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Trick Ski Gold Coast Style
Photos by Thomas Gustafson
Words by Joel Wing
This photo means a lot to me, shot in the awesome Gold Coast, my hometown. It captures me trick skiing, something that I am passionate about doing in the one place I really love to do it!
This inverted trick shot was taken by Thomas Gustafson of Sweden, regarded as one of the best waterski and wakeboard photographers in the world. Shooting in the early afternoon on the Nerang River, near Cronin Island, we spent quite a long time working to get this shot just right. The boat we were using was a Malibu Response TXi and I was riding a 43”KD Trick ski on a short rope of around 14m.
Thomas was positioned in the water so as to capture the skyline as the background. To ensure he was not washed away by the tide, we relied on some unique ingenuity by anchoring him by rope in the middle of the channel while he was wearing two life jackets for buoyancy.
This is a fairly straightforward trick for me, one that I have been performing for a long time. I was focused on getting the timing right and making sure I had good height on the trick to get up out of the spray for a clear shot. We repeated our run past Thomas approximately 20 times, adjusting the angle of the boat’s direction while ensuring that I nailed the trick at just the right time.
I was able to nail this heelside backroll trick by building up my speed with a progressive edge of the board. At the top of the wake, the board needs to go out behind and use the boat’s momentum to pull me around in the right direction, and then concentrate on spotting the landing.
This photo demonstrates the great variety of boating experiences the City of Gold Coast has to offer. I don’t think there is anywhere else in the world where you can have a morning wakeboard on the river, then park the boat at Wave Break Island and have a snorkel, before heading to Currigee or Tipplers, and do some wallaby and goanna spotting, then an afternoon wakesurf on the Broadwater, and finishing the day sipping some champagne at Marina Mirage or Capri on Via Roma! Where else can you do that?
About Joel
Joel Wing is one of the most recognised names in Australian watersports. He has dominated Australian waterskiing for more than a decade. He is 11-time Australian champion, multiple Australian record holder and world top 10, and has been a member of the Australian Waterski team since 1999. He operates a waterski and wakeboard school on the Gold Coast (skiwake.com), using his vast experience to coach beginners through to elite competitors. He is a staunch advocate for waterski education, and is hopeful that “the government will continue to invest in waterskiing facilities, providing boat access areas on flat water with sandy beaches away from big boat traffic.”
Some of Joel’s many titles Include:
- Australian Trick record holder for 9 years
- Australian Overall record holder for 6 years
- 2012 Elite World Ranking 9th
- 11 times Australian Champion
- Moomba Masters Overall Champion, 2012
- Australian Overall Champion, 2008, 2011
- Australian Open Slalom Champion, 2011
- 3rd Place, Tricks, World Championships, 2003
- 3rd Place, Tricks, US Open, 2008
- 3rd Place, Slalom, Moomba Masters, 2008
- 3rd Place, Tricks, Moomba Masters, 2008
(Feb-Apr2017)