you find this groove in your riding, wakeboarding becomes instantly less exhausting.

Second — and probably the most coveted — is the rhythm that a rider displays in the air. This is one of the more difficult aspects of rhythm to tackle when you are first learning because of the natural tendency to be impatient and initiate tricks too early. When properly utilized, this “air-time” rhythm can really accentuate a rider’s style. Timing the pop, grabs, shifties and stalled-out pause points mid-trick all are big factors in air-time rhythm. When this rhythm is properly integrated into your riding, the technical aspects of each trick will no longer inhibit your ability to add your own unique style to it.

The third portion of this instruction sits in a more technical arena. This specific type of rhythm is found within the motion of the trick itself, such as the pause point in a late heelside back roll to blind or a Pete Rose to name a few. Typically, more complex moves with line tension and blind landings will contain a certain rhythm. Once you can clearly recognize and anticipate this rhythm in each trick, your riding will become more consistent and further your overall progression.

Click here for MUTE ROLL TO REVERT——>

Use the Pendulum Swing for a Mute Roll to Revert

One thing to understand when connecting wake-to-wake tricks in a rhythmic fashion is recognizing where tricks begin and end. The answer may surprise you. Each trick begins near the trough of the wake prior to the edge out in preparation of your approach back into the wake. With that said, the end of each trick is not fully complete until you have finished traveling away from the wake after landing. This means that when you are connecting tricks back and forth, you are actually overlapping them.

Using Erik Ruck’s mute heelside back roll to revert as an example, you will need to use the forces around you to generate good momentum into the wake naturally without cranking in on a hard edge right off the bat. This pendulumlike motion allows you to travel at your fastest point with the most line tension at the wake — building your edge exponentially.

“A couple of things I think about while approaching the wake are: taking a long progressive edge but flattening off when you ride up the wake,” Ruck says. “As you ride up the wake, you want to make sure not to take off too early,” This swing into the wake has to be timed properly with your leg push and the initiation of your flip. Otherwise — especially when adding a mute grab — you will miss your pop and over-rotate your flip.

“You can’t be looking for your landing right off the bat.” Ruck Says. In order to keep the pendulum swing going in preparation for your next trick, you will need to land over your toes edging away from the wake. Landing on edge like this flirts with under rotation, which is why it is so important not to over cook the flip right off the wake. Ruck says that the reward for executing this trick properly is well worth it. “The longer you hold the grab, the better it feels … this is a great trick, and I will continue to do them until I can’t ride anymore!”

Click here for TOESIDE 360——>

Break Up a Toeside Frontside 360

Your time in the air is precious, and it is natural to not want to waste a moment of it. But this desire, though justified, may induce a tendency to cram the rotation into each trick as quickly as possible. As cliché as is sounds, each trick is really about the journey not the destination. Some tricks just plain don’t function properly if you cram the entire trick’s rotation into one third of your air time. Imagine a toeside frontside 360 where the entire 360 degrees of rotation are completed on the way up. That would cause the entire trick to change in function, make the blind landing nearly impossible and look bad in the process.

Keeping this in mind, we’ll take a look at a stylish toeside frontside 360 through the eyes of Jeff House. “When you’re trying toeside 360s, it’s very important to be patient — not only off the wake but with the spin as well,” Jeff says. Jeff points out that there are two different 180s that make up this toeside frontside 360: a toeside frontside 180 and a switch heelside backside 180. It is important to understand how these two 180s work in order to link them together in the air. Prior to trying this 360, you should be able to do the other two 180s at some level — for example, wake to wake, on one wake, or inside out at the least.

“If you’re comfortable doing toeside 180s — which you should be before trying three’s — then you know that if you hold on with two hands leaving the wake, the boat will automatically turn your hips around for the first 180,” Jeff says. “After the has turned you so you’re facing the boat, pause for a second, look at the boat, grab and poke, pick your nose, whatever you want — as long as you break up the two 180s … What really helped me was to think about doing 180 on the way up and the 180 on the way down.”

Click here for ROLL TO BLIND——>

Discover the Pause Point in a Roll to Blind

Now that you understand the basics of rhythm in broader terms, let’s get specific. In this section, we’ll look specifically at the rhythm and timing that exists in individual moves. This can get overwhelmingly complex if you are not very familiar with the motion of each trick. In order to mentally understand a trick and change it from a “flippy spinny thing” into a specific motion that you can recreate, you must spend some time on the trampoline recreating the feeling on the water.

With that understood, there is a certain, specific rhythm inherent in every complex move that you can feel your way through. We will use Trevor Hansen’s late heelside back roll to blind with a tail grab as an example. “Doing tricks like late roll to blind, backside 540s, and Petes are all about line tension,” Trevor says. “Having a consistent edge on these type of tricks makes it easier to get the same takeoff and have the same line tension every time.”

When these types of tricks are performed correctly, they will yield a small window of mild line tension — just enough to go to blind but not so much that it pulls you out of the trick. “You can find the pause in the trick, which tells you when to go to blind,” Trevor says. This pause point is crucial for consistency. If you were to map the trajectory of a roll to blind, its shape would resemble a breast cancer awareness ribbon rather than a circle as you might expect a flip to look. This pause point just after the peak of the trick is what allows for the backside 180 to flow naturally into the landing, much like the twist in the ribbon. You can expand this pause point by manipulating your line tension. “The edge will dictate your takeoff, and your takeoff will dictate your line tension, which will affect the timing of the pause to go to blind,” Trevor says.

Figuring out each trick’s timing is like learning a language; the more tricks you learn, the easier it will be for you to pick up on others. “It’s a fun thing to play with, and when you find the rhythm that works for your riding style, you start getting your tricks more consistent and all your tricks will feel easier and smoother,” Trevor says.

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Mike Dowdy, JD Webb, Erik Ruck, Brian Grubb, Raph Derome and Shawn Watson all ventured up to longtime friend and Billabong main man Scott Bouchard’s place up in North Carolina for some insane riding and beautiful scenery. This place is heaven on earth for people who love to wakeboard. We sent up one of our favorite lensmen Jason Lee to go up with the boys and capture all the magic and riding that they were going to take in the entire week.

Click one of the photos to start the gallery, and if you haven’t already seen the video from the trip go WATCH IT HERE.

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