November 30, 2006

Andrew Pastura. One of the Best Amateur Wakeskaters?

These days we occasionally can't tell if a rider is an amateur or a pro. We don't know if it has something to do with good baseline technical riding skills, excellent film work, expensive cameras, perfect backdrops & angles, lucky lines, or just plain talent, but regardless this video will melt your face. It will melt right into the keyboard and if it does, don't send me a bill, because I am not paying it. I have a suspicion that this video was not comprised of lucky lines caught on tape - I get the impression the kid's just got it.

That was Andrew Pastura, a 19 year old wakeskater from the Midwest, making it look way too damn easy. I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that wake-to-wake 360 shove-its and kickflips are even possible on a wakeskate -- no matter how many times I am reminded. Unbelievable. The technical difficulty involved with something like that is simply... outstanding.

For those who are unfamiliar with the difficulty involved with wakeskating, for comparative value here is some of my best work on a wakeskate. Youtube munched & artifacted the overly excited expression on my face seen in the original version of the video. Golly - I sure was excited as I looked back at the camera, and I was thinking Yaaay me! Heck if you listen close I may have actually said exactly that. It was 4 months ago so my memory eludes me a bit. My wife who was filming was probably thinking something along the lines of "Whoopde-freaking-ding-dong Erik" and wondered why I wanted to get that useless move on video so badly.

See? In my case there isn't much there in the way of "talent". And it only took me about 17 tries before I finally nailed that super-difficult dock start maneuver. **sigh** My point is that Andrew Pastura is good.

Posted by erik