The Eastern PA River Runners @ www.easternpariverrunners.org 2010 Operation Helping Hero’s
Freedom Ride July 16th, 17th, and 18th 2010
The
Eastern PA River Runners, a Pennsylvania charter club of The American
Watercraft Association, along with The Perry Performance Group out of
Dania Beach, FL. are proud to team with The Family & Friends For
Freedom Fund Inc., to raise money for this wonderful organization that
aids in the recovery of our combat wounded Marines and servicemen and
women from other branches of the armed forces recovering at both
Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed Medical Center. The 4th Annual
Operation Helping Hero’s Freedom Ride will commence with the hopes and
dreams of America’s hero’s riding with us. We will set out on a journey
of approximately 400 miles round trip in 3 days on personal watercraft.
The journey will take the following route:
The junkies were treated to no less than four straight days of epic wave riding bliss this weekend, much thanks to Hurricane Bill gently grazing the central East Coast! Junkies were riding around the clock morning and evening to take advantage of this truly rare pleasure. I know I personally lived out of my truck and the showers at Croatan up until Monday.
Junkies Wilkey, Craig, and Josh were going big as usual with amazing backflips. Wilkey easily topped his record height by going head over heels at 25+ft above sea level. Congrats to newcomer Matt for his very first completed backy. Kenny, Kenny, and Allen topped their personal big air records on their 2-3 seaters, and I wouldn't be surprised if others did as well. Torr and Mark were foaming over 300+yd long rollers to get some killer long surf style in on their skis and their boards, while Torr also laid down some gorgeous surf-style barrel rolls. Dan, Bryce, Cameron, Landon, Jon, and Barry, all strutted some insane jumps and surf riding unimaginable in the usual unglorifying Virginia Beach swells. Hats off to all the junkies who held it together through the gnarliest wipe outs seen on a watercraft this side of the Mississippi.
Broken records, occasional rescues, seized photo ops, and good ole junkie comaraderie abounded for the greatest junkie weekend of 2009! Stay tuned to Wavejunkies for more pics and vid! As usual, all new pics and vids are first updated on the Trash Talk message board. See ya at the annual Wavedaze freeride in October!
What a great weekend fellas. Phil, Penny, Becca, Dan, Cameron, and
Carissa all caravanned down from Richmond. Landon, Vanessa, Brian,
Bryce, Wilkey, Lucke, and Robbie did the caravan from Va Beach with the
skis for the guys who flew down - CJ, Torr, Dan, and kinda me . Us and Scott and Jena all drove up from here. It was cool having several of the junkies all together again.
The
event was great. Lots of cool skis and cool riders. It was too much fun
hanging out with all the junkies again. Miss yall already Thurs-Saturday were all pretty messy with a strong current and mostly 2-5ft waves and cold.
Sunday and Monday were much nicer and 1-4ft clean waves. I think Pete
won sickest trick for a one-handed one-footed backflip! Bryce won a complete setup of the new adjustable xmetal pole system in the raffle! I don't think they did a cherry buster.
Story: Allen Loree, President of the AWA charter for Va Beach
Wavejunkies.
Wavedaze 2008 was proved to be
a growing success with over 97 registered riders participating from 15
different states. The wave Gods failed to favor us this year with abnormally
tame surf dominating, but the good times and fellowship ruled the weekend.
Wavedaze is an event for both the freeride community and for rec riders.
Several riders took the opportunity to ride 13 miles off shore to the
Chesapeake Light Tower. Others joined us on a leisurely cruise up the
coast escorted by friendly dolphins and a bit of history at the Cape
Henry lighthouse. Freeriders stayed close to the beach and ripped the
few waves that came our way. The parties continued into the late evening
at Chicks Cafe with entertainment on Saturday by The Hemingway Method.
New Jersey’s own Pancake Pete hosted
a surf ride clinic and also received the Big Air award for the weekend.
Brian Willkey won the Sick Trick and __Name to follow_____ for the Crash
and Burn award, seams even without waves he was able to show the group
the best bail.
Our sponsors really stepped it up this
year for our charity raffle, and we can’t thank them enough. Hundreds
of items were given out, including hoods from Waterdawg Customz and Watercraft
Factory, as well as a complete pole kit from X-metal. The sponsor list
included names like Atlantic Jet Sports, AWA, Group K, Hydro-Turf, Hooters,
Jet Ski Solutions, Lehr Performance, MSD, PWC Illustrated, Riva, Ronnie
Mac, Skat Trac, Slippery Wet Suits, Sunrise Cycles and Watercraft, Wamiltons
and many more.
Giving back to the community is an important
part of Wavedaze. Riders raised $2500 towards the Virginia Beach Volunteer Water
Rescue Squad and another $1000 for the AWA to keep protecting our riding
freedom. We’re already planning for Wavedaze 2009 tentatively scheduled
for October 2nd - 4th 2009. We look forward to seeing you there.
Twenty-four junkies from VA, MD, and FL made it up to Lake Anna this year for the annual race and freestyle competition. Even better, six junkies entered competitions this year versus the two last year!
Bryce (90sj) entered Novice Limited something class on his completely stock Waveblaster. It was his first time racing and he consistently placed 6th, well ahead of many more modified Blasters. Noel (DCRocks) entered the same race for his second year and placed 7th right behind Bryce - go team! Landon (diamondaudio) also entered his first race in Novice Runabout and placed 1st on his stock Seadoo RXT!
Brian (Conquistador, CapitanBS), Phil (Phildo, P&P Performance), and Cameron all entered their first freestyle competition this year. Brian had two excellent runs and offered a fresh variety of tricks on his Kawasaki 550 versus the same-ole-same-ole superjet tricks. Phil has been secretly