Texas Ski Ranch kicked off the South Texas Summer season with Cablestock 2011, its biggest event yet in its 10-year history. The wake and music festival was a huge success, bringing together world-class athletes and an all-star music line-up. More than 12,000 people came out to enjoy the event, which spanned four days and included music, wakeboarding, charity donations, a bikini contest, Wahoo’s grand opening, and one of the area’s largest triathlons.
The fun started Thursday night with a Cinco de Mayo party at Wahoo’s Fish Taco and ended with a party bus to the Blind Pig on Austin’s famous Sixth Street. Friday, the action sports events began across the venue. Kaesen Suyderhoud won the Rip Curl Stylish 360 comp in which riders of all skill levels showed off their most stylish 360-degree spins.
The action continued with qualifying rounds behind MasterCraft boats as well as on the Rixen cable system. The wakeboarding ended with the crowd favorite Tricks for Cash where riders were challenged to successfully complete a trick that was above their abilities. The action began with Tom Fooshee landing a 1080 and the game intensified from there. No other format has ever pushed the sport and athletes the same way.
Next up, the action moved to dry land with a mini ramp competition that brought out the area’s best skaters, who like the wake athletes, threw down for their share of the cash. On the main stage the fun began with a call to action for Locks of Love. Stylists from William Edge Salon volunteered to cut the hair of eight volunteers, including Wake Park World Champion Tom Fooshee. Aaron Reed also got in on the action by shaving his trademark mustache to raise more than $1,000 for the organization.
No beach party could be complete without bikinis, and this event was not lacking with 15 of the most beautiful Texas ladies. To wrap up the night Shwayze and Cisco performed a free concert to celebrate the grand opening of Wahoo’s Fish Taco at TSR.
Saturday, the action got even better with finals in all of the wakeboard and wakeskate events. The MasterCraft boat competition saw a level of riding that had never been witnessed at TSR before. Local Gabe Lucas was able to edge out Liquid Force riders Shawn Watson, Tom Fooshee and Shane Bonifay to win the double-up competition. Team Obscura swept the wakeskate competition, which was won by James Balzer. The Liquid Force Cable Competition had no surprises as Tom Fooshee and Bret Little defended their home turf again by winning the pro wakeboard and wakeskate divisions respectively. Shane Bonifay proved that Tom Fooshee is human by beating him and the rest of the field in the SPY structure-only competition. Across the board the level of riding continues to increase every year, and 2011 was no exception.
While it was going to be tough to beat the nightlife of the previous two evenings, the night’s music performances brought out more than 3,000 people to help celebrate Cablestock 2011. Over 15 bands performed but the dub step performance by Mimosa and the headliner Bun B rocked TSR like it had never been before! The show was so large a second stage was brought in on the north side of the property and the light and sound show didn’t disappoint a single fan. TSR wrapped up the weekend with a woman-only Triathlon, which brought in about 1,000 participants along with their family members to celebrate Mothers Day and help close down a hugely successful event.
