Wilsonville Spokesman Online

It's just my style

Wilsonville teen Dakota Powers continues his ascent through regional wakeboarding ranks

• By: Josh Kulla  
• Published: 12/2/2009 5:06:15 PM
• Last Updated: 12/2/2009 5:10:23 PM

Style
Dakota Powers (middle) celebrates his recent win at the INT West Coast Wakeboarding Regional Tournament.

Seeing Dakota Powers roll up for his interview in a wheelchair was something of a shock, particularly because he was there to talk about his recent wakeboarding exploits.

“I fell off a trampoline,” he explained. “Me and bunch of friends were messing around. I hobbled inside and said ‘I think I broke my leg.’”

A sophomore at Wilsonville High School, Powers turned out to be correct. He broke his fibula and cracked an ankle bone in the Oct. 24 incident, resulting in surgery four days later that left a plate and several screws anchoring the joint while the bones mend.

He’s expected to miss much or all of the upcoming snowboard season, but is expected to make a full recovery.

“I’m still doing some weight training,” he said. “And this chair helps out. I’m trying not to let it hold me back.”

On the bright side, however, Powers’ injuries came after he swept his way to a convincing victory in the expert division at the INT Western Regional Invitational wakeboarding championships, held Oct. 2-4 at Villa Logos Lakes in Gerber, Calif.

The event features competitors from Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona and Utah and is one of two regional events held each year by the INT, a national sanctioning body for wakeboard, waterski, wakeskate and kneeboard events.

Now 15 and sponsored by Active Watersports of Oregon City, Powers has steadily worked his way up through the INT ranks over the past five years, moving from novice all the way to expert. He said this was by far the biggest victory of his budding career in wake and snowboarding.

“I was super happy about it,” he said. “I’ve gone to nationals four years in a row, but I always bomb out and it never works out for me. But this time I was out there in the right state of mind. It was big to win that regional, it makes me feel like I’m getting somewhere.”

Powers edged out Northern California boarder Skyler Fulster in the men’s expert division with a score of 10,701 to 10,651. Washington state rider Eddie Roberts was third with 10,139 points, which are earned based on the difficulty of each rider’s array of tricks.

“It was the best feeling ever when he took that podium, he worked really hard for it,” said Powers’ mother, Tammy Simpson. “His first run was 2,000 (points) over the second place rider. He definitely rose to the challenge this time out.”

Powers said he was able unleash an array of new tricks and moves, something which also contributed heavily to his win.

“I finally hit the rails this year, so I was pretty stoked about that,” he said, describing just one.

Daily competition with friend Mick Korum of Vancouver, Wash., at events and practice during the summer season also provided the spark Powers needed to peak at the right time. Korum took first place at the West Regional in the men’s masters division, two steps below expert.

Powers and other Oregon riders also took the opportunity to travel to Villa Logos Lakes three days prior to the event. That allowed Powers the chance to ride in the competion lake while being towed by the same boat that would be used in the event. Not only did he familiarize himself in advance with the course, he also was the first to figure out a strategy for dealing with the army of ants plaguing the campground adjacent to the lake.

“We parked on the far side of the lake, and I noticed that the whole ground was moving,” Powers said, recalling that he didn’t think too much of it at the time.

That would change.

“I woke up in the morning to my mom screaming,” he said, laughing. “It was a disaster. It was horrible. But at least I got to meet a lot of people. The place had a good vibe.”

The triumph has been a long time coming for Powers, who said he has advanced through the INT ranks since entering his first competition over four years ago as a novice.

“It feels like it’s been really fast,” he said. “It feels like it was just yesterday that I was in that (novice) division. I’ve been moving up one or two divisions a  year, and I want to be able to start travelling more.”

For now, though, he’ll be on the mend and hoping to rejoin his comrades on the Wilsonville High School snowboard team later in the season. Nonetheless, he’ll still be plotting how to advance past the expert division to the Outlaw and even professional ranks.

“It’s tougher to advance past the Outlaw division,” he said. “You have to Mopes and Flip 360s, they’re required. It’ll probably take me a few years to get through that division.”
 
At A Glance:
INT was founded in 1993 and is the Largest Waterski, Wakeboard, Wakeskate and Kneeboard Tour in the world. INT promotes amateur and pro events for all ages and abilities.

There are state teams and organizations, also. Powers and Simpson are longtime members of Oregon INT and are both familiar faces at events in Oregon and further afield. INT and its Oregon offshoots have a substantial Web presence, starting with www.myspace.com/oregonint or www.intleague.com, or www.intleague.com/oregon.

The INT League was started in Washington state with four events and has expanded into 27 states hosting over 250 events days per year. The first US Championships was hosted in Austin, Texas in 1998 with 330 competitors in 27 divisions.
 
No Nationals in 2009
Because of the faltering economy nationally which has hindered participation and caused costs to rise, the 2009 INT US Championships have been postponed until 2010.

Tour winners in each state in 2009 will be invited to participate in the 2010 US Championships in whatever division they participate in, in 2010.

Three states canceled their 2009 INT tours due to a lack of local sponsorship and because they were unable to get tow boats from dealers or promotional boat owners.

Sponsorship also is down 37 percent this year.

Web:
INT League National: www.intleague.com.
INT League Oregon: www.intleague.com/oregon.

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