At owc today and Phil's riding a ctrl deck I assume that's he's new sponsor

Thats why its cool to have all the pros live down here. Get the inside scoop

interesting.

i saw on twitter last night that phil is doing a interveiw with alliance and willbe talking about his new board deal today

Looks like there will be pics also. This was taken from their Facebook page.

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...79195541_n.jpg

Phil's post on Instagram and Twitter said, "Game on! @MalibuBoats ready for tomorrow's shoot with @AllianceWake (this shoot/interview will reveal my new board deal)"

So unless a pic gets leaked I get the impression that we'll have to wait for the new Alliance to come out to see where he landed.

According to Dave's post, I think we already know.

called it!

will this article be in the magizine or on line ?

He's riding the Supreme by CTRL... at least for cable anyways.

Is he better than Bob at cable? Guess thats why hes riding over at OWC getting his time in.

Was that a serious question, or did you just want to jab at him? haha

Serious question. Ive only ever seen Bob ride cable. Never once has Phil been out when Im around.

It was weird, he showed up and did maybe 8 laps tops, then took off. From what I saw though, he's pretty sick. People may not like the guy's personality or whatever, but his riding speaks for itself.

Only thing is that those boots don't look like ctrl...

Knowing how wakeworld goes IF I were a pro wakeboarder in this scenario I would be riding a different board from a different brand every day just to throw people off until the press release

maybe one of these? the liner texture and color matches. they both have white gorilla grips that would explain the white part higher on the calf on phills pic. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...4868157&type=3

From Alliance's website this morning

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/58295733?color=ffffff" width="630" height="354" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>

Top of the board looks yellow, so gotta be this CTRL RX 140...

Do you say it C-T-R-L? Or do you say control? I can't be the only one wondering that... right?

I own one and don't know what it called. LOL

It's Control, just like the CTRL key on your keyboard

Maybe I am missing something but is anyone else wondering how this could be a financially good decision for Phil?

Equity in the company I would guess.

Ctrl have some awesome cable riders on their team hasler, world champ schriber, shuster, sofer. Yet I've never heard of any boat riders for Ctrl? Shuster rides boat too though doesn't he?

Lidberg rides boat too and he was just talking at the boat show about riding King of Wake again this year. Last year an Aussie junior named Dylan Prideau was riding CTRL at a stop I was at to. They also have Dominik Guhrs on there team, another amazing Cable rider and last years World Champ.

I just looked.. they have 7 dealers in the US. Unless this is a 'startup opportunity' for him, it seems a strange move.

^ I, betting this. If They were for sale, I'm sure his net worth went thru the roof with wake brothers, now was his opportunity. As much as I dislike Phil I would hope BOb goes with him much the helgasons did in snowboarding and hope that if he bought ctrl it goes well for him and that we start seeing them here

Strange move from the outside indeed given his name and career accomplishments...and since he's a boat rider. Lots of folks ride control here at my home cable including most of the operators. I guess if they wanted to make more of a push to get into the boat world instead of mainly cable, then this would seem to be a good move for them.

What boards do they have that are "boat" boards? Will he be forced to ride something like a PS4 with CTRL graphics until they make a pro model?

Ok kiddos, we got all the dirt on Phil's move to CTRL Board Co. Check it out at http://www.wakeworld.com/news/featur...akes-ctrl.html.

alliance is up too
looks like he got sick of archer and saw an opportunity to buy stake in ctrl( though unconfirmed) and took it. like i said i hope he takes bob with him watson could fit in at ctrl as well? who knows, now hes out of the LF mold and im just speculating

Ctrl couldn't afford Watson. For that matter no1 other then Lf could afford Watson lol. His hybrid board has been a hit the last 2 yrs. All I see at my local park is Watson hybrids and peak's lol

"net worth went thru the roof with wake brothers"

really? these shows raise peoples profiles for sure but in cash terms pay very little (usually).

I reckon its a great move. I think wakeboarding income can't be that great in the bigger scheme of things and he clearly is thinking about the future. Makes perfect sense to me.

Really? Every source I've seen values him at over 500k for 2012...

I think an opportunity crawler across his lap and he had the cash to do it and couldn't say no...he never admits it but if you didn't buy stake in ctrl you would say so...

Intangibles man. He might not have made money but the show was likely a fantastic networking opp.

If memory serves, when my wife was watching "The Hills" back in the day I looked up how much those clowns were getting paid. I think the stars were raking in around 100,000 and episode. If they paid him half that, he did quite well.

They wouldn't have paid him $50k an episode LOL

"Every source I've seen values him at over 500k for 2012..."

I would expect that is his net worth rather than 2012 earnings. Hardly minted and through the roof.

seems like a pretty poor career choice too me regardless if he bought into the company or not

Who says it was a choice that he left LF?

I have a CRTL RX and don't know why it isn't a boat board. I wouldn't call it a cable board seeing as how I beat it to hell in only 3 months. Although once it got worn done to the stringers it's holding its own.:)

Boards are boards, to say that one is a cable board and one is a boat board is a little inaccurate.

John - How does it slide? I've demo'd a CTRL once and that thing was more sticky that regular non-slider based "boat" boards. Maybe they have updated their bases as it was a 2011 I think.

I would imagine he's getting paid on board sales for his pro model. If that's the case, theoretically, he good go to any board company, sell his pro model, and continue making his income......don't you think? :confused:

CTRL boards have a new slider type base for this year, and it is top quality. They have some at Hydrous.... Good move all around for all involved.

No. If Watson moved to CTRL he wouldn't be able to sell nearly as many boards there as he can at LF. For one thing, compared to CTRL, LF has an entire army of dealers selling their products. For another thing, even if CTRL could somehow suddenly match LF's dealers (both online and local), marketing, brand recognition, margins, etc., it would probably take years to ramp up production and distribution to match LF's volume.

Confirmed or not, I think everyone agrees that the only way Phil's move to CTRL makes sense is if he obtained a sizable share in the company's ownership. Depending on the size of Phil's stake and his willingness to share his pie (or the seeds that will hopefully grow into pecan trees or apple trees or pumpkins to make the pie :P), there may not be enough room left for another big name at CTRL in the near future. That doesn't mean they can't sign up-and-comers though, but it doesn't necessarily make sense to sign some kid in the midwest if there's not even a local CTRL dealer there.

I was going to suggest they had a new base as well. The picture of the Yellow RX ad above shows an emblem and specs for a "flak jacket base" which is not present on the past model specs.

So John Anderson, if you like that Rx, maybe give a new one another go before you pull the trigger on different board with molded-in-fins... unless of course you demo something else you like as much or better before then.

Thanks everyone please take a read through the interview. I'm sure it will answer a lot of questions. http://www.wakeworld.com/news/featur...akes-ctrl.html

I'm really happy with all these announcements! and I am surprised no one has put this here yet!
-> http://www.alliancewake.com/wake/cat...-soven-part-1/
I've always thought the rider makes the board->like the archer/bow metaphor but it seems like the rx is a pretty good "boat board" to me!
the skeezer 720 or switch crowmobe 720 at 2:12 is incredible

Phil! Can't wait to see the part 2 cable video tomorrow! It seems like you're really happy and we're really happy for you! Would love to see you make a stop up north (preferably CT ^_^) on a promo tour this summer.

Thats awesome...another thing about this sport. The pro riders themselves, parents of riders & drivers all chiming in.

But damn...shouldnt you be out on the water? I mean it is 84 down here right now:)

No. If Watson moved to CTRL he wouldn't be able to sell nearly as many boards there as he can at LF. For one thing, compared to CTRL, LF has an entire army of dealers selling their products.

I had no idea! lol

I hadnt known much about CTRL, but this has definitely gotten me more interested in the brand. I love what these smaller companies (CTRL, Slingshot, Humanoid, etc) are doing

^^^ That's a good point. I don't think I've ever been to their website until yesterday and I spent quite a bit of time on there checking out their offerings.

Plenty of the Slingshot boards are ridden for both boat and cable. This thought of being a cable brand or board is pretty silly if not plain stupid.

^^^^ Eeeeeasy Tige! If you read CTRL's description on their website, I think it's a pretty legit question...

1:24-1:50 there's a Hustler from CTRL ripping behind the boat
https://vimeo.com/43581670

Cable vs Boat board could be pretty legit if you did actually make them different. There is no doubt that the needs are different. I think the new Ronix "el von snook" or whatever to take it head-on. Flex, less rocker, lifting features in the tip and tail, etc.

I've tried a few CTRL and with the exception of there very soft models (I've not tried these) I see no reason they wouldn't all kill it behind the boat.

Sticky as glue...LOL It's either gotten better as I've worn it down or I'm getting used to it. But it was pretty scary at first. No doubt that it drags on sliders.

I'd be willing to give them another go. The problem is getting hold of a board to demo. My buddy already had the RX. I tried it and liked it so I picked one up. The one I tried had epoxy patches where my friend tried to repair it so I thought that was what made it sticky. But found the new one wasn't much different. I liked the edge you get on the air tricks. I can use it on the sliders and it seems to be loosening up a bit.

Can't complain too much. I learned to grab my roll with it...

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps0b344dbe.jpg

^^^^^^^ nice.

Yeah... those board shorts are nice!:)

Nice riding John!

" ramp up production and distribution to match LF's volume"

How much do you think LF volume is.

Cable Technology Research Lab - C T R L

CTRL has enough popularity here in Europe. Enough to do a head ache even for LF. And I sure that Phil push this brand in US market cuz he is eye catcher person at any event. LF was on the top of innovation but last few years they try to catch train which go ahead. Small companies do not make a lot of boards but the do not make old "repainted" boards also

I think the way he did this transition to CTRL was done exceptionally well. Look at how much attention CTRL is suddenly getting. He's a big name in the industry and up until now many people didn't have any knowledge about the brand CTRL, and now this big name in the industry is being associated with the relatively unknown brand. It's definitely a great marketing move to get the brand out and exposed to the US wake scene. I'm looking forward to seeing what future boards and tech hold from CTRL.

^ Shoot man, you're right. I watched his alliance deal and was like "hmm, CTRL, that ride looks good!"

I had the same draw to ronix years ago during the first ONE and then Mana when Danny Harf busted out. I rode their board, bought it and have been a believer ever since.

Yes the move has already paid off for them as far as I can see.

i remember this dude as froggy... sweet to see so much change in wakeboarding industry.

cable parks? wtf i want to try one so bad!