The Wakeboard Report: Brad Smeele Joins the 1080 Fraternity

February 19, 2008

Brad Smeele Joins the 1080 Fraternity

There was a quote in a recent issue of Wakeboarding Magazine that went something like (and I paraphrase) "Every 1080 landed, has been done within a 30 mile radius of Orlando, FL". Google Maps puts North Central Island, New Zealand , where Brad Smeele stuck a 1080 yesterday a mere 8100 miles from Orlando (excuse me, 13035.7 kilometers).

That's far. Even farther in those kilometer things!

Only a still from Mr. Smeele's feat exists publicly right now but some details are available. Evidently his induction into this very exclusive club was by way of a regular-stance toeside punch off the double up, after which he spun thrice (might I say so off-axis, that at one point in the sequence he's clearly inverted) and landed his way into history. Yes 1080's are still history making as now Parks, Rusty, Danny and Brad are the only confirmed members of this club, while I fully believe the people that say the late Mark Kenny is in that club too. So let's call it a nice even 5 that have managed this feat. Kicker and cable efforts will never, ever count, at least as far as this Web site is concerned.

As there have been now a handful landed, each unique in their own right, this one is being called the only regular stance 1080 landed to date. I was under the impression that Rusty landed a regular stance 1080 in a warm up run before an event, but this could be just foggy memory from a wakeboarding industry journalist who hasn't had his feet in a pair of bindings since late September and gets some of his news, like we all do, from the information superhighway and its bizarre offspring, the message board. I'll assume the folks at The Liquid Circus have their facts straight.

Congratulations to you Brad! This is an amazing achievement.