Byerly Wakeboards Conspiracy wakeboard
($480; byerlyboards.com)
Aaron Rathy’s new wakeboard from Byerly Boards is exactly what you’d expect from a guy diverse enough to have just won the King of Wake crown and the Oakley Wakeboarding Move of the Year for wakeboarding’s first backside 1080. Rathy needed an aggressive, loose shape, and his shaper, Scott Bouchard, came up with a reinforced foam core, which is designed to lend extra snap on takeoffs and provide extra durability when landing massive double-ups. With a three-stage/continuous hybrid rocker, the Byerly Conspiracy wakeboard keeps with the Byerly tradition of three-stage wakeboards (Scott Byerly made the first three-stage shape), but is mellowed out a bit to make a Rathy-specific shape that can accomplish anything from huge wake-to-wake pop to going big into the flats. Look for a midseason, limited release of the Byerly Conspiracy wakeboard with a PVC core, reinforced edges and customized graphics for guys who want to ride exactly the same setup as Rathy. Keep your eyes open for Rathy wakeboard bindings as well. Need more convincing? Rathy himself says: “The first time I was out on the board I hit a heelside 10 on my first try. I hadn’t done one for a while because I was working on backside 10s for the Wake Awards, but it gave me really good pop off the double-up. And it’s really light, so it doesn’t have a whole lot of swing weight, and it lands soft. Everything kind of came together — it kind of has to on a 1080 — but this board definitely made it a lot easier.”
Photo: Bill Doster
