Darin Shapiro
Hometown: Lantana, Florida
Signature Moves: Most every one there is. Recently, the frontside 900 and the orbital 540.
Claim to Fame: The best competitive wakeboarder the sport will ever see, and a
pioneer in creating new moves.
If power, guts and the ability to recreate a move after seeing it once (or even contemplating it once) make a good wakeboarder, Darin is the best. Although sometimes accused of being robotic on the water, the truth is his free-riding is nothing short of phenomenal. Normally, Shaprio gets new moves so dialed before they are exposed publicly that they begin to look simple. Then he starts taking them big. This year, the contest master continually pulled bunnies from his hat, tour stop after tour stop. And when he’s on, everybody else just fights for second- and third-place scraps. Fellow all-star Gregg Necrason may have said it best: “Don’t give him any ideas. Don’t tell him to try new stuff. Before you know it we’ll all look bad in comparison.” He is second place with a bullet, and certainly has to be considered the “co-captain” of the team.
