In wakeboarding terminology, to grind is to ride a board on an obstacle in the water. Beginning Thursday, June 17 (and continuing for the next four weeks), wakeboarders young and old can enter Wake Nation Cincinnati’s “Weekly Grind Series” with an opportunity to move on in a national competition.

All nine cable wakeboarding parks in the USA are participating in the event, called the National Points Chase Competition, sponsored by CableWakeboard.com.

At the end of the summer, the top three Wake Nation Cincinnati winners in each competition category will qualify to represent Wake Nation Cincinnati and the entire region in the 2010 National Points Chase Championship in Texas.

Event scoring will be based on composition, complexity and proficiency of each rider’s run on jumps, obstacles and open water. Scoring will be done by Wake Nation Cincinnati judges.

Experienced riders and even beginners can enter the competition in five different divisions: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Pro, and Wakeskate. A sixth division, Extreme Kneeboarding, is a fun exhibition-only event. There are weekly trophies and prizes for winners.

Dates and times for the Weekly Grind Series are Thursday, June 17; Friday, June 25; Thursday, July 1; Thursday, July 8, and Thursday, July 15. Each competition begins at 6 p.m. Cost to enter is $15 per event, or $60 for all five events. To enter, contestants can sign up at Wake Nation Cincinnati or call (513) 887-WAKE.

Located at 201 Joe Nuxhall Way in Fairfield’s Joyce Park, the Wake Nation Cincinnati watersports’ complex opened to rave reviews one year ago as Ohio’s only watersports’ park where riders can wakeboard, water ski, kneeboard, and wakeskate around a 10-acre lake WITHOUT A BOAT.

Riders are pulled around the oval lake at speeds of 18-20 miles per hour by a circulating, overhead cable system that runs 35 feet above the water.

New for 2010 is the Practice Pond, a second smaller lake with an “easy start” system that makes learning to ride easier than ever before. During its first season of operation, Wake Nation Cincinnati received numerous awards, including prestigious “Best Of” awards from Ohio Magazine, Cincinnati Magazine and Cincy Magazine.

At Wake Nation Cincinnati, both parking and admission are FREE. The park is a “pay as you play” facility with ride time starting at $25 for two hours. Rental equipment, private lessons, group discounts and birthday parties are available. Season Passes are also available for purchase.

For more information, call (513) 887-WAKE? or email info@wakenation.com. Website: www.wakenation.com.

The list of riders in attendance are Melissa Marquardt, Aaron Reed, Kevin Henshaw, Tom Fooshee, Nick Davies, Jimmy Lariche, and Chad Buechler. Nothing against the other riders but having a chance to watch Nick Davies and Tom Fooshee shred the cable is enough alone to make the trip… These guys are arguably the best two cable riders in the world! Check out the video below of Nick Davies to see what sort of tricks these guys have in their bag.

Tickets are only $10 ($7 in advance). For more information visit www.wakenation.com.

Nick Davies

The official opening date has not been posted yet but things seem to be moving along fairly well at Wake Nation.  With the snow melted and the lake almost full the place gets you pumped for the upcoming season.  Enjoy!

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I was up in the area last week and stopped by Wake Nation to check out the progress.  The lake is complete, the cable system is installed, the parking lot is poured, and the building is waiting on final touches.  They even had some of the sliders almost complete as well.  I’m sure once the weather breaks the park will be complete in no time.

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Today I got a chance to walk the construction site at Wake Nation, the new cable park in Cincinnati, Ohio with Peter and Nick.  Peter and Nick gave me the official tour and I got a chance to take some pictures to share.   They also supplied me with some renderings of the building interior and boardshop.

I’m sure these pictures will make most of you as excited about next Spring as I got when I saw the construction site first-hand.  And you’ll surely agree that it’s going to be a long, long Winter.

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