Wakeboard Team Hits up the Tiki Shack

May 5th, 2008

Parker, Arizona

Nothing quite beats the reflection of the desert sunrise off the perfectly glassy water of the Colorado River to get your morning started. Body Glove took their wakeboarding pros, Rusty Malinoski, Shelby Kantar, Jeff McKee, Tarah Benzel-Mikacich and Daniel Doud out to our favorite little spot in the world, the Tiki Shack. It was a three-day trip full of insane riding, gambling, BBQs, one arm football nut darts, cliff jumping and crazy aerial photo shoots. And it was one of the best trips so far

The crew jumped into Browning’s RV and settled in for our 4-hour drive. We ran to the border for some Mexican food, which everyone later declared the worst idea ever, and hit the open road. The ice chests were cracked open and thus was created the best RV drinking game ever, One Legged Beer Balancing While Riding in an RV, it was entertaining for hours.

We finally reached the Tiki Shack, swapped out the props on the MasterCraft CSX and got everything ready for first light the next morning. That night Rusty rallied the troops to hit up the nearby Indian casino and do a little gambling, you’re probably wondering if we won any money. Let’s put it this way the only person to win was Shelby and she got $50…..the next night would be similar to the first. But the highlight of the evening would be Jeff McKee and Karen Meistrell’s rendition of Sheryl Crowe’s “All I Wanna Do”. Jeff also learned a valuable lesson that night, Indian casino security gaurds don’t like it when you take your beer on stage, especially when you’re drinking from a straw.

Body Glove’s fearless leader Billy Meistrell was the first one up the next morning and made sure that the sun didn’t hit the water before we did. Rusty was the first one up and riding, he was testing out his 2009 Signature vest and gave it the stamp of approval. Jeff McKee threw down some very cool freestyle runs, Daniel Doud brought his epic surf style, Pro Tour Champ Shelby Kantar showed us why she’s the champion and Tarah Benzel fresh off knee surgery let us know she wouldn’t be held up by a little knee injury.

The mornings were all about getting the job done and getting the shots, after that everyone was pretty much left up to their own devices. Which in turn led to Jeff and Rusty coming up with a game entitled “One Armed Football Nut Darts”, they would tuck their right arm in their shirts and throw a football at each other with their left arm. Hours of fun! Suddenly Rusty gets a wild hair up his ass and wanted to go jumping off the 60 ft. cliffs over by the casino. Rusty was the first to go, not properly gauging the distance of his fall he let out a “OH F*&^!!!”. It was so high you could hear the woosh of air as you went down. Daniel and Rusty took turns off the top. A naked McKee was less stoked to go off the super high one and choose the platform of a lower cliff, but hell he did it naked so that makes it about even.

The next morning went down similar to the first, everyone jumping in the freezing cold water and ripping it up. This time our brave video and photo crew climbed to the top of some very shear rock faces to get really amazing aerial shots. Rusty’s power going into his tricks and landing way out in the flats and Daniel’s laid back style really stood out as the crew filmed them from above.

By the time we piled back into the RV to head home, everyone was beat. It was pretty much the perfect ending to a short but amazing trip out to the Tiki Shack.

For more photos from the Tiki Shack please check ou the Photos Section.