Team HO had another outstanding year. Will Asher, coming off arguably one of the greatest years of all time winning the Masters, World, and finishing #1, backed it up with another solid year. After winning the Pro Swerve in early June, He won the British National Slalom title again! Maybe his biggest win of the year came just a few weeks ago at the Diablo Shores Pro-am. This event is operated be our own Greg Badal. Will won the event in 2006 and was looking for a repeat and he got it. The event came down to the last 2 skiers of the tourney. It was Will vs. Jaime. Mano y mano. Not only did they end up in the head to head final but they even tied here. Will took it in the playoff to win the Diablo back to back. His last event of the year was the Boardstock event. Slalom at a wakeboard comp??????????

This was the 2nd time we have competed in this big party! It is held on a huge lake with hundreds of boats ripping it up during the comp. This did not stop Will as he ran 41 off in the semis. Granted, this was a 4 buoy course. But just for kicks, next summer set up a course on a public lake on the weekend and go out an try to just make a pass. But 41 off are you kidding. Jaime and Will ended up right where they were the previous weekend, tied! Will could not quite pull off the playoff finishing 2nd. Will finished 2nd for the year and also graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Business. Congrats, Will.

Our grom team had a killer year also! The Wilson Brothers are definitely the future of slalom skiing. It is incredible how good they are at such a young age. Brooks ,17, won the Junior Masters, finished 2nd at the Jr Us Open (he won in 2006), and 2nd at the US Nationals. Brooks is already running 39 1/2 off in practice and competed in his second US Open (not bad for a 17 year old). His little bro KC is a ripper also. He won the regional as well as the US National in the Boys 2 age division. The most impressive thing is not only what a cool kid he is but he ran 3 1/2 at 38 off in a tourney this summer. Did I mention that he is 13 years old? Can you even imagine this!

Winter Garden, Florida.-Team HO Skier Greg Badal dominates in winning the 2nd Annual Big Dawg Championships. Greg ran 3@39-1/2 off in the final to best Chad Scott who had scored 2-1/2@39. Badal, of Brentwood, Cailfornia also hosts the annual Diablo Shores Pro-Am.

There were 4 qualifying events throughout the US. Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, and California each hosted and event. The top 8 from each event plus the next best 18 made up the field of 50 for the finals in Florida. Badal had already put on a huge performance at the event in Cali. He ran 39 five out of six rounds in taking the Title. He also tied the Masters Men Pro record of 3@41 in the Cali qualifier.

The Big Dawgs are defined as at least 35 and older, who have not placed in the top 10 in a pro tourney in the last 3 years. The top 50 got 2 chances of qualifying in very windy conditions. The top 16 would move on to the head to head. Ben Favret, a former pro water skier, led the way after 2 rounds with 2-1/2@41 off with Badal a close 2nd with 2@41 off..

In the bracket finale Badal faced Marco Bettosini of Switzerland in the first round and got by easily. In the quarterfinals Badal faced Scott Larson. This was the match of the tourney with both skiers running a full pass at 39. Badal outscored Larson 1-1/2@41 to 1@41. In the semis Badal won his match against Don Beaman, which put him into the final with Scott. These two had just faced off last year at the US Nationals with Badal winning in a runoff with 2@41. This time Greg didn’t need the overtime!

The transition was a little tough because it was at the mid start of the season but sometimes you got to take a step back to get two leaps forward, I wanted to take my equipment to the next level and with HO signing Bob LaPoint and having unlimited resources at HO I knew I had made the right move. It's really cool to watch my brand manager Dave Wingerter and Bob LaPoint talk about skis, layups, ski design and all kinds of engineer talk. Dave is such a great guy he is so much fun to work with and the support that he has given me and HO has been awesome. It was just what I was looking for in a company.

I had an awesome winter; I had worked on some technical things and worked on some ski stuff too. I made two trips this winter to Gordon Rathburn's place in Acapulco, Mexico and boy is that place first class. I went the first time in mid November and it was so bloody hot still but it was perfect for testing. Me and Greg Badal went down there and threw it down on the water and it was one of the best groups that I have ever had to coach. I remember only missing 39 one time when I was down there the six days that I skied. The second trip I took was in late January and basically the whole HO team went and we had a blast. It was me Wade, Dave W, Greg B and we even brought a film crew down. It wasn't as humid as last time and the weather was perfect.

Wade I got to tell ya it has been an honor skiing with you all mid summer and this winter you have taught me allot and it's been a blast. And some good laughs too!!

Willy, it's been really cool getting to know you. You are a great competitor and looking forward for more good battles too come.

I did three boat shows this winter!! Chicago, Miami, NY and they all have been great. Chicago really stood out because I was there during the NFC Championship game and the Saints were staying at the hotel we were staying at.

I just got back from Moomba if you don’t know where that is it is in Melbourne, Australia and it was my first tournament of the year and it is my favorite place in the world to go too. I was top seed in the finals but I opted up and went for the win and it didn’t work out this time but sometimes it doesn’t work out your way. I got two months until my next tournament!!

MASTERS HERE WE COME!!!!! Well hope you enjoyed reading this.