The final stop of the Supra Boats Pro Wake Tour took place in the headline sponsor’s backyard in Lenoir City, TN and saw Tyler Higham win the overall PWT title.

All eyes were on Higham, and Jamie Hauser. Prior to the season kickoff in May very few would have expected the final event to feature PWT Rookie Jamie Hauser and free-ride specialist Tyler Higham to be the two going for the overall title. Higham is no stranger to making the finals in boat contests and has graced the podium plenty of times, but his first pro win had yet to materialize prior to the ’23 season.

Hauser was even more of a surprise contender. “I think you’d have to look back to Darin Shapiro or Parks Bonifay in their first year on tour to find the last time that a rookie was in contention for the overall title,” observed announcer Danny Amir, better known as Dano the Mano, who has likely watched more wakeboard contest runs than anyone else on the planet.

While Higham and Hauser were pre-season longshots for the overall PWT title, it was certainly not due to their inability to compete or their lack of top tier tricks. The last 5 years have been dominated by Nic Rapa and Cory Teunissen for the top spots with the two trading wins back and forth. They each suffered injuries that kept them from competing in all 4 events and without strong placings in every PWT stop, one can kiss their chances of the overall title goodbye. Both Rapa and Teunissen are no strangers to putting in the work necessary to win and stay at the top, but also proved that they can come back from injuries with a strong mindset.

“Seeing how Nic couldn’t even jump the wake in the first stop of the year to watch him come back and win by the end was really impressive,” shared Amir. “Shota Tezuka making the finals and placing 3rd in the event and 3rd overall was really cool, he has been doing this for a long time and can still throw down.”

Read Next: Pro Spotlight – Tyler Higham

An overall title can change the course of a rider’s career. It is something that can be leveraged to prove one’s consistency in a competitive environment. This year’s winner however proved a lot more. Higham is not just the guy that can land contest tricks over and over in any condition, he is what all riders hope to be; the rider who does not sacrifice style for consistency but has built a bag of tricks so deep that he can hang with the most technical riders in the world. 

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Progression is the focus of every action sport. On occasion there is a single event that brings that progression to light and the Supra Boats Pro Wakeboard Tour Stop #3 served as that platform. Never-been-dones, rarely seen contest tricks, and an overall competitive lift were all on display on Lake David in Groveland, Florida in between classic Central Florida weather delays and glassy conditions.

The new format heavily influenced by the riders was a head to head, bracket style, single elimination tournament with scores based on three passes which brought a unique feel to the day. The first pass was judged on the best 4-trick line. Next pass gave the chance to land a single best trick off the wake. Finally, they capped off their run with a double-up. 

The heavy tricks coming out the day were multiple different riders landing clean Crow 7s, Tyler Higham‘s wake-to-wake TS BS 900 and Mute HS 10, Luca Kidd’s perfect double grabbed HS BS 900, and a switch heelside 10 off the wake by Kai Ditsch to be the first ever to land it in a contest.

West Coast native Tyler Higham was the perfect competitor to take the win in an event filled with stylish, technical riding. As a high seed coming into the day tied for 1st in overall standings, Higham took advantage of the new format.

“I felt like I’ve had the tricks to win an event for the last few years, but my consistency has really come a long way.”

That has to make the field nervous because a confident rider with a deep bag of tricks that all look perfect is something you don’t want to see in your heat as a competitor.

In a twist of fate, Tyler drew his brother’s name out of a hat for the first round. “I told everyone that I knew I was going to pick his name. It was cool to ride against him but it was a bummer that one of us would be knocked out in the first round,” said Tyler. That was the theme of the day as Tyler continued to go up against his best friends and riding crew. Aptly named “La Familia” the group of riders has a lock on the freshest video content, newest tricks, and overall good vibes in the wake community right now. “We decided the night before to bring out our tent, grill, and music. It felt like we were just riding at home because that is what we do everyday. Grill out food, take a few sets and root each other on. We all just love the sport of wakeboarding so much. It was a bummer that we were all on the same side of the bracket besides Kai.”

That relaxed feel propelled Higham to push the limits of his riding even when he didn’t have to. In the Quarter finals against his crew-mate Sam Brown, all he needed was to land a solid trick off the double up. “Since he went first and fell and he is one of my boys, it didn’t feel right to just do something easy,” explained Higham as he reflected on landing a perfect switch mute heelside frontside 1080. 

Read Next: Pro Wakeboard Tour 2023 Stop 2 Acworth

On the wakesurf side, long-time surf tour staple Sean Silvera came out of competitive retirement to show the young guns that he still has what it takes to win. Edging out 13 year old Jett Lambert was no easy feat but certainly provided some bragging rights. Lambert placed 2nd and secured his first overall PWT Surf title. 

The Jr. Pro division had Beaux Wildman taking the win and extending his lead in the overall standings.

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The first Supra Boats Pro Wakeboard Tour event of the season kicked-off in Groveland, Florida, on Saturday, May 20.

There, the world’s best boat riders took aim at the overall titles in the Pro Wake, Pro Surf, and Jr. Pro Wake divisions. With the 2022 champions each returning in healthy form, there is always an added layer of pressure to make a statement at the first tour stop and let the field know that they are there to defend.

Perhaps the most experienced at rising to the occasion is last year’s overall Pro Wake champ Cory Teunissen. A consummate professional, Cory secured the top seed in the finals and landed a clean run with 3 double flips, a 1080, backside 9 and a few mobe 5s and frontside 900s for good measure. Past overall champ, last year’s runner up and the man most likely to make Cory’s day more difficult, Supra team rider, Nic Rapa, was unfortunately taken down by an injury sustained in training up for the first event. The Cory and Nic battle that we have grown accustomed to seeing will have to wait.

Cory’s day was not a walk in the park by any means.

“Tyler Higham’s run could not have been done any better” stated Pro Wake Tour driver and wakeboard legend Trevor Hansen. “He landed a run that he had never put down, even in practice, stomping a toe-side backside 900. He was so close on his double-up but didn’t ride it away” Hansen continued.

Pro Wakeboard Tour Finals Results Stop #1

1. Cory Teunissen: 93.33
2. Tyler Higham: 91.33
3. Fynn Bullock: 87.67
4. Massi Piffaretti: 85.33
5. Maxime Roux: 80.67
6. Shota Tezuka: 73.67

The final trick could have been the difference in the first and second place spots. 

There were new faces in the mix making noise with first time Pro division competitors Maxine Roux and Fynn Bullock making the finals. Bullock, who competes at a high level in snowboarding as well, made his first pro podium placing 3rd. 

Junior Pro Wakeboard Finals Results Stop #1

1. Beaux Wildman
2. Shion Takaiwa
3. Daniel Johnson
4. Noah Bollard

Beaux Wildman, who is making a name for himself on all types of water sports equipment, made the finals in both Jr. Pro Wake and Pro Surf. Wildman took the victory for Jr. Pro wake and took the first step towards repeating his overall title. 

Youngster Jett Lambert took the win in Pro Surf, riding well beyond his teenage years and holding off the top 3 overall finishers in 2022. 

With the high-flying action on the water and on land with the BMX and Freestyle Motocross demos, the Supra Boats Pro Wake Tour proves to be the place to go to have your mind blown. Stop #2 in Acworth, GA comes up in a few short weeks (June 10)  and with the level of riding continuing to elevate, this season will be one to stay tuned in to. 

Pro Wakesurf Tour Finals Results Stop #1

1. Jett Lambert: 95.67
2. Taylor Swanson: 94.00
3. Camron Swanson: 78.00
4. Beaux Wildman: 71.67

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You’ve come a long way from the Oregon grom who spent a lot of time riding the Delta with Josh Twelker and Trever Maur. What’s it like to be living in Orlando full time now and doing the pro wake rider thing from there? Like everything, it’s got its pros and cons, but it’s good, I like it a lot! It’s really warm year round so that makes it way easier to ride in the winter. But Cali will forever be my favorite place to wakeboard.

What’s your living situation like in Orlando, and who do you ride with most out there? So we got a pretty packed house with myself, Guenther (Oka), Max Van Helvoort, Luca Kidd and Sam Brown. I ride with all of them quite a bit, but I also ride with Jake (Pelot), Massi (Piffaretti) and Cory (Teunissen) a lot. It’s pretty fun to mix up who you ride with, it helps me with getting creative and thinking of new stuff.

It’s apparent that your time with riders like Josh and Trever really influenced how you ride now. In what ways specifically do you think they had an impact on you? What gets you the most stoked about wakeboarding? Yeah Josh and Trev have literally been there every step of the way, so they have influenced me the most, especially Josh. When that man wakeboards it’s unreal – so much style, flow and finesse – it still blows my mind every time. I would say there are a couple things they preached to me quite a bit that helped me a lot. Josh probably influenced me the most by how he was able to make every trick he did look good, even the hard tricks. That is definitely something that has stuck with me. Both Josh and Trev always talked about how being different was huge – making tricks your own – and they both do that really well and it’s something I strive for in my riding.

What gets me super stoked is watching riders like Massi, his bag of tricks is just so unique, his grabs are all different and it’s just really sick to watch.

Last year was pretty impressive for you: X Games Real Wake bronze medal, PWT Rookie of the Year, a finalist for a bunch of Wake Awards – including Best Trick when you landed the first ever wake-to-wake switch mute double mobe. How did that all feel when the year ended? I was happy with how I did for sure. Getting the invite to X Games was insane. Definitely the coolest/most stressful time of my life, but so much fun and totally worth all the work put into it! I would have liked to make a couple more finals than I did, but that’s how it goes. Overall I was really stoked on how my rookie year went – definite motivation to keep the momentum going.

With all that you’ve accomplished the last couple years, and how well you’ve been riding recently (most notably with that insane heel 10 off the wake), do you feel any pressure to keep pushing the envelope and living up to these new expectations? (laughing) No not really. I’ve never really thought in terms of people expecting me to do these tricks or do well in that comp, so I think that helps, for sure. I just wakeboard for me and try to push myself to be the best I can be. I remind myself to enjoy it because I am having so much fun on the board right now!

What’s it like being part of the Ronix team and getting to take part in all the craziness at Lake Ronix and Radar Lake? Being on Ronix is the coolest thing in the world. I absolutely love everything about Ronix; everyone is so cool and fun to hangout with. Being at Lake Ronix is crazy, the setup is insane and so much fun to ride. Some crazy stuff goes down there, both on and off the water (laughs).

You’re also one of the newest team members for Supra, and you’ve got the 2018 PWT boat in your backyard. How’s that been? It’s been awesome! Having the SA in my backyard is a dream come true, I’ve wanted a boat sponsor since I was like 12, so it’s crazy that it actually happened and I get to ride it everyday!

What’s up with you making “welcome to the team” social videos that go viral? You’ve done that for both Ronix and Supra the last few years. (laughing) I’m not sure, I just wakeboard, they film and edit. The credit is all theirs for making it look good.

How often do you hit up a cable park? In the winter I ride cable a lot, more than I ride boat, actually. But as soon as everyone starts riding a lot I kinda forget about the cable and only ride boat.

What are your goals for the rest of the season? I would like to stay in the top five of Pro Wakeboard Tour and the Wakeboard World Series. It would be awesome to get my first pro win this season, also to be in the running for a few different things at Wake Awards.

Your heel 10 is definitely a contender for Trick of the Year at Wake Awards. Got anything else you’re working on? I may have a couple tricks I want to try before Wake Awards… Stay tuned.

As a rider who’s had to work hard for some tricks and save them for big video parts (i.e. Real Wake), but who also has to keep up with the daily demands of social media these days, how hard is it to keep the balance? Do you think riders put good stuff out too fast today, or put up too much “just ok” content? It’s really hard to balance (laughs). I think that saving a couple banger tricks for a web edit is so sick, but it’s hard to not just throw it on Instagram because, to be honest, it will probably get more views and traffic that way, which helps you and your sponsors more. I have been trying to put up quality content, but it’s hard to do that a couple times a week or even everyday. I mean it would be sick if everyone put up insanely good content every post, but with how much we are expected to post it’s not possible to do unless you had a full time photographer and videographer working for you.

What’s on your playlist these days? Lot’s of rap to get me hyped to ride, I used to be into the old school rap, but I have been getting into the new stuff lately and I’m liking it.

When you’re not riding in Orlando, what can we find you doing? Hanging out with the boys at the house, we have really been getting into 2K Basketball on the PS4. Spike Ball has been getting really intense lately too (laughs). Other than that you’ll probably find me sleeping. I really enjoy my sleep (laughs).

Who would you like to thank? I have to thank my family, I wouldn’t be doing what I am without them. Josh Twelker and Trever Maur for the influence and mentoring, and the whole Twelker family for taking me in on the Delta all those summers. And thanks to my sponsors: Ronix, Supra, and Active Water Sports.

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Tyler Higham is the reigning Rookie of the Year on the Supra Boats Pro Wakeboard Tour, and his unique style, combined with a big bag of tricks, makes him a contender for the podium at every stop.

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