Riding the mountain: Vid of wakeskaters on Banaue Rice Terraces goes viral

Published October 26, 2013 9:58pm

(Updated 3:18 p.m.) Professional wakeskaters Brian Grubb from the United States and Dominik Preisner from Germany took their sport to the next level, quite literally, as they winched through the waters of the Banaue Rice Terraces.

“On my prior trips to the Philippines, I noticed that on the backs of the bills here, you could see all these rice terraces and tons of water. It's basically a wakeskate paradise,” Grubb said in the video that went viral, with more than 165,000 views on YouTube.

Grubb on his board slid over a thin plank through three levels of terraces, his dynamic movement juxtaposed over the serene landscape of the famed Eighth Wonder of the World.

The sport is essentially skateboarding on water. Unlike wakeboarding, the rider is not attached to the board at all when he wakeskates.

“Basically what we’re trying to do is, all of the tricks are moves that were originally done on a skateboard. We’re just trying to take all those same tricks and that same kind of feeling but do it on the water,” Grubb explained in an interview at the Nuvali Wakepark Media Workshop.

The team took took care not to damage the environment they arrived in. Grubb narrated how the native Tuwali Ifugaos, a tribe of the Ifugao Rice Terraces, gave them permission to wakeskate in the area.

Hanging out with the locals

“The native people here, the Tuwali tribe are kind of governed by the Mumbaki priest. And when we got here, we had to get their permission just to ride on the rice terraces. So they invited us to their spot and they gave us the permission at the end of the ceremony that we could ride on their rice terraces,” Grubb said in the video.

Grubb shared his team's experience with the locals during the project.

“The first time I landed that thing, I just (heard) everyone cheering and there are kids all along the side of the road just going crazy,” Grubb said during the interview. “It was definitely something they’ve never seen before and maybe they didn’t understand exactly what it was at first but after we were there for a week, they were definitely into it.”

Grubb's team also taught some of the locals how to get up the board on the top pool.

“Man, they had so much fun and they were getting muddy with all of us crashing in the mud. It was really cool and they all had big smiles on their faces and it was cool just to spread the love.”

The set up was kept as simple as possible to keep the scenery's natural look, according to a press release. The only man-made obstacles being a wooden log slider and the custom winch setup.

The spot covered four pools with a total length of 80 meters.

Pushing for epic air

Wakeskaters push the boundaries of their sport, exploring urban pools, water fountains, dams, bridges and more.

Yet the Banaue Rice Terraces was nothing Grubb had ever seen before.

“Even after the fourth and fifth day we were there, we’d pull up in the morning and just watch the sun come up and we were just like, ‘man this place is epic.’ It’s just so beautiful and it was just great being there,” he said. – Kim Luces / KDM, GMA News

Tags: wakeskate, briangrubb, dominikpreisner, banauericeterraces