At some point in life, everything becomes obsolete. Think about it. How long has that Atari been collecting dust in your basement since you bought your Nintendo 64? The same holds true in wakeboarding. Take a look in your storage shed and you may just see that old Wake Tech Big Air sporting a little mold now that you’ve been charging the wake with your Hyperlite Lavelle every day for the last month. In fact, by this time next year that Lavelle may be upgraded to a shinier model as well. Hell, even Lavelle himself will eventually be upgraded.
Whoa! That may sound like blasphemy to our esteemed world champ, but it’s really just another notch in the evolutionary belt, nothing personal. It happened to Eric Perez. He defined wakeboarding from ’89-’91 until this little 17-year-old punk out of South Florida showed up and BAM! Welcome to the Shapiro show. Still, it can’t be a good feeling to watch your own limelight fade. Imagine how our 26-year-old world champ feels as more and more of the attention is lavished on the wonder kids of Generation Next – Parks Bonifay and Randy Harris come to mind. But truth be told: Legends are not made of the Lavelles of the world who work hard to get where they are; they’re made from the Shaun Murrays of the world who stumble onto the scene as a total unknowns and in 24 short months capture a tour title, two consecutive world titles and the heart of the industry. With that said, read the next eight pages carefully – you haven’t heard of these riders yet, but you will. They are the next Shaun Murrays.
