Phase 5 Photoshoot 2015
Phase 5 Team Convenes for 2015 Photo Shoot
By: Jason Lybeck
About a month after the World Wakesurfing Championship this past year I received an email from
the Phase 5 team manager and skim master, Drew Danielo. He was trying to put together a true team photoshoot where the entire team would be invited to participate. All the way from the top pros to the groms getting boards flowed to them. I thought, “How great of an opportunity”. All that I needed to know was where and when!
When I arrived in FL I was able to meet up with a few of my fellow Phase 5 teammates and we carpooled over to the town of Lake Placid. Upon arriving at our shoot location it was immediately apparent that Bob Smetts, (Phase 5 and Zap skimboards owner) was not going to spare any expense to make sure that the team was well taken care of. As you can see by the photos, the house was amazing. Located on the shores of beautiful Lake June, (home lake of Jackie Costa), I couldn’t have picked a better location for all of us to get together and have a good time while shooting the 2015 media that you will see this year.
Getting down to business is always tricky when you’re a sponsored wakesurfer. I know that most people think that all we do is go out and surf and some guy just turns on the camera and voila, we have a video! Not so much!... Drew was quick to delegate tasks, responsibilities, and the vision of what our 2015 photo shoot was going to entail. Splitting into 3 groups over the next three days we each had itineraries of what our days were going to involve.
My group, group 3, was lucky enough to get to sleep in day one while group 1 had to be on the dock at 6:30am to be ready to ride by sunrise. Our responsibility that morning was to get our intro shots and get all of our interviews done so we could get out and shoot GoPro footage behind the boat for the afternoon. You might think that interviewing 5 people is a quick and easy task; let me tell you it is not! Thank God that we had Chris Hau there to lead the interviews and gather the video/ audio which he so artistically does. It was interesting to see how he had us sit in a specific spot of the room to gather the best quality audio for the video. It took us a couple hours, but by noon the deeds were done and off to the dock we went!
Bob and Drew, plus the entire Phase 5 crew, were nice enough to provide literally every single board that they make. We had our pick of the litter to choose exactly what each one of us wanted to ride individually. In addition to that, we were able to test out any board/ fin configuration to get the best performance out of the Phase 5 line up! I chose to ride the new Hammerhead 50” skim style board with 1” deep and approx. 5” long fin. That board was a lot of fun to ride and the hold that you get on the new full length rail really helps lock in the rail on spins and shuvs. In fact my first try on the board I landed switch front big and nearly got my first backside big spin. On spin tricks, that full length rail allows you to stop more easily when you come around on your rotation. The improvements on this board over the Diamond are going to make it easy for Diamond lovers to make the switch!
We went out on the water and filmed that afternoon with Corbin Blanton (CB Filmz) as he flew his drone from the boat and got some amazing angles of us while we did our best to knock the rust off. That day wasn’t particularly my best day, but it was still a blast to be there and be apart of what the Phase 5 team was there in Florida to do.
The next day unfortunately we were rained out nearly the full day. The rest of the team got interviews done, and whatever other shots that we could get while being trapped indoors by the cold front that was sweeping through the area. By the early afternoon we decided it was time to chance it as it appeared to be breaking up and we were itching to get out on the water and get in some more ride time. I agreed to pilot the Centurion FX-22 while Corbin shot and the rest of our group rode. However, we barely got off the dock and started to set up when the skies opened up above us. Thankfully we deployed the bimini in just enough time to save the drone, and ourselves, from getting completely drenched. We toughed it out and were able to film 3 people before it became too dark to shoot.
The final day of the trip turned out to be gorgeous! My group was on the water by 7:30 and we were determined to get some unique angles. The light was great so I hopped in first and rode for a good 30 minutes. Then Miller hopped in the lake and I stayed in the water to ride beside him as he did his run. Maybe you imagine the water in florida to be nice an cozy this time of year but it is not! The rain had brought the water temp to the mid 60’s and it was barely 60 outside. Being in the water for that long was a bit of a stretch. I did my best to fight off the convulsing while finishing up driving for the rest of the crew.
As we headed in for lunch and to regroup for the afternoon it was apparent by this time that we had gathered so much footage that I think Corbin started to realize that he might not get out of the editing room for a good 3 months! He stated to the crew that we were good on footage and just needed to capture that “one trick” and that was all we needed to hear! The pressure was off and now it was time to go have some real fun with the team and just free ride.
I climbed aboard the FS-33 with Danny B at the helm and it was so fun to get out behind that new boat with the riders that accompanied us. John Ackerman absolutely killed it with a couple of tricks I have never seen even attempted before. Leland Watkins (our team grom) was a lot of fun to watch and he rips as well! Be on the lookout for both of these wake surfers this season! The session ended with a lot of high fives and plenty of graciousness to Danny B for not only driving but also making sure that we had this surf machine on hand to ride behind.
With that came the culmination of the Phase 5 photo shoot. There was so much more to it than I could type here in a blog post, but you at least get my perspective on the event. IF you check out Phase5boards.com you can see Drew’s Blog post about the event as well. I will tell you this though. I have never been a part of a team where it seems like we all have our own niche yet we all get along together so well. That’s the thing about wakesurfing. You can be your own person and do your own thing and still make friends with someone completely different than you and there are no vibes. It reminds me of the snowboard industry back in the early 90’s when it was cool just to meet another snowboarder. That is what makes this so much fun! If you haven’t hopped on a boat and tried wakesurfing you are missing out on an experience that can change not only your day, but your summer, and possibly your life!
I want to thank everyone at Phase 5 for all of their work putting this together. Please take a few moments to look over their product and once their new media goes live please make an effort to check it out. I think that you’ll appreciate what you see. A team of regular people who love the sport, product that is handmade in the USA by people who care, and devotion to a sport that brings us all together.
