The final stop of the Supra Boats Pro Wake Tour took place in the headline sponsor’s backyard in Lenoir City, TN and saw Tyler Higham win the overall PWT title.

All eyes were on Higham, and Jamie Hauser. Prior to the season kickoff in May very few would have expected the final event to feature PWT Rookie Jamie Hauser and free-ride specialist Tyler Higham to be the two going for the overall title. Higham is no stranger to making the finals in boat contests and has graced the podium plenty of times, but his first pro win had yet to materialize prior to the ’23 season.

Hauser was even more of a surprise contender. “I think you’d have to look back to Darin Shapiro or Parks Bonifay in their first year on tour to find the last time that a rookie was in contention for the overall title,” observed announcer Danny Amir, better known as Dano the Mano, who has likely watched more wakeboard contest runs than anyone else on the planet.

While Higham and Hauser were pre-season longshots for the overall PWT title, it was certainly not due to their inability to compete or their lack of top tier tricks. The last 5 years have been dominated by Nic Rapa and Cory Teunissen for the top spots with the two trading wins back and forth. They each suffered injuries that kept them from competing in all 4 events and without strong placings in every PWT stop, one can kiss their chances of the overall title goodbye. Both Rapa and Teunissen are no strangers to putting in the work necessary to win and stay at the top, but also proved that they can come back from injuries with a strong mindset.

“Seeing how Nic couldn’t even jump the wake in the first stop of the year to watch him come back and win by the end was really impressive,” shared Amir. “Shota Tezuka making the finals and placing 3rd in the event and 3rd overall was really cool, he has been doing this for a long time and can still throw down.”

Read Next: Pro Spotlight – Tyler Higham

An overall title can change the course of a rider’s career. It is something that can be leveraged to prove one’s consistency in a competitive environment. This year’s winner however proved a lot more. Higham is not just the guy that can land contest tricks over and over in any condition, he is what all riders hope to be; the rider who does not sacrifice style for consistency but has built a bag of tricks so deep that he can hang with the most technical riders in the world. 

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18-year-old Swiss athlete Jamie Huser takes his first Pro win in only his second Pro event at the Supra Boats Pro Wake Tour stop #2 in Acworth, GA.

“It feels unreal and I haven’t yet fully accepted that it happened,” said Huser after reflecting on his performance last weekend. He continued, “It felt like the judges were rewarding stand-up runs more than going for the hardest tricks, so I played it safe on my double-up and focused on a run I could stand up even in rough water.”

If he sounds like a tour veteran already, you aren’t completely wrong. Huser has numerous Jr. Pro titles under his belt, including US Nationals, and Worlds, so he is no stranger to the competitive scene. He now leads the PWT in overall standings and has fully recovered from a year of challenges.

Read Next: Pro Wakeboard Tour Stop 1

Wise beyond his years, Huser saw the opportunity that presented itself with PWT leader Cory Teunissen and perennial favorite Nic Rapa each going down in the quarter finals. Uncharacteristic falls in the rough conditions made the finals look and feel a lot different than others. “Without Cory and Nic in there, it actually added even more pressure because my chances to win felt higher,” noticed Huser. “My goal was just to get into the finals but then on my 2nd finals run, I just had so much fun with it that I wasn’t nervous anymore.” He looked comfortable and fluid linking tech wrapped spins, stylish grabbed mobes, and a throwback to one of the PWT’s winningest athletes, a whirly-dick a la Phil Soven to top it off. Playing it safe with a backside 7 off the double-up rather than forcing a 9 yet again showed that Huser’s brain and ability to adapt on the fly matches his physical ability, again very reminiscent of athletes who started winning at an early age.

Pro Wakeboard Finals Results

A theme for this year’s competitive boat scene has been return-to-form post injury that Megan Ethell and Massi Piffaretti showed the world at Masters. Now Huser joins that list as he had to overcome a debilitating sickness, followed by a torn labrum in his shoulder, a classic arm-through-the-handle fall that tore muscles in his arm, then dropping an angle grinder on his leg that severed tendons, all within the last year. After only one and half months back from his latest injury, Huser looks like yet another name to be worried about showing up in your heat as a fellow competitor.

Junior Pro Wakeboard Finals Results

Being comfortable around the sport shouldn’t be difficult for Huser. While he and his family currently own the World Wakeboard Center (formerly owned by the family of World Champions Trevor and Reed Hansen), they have visited central Florida for 2 decades on wakeboarding vacations. The first time I met Jamie was when he came over from Switzerland in a baby carrier and played in the sand at The Wakeboard Camp as an infant. It was truly a full circle moment for me to see him win as Jamie reminded me “You taught my Mom how to wakeboard, she still talks about it to this day.”

Pro Wakesurf Finals Results

Another notable finish was Jake Pelot taking his first PWT podium spot with a very strong second place finish. Pelot is no stranger to the finals and has the arsenal of tricks to make a run but “had the run of his life” according to tour driver Trevor Hansen. 

With tight standings and early disruption to any predicted storyline, the PWT is shaping up to be a series to pay close attention to with stop #3 kicking off next month back in Central Florida.

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