WAKESTOCK SET TO RAISE THE BAR!
August 11–14, 2005 Toronto Islands, Canada

August 9, 2005. Toronto. Once again Wakestock, the second WWA World Series event of the year, is set to push the sport of wakeboarding and wakeskating to a whole new level. Wakestock's “Oakley Launch Pool”, unveiled in a pre-event exhibition today is the biggest rail setup built in the history of the sport. The design features a 20’X50’ pool elevated 15 feet off the ground, four different rails over a set of ten stairs and dual winches. Included in the four rails is a steel snowboard/skateboard park design that will challenge all of the top athletes. As the riders launch off of the rails they will be landing in a 50’X50’ above ground pool.

The “Oakley Launch Pool” was tested out by two of Oakley’s top riders Andrew Adkison and Aaron Rathy who were in Toronto for the announcement of Oakley's new Toronto O Store, the first to open in Canada. WWA World Junior Champion Rathy and WWA World Champion Adkison were the first riders to check out the ground-breaking design.

“This is the craziest thing that has ever been built in the history of wakeboarding” claimed Adkison after seeing the Launch Pool for the first time. “This is going to make our sport fully legit after everybody

sees this.” Both Aaron and Andrew got to session the pools for an hour for a selected group of media and both were amazed by the set-up. “Now that I’ve hit it a few times, I’m picturing all of the tricks that I want to do on it this weekend” said Aaron.

The “Oakley Launch Pool” will feature a Best Trick contest with separate wakeboard and wakeskate divisions. “With a setup like this, there is going to be a lot of riders throwing it down” enthused SBC Wakeboard Magazine editor Adam Levitt, after witnessing the inaugral session.

Wakestock's 8th annual wakeboarding, action sports and music festival kicks off this Thursday August 11 at its incredible new Toronto Islands location a 15 minute ferry ride from downtown Toronto. In addition to the “Oakley Launch Pool”, other new Wakestock features include the Billabong Pro Railslide Championship course, custom designed by Pat Panakos of The Projects, Florida fame. Panakos also designed the “Oakley Launch Pool” with help from Canada's rail building guru Jimmy Brace. The Billabong Pro Railslide Course consists of six different rails including two 90 foot posted rails, one a huge Kinked Gap Rail and the other a massive Step Up A Frame.

Wakestock’s innovative rails will also feature prominently in two other highlight events, the Malibu Boats Pro Expression Session, and the Wakestock Wakeskate Championship. Both events will be towed by Malibu's new 2006 VLX Wakesetter model, which makes its world debut at Wakestock.

Other Wakestock highlights include over 30 bands on two band stages, including Goldfinger, The Dead Kennedy's, Real Big Fish, Finch, Rise Against; a new Street-Style Skatepark custom built just for Wakestock; a Freestyle Moto-x "Double Jump" featuring world trick record holder Robbie Maddison of Australia and Americans Mad Mike Jones and Kenny Yoho; the Canadian Action Sport Marketplace & Expo; and four nights of Wakestock After-Parties in Toronto's most famous bars.

Party highlights include the world premiere of Sidewayz's new "Such Is Life" film and the Canadian music performance debut of snowboarding superstar Trevor Andrew – both at Toronto's Opera House on August 11; and the Miss Reef Canada Bikini Finals along with bands Moneen, Kill Radio and Damn 13 – all at Toronto's Montana's including their converted downtown parking lot on August 13. Maybe that’s why all of the world’s best wakeboarders and wakeskaters will all be in attendance at Wakestock, even those on the injury list, including Scott Byerly, Chad Sharpe and Shawn Watson. Wakestock will also be the pro debut of WWA Junior World Champion Aaron Rathy.

Wakestock runs through Sunday August 14 and will be broadcast live in Canada on Much Music from 3-5pm (eastern time) Saturday, August 13. More info www.wakestock.com.

Wakestock is presented by Coors Light and the Extreme Music Series;
Sponsored by Malibu Boats, Sun & Ski Marine, Billabong Clothing, and Oakley Eyewear;
Supported by Reef Sandals, Solo Mobile, Garnier Fructis Style, Nintendo, Xcel Wetsuits, Reactor Watches, Straightline, Hyperlite, O’Brien, CWB, Double Up, Gator, Kampus, Much Music, The Toronto Star, 102.1 The Edge, Eye Weekly, SBC Wakeboard Magazine, and SBC Skateboard Magazine.

Wakestock™ is owned and produced by SBC Events Inc, an independant Canadian production company specializing in action sport & youth lifestyle marketing, in conjunction with SBC Media Inc., publisher of leading action sports magazines SBC Skateboard, SBC Wakeboard, Snowboard Canada, SBC Skier, Windsport, SBC Kiteboard, and SBC Business magazines. “Wakestock™” "Wakestock Festival" and “Wakestock Action Sports & Music Festival™” are trademarks of SBC Media Inc. in Canada, the United States and/or other countries.