Busting Out On The Swatch Wave
By Jake Howard

We walked into the stadium that Swatch had constructed and got our first look at this monster of a machine. The water wasn't running yet, but that didn't matter. The 1,000 ton machine that generates the perfect 13 foot high wave was enough to get the blood running.

After some announcements by Peter King the jets were turned on the party was about to start for real. Bill Bryan, Terje Haakonsen, Jason Prior, Andy McDonald, and a bunch of other guys put on a show for about an hour. That was my first experience watching the wave live and it looked gnarly. These various pros were ripping, huge snaps, long barrel rides, grab airs. I could see how if you ride this thing for awhile you could get it pretty wired and do some crazy stuff on it.

After some time it was the press' turn to ride the wave. Standing in line with surf journalist icons Sam George and Bill Sharp I actually felt as if I was on an even playing field. Nobody had ever ridden this thing and had no idea what to expect. The first go around sucked me over the falls and bounced me off the bottom, it hurt! After a couple of waves I started to feel the balance thing out and barely began to understand the dynamics of the wave. Everybody that rode the wave got drilled their first few times, but like any other board sport it was all in the name of fun.

One wave in particular stands out in my mind. I took off and was kind of sitting on the shoulder. It is hard to let yourself release and slide back into the pit, a bit frightening too. After a few seconds on the shoulder I let go and slide back to towards the barrel. By some act of Neptune my board got sucked around so I was riding fakie. Before I knew where I was I got sucked up to the top of the wave, went head over heels, threw a twist in for style and landed on my feet in the foam ball. The place went nuts. I still don't really know what the hell I did, but even the pros thought it was cool so whatever. I heard a couple of days later that a few people saw me do that advanced lipsliding, fakie, 180 cartwheel on the Channel 7 News. Maybe I should give up writing?

The wave is a blast, all the people involved with the wave are really cool. I do suggest getting out and giving this thing a go, I'm building one in my backyard (only 4 million dollars).
-JH

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