Cincinnati | 513-887-9253 | wakenation.com
Two years ago, Pete Kennedy was on a medical mission in the Philippines when he made a discovery that changed his life. While conducting clinical trials in Naga City, Kennedy stumbled upon the CamSur Watersports Complex, the cable park that for the past two years has hosted the Wake Park World Championships. “I had wakeboarded before but had never heard of a cable park,” he says. “I went one day to check it out, took one spin on the cable and was hooked.” When Kennedy returned to the States, he immediately quit his job and started planning his own park. On June 2, some of the best riders in the world, including Wake Park World champs Tom Fooshee and Nick Davies, christened Kennedy’s Wake Nation at its grand opening just outside Cincinnati.
Smooth operator
Wake Nation has the only six-tower cable system in the country, which makes its corners so smooth that even beginners can handle them with ease.
10 acres
The size of Wake Nation’s man-made cable lake. A 2.5-acre center island helps dissipate rollers, keeping the lake butter-calm.
1,500
The size in square feet of Wake Nation’s board shop, which stocks gear from Liquid Force, Hyperlite, Jet Pilot, UGP and more. The shop’s 15-foot-high windows overlook all the action on the cable lake.
“I’ve never been to a place like that in my life. All the people are so friendly, and the facility is absolutely beautiful with all this woodwork and glass. The six towers make the corners a lot easier so you don’t get as tired, and the cable was a little higher, which made air tricks way easier. I usually don’t do air tricks at the cable, but I learned a couple, including an S-bend to blind, because the extra height made it that much easier. They also have one of the best fun boxes I’ve ever hit — all the angles were so perfect.” — Kevin Henshaw
