DailyWake

Liquid Force has every angle covered again this year for wake. Their vest line is extensive, their board line is adaptive and the bindings are innovative once again.

[Image Gallery and Videos after the break]

Even though they were another company with a repeat booth, the product inside and out was enough to make you forget about the box it was displayed in. Don Wallace unveiled Liquid Force’s plan for 2008 with more focus on their Bro Stock campaign in different parts of the states. Don has been on board with Liquid Force through thick and thin and has a good handle on marketing and sales for the company. Check out Don’s Interview below to see where you can find the team for 2008.

One of the most interesting releases was another innovative plate system that compresses a cross pattern of two pieces into the new Response plate. Liquid Force is yet another company to join the reduction in whole spacing for their bindings and boards, but don’t worry they have designed it to work on any board brand old and new and older bindings to work on their new insert pattern needed to accommodate the Response plates narrowness. With this system they have again managed to reduce the weight of their bindings through the new lighter plate but also through the materials used in the construction of the binding itself. Brian Sanderson gives us the scoop on his design so check out the video below for more details.

Keith Lyman finally gets his pro model with LF with Jimmy Redmon at the helm for shaping. Rumor has it that Jimmy spent some recovery time from a snowboarding accident shaping this pro model and built it specifically to Keith’s style of riding. By that I mean structurally as well as how it handles. The board is very beefy through the middle to support those landings that Keith takes when he slings himself way out into the flats riding on his ninety plus rope lengths. With all that mass in the middle Jimmy reduced the thickness of the tip and tail to give it a very snappy light feel.

Along with that shape Jimmy has introduced a different kind of construction that you may recognize from some other manufacturers. The Press Wakeboard, backed by team rider Mike Ennen, is similar to the construction used in some kiteboards and is growing in popularity now in the wake riding side of the sport due to its wide range of usability. These boards supposedly hold up better on rails and flex like crazy so you can press your way across rails and boxes. Slingshot Wakeboards made a big statement with their release of this style construction and this may be Liquid’s way of saying we can do this too.

Last, we met up with pro wakeskater Silas Thurman to get the skinny on his dual deck design called the “SST” wakeskate. Silas and the guys at Liquid finally pre-released this skate prior to surf expo after battling issues with the deck construction and wood manufacturing of the lower deck. They didn’t want to release it in haste and have a bunch of returns so they decided to keep working on it until it was right. The top deck is compression molded contrary to what the rest of the industry is doing to reduce breakage on the tip and tail since it takes the most beating and flexing. They left the bottom deck wood so you still have the traditional wood feel that most riders look for. The board is designed with no risers which makes it ride rigid like a single deck board but gives you the snap of a dual deck. Well, it was worth the wait and I predict this being a best seller for 2008 if LF can keep up with he demand.

Brian Sanderson Interview

Jimmy Redmond Interview

Silas Thurman Interview

Don Wallace Interview

Go to the Liquid Force website [externallink]

Check out all of our Surf Expo 2007 coverage