I was just contacted this afternoon by Australian Pro Freerider and Jet Ski Stunt Coordinator, Jon Cooke. Jon operates and coordinates the absolutely gnarly Jet Ski Extreme stunt show at Sea World in Australia. Jon also manages and puts together tons of other Jet ski related events all around Australia, and has been working to expand his shows overseas, including the US.

I have been invited however to perform in the “Jet Ski Pirates” show for 5 days in Toowoomba, Australia. I am Leaving tomorrow (March 23rd) at Midnight and will be coming back on April 6th. While I am there I will have the opportunity to experience Australia, meet tons of new friends that I have got the chance to see in recent Freeride videos, eat tons of meat pies, pet kangaroos, see my American/Australian friend Kevin Rickon, ride some Australian surf, and finally try out for the opportunity to perform at the Sea World show for 3 months and live with world champion Pro Freestyle rider, Lee Stone! Lee Just called me earlier to see how everything was going and was super helpful and welcoming to the whole opportunity. I am still trying to put my sanity back together as I write this because I am leaving for another country with just a little more than 24 hours heads up..

So expect some updates while I’m over there and some footage from the trip of coarse. Over all my mind is completely blown and I will see my new Australian friends very soon!

Big thanks goes out to Jon Cooke, visit his website www.joncookeentertainment.com to see all of the action I may be able to be apart of in the next few months.

Until then.. cheers to 2 weeks in OZ Here we go!

-MG

At the end of October Pro Freerider Zack Bright and I were invited to Argentina to be special guests at their annual freeride nationals event In the summer city of Villa Gesell.  This event was sparked back in 2009 when Ross Champion was invited to help get the first freeride event together in Argentina. The event is put together by a team of the most kind and hospitable guys Pablo Wolf and Harry Puddu. Pablo Wolf is the best Dentist in the town of Villa Gesell who is close friends will all of the town officials. Pablo is the one who funded Zack and my travel as well as all of our hotel and amenities to and from Argentina. On top of that Pablo is able to put everything together with his connections in Gesell. Harry Puddu works as a Travel agent, he plays just as big of a role by being able to communicate in some English with us, completely arrange our travel plans and hotels, as well as being an organizer and announcer at the event in Gesell. These two guys really make it all happen with up most integrity and I am so thankful for their friendship and support out of this event.

Our adventure began from LAX international Airport and then 15 hours later landing in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Zack Bright brought his girlfriend Kristen Escobar and I traveled with my girlfriend Bianca Reyna. Bianca’s entire family is from Argentina, so despite her saving the entire trip for us non Spanish speakers with flawless translation, she really made the trip special pointing out everything about the Argentine culture that means so much to her. When we arrived in Argentina, Harry Puddu picked us all up and drove us to our first hotel smack dab in the middle of Buenas Aires with our hotel room window overlooking the “Obelisco” monument and down town district. We all took some time to settle some things in from the flight and we drove to the local river to meet up with everyone and ride our skis for the first time.

This is where we met Maxi Sieburger of Jetmotion who had built his own new short style hull for Zack to use. This ski was also ridden by Pierre Maxient who was in town just 2 weeks before this event. I then met up with my crew of friends from a small garage band like group of supporters called Radical Jet ski. My friends Rodry Duran, Mai Adams, Luis Corti, and Leo Gomez who built my ski all have day jobs, yet came together to build me a superjet so close to my own just out of their sheer support for me. I was blown away because the ski came out great, it handled extremely well for me, and was just really an awesome ski all together. We all mounted our skis and took an over 8 mile ride up the river with two big boats providing a few hours of double boat wake action for us all to rip on. This was Zack and my first experience with the double boat wake situation, yet Zack and local rider Mariano Riva killed it stomping huge back flip variations.  We pulled over to a nice sandy beach in front of a small river side store which had $2.50 liter bottles of beer and fresh sandwiches which we enjoyed for about an hour.

On our way back, the double boat wake session continued. Just past the half way point when we thought it couldn’t get much better, Mariano waved Zack and I over to follow him. We peeled away from the group and the boats that were heading back. What began as some light carving fun toward the edge of the river, ducking under tree branches, and jumping over logs quickly peeled off into this tight swamp forest like reed trail. This was the most epic carving course I have ever ridden in my life. For 2 miles we were near full throttle to stay moving in murky ankle to knee high creature friendly water. We were carving left and right navigating through tight spaces of water, diving into the tray just to make it under tree branches, hopping over countless sections on lily pads praying that your intake would stay clear, then making a screaming right turn in front of a forest-man’s shack who ran toward us with angry blood thirsty eyes and a rock in hand! In the middle of it all I hit my reserve tank which built the adrenaline and “oh S&!%” Factor of not wanting to get stuck, not knowing how much further we were going on some secluded reed trail in a foreign country with the potential of some jungle living dudes trying wanting to kill you! Fortunately just a few more turns later we peeled off the trail screaming with adrenaline seeing that we all made it out alive heading back toward the main river canal. As I wondered where we were now after such an epic adventure, just as we were entering the main body of water I looked over to my right toward Mariano Riva. He grinned at me as he raised his right hand out toward the our crew 2 boats with the double boat wakes still pumping ready for some last few jumps. That was pretty much the most epic “Welcome to Argentina” moment any jet skier could ever experience!

Just as we cleaned up and got into the cars to leave the harbor, a massive thunderstorm appeared with torrential downpour. We drove through some flooded streets with some gnarly thunder cracking left and right until we arrived at Maxi’s house. The weather miraculously cleared just as Maxi opened his back yard door to extend our welcoming day with the use of his heated pool, cool drinks, and some of the best meats I have ever had that he cooked, “Asado” which is when the meats slowly cooked for a few hours over open fire and smoldering embers in a big smoker next to the pool.  All in all, our first day in Argentina didn’t suck!

The next day we made the 4 hour drive to Villa Gesell, a seasonal beach side city which swarms with visitors during the Argentine summer months of January and February.  We arrived at the 5 star hotel which Pablo set us up with which was incredibly nice.  About an hour later we all made our way downstairs into the hotel banquet room where there was a large press conference like table which Zack and I sat at with all of the event officials including the Mayor of Villa Gesell. It was an slightly awkward press conference for us, being that Zack did not know much Spanish, and I of coarse being the whitest non Spanish speaking Gomez there is to know. We scraped by with the translation help of Harry Puddu and were never the less welcomed to the city by the Mayor and his councilmen. We all walked from the hotel to enjoy some rather interesting sea food samplers at a local restaurant where we convened until almost 3am. The crazy part about Argentina is that even at 3am, they are all just getting started. Kids as young as 3 years old were running around and the streets and shops are as busy as 7pm Friday night peak at most down town shopping malls in the US! Pablo and his wife drove us out into the Gesell sand dudes where we gazed the moon lit sand dunes and the rather flat ocean of the Argentine coast.

The next morning we woke up “early” at 9am to get to the event site where Zack and I prepared our skis with the final sponsor logos and touches to kick the event off. We were sent out to put on a world champion show in very small shallow surf. Having a stock superjet hull without trim, I chose to do what I do best and surfed the hell out of every small set that came my way. Zack Bright did what he does best and absolutely killed it in the air on the shorter Maxi built hull, pulling off tons of back flip variations and rolls which really got the crowd fired up. Between the two of us, the people were really excited about the show as both Zack and I were swarmed by people wanting to take photos with their kids and some wanting to speak to us which did not go so well with the language barrier.

Over the next 2 days and between our riding sessions, Zack Bright, Argentine rider Christian Creuso, and I served as judges for their freeride contest split into an Amateur and Pro division. The contest was judged %50 Surf and %50 jumps and tricks. Despite the small surf, the riders there did very well. Many riders were going for barrel rolls and performing all kinds of great variations during straight jumps. The Amateurs who came out on top was 3^rd placeman Cali Dipascua, 2^nd placeman Nico Grafunkel, and Amateur Freeride Champion Matias Pallaoro. In the pro class, the riders who came out on top was 3^rd placemen Emir Goñi , and a close final heat with 2^nd place Juan Salicaro and Pro Freeride Champion Hernan Molina. These guys all rode really well. I saw lots of great barrel roll variations, and even a hand full of flips from the pro heats. Even with the consistent small waves, their surf scores were not very high. I am now extremely motivated to learn Spanish so that I may hopefully be able to come back help coach some of these guys, to be able help them achieve higher surf scores and techniques.

That night Bianca and I spread out all of the product I had smuggled into the country onto our hotel room bed and opened up our, “Kiosko” which are much like low key 7-11’s on every corner here in the US. Our Kiosko had tons of discounted products consisting of Liquid Militia Clothing, Bomber Floating Eyewear, Tomski Front footholds, WatCon hood seals, and tons of giveaways. Everyone who shopped left with giveaways such as, key chains from Hydro-Turf, ProRider Magazines, Signed posters from Zack and I, and tons of Stickers from Hydro-Turf, Liquid Militia, Bomber Floating Eyewear, Kommander Industries, Cold Fusion, WatCon, and many more.  Everyone was super excited to get these parts and products.

On the second day after the freeride finals there was some great Motosurf Racing for one of their Argentine national race tour stops. I had mentioned to some of my friends the night before that I would be interested in racing. Sure enough the next day racer Luisito Velay approached Harry and told him that I was welcome to race his 2009 Stock spec Yamaha superjet. Pablo arranged my participation in the race under the condition that I was to race in Pro Open class. This was a great experience because the races were long 8 lap motos with buoys close to shore. Not to mention the, “Lomond” start which was a 10 yard sprint upon the whistle blow to jump onto your ski in the water and go as soon as you could put the lanyard in and get going.  I finished 3^rd overall after losing the lead when my lanyard got pulled off going around the first turn on the last lap. That was a fun race to be a part of!

As the event came to a close an awards ceremony took place on the beach where the mayor presented the trophies and campaign bottles were given to the victor which were quickly turned into campaign showers. It was a crazy cluster of everyone running around with trophies squeezing into all kinds of different group photos. As the contest came to a close, we accepted an offer from Pablo to extend our stay in Villa Gesell for another two days. Pablo put us up in a new hotel which had a great sea breeze and ocean view to enjoy. We enjoyed the last few days of our trip by walking around town where we spotted tons of the event posters that were all over the place. Rider Cali Dipascua picked us up and took us to go see the really nice beach town of Pinamar. Last, we had a lazy beach day with incredible weather before we took a bus back to the airport of Buenas Aires. Zack and Kristen left back on a flight to the US, Bianca caught her bus to embark on the rest of her 3 week trip to see the rest of her family in Rosario, and I stayed in town for the extra two days before my flight with my friend Mai Adams. I was able to visit all of my friends at their shop Radical Jet ski, and was then taken on a great day trip by boat to visit the country of Uruguay before my flight back to the US.

While I was at the event in Gesell, I was able to communicate with a few riders throughout the weekend with the help of Bianca’s translation. They all have a great outlook on the sport and I am happy to see so much positive movement within the freeride industry coming from Argentina. From the bottom of my heart I cannot thank the great people and riders of Argentina for the most hospitable welcome to their country. Also Harry Puddu and Pablo Wolf, I cannot say enough kind words about those two guys. This was an incredible adventure and I hope to see these guys at JetWaves Brail in October of 2012!

Click Here to view the event gallery with over 250 Photos!

Thanks for your support!

-MG

I am brief about this write up because I will be writing a more detailed article about the Mark Hahn for the next issue of ProRider Magazine, so subscribe today! I have to thank KMG Racing for all of the support to have the opportunity to race their skis and to be welcomed into their race family/team.

Click here to view my 2012 Mark Hahn Photo Gallery

KMG Racing was supported that weekend by the following sponsors:

Bomber Eyewear — Mystik Lubricants – Impros Impellers — We Are MX Gloves — and IPD Graphics.

Follow my racing with KMG Racing on Facebook by liking their page by clicking here!

Thanks for your support,

-MG

This race is for sit down and a much smaller class of stand up’s who wish to participate. I have been to the Mark Hahn Race the last 2 years to support my friends in the pits to get them back out on the water ASAP. Now it it my turn to take part in the race for myself and take the 1st place stand up class title with my team! I will be racing on the KMG Racing 226 ski also known as “The Pink Taco” which won the Mark Hahn last year.

Team Rider Bobby Kerns and I, after we finished building "The Pink Taco" 226 ski which we will be racing.

My team is last years champion Bobby Kerns, and our team mate Todd,”Sarge” Young. We will be charging through and keeping a fast pace with 2 laps each. With our combined endurance, speed, and lightning fast pit stops provided by the organization of Team KMG Racing. We will be on top of that podium this year for sure. I will also be writing the article for the Mark Hahn 300 for the next issue of ProRider Watercraft Magazine.

 Team KMG Racing is supported by the following sponsors at this race:

Bomber Floating Eyewear, Mystic Lubricants, Impros Impellers, and IPD Graphics.

If you want to support my race season, please do me a favor and click the photo bellow to visit the KMG Racing Facebook page and “Like” them!

Thanks for your support, See you guys on the line!

-MG

Jon has a unique way of getting the best details and colors out of his photos. His photos from this event were featured for the SurfSlam Article in the November issue of ProRider Magazine. Two of Jon’s shots of Pro Freerider Taylor Curtis, made the front and back cover of this year’s Hot Products Catalog also.

Click here to view my entire 2011 Blowsion SurfSlam gallery.

To see all of his incredible work around and outside of snapping jet skis, Check out his website www.joncurrierphotography.com

Thanks!

-MG

Click here to view my own personal photo Gallery from this event.

Click photos to see each page in PDF form..

Mike Bonin general manager of Hydro-Turf and I

I am happy to announce my continued sponsorship with Hydro-Turf in 2012. I have been sponsored by Hydro-Turf since 2008 when I first started riding and have been building a bigger and better sponsorship relationship as the years have gone by. It is with out a doubt Hydro-Turf products are the best of their kind for Freeride, Racing, and Freestyle applications in the PWC market today. Hydro-turf is now the industry OEM standard for all Yamaha PWC & Jet boats and all Kawasaki PWC’s. With tons on cut pattern options combined with tons of custom and unique color combinations, Hydro-Turf really gives the performance of traction and the unique personality to every stand up or sit down jet ski.  Not to mention their line of custom under padding which provides the crucial key element in injury protection/prevention  from landing some of the big air tricks in the surf. Hydro-Turf has their own line of custom upholstered seats, mat kits, and chinpads under their HT Moto division.

Here are photos of my 2011 Freeride superjet which came to life with
Hydro-Turf’s unique 2 tone color combinations.

I look forward to another great year representing and adding a unique personality to my new Kommander Industries built Trinity Matrix Freeride ski with the continued support of Hydro-Turf. See how you can add a unique personality to your ski using Hydro-Turf Traction products today at www.HydroTurf.com!

Thanks for your support,

-MG

Click photos to see each page..

Zack and I will be Pro Invited Freeriders apart of Argentina’s biggest motosurf race and freeride event of the year, February 4th-5th. Zack will be bringing his girlfriend Kristen, and I will be bringing my girlfriend Bianca who’s entire family is from Argentina. Bianca will be huge support for me breaking through the language barrier I currently have until I become fluent in Spanish. The people of Argentina are going over the top keeping us at a 5 star hotel with all accommodations paid for. My friends Rodry Duran of Rad Jetski, Mai Adams, Leonardo Gomez, and Luis Hernan Corti have all been working hard over the last few months to prepare an awesome Freeride Superjet for me to ride at the event. The sheer generosity and excitement through freeride in Argentina absolutely blows my mind, and I’m not even there yet! It is safe to say I am over the top excited to take off on the 1st of February to see and ride with my new found friends in Argentina. I will briefly update my experience on my website but this entire trip will be covered in an article I will write for the February/March issue of Pro Rider Magazine. If you have not subscribed make sure to do so today at www.Proridermag.com!

That night everyone came together as later flights touched down and people drove in. I met up with Kyla and Ryan of Liquid Militia Clothing, and my hotel room mates DJ and Natalie Graham, Chris Anyzeski, Kevin Colins of LegDrag, and many more. We all ended up crashing Kyla and Ryan’s hotel room as friends would come in and out, some familiar and some new faces. I would then find myself harassing some of the drunkards on the 3^rd floor balcony of the hotel with my RC helicopter which was really fun. It escalated to a helicopter dog fight when my friend Drew Supon brought his RC helicopter to the party. I got too blood thirsty after the first take down of his chopper and ended up loosing control and braking some parts on mine ending the dog fight permanently.

On Friday I decided to change gears of my Daytona freeride experience a bit since my recent participation in the flat water freestyle scene. I got myself a ride and spent the day at local Lake Diaz for “Flat Water Friday”.  There had to have been well over $160,000 in full blown top dollar freestyle skis along the lake side. Freestyle riders from all over would ride all the different brand and styles throwing down the baddest flat water tricks and then going huge off the periodical double boat wake sessions. I got to ride quite a few skis, and the one I had the most fun on was amateur freestyler Daniel Martin’s brand new X-Metal KDX 900. This ski was hands down the most powerful 900cc power plant I have ever ridden so far. Flat water back flips were as simple as pulling the trim and throttle and screaming, “WeeeEEEE!!!” all the way around. That night I went out to dinner with the New York Crew at the Crazy Horse restaurant which was full of laughs as always. We then waddled over to Dimitri’s Greek restaurant where I ran into familiar new arrivals like Mike and Arno of Hydro-Turf and many other friends. It was all fun and games until someone (as in me) got iced… Thanks Liquid Militia and Team Xtreme ya bastards!

On Saturday I finished up the final touches on the Yamaha superjet Kevin Colins of Legdrag brought back for me to ride and was the 3^rd person on the water. The year before, I had brought my own shortened handlepole and steering system making the superjet very familiar and comfortable for me to adapt to. Kevin did his best, but was only able to find a stock length pole which after 30 minutes of riding left me very frustrated as I could not get back into the saddle of control and comfort in my riding. I brought the Superjet in and was given permission to ride my friend Scott Stevens Red Trinity Matrix ski. This is the Matrix that I had rode the year before that helped me choose what hull I would use.

After 10 minutes of riding his Matrix, I felt completely back in control and in my groove. I was able to ride fast and technical, slash lips faster without pearling, and over all I just felt unstoppable. I ended up loving this ski so much, I rode it all day! I also took it to the line of the Motosurf race where I raced it in the open ski class. Having an X-Scream 865cc engine with a 148 Magnum pump and short ride plate, it was fast as hell yet it was not the most ideal race set up. The hull handled extremely well, except for when I would jump waves all the power behind the ski would make it want to jump back up nose high. Scott and I tried to modify the ski with a longer ride plate which helped but still wasn’t quite enough to balance the power in the water. I believe I ended up 4^th place and 5^th place in the two motos.

Between the two races I rode in the sickest trick contest. Pro Freerider Taylor Curtis blew everyone’s mind on his Rickter XF-R when he stomped a back flip re-entry also known as an under flip re-entry. I was up next after him with two minutes to stomp something more amazing than an under flip re entry with crap for waves. I managed to get 3^rd place for either the No handed barrel roll I threw, or the 2 rail grab re entries I did.

Booster Nugget, the 2011 15 year old amateur freeride champion Christian Young, took 2^nd place with a solid look back surf stance barrel roll and back flip. Everyone packed up their skis and head up to the tower of power hosted by promoter Mikey Young for the awards and raffle. It was there where I received my 3^rd place trophy and bought $40 in raffle tickets only to come out with nothing which was a big bummer. That night the shenanigans rolled on to club 509 where I hung out with Pro Australian Freerider Nick Barton. I decided to drink with an Aussie, so let’s just say the night ended in a bit of a blur.

Sunday morning got off to a late start after some much needed sleep and a quick pack to get my stuff out of the room we had to check out of. With most people leaving to get back home for their work week, the amount of available skis dropped considerably, including Scott’s Matrix and the Superjet Kevin brought. I ended up getting in the water mid day and rode some awesome skis though! I got to test out Nick Barton’s Australian built Krash hull which was rad. I also got to ride the Blowsion built Light Weight hull from Germany. I rode the Light Weight ski over to the far end of the beach to help the Blowsion crew and Photographer Ronny Mac set up the ski for a Pro Rider Magazine cover shoot, with a great looking swimsuit model. The last ski I got to ride was Mark from Rad Dudes completely gnarly and unique fixed steer Rickter FR-2.

That night I went out to dinner with Liquid Militia, freeride founder Nick Foederer, Hydro-turf, Jeff Bolte and a few other good friends. After a killer dinner we went down stairs to check out an mind blowing live band. Monday morning Kyla and Ryan took off to Orlando and I got a ride to Melbourne with Ronny Mac to meet up with Bobby Howering of Trinity composites, builder of the Matrix hull. Bobby and I got to Iron out the details of my new hull build featured in my last blog post. I spent the night at my local buddy Bronson Dafoe’s house and was conveniently transported back to Daytona by his fiancée Ashley who works at the Daytona speed way a block away.

This trip was yet another awesome freeride to be a part of. I was so happy to be able to ride so much and connect with so many good people.

Here is the link to my 2012 Daytona Gallery, which will have more photos as they become available. http://markgomez.net/photos/daytona-beach-freeride-2012

I look forward to my next adventure of 2012 destination: Argentina. More to come soon!
-MG