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| Revolution Tour |
The Lounge Feature |
Words by: Gareth Rees
Stop one of Quiksilver’s Revolution Tour assembled a posse of world-class surfers, skateboarders and local and international music acts to wow more than 25,000 curious fans in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Yep, you heard right, surfing in the city! Thanks to a man made wave in a man made lagoon - Sunway Lagoon – two custom-made skate ramps, and a sound stage assembled especially for the day, the Revolution Tour shared the pure excitement of the boardriding lifestyle to a whole new audience.
People from all walks of life crammed vantage points around Sunway to catch surfers Australians Ry Craike, Julian Wilson and American superstar Dane Reynolds being whipped into man-made waves in the pool with the aid of powerful jet-skis, while the likes of France's Jean Postec, Germany's Sascha Mueller and Australian James Kennedy demonstrated their skateboarding talents on a huge 14 ½ foot customized 'vert' ramp.
While the surfers performed hi-speed carves, spins and aerials off the tops of the waves, Postec lead the way on the skate ramp with amazing, state-of-the art technical tricks and 720 degree spins. The excited cheers from the crowds inspired the athletes to go higher and harder each time. For many attendees it was the first time they had witnessed such demonstrations, but Dane Reynolds assured us the day was no less eye-opening for the athletes themselves.
"For us the wave and all the people is different to what we're used to, I've never seen anything like this in my life. I was trippin'. I've never seen so many people so psyched on what we were doing. To look around the pool and hear people screaming was pretty cool," said Reynolds, who along with Indonesia's Marlon Gerber, broke a surfboard in half as he attempted spinning aerial manoeuvres in Sunway's giant 18,000 square foot wave pool.
Skateboarder Postec, who regularly tours with legends such as Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi, was nonetheless similarly blown away by the crowd’s sheer size and enthusiasm.
"It's just crazy; it's the first time I've been to Malaysia. The crowd was really hyped and we could feel that when we were skating. They liked to see the big airs, and really appreciated what we could do which made me happy. To see the vert ramp and the other guys doing a lot of big tricks seemed to impress everybody. They want to be impressed and they were which pushed us to go harder," said Postec.
The fan base wasn’t confined to those poolside either. Former professional surfers John Shimooka and Matt Hoy were joined by local commentators bringing web viewers all the action from this free, one day event, with thousands of viewers also logging onto www.quiksilver.com to catch the action beamed worldwide via Quiksilver's live global webcast. Even Mother Nature came to the party, with sunshine and stars replacing the clouds and thunderstorms that have been commonplace in tropical Kuala Lumpur every day in the lead-up to the event, making the scene at Sunway seem even more magical and surreal. One of the world's most unique entertainment venues, and home to the largest man-made surf beach in the world, the 18,000 square foot surf pool churned out perfectly shaped waves surrounded by 6,000 tons of sand, palm trees and huts to create a tropical beach oasis within Malaysia's most populated city. Sunway's usual attractions, including roller-coaster rides, the 360 degree rotating pirate ship, water-slides and South East Asia's only man-made erupting volcano (which 'erupted' during the finale) added to the spectacle.
Ry Craike, who had surfed in the pool previously, says the man-made environment was a stark contrast to the pristine open ocean reefs of his North-West desert home, but was the perfect setting to perform some of the amazing manoeuvres he's famous for. Both Craike and Wilson took boards made especially for the exhibition, some with foot straps, but all slightly shorter and more buoyant to allow for the differences between the salt water of the sea and the chlorinated fresh water in the pool – but the pool’s other differences created bigger stumbling blocks… Mental ones!
"It's definitely weird to be sitting in a pool with no waves – then you hear the noise (pumps and hydraulics), and suddenly a wave appears out of nowhere. It's crazy, you know you'll have the same wave every time and that's an advantage to normal surfing - you could pull
something you've never done before," said Craike, who was a stand-out crowd favourite with his aerial prowess, but elicited the biggest cheers from the crowd when he’d simply boost off the back of the wave as high as he could launch without even attempting to land – the mainly non surfing crowd apparently loving the theatrics of height!!
Mr. Aaron Soo, CEO of Sunway, was ecstatic with the event’s success. "Sunway Lagoon Theme Park is extremely fortunate to be the launch site of the Quiksilver Revolution Tour, the first ever aimed at introducing the boardriding lifestyle across the South-East Asia region. After witnessing it’s resounding success, it has been proven that the Quiksilver Revolution Tour is indeed a groundbreaking event that will bring the kind of pulsating energy and excitement that the Sunway Surf Beach is built for, a place for the surfing generation to chill out," said Mr. Soo.
"If Bali's Kuta Beach is the surfing destination in Asia, we at Sunway Lagoon aim to make Sunway Surf Beach, the best man-made surf beach in the world, as the perfect destination for surfers and outdoor fun lovers alike!"
To learn more about the Quiksilver Revolution tour, the athletes and Sunway Lagoon, visit the site at: http://au.quiksilver.com/www/site9/RevolutionBlues/index.html
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Tags: The Lounge, Sport
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