To mark the one year anniversary of Reed Hansen signing on with Ronix to head up their wakeskate division, the group over at Square One Distribution decided to sit down with younger Hansen to pick his brain about the success of their partnership. Most of the interview is focused on Ronix’s first bi-level skate, the Zariel series, but there are of course the obligatory meaningless questions and associated responses that come out of left field.
It’s not a hard hitting introspective into the challenges a 20-something wakeskater faces, but if you’re into wakeboarding and wakeskating, chances are you’ll enjoy reading it just the same.
On March 6th of 2007 Reed Hansen signed the bottom line with Ronix to head up our wakeskate division. With a year anniversary party in the works we are proud to present the Zariel series.
Ronix Wake: So Reed the first question that most people are going to know is why is this board so heavy?
Read Hansen: When most people see the board and feel how heavy it is, they figure that it is so heavy because of how much went into the board(wood core, abs sidewall, wrapped in fiberglass, etc). What they don’t realize is that, we could have made the board almost half as light as it is without loosing much durability. Which leads me to the reason it is so heavy. On average, when most people wakeskate, they ride at 20- 24 mph, when you do a shuvit going that fast on a 8 pound board the wind is going to try and take it from you. When i ride a lighter board I feel like I am constantly battling the wind. It is also easier to do flip tricks because you can actually feel the board under your feet.RW: What makes this board different than other bi-level decks that have been out in the market place?
RH: Well, the biggest and most important difference is that it is strong. I have riden a lot of different bi-level decks in my time as a wakeskater and 99% of the time, they broke within the first month of me riding them. The other big reason is the concave on the top deck. It seems like all of the other bi-levels that i have riden have had too sharp of a concave. So, when you go to flick you foot of the board for a kickflip, it hits the sharp concave and you eat crap. Its kinda hard to explain, just trust me on this one.RW: There seems to be a lot of talk about the direction of wakeskating. Some say it’s getting too mainstream and there isn’t enough focus on style, others think that wakeskating is on the verge of being as big as wakeboarding. What do you think?
RH: I think that within the past year or two, wakeskating has turned some heads. It is getting to the point where it is actually fun to watch, even if you don’t know what your talking about. If you compare an average contest run from four years ago to this years contest run, it would be an insane difference. I think that in itself shows you that wakeskating is blowing up.RW: Most people probably don’t know but you were on pace to be one of the next generation dudes in wakeboarding – why did you scrap it?
RH: Yeah, i have been wakeboarding since I was like five years old. It just seemed like I had never done it for fun, just went out and did my runs for the next contest. Which is never fun.RW: Do you still ride with the fruit boots?
RH: Yeah, my bro is one of the best strappers in the business, I go out and ride with him and his friends all the time.RW: Insert funny random Q& A here….
RH: What color is your house? Its pink, get off my back!RW: If you were not a wakeskater, what would you be?
RH: Professional quick draw for sure. I am getting pretty dang fast.RW: What kind of Jet Ski is best?
RH: My Kawasaki, Her name is Charlene and she is 940 hours old (if you want to race, meet me at Lake Hansen 9:00 sharp)RW: Why did you want to ride for Ronix?
RH: The way i figure it, if they can be the industry leader with a company that is just started, then they can for sure do a real good job with a wakeskater. Plus, they have the most legit team in the world.RW: What is the funniest thing you read today?
RH: New Yorkers like to boast that if you can survive in New York, you can survive anywhere. But if you can survive anywhere, why live in New York?
Courtesy of RonixWake.com
