Grab Matters Podcast

We have recurring guest Dylan Mead in the booth to chat all things wakeboarding, answer some patreon questions, and flip the script on the usual pod. We're changing it up this week and Dylan came prepared with some questions of his own for Hunter, including some about the ins and outs of what its like to run a podcast. Wildest winch kick out stories, riding without a helmet, chugging milk, Gr...

Rivers Hedrick may get her name mispronounced at just about every event she rides in, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t one of the biggest names in the cable game right now. Like most in America she got her start behind the boat but quickly switched to riding cable in Atlanta, Georgia at Terminus Wake Park. Learning to ride with the best in the world, almost turning down a Red Bull event invite, fin...

How would you go about having a full time job while also traveling the world and shooting some of the best wakeboard and wakeskate athletes out there? Well, Mahallia has been doing just that for years now. Mahallia has an infectious energy and has spent time shooting and riding with some of the best. Growing up in California, doing her first Red Bull shoot, snagging her first cover, traveling to B...

Tom Fooshee was coined by Scott Byerly himself as the "King of Cable", and Tom has the resume to back it up. Getting started in in Texas waterskiing behind the boat, Tom didn't even start riding the cable until many years later when TSR opened. Tom is an eccentric and passionate rider who still follows the sport closely to this day, and has managed to stay in the industry after his...

Jimmy LaRiche is a former pro rider who still cares about wakeboarding today just as much as he was when he was riding. Starting on the cable at Ski Rixen in south Florida, Jimmy made a transition to boat pretty smoothly. Wakeboarding with Tom Brady, riding with Adam Errington, getting mentored by Erik Ruck, winning Brostock, several pro models, board tech, ROTY pick, transitioning from a rider to...

Parks Bonifay, Shane Bonifay, and Erik Ruck reunite for the Pointless Posse Christmas Special! Complete with 2 bottles of egg nog, the boys reminisce on some of their favorite stories from the Pointless days, as well as chat about the present and future of wakeboarding. The Mt. Rushmore of style, PWT/LAO Predictions, New X Star, Pointless vs. La Familia, ROTY, Wakestock Canada stories, Sketchy rai...

Is Terminus wake park in Atlanta closing? Short answer, no. For the rest of the story tune in to this week’s episode with Chase Andrews. We chat with him about the Georgia wakeboard scene, his days on the PWT, boat sales, building a cable park, how much astroturf costs, his ROTY pick, video production, cable park pricing, and wakeboarding in a hat. Hear all that and much more in Episode 74 of the...

mDanny Amir aka Dano The Mano has been the voice of wakeboarding for a better part of 2 decades. He has been to and announced ore competitions than just about anyone else. We sit down with Dano and go over his midwest waterski roots and how he found himself living in Florida and getting into the announcing game. Living with Australians, riding OWC late at night, wake restrictions, his dad not liki...

Are you ready to hear some of the best stories from the wakeboard and rodeo industry from one of the best story tellers? Rodrigo Donoso has been around wakeboarding since its inception, getting his roots from the iconic west coast style of riding. We run through Rod's relationship with Corey Kraut, and how he influenced Rod's outlook on life. Getting into photography, shooting covers, Th...

Regarded by many as the “Thrasher” of wakeskating, Tad Mathews has done more for the sport than most realize. We sit down with Tad and guest co-host Jake Ramsdell and go over just how deep Tad’s involvement in wakeskating runs. Meeting Kyle Walton, filming, video premieres, winning VOTY, moving to Orlando, Rip City, More Than Machines, Van Life, Remote, Watermonsters, The Wakeskate Mag, ROTY, WeSu...

Simon Pettai just might be every wakeboarders favorite wakeboarder. Hailing from Estonia, Simon has been influenced by some of the best snowboarders in the game, and it shows in his riding. Creativity mixed with a not too serious attitude makes for a truly inspiring rider. We sit down with Simon and talk about how he grew up riding in Estonia, video parts, his first trip to America to ride and wor...

In the 7th installment of Shop Talk the boys start off by doing the Mount Rushmore of "Rewatchable Wakeboard Parts". After that, we dive into what makes a part good, wake "influencers", IG clips vs. edits, Noah off Hyperlite, bluntslides, Wake The City, Double or Nothing, WWA vs. IWWF, Brostock '25, and judging contests. Hear all this and much more in Episode 7 of Shop Tal...

Gavin Stuckey is easily one of the biggest names in cable wakeboarding right now, meaning one of the Stuckey brothers is an odds on favorite to win just about every contest they enter. However, Gavin has separated himself from his brother Trent in both his riding style as well as the videos he puts out. After having an incredible 2023 season, the rumors started swirling whether or not Gavin would...

It would be hard to argue that anyone single person has done more for the sport of wakeboarding, both on the water and off, than Parks Bonifay. You can tell he lives, eats, and breathes this lifestyle, and it shows. Parks was the youngest person to ever waterski, invented several tricks, filmed tons of video parts, won even more contests, and has pushed the boundaries of what is possible on a wake...

Back to back weeks with wakeskaters on the pod? You're damn right. T.J. has been around the wakeskate scene for what feels like forever. Getting started wakeboarding behind a small Boston Whaler, T.J. quickly shifted to wakeskating once he realized he and his friends would need a much bigger boat if they wanted continue to progress on their wakeboards. From there T.J. made the move from Miami...

Before Brandon Thomas was ever a sponsored rider he broke his femur while riding at OWC, where he was taken to the hospital where both his parents happened to be that same day. Shortly after arriving he was told that he would likely never be able to wakeskate again, that obviously did not turn out to be the case. BT has racked up some impressive wins, like at The Masters and Byerly’s Toe Jam, to n...

Brooks Wilson was the brand manager of one of the biggest waterski brands in the industry, Radar. We sit down and talk with Brooks about his recent decision to leave that position and venture out on his own to start a business here in Florida. Before Brooks worked for Radar, he was a professional waterskier and has had a tremendous impact on waterskiing, and watersports as a whole. From basically...

Keith grew up in Minnesota, getting on the water during the short Midwest American summers when he could. But after a move down to Florida in his late teens for college, Keith found the cable and quickly became even more hooked on wakeboarding than he already was. Spending time at the projects, Keith honed both his rail riding and his boat riding, and almost beating Parks Bonifay in one of the big...

Who has won the most wakeboard contests? Who has invented the most tricks? Who has signed one of the largest contracts in wakeboardings history? The answer to all of those questions is Darin Shapiro. Darin got started in watersports before wakeboarding as we know it was even a thing. Starting at the cable, Darin took countless laps on a trick ski, and barefooting, but it wasn’t until “ski boarding...

We start off the 6th installment of Shop Talk with the Mount Rushmore of Best Wakeboard Contests. After that the boys are talking all things wake, including going over events like Munich Mash, Copenwaken, and the most recent PWT stop. We also go over the new edit "Foama" from Felix Georgii and Dom Hernler, which is an absolute must watch. In addition to edits and events, were chatting ab...

He was given a 1 stop ban on the pro tour for hitting a pine cone with a wiffle ball bat? Chase Heavener is a former professional wakeboarder from Orlando, Florida, and has been around since the early days of the sport. Seeing it progress from "trick ski" style riding to where the sport is today has been a wild ride, and a ride that Chase had some influence in. When he got into the sport...

What does the future of cable riding look like in America? In this episode we sit down with the Director of Operations at Aktion Parks, Kellan Rudnicki. Kellan got into wakeboarding at Ski Rixen, after initially trying to learn how to kiteboard and getting told he needs to hit the cable to learn board control first. Once falling in love with the sport, Kellan restarted the wakeboard club at his co...

How do you navigate running a brick and morter pro shop in today's time where Amazon seems to run everything eCommerce? Bill Porter is the founder and owner of Performance Ski and Surf, located in Orlando, Florida. Being in the heart of the towed watersports scene, Bill's shop is the "go to" pro-shop for everything wake and watersports. Although his mom initially tried to get p...

We start off the 5th installment of Shop Talk with the Mount Rushmore of "Worst things that can happen to you on the boat". After that were touching on wakeskating making an appearance at the X Games, who is the best wake photographer, life jacket requirements, optimal cable speed, winch kickers, Wake The City, RGR, a question from Sam De Haan on our thoughts on "grabbing a rail&quo...

Did you know Raph didn't hit a single feature in his first 6 months of riding? Hailing from the Philippines, Raph Trinidad got his start riding at a cable where the depth ranged from 6 inches to 8 feet deep, depending on the tide. After choosing wakeboarding over soccer, Raph dedicated his life to being one of the best riders, and now has some of the cleanest and most powerful air tricks in t...