The Wild Side Concert Series Kicks Off with Rails on the Barrel

On Saturday, July 9, Wave House San Diego kicked off their Summer flowriding contest series, The Wild Side, with the first of four events. Now, these contests aren't just the norm- they don't focus on who places first, second, or third, but instead center around self-progression and advancing the sport of flowriding. And, the best part about these contests is that riders get rewarded right on the spot with cash money and prizes for pushing their own limits, performing crowd pleasing tricks and big falls.

Our first contest, Railz & Bailz, focused on the skateboarding and snowboarding aspect of flowriding instead of the surfing influence. Sure skaters and snowboarders can boost airs out of a halfpipe, but flowboarders can do the same out of the Barrel. So for Railz & Bailz, we turned our focus to the features you would find in an urban environment or skate/snow park and put them on our Bmax - we're talking about rails! Our FlowBarrel isn't just a wave to surf or huck airs on anymore, riders have been becoming more and more technical and sliding the side rail and nozzle flaps as well as performing various stalls on the shark fin. We want to embrace and encourage this new direction the sport of flowboarding has been going, so we went to the drawing board and gathered up an outstanding team to assemble two rails for our first ever Rail Jam.

This contest wasn't about airs, turns or barrels - we wanted to see skate and snow inspired rail riding. Railz & Bailz straight up featured nothing but rails and stall features. Constructed out of PVC piping, we had a rail over pump 2, 3, and 4 nozzles to slide and stall on, the shark fin was used as another stall feature and the mega rail set up on the side was a handrail-like feature. With over 20 competitors, a women's, amateur and pro divisions were created to compete in a jam session specifically to hit the rails and stall features. The ladies and amateurs had 50 minutes to throw down their moves, which was then followed by another 50 minute session for the pro division. And OH YES did all the competitors get radical and technical. Riders clearly progressed their riding abilities, landed big tricks and took gnarly falls, all earning them money and prizes. Riders got two hits on any feature per run, so by the end of the session they were exhausted.

Without pressure to place, everyone had a blast. We gave away about $200.00 of cold cash in fives dollar bills and a garbage bag full of product; thanks to Sun Diego, Calavera Swimwear, and Mammoth.

The great turnout of spectators had their eyes on the jam from start to finish; we even saw a few dancing to tunes from our Red Bull DJ who rocked the sound system that evening. All in all, the jam was a success and we can promise you that this will not be the last time you see rail setups on the FlowBarrel.

Big thanks to Mikey 'Stunt Man' Rijavec, Mr. Don Swadley, and Dustin 'Twinkle Toes; Bartley for getting these rails put together. Also, a big shout out to Mr. Mikey 'Stunt-man; Rijavec, who walked away with a top of the line pair of Nixon headphones for laying down the trick of the night - a front-lip 360 nose butter and came off clean on the mega rail... yeah we'll let you figure that one out...

But for now, check out the photos below and in our Facebook album, stay tuned for video and don't miss our second contest of The Wild Side series – Ready to Rumble on July 23, 2011, sponsored by Carbon.