As the summer heats up, so does the riding. Throughout the wakeboarding cicuits, we witnessed several moves that had never been seen before in competition. Here is an inside look at Dallas Friday’s S-bend and wakeskater Reed Hansen’s switch 540.

Dallas Friday - S-Bend

The S-bend was invented by Shannon Best on the Ski Rixen cable park in the mid-nineties, then later transferred to the more difficult version behind the boat. It is basically an Air Raley (layout) with a backside 360-degree spin. The rider holds onto the handle with both hands the whole time and there is a major risk of getting “hung-up” halfway through the move, which results in a painful edge catch. Coming into the Nationals, rumor had it that Dallas Friday was working on this move with the help of the Sesitec System 2.0 cableway. But we had no idea she would open up with it as her first move.

After edging into the wake at a screaming pace, Dallas did get a little hung up on her first attempt, but still managed to ride away clean, making history as the first girl to land the S-bend in a contest. Raimi Merritt is the first girl to land the move, as documented on video earlier this spring. Dallas also made more history in the semis, landing the first 270 transfer to frontside boardslide on the transfer box.

In the WWA Nationals Finals, we witnessed a much more polished version of Dallas’ S-bend. Some riders cheat this move a little bit and end up doing more of a laid-out front flip than a 360 spin, nicknamed the “front-bend.” However, Dallas’ version in the finals was exactly how the move should be done – she extended the Raley perfectly, then spun 360 degrees before pulling out of the Raley, sticking it clean to begin her winning pass.

Reed Hansen - Switch 540

Most people dismissed the 540 in wakeskating, thinking it was a move that would never be done. Today’s top wake riders like Brian Grubb and Reed Hansen have done a lot to change everyone’s mind on what can be done. In the Wakeskate finals, Brian Grubb laid down the heaviest run we have ever seen him do, landing nine hammers including ts shove indy, hs shove indy, nosegrab 360, indy bs 180, ts late shove, hs big spin, ts wrapped nosegrab bs 180 and more.

This run is what opened the door to Reed’s 540. As the boat pulled up to the dock after Grubb’s run, Reed didn’t think he could win. “I guess I’ll have to learn some new tricks… fast,” he said. We did remember that he landed the 540 clean after his run in the semis, so that was a possibility, but we had no idea he could land that and still beat Grubb’s insane run. But Reed managed to link together nine hammers of his own including the switch 540, 360 shove, regular and switch 360’s, mute big spin, finger flip and more, giving him the edge over the winningest wakeskater in history who just had the run of his life. It was the heaviest final ever seen in wakeskating and it all went down behind the Byerly Edition Air Nautique 210.