He followed that up by landing both tricks AGAIN. In a contest. He won, of course. The MasterCraft Throwdown was started to encourage riders to throw down, and nobody did that quite like Steel. He also went on to earn a ROTY for 2017. Bring on 2017 and Steel has a big announcement. He’s gone years without a board sponsor, but no longer. Connelly has teamed up with Steel to bring about some big, fun, different things with their approach and brand. Look for the Connelly Collective to do some craziness in the near future.

See more here with Connelly and Steel.

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How many people knew you had landed the switch double mobe before it aired at Wake Awards?

Hmm… I would say about 10 people: the boys in the boat, my family, and some of the close homies that saw I had a gleaming smile on my face all day and begged me to tell them what I landed.

How long had you been working on it, and how many tries did it take that particular day?

Technically, I guess a year. I didn’t try it for that long though. I first tried it at the MasterCraft Throwdown in 2016 and then pushed it aside for a few months during the season. Then I started trying it again a few weeks before Wake Awards. I would say it took about 20 attempts that day!

Parks, the only other person in the world to do one, was with you in the boat that day. How much of a help was he?

It was unreal. I called him and said, “I need your help, and I would love you to be in the boat when I land it.” He kept the hype up and let me know it was possible.

How does it feel to be in that exclusive of a club?

Pretty crazy! I didn’t even realize I made the club until after we were in the boat, and Parks leans into me and says, “Welcome to the double mobe club.” Wildddddd!!!

Do you think the new X-Star wake had anything to do with you pulling this off?

100%. The wake behind this beast is ridiculous. The double-ups are so easy to get into and send you into space with a smooth landing. Don’t worry, I still took some pretty gnarly falls!

When is the point of no return when it comes to committing to this trick?

When you line up the double-up… You commit when you’re cutting in. You cant back out, period.

How did you mentally and physically prepare for this?

Drank a Red Bull, said a prayer and went full send. Don’t over think anything.

This isn’t your first Indmar Trick of the Year award, is it?

Negative, this is my second. It’s a super cool feeling. Now let’s make it a hat trick and get a third one.

How did winning this year compare to your last Trick of the Year win?

It felt pretty similar. This one was a little sweeter I think, just because of what’s going on in the industry and proving a lot of people wrong. They Don’t Know Me!!!

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Congrats to the 2017 Indmar Trick of the Year winners: Travis Doran, Anna Nikstad and Steel Lafferty. Huge props to all of the other riders who submitted tricks as well… Many of these trick submissions would have taken the win any other year!

Insane riding in 2017 – can’t wait to see what next year holds for our sport and industry! See all award winners here >>

2017 Indmar Wakeskate Trick of the Year

Travis Doran – Kickflip frontboard back big

2017 Indmar Female Trick of the Year

Anna Nikstad – KGB 540

2017 Indmar Male Trick of the Year

Steel Lafferty – Switch mute double backmobe

SEE ALL 2017 WAKE AWARDS WINNERS >>

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In the North Carolina high country, MasterCraft lined up six of wakeboarding’s heaviest hitters for a private, closed-water session. Their mission? Ride the ultimate wake. Unlock the perfect line. Watch what kind of mayhem happens when you mix raw talent, perfect conditions and the boat that started it all—the MasterCraft XStar.

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What’s better than a week spent wakeboarding in a spectacular location? A week spent wakeboarding in a spectacular location with veterans who have served their country and deserve to enjoy the trip of a lifetime. To give back to these brave young people, we at Bonnier and Nissan Trucks are providing them with fantasy trips. Our sister magazines have taken vets hunting, fishing and motorcycling all over the globe. Along with pros Steel Lafferty and Josh Palma and our own Ben Greenwood, Wakeboarding took veterans wakeboarding on the waters of Lake Powell, Utah.

What’s the scoop? Let’s begin with the two veterans we were privileged to host and the goals each set for himself.

Outside the Wire

By the time many soldiers have reached their early 20s, their life experience is a far cry from any Rockwellian notion of all-­American. Returning from overseas is fraught with peril, and readjusting is no easy task. Just ask Joey Watanabe.

“I have trouble being around kids, even my own nieces and nephews,” stated 23-year-old Watanabe, trying not to choke up — and doing a better job at it than I did — while relating his experiences to us over a post-­session steak dinner. “In–country (in the war zone), little kids are slapping IEDs on ­vehicles.”

As newshounds know, IED stands for “­improvised explosive device,” and they bring death and injury to many U.S. service members.

Watanabe spent 270 days “outside the wire” in Afghanistan, meaning beyond the perimeter of a base camp. A combat medic, he had many young people die in his arms, and he placed even more in body bags. His knees suffered injury when he shouldered a downed soldier, and when a firefight broke out, he fell to his already-­injured knees several times. He also suffers from post-­traumatic stress disorder and tinnitus. Still, he was stoked about the experience at Lake Powell.

“Who gets to do this?” he asked, beaming with a smile brighter than the desert sun as he slid past the photo boat at the beginning of a run behind the MasterCraft X-Star.

Watanabe is a surfer and skater from ­SoCal, and now an entrepreneur whose company, One Actual, sells battle belts and holsters. He also works with the charity Labs for Liberty. At the lake, he was psyched and focused on one thing: learning a tantrum.

Upside Down

Darren Bland left the army as a sergeant in 2010, after serving his combat tour in Khost Province, Afghanistan. His unit’s mission was route clearance: locating and detonating IEDs. The main roles he played were rear gunner, lead gunner and Husky ­operator. A Husky is a specialized explosives-­removal vehicle.

“While operating the Husky, I was responsible for multiple IED finds and one direct IED strike,” Bland said. “I did not receive a Purple Heart for injuries sustained in that blast, but I have been treated for PTSD and a shoulder injury related to that blast.”

From what I came to know about him, I’d deem the above understatement ­— regarding the experience of getting freaking blown up — to be characteristic of this tough, quiet 29-year-old from Missouri.

An enthusiastic wakeboarder, Bland said his family had a “ski boat ballasted for wakeboarding,” and he also used to ride with friends. But after his service, things changed.

“I just didn’t want to do anything or be around anybody when I got back,” he said with a shake of his head. His torpor lasted a few years. And it wasn’t the only reaction he experienced.

“Things would trigger me,” Bland said. “I had the biggest fight of my life with my dad when he was driving us somewhere. He was going a bit fast, weaving in and out. In-country, you drive slow. That’s safe. But I lost it and really started screaming at him.”

Bland is currently forward-deployed as a ­private contractor and in charge of force protection assets, guarding, in his own words, “some of America’s best and brightest.” He noted that he was super excited to be with our pros and to be getting back to doing things that he loves in such a big way. On the way to the marina in the pre-dawn hours of our first day on location, he confided, “I gotta get upside down.”

Getting to It

The launch ramp resembled an open-air mine shaft, what with its half-mile length, minimal width, and rock walls extending far above to a narrow ribbon of blue sky. The Nissan Titan Pro-4X and its torquey 390 hp engine never strained while hauling through the 7,000-foot passes en route to Powell, or while launching the 3-plus-ton MasterCraft, fueled up and on the trailer. The climate control inside the truck allowed our crews to scoff as much at the desert heat as they did at the snowfall we encountered in Flagstaff on the way in.

Finding glass was easy. This was weekday preseason wakeboarding, and we had our choice of canyons to shred. We were ­interrupted by a passing fishing boat maybe twice during our entire trip. Wetsuits were called for, but other than that, there were no no-wake zones, no complaints about the tunes, and no worries about anything except whether our veterans would achieve their goals.

We spent Day One in assessment. The vets would ride, take a break, get some counsel from our pros, and then ride some more. While Benny G. drove, Steel and Palma each took a set riding solo, and then took a doubles set with the vets to show the two ­intermediate wakeboarders by example what they ­needed to do to execute, move up a ­level, and succeed.

Bland said, “Just showing me that it is possible — to ride beside these guys — is the ­greatest help.”

The pros have a method to teaching. “There is a template,” Palma intoned thoughtfully over empanadas and crackling-­cold margaritas at one of our group meals, “but it’s ­individualized based on the rider.”

Lafferty joined in: “There are a million minor adjustments — where you hold your hands, where you place your weight — that we can help a student make.”

This full-immersion training paid off. After some training, both vets were more aggressively hitting the wake, jumping higher, and landing smoother than when they had started.

Then it happened. Watanabe tried his first heelside invert (a tantrum). But, though he’d fully rotated, he didn’t land it.

After four more attempts, with intense coaching from all three pros in between, he still couldn’t stick it. No matter. The combat ­medic who found it hard to suffer the company of his own nieces was now smiling ear to ear, his entire being laser-­focused on the accomplishment he’d just achieved and on being that much nearer to his ultimate goal of successfully throwing a tantrum.

Then it was Bland’s turn. He was chilly ­because we didn’t have a wetsuit that fit him — not ­ideal conditions for attempting your first back roll. Yet Bland hit the wake heelside and ­beautifully hard, nabbing great air and inverting with a tight rotation that just looked so right.

But he didn’t land it that day, either. Still, he was psyched, as was the entire crew on his ­behalf. We’d return the next day with renewed vigor, riding the success of today — and with a wetsuit that fit.

The Next Level

Joey Watanabe never did land his tantrum. Multiple attempts, intense coaching sessions with the best in the world, and the collective karma of our group willing his success just could not make it happen. But Watanabe’s spirit soared. “My wakeboarding is at an entirely new level,” he proclaimed, vowing to nail the tantrum and other moves in the coming months, after he moves his business from California to Utah. He’s one vet who’s not just on the mend; he’s on the right track.

And Darren Bland? He nailed his back roll with a whoop that echoed the length of Gunsight Canyon, seeming to shake the rock to its very foundation. The crews aboard both the MasterCraft and the photo boat were just as elated. While Bland’s reaction was what one would expect, it was his aura, his presence, that really told the tale of what he’d accomplished. Just as the desert sun seemed to glow from within the rock of the mesas and canyons of Lake Powell, pulling off that back roll threw a switch inside Darren Bland. He seemed to glow from within with the light of the sun.

Foundation for Exceptional Warriors

Bonnier and Nissan worked with the Foundation for Exceptional Warriors to find the veterans we hosted. The FEW is an adventure-based outreach program that strives to inspire change in warriors’ perceptions, decrease their feelings of helplessness, and get away from the idea that they are alone.

Nissan Titan XD PRO-4X

The PRO-4X proved awesome while towing the burly MasterCraft through 7,000-foot passes and the rugged desert. It’s also available in a diesel version sporting 550 lb.-ft. of torque. It includes Trailer Sway Control, a load-distributing hitch, Hill Descent Control, an electronic locking rear differential, and other features that make it a superhauler.

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