Press Release from The Liquid Playgound-
Friendly competition or fierce showmanship? Transworld Wakeboarding Magazine’s Devise and Conquer Contest presented by Teva(part deuce) killed it this year! With three of Austin Watts favorite wakeskate teams: Mutiny, Water Monsters and Obscura competing for the TransWorld title, an event was quickly added to the calendar to showcase the talent to The Liquid Playgrounds customers and special guests.
As 8pm rolled around, the Devise and Conquer premier was shown to a packed house for the second year in a row. Starting off for the teams was Mutiny – in all their animal faced tee-shirt glory, followed by the redneck, beer drinking, fishing-for-beer-cans Water Monsters team and lastly Obscura, the defending champions took the stage riding rails through the wild wild west. All teams locked in, shoved-off/shoved-on, hippie jumped and kick flipped on and over homemade rails and obstacles gaining loud applause and loads of stoak from the crowd.
Two familiar faces showed up at the LP that night and helped MC the Devise and Conquer short films – legendary Danny Hampson and his fellow Obscura team rider Grant Roberts. “It was unreal having Danny and Grant in the shop! I have always wanted to get Danny out here to the West Coast to see the shop, the gallery, and my collection of skates which dated back to his Cassette days” Austin said.
To prep the evening and make it special for friends, customers, Danny and Grant – Austin hung not only his favorite wakeskate shots he’s gathered over the years on the gallery walls but also tracked down a dozen shots from the actual Devise and Conquer contest taken by Josh Letchworth and Ian Reed to really set the night off. Each video was introduced with some serious thrill and Austin expressed his appreciation to Transworld Wakeboarding Magazine and Teva for supporting wakeskating. Once the last video was played, the lights came on and the voting started. Each attendee was asked to vote for their favorite team exhibition and then….the box was opened. Following an audience-initiated drum roll Austin pulled out the July issue of Transworld Wakeboarding Magazine and announced Water Monsters as the winners – which also happened to be the crowd favorite!
The night ended with Danny and Grant signing boards, posters, Transworld Wakeboarding Magazines, shaking hands, and exchanging bro-hugs and laughs with admirers. “It was an epic experience to have Danny here for the first time and to show my customers the excitement and talent of the pro-wakeskaters, a sport that my customers and I are incredibly passionate about” says Austin. “Getting the photographs of the competition from Josh and Ian, watching the insane riding of all the teams on the big screen, and the excitement of opening the box of overnighted Transworld Wakeboarding Magazines makes me all the more energized to be part of this sport!” It was a fantastic night.
Special thanks to:
Scott Alexander, Josh Letchworth, Ian Reid, Danny Hampson, Grant Roberts, and Shawn Perry.
