Sure, his hair may have a little too much product in it for his age, maybe he did wear gloves a few years too long, and of course there’s no getting past the picture above, but you have to admit Zane Schwenk is legend in the sport of wakeboarding, and an all-around great guy.

The powers that be tend to agree, which is why they honored him with as a Legend of Wake at the 2008 Wake Awards last fall. The equivalent of a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy’s, the Legend of Wake recognition highlights important people in the industry that have committed their career towards representing wakeboarding. Zane is exactly the kind of ambassador wakeboarding needs, and is a great public face for our sport.

Check out the video after the jump.

CWB recently released episode one of their new CWB TV Series featuring footage of Andrew Adkison’s ride with the Blue Angels last year. There’s nothing totally new to report in the video, but it is nice to see some video footage of the flight.

The word from CWB is that we should expect regular episodes from CWB TV featuring the latest happenings of the CWB pro team, so stay tuned for more updates.

CWB recognizes that female wakeboarders are a huge part of our sport, and the number of women taking wakeboarding seriously is growing all of the time.

That’s why they came up with their new Diamonds Are Forever contest specifically for female riders. In addition to a whole slew of CWB Diamond gear, one lucky hard charging female rider will win a day on the water with the Raequel and Shawna Hoffman. In addition to riding with the Hoffman girls, along with travel arrangements, accomodations and a brand new CWB Diamond Series wakeboard and binding setup.

Best of all, entry couldn’t be easier, just fill out the form on CWB’s website and you’re good to go. So pass it on to your special lady or favorite female ripper and give them a chance to win the trip of a summer.

Sean Kilgus, of BFY Productions, is in the process of filming “DRIVE”. The latest filming trip took the BFY Productions crew to Arizona with JD Webb, Danny Harf, Randall Harris, & Rusty Malinoski.

Wakeboarding Magazine’s June Issue has a brief feature about the trip. Check it out when it hits stands in a few weeks.

Any one that thinks wakeboarders are cheap bastards with no moral compass is in for a surprise today. From the feel good category comes the inspiring story of Paul, a teenager that bought a used board from another wakeboarder, but almost never received it. Rather than chock it up to a lesson learned, thanks to the generosity of Innov8 Action Sports, CWB Wakeboards and countless other wakeboarders, a new Absolute Platinum was sent out to young Paul.

The full thread has over 300 posts, but is well worth the read, especially if you’ve become jaded like us and are starting to lose faith in your fellow humans. Basically, it breaks down like this:

• Excited teen saves allowance to buy used wakeboard from fellow rider.
• Fellow rider never sends used board to teen, but keeps the money.
• Teen, in a last ditch effort, posts on a discussion forum about what happened.
• Other readers offer despondent teen their old boards and pitch in to buy him a new one.
• Innov8 Action Sports and CWB Wakeboards do one better and donate a brand new Absolute!
• The story gets even better when Trevor Hansen chimes in to say that he’ll be signing said board before shipping it to the now elated teen.
• Balance and order are restored in the wakeboarding universe.

It’s a great thing to see other wakeboarders stepping up to the plate to take care of one of their own, even a complete stranger. Reading through this thread just makes you feel good to be into wakeboarding, and the gracious response from Paul and his family show that good deeds to get noticed. Hopefully we can all learn from this story and apply the logic to our own lives, even outside of wakeboarding.

To his credit, the scammer had extenuating circumstances complicating his life, and claims that he did finally send young Paul the board he paid for. But Paul has already stated that when the original board shows up, he’s going to pay it forward by donating it to someone else that is in need of a board. And that right there is perfect ending to such an inspiring story.

Check out the full story for an entertaining and encouraging read.

Wakeboarding Magazine, in conjunction with CWB, just started a contest to win Zane Schwenk’s 2007 setup.

Get the scoop on what’s included and where to sign up after the break.