So the NHL season just started a couple of weeks ago, Yan and myself being Montreal Canadiens fans, we were thinking hockey even though we just had gotten to Florida. Being based out of The Projects we don't really have to go anywhere since we already have it all; boat lakes, incredible rail park, friends etc... On one certain night out, we ran into Chad who we told we had brought our hockey gear down because we knew he played and wanted to get on the ice as well! A couple of days later we met up at the RDV Sportsplex in Maitland were we played some drop in hockey for an hour and a half. After sweating so much in the coldest place in all of Florida, Chad invited us to go ride.

After a quick lunch, we got into his loaded boat and saw Watson and Chris O' ridding on their most recent toy, a 50 foot A-frame built over a dock. After watching Chris O kill it, we got to jump into the water. Since no one really wanted to go first, I slapped my board on and went for it. Chad's wake is always so nice and bootyl, I was stoked. Yan followed and stomped a couple smooth spins before falling flat on his face on a T/S 7!!! Laughed it off and wrapped up his set. Chad went for a quick set on his new 2010 Viva set up and showed us that even in the off season he had more than one trick up his sleeves! I was filming him and trying not to mess up anything, and Yan was stressing about driving the right lines but it all turned out good and had an awesome time.

Yannick Thibault. Oliver Derome, Chad Sharpe from Chad Sharpe on Vimeo.

For those of you who didn't know, Surf Expo was a month early this year and not many Canadian dealers came down to Orlando to see the new 2010 product. Since it was High Output's 25th year anniversary, they put together an awesome dealer week in Kelowna to present Ronix's new line.

It all started Monday morning at 6.30am where I met up with the Quebec rep and most of the Quebec dealers. After catching up over breakfast, we almost missed our flight to Vancouver. As we flew in to the Van-city, you could already tell some were out of place when having to whip out their sweet Quebec-er accent while ordering some lunch. Flying into Kelowna is always incredible, with the mountains being white at the top and landing right over the Okanagan.

Cramming 3 adults and a kid size adult (yours truly!) in a Camry loaded with suitcases and my board bag was the first step to a good time. After checking in, we headed over to the restaurant to watch some hockey and meet up with the rest of the crew: Murray and Paul Frasier, Paul O'Brien, Ryan “Ry Guy” Patey, and the rest staff as well as all the dealers. When the Canucks beat Calgary in shootout the whole place jumped to their feet!!! That's when I decided to hit the sack as the jet lag was slapping me in the face.

The new 2010 Ronix line

We all woke up to eat some Denny's and headed right over to the Ronix PK. The room was filled with all the new Ronix line and packed with over 80 Canadian dealers. It felt like school again, we all listened carefully as Paul O'Brien talked about the past, present and future of the company. There were guest appearances from Danny [Harf] and Chad [Sharpe] to present their own pro models, and as surprised as I was, Paul got me up front to talk about the new Bill board that I’ve been shredding for a month.

Paul O'Brien, Murray Fraser and Paul Fraser getting things under way.

Danny Harf talking about his new board

Chad Sharpe showcasing his new graphic

Later in the afternoon, we all headed over to the El Dorado right by the river, a couple of kilometers from where the Wakefest use to go down. That’s where Danny, Chad and myself put on demo for the dealers and some locals who happened to show up. Things went great, Danny and Chad both boosted a few double ups and I went back and forth trying to mix it up.

Hitting some evening double-ups

One more double-up

After dinner, which was amazing and buffet style, we were fortunate enough that Paul brought a copy of the Parks Documentary for all of us to watch. Even if it was my second time, I was still blown away and can’t believe how amazing his story is. We even got to watch a couple of bonus features before heading out to the clubs.

The next day I flew back home, where I still have a couple of riding days left before heading back down to Orlando.

Waking up on the Monday morning, my brother and I had 2 very different plans; he was going back to school for some catching up. He had been gone for about 10 days, missing the last week of the semester. For me it was a last minute change of plans, Paul O'Brien of Ronix called me and asked me if I wanted to attend the Ronix catalog shoot for 2010. I couldn't decline an offer like that so I made it back to the Sunshine State.

As I flew in, Dean Smith picked me up before heading out 30 minutes south of Clermont to an old gravel pit that had a 100 acre aqua-blue lake. The whole team was already there riding and shooting with the new products. The new line was banging and so was the crew; Danny Harf, Chad Sharpe, Parks Bonifay, Adam Errington, Emily Copeland Durham, Dean Smith, Reed Hansen and I were getting shot by Bill Doster and Spencer Smith for a whole week. A couple of shapes were different, but you're going to have to wait and see for yourself; I'm not telling you! There was an island right in front of ''our spot'', so we drove double-ups right around it. Dean got super close to a HS 1080, Adam was styling it up while Chad was just BOOSTING. Danny got the honorable mention for sticking a super clean Switch TS 1080 first try as well as getting super close on different variation of a grabbed BS 9... crazy I KNOW!!!

Nothing beats team diners at a Mexican restaurant with some drinks, good food and Cha Cha apps from the Iphone... hahaha. We couldn't figure out which smurph dated smurphette...???

As I got ready to leave for the airport, I sneaked in an early morning sesh with Big Spence on the tube and got some really good stuff. I'm hoping I'll have a good shot for the brochure.