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First up, let's fill you in on how
this whole flippin' floating
aerial comp came about. Late last
year when Ouiksilver launched
their '02/03 Airshow Series, they
dangled a huge carrot in the face
of the circuit's competitors, in
the form of a specialty event on
board the Indies Trader (the
Ouiksilver Crossing vessel) for
the top four placegetters at the
end of the year.
Halfway through the series the
destination of the specialty event
was announced. The top four
finisher's would be heading for
the Caribbean to compete for a
prize purse of $20,000. When word
spread about the confirmed
destination the hunt for ratings
points intensified - performance
lifted and the events started
attracting their biggest crowds
ever. After the last leg of
the series was staged in West Oz,
the contenders were found: Ry
Craike, Dave Reardon-Smith, Dion
Agius and Kirk Flintoff, winner of
the Ouiksilver Airshow Series,
would be doing battle in the
Caribbean.
To get the story on all that went
down while the boys were adrift,
Waves caught up with the eventual
winner, Ry Craike.
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Waves: How was the
Caribbean, Craike?
Craike: It was fun,
but really crook for waves, we didn't
get any swell. We got zip.., zero...
nothing.
Waves: So if there
were no waves what did you guys do, get
stuck into the local night-life?
Craike: Not really,
we went to one club but it was really
scary. We were the only tourists in the
place, it was packed with massive black
Rastafarian dudes. During the night I
was taking a piss and this guy came into
the toilets and he said, "How's all
the f**king foreigners in here, man?' to
his mate. I thought they were gonna roll
me, it was so scary.
Waves: Not too
friendly, huh?
Craike: I think
that's where rum was invented, plus
everyone was getting grilled, just
walking around with these massive joints
and shit smoking it up. The vibe was
pretty edgy.
Waves: Not somewhere
you'd take the kids on holiday then?
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Ry Craike - The Victor
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Craike: There
were heaps of cool people there
too and the beaches are really
beautiful, full-on blue water,
maybe leave the kids at home, but
take the lady and take heaps of
coin too, it's really expensive.
Waves:
Example.
Craike: Like one 14-piece
bucket of KFC costs $70 Aussie and
when you get a cab they charge you
10 bucks to put the air-con
on.
Waves: What a joke?
Craike: They're the full
slurpers, mate.
Waves: Did you check out any
good surf set-ups there?
Craike: Yeah, there's the
mentalist-looking spots up there -
full crazy points and beachies,
all the place needs is swell. It
definitely has potential to pump.
One little beachie we surfed was
fun, it had these perfect little
wedges, pity it was only half a
foot. That's where they held most
of the comp.
Waves: With a bit of help from
the ol' jet ski, eh?
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The Pilots lounge.
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The Flight Deck
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Craike: Yeah, we needed it,
there was no way we could get
enough speed to launch if we
didn't have the ski.
Waves: So the whole event was
run using the ski?
Craike: Yeah, but it turned out
to be really cool-We each had five
I5-minute sessions getting towed
in by the ski. JR the video guy,
filmed us from the boat and at the
end of each day we'd watch the
footage and judged the airs.
Waves: How did the judging
work?
Craike: We (the competitors)
judged it. The judging was like
that Survivor TV show or
something. After we watched the
footage each arvo, we had to go
into this room and secretly give
our votes to who we thought did
the best air that day. You had to
give the person you thought did
the best air three points, the
person you thought got second for
the day two points and the other
person got one point.
Waves: So how many points did you give
yourself after the first day?
Craike: Nah, you couldn't vote for
yourself. I would have wrapped up
the comp heaps earlier if that was
the case. (laughs)
Waves: But you could
have teamed up with someone and given
each other the three points every day
and then split the money at the end.
Craike: Yeah, I
guess you could have cheated pretty
easily.
Waves: Oh my God,
you cheated!
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Craike: Nah.
Waves:C'mon,
Craike,
admit it.,.
Craike: But I...
Waves: The dirty
money's in the bank admit it...
Craike: I never...
Waves: You teamed up
with someone and rigged it!
Craike: Nah, man, we
decided before the comp all split the
prize money because the surf was so
tiny, so there was no point in rigging
it. I'm glad we did, because it meant
everyone was going all out and not
holding back. You'd get whipped into
these little wedges by the jet ski and
go way bigger then what you might have
if competing for the big money. It was
cool.
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Waves: You
ended up on 41 points to take the
thing out, you must have been
ripping?
Craike: Nah, I
just made a few airs in every
heat. I probably had a bit of an
advantage 'cause I've towed in
more than the other guys. You
should have seen me, Mark Rayner
was driving the ski and I was just
barking orders at him, making a
real jerk of myself.
Waves: I bet
your bummed you agreed to dividing
the coin now, eh?
Craike: Yeah, but
I would have been more bummed if I
came last and only got two grand.
Waves: I'd be
dirty if I won and the other guys
were leeching my winnings.
Craike: Yeah I
missed out on five gorillas but I
ended up winning the Torquay Time
Tunnel award and got another
gorilla for that, so it wasn't too
bad, Six gee in total isn't a bad
way to come away from a coupla
weeks, boating through the
Caribbean.
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The Mile High Club?
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Ry.
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Results of the
Quiksilver Crossing Airshow:
lst Ry Craike 41
points
2nd Dion Agius 29 points
3rd Dave Reardon-Smith 26 points
4th Kirk Flintoff 24 points
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