Hey daniel can you tell us how old you are and where are you from? I am 18 years old and from Orlando, Florida, USA. How long have you been wakeboarding? For 11 years. Who are your current sponsors & what board/binding setup do you use? CWB Wakeboards, Mastercraft Boats, Jet Pilot, Rockstar Energy Drink, Performance Ski & Surf. I ride the CWB db9 with the Answer bindings. How would you describe your riding style? I like to think of my riding style as being pretty smooth. At the moment, there are more and more flexboards, cable, system 2.0, rail riders... What do you think about the evolution of wakeboard? I enjoy riding boat the most, but as long as people are still out there wakeboarding and making the sport grow then I think it is great. What other sports have influenced you and your riding? My parents were professional water skiers at Cypress Gardens, so that has made me want to do well with wakeboarding. Where is your favorite place to ride? My favorite place to ride is out at The Projects in Orlando, Florida. Do you have a regular crew of friends that you ride with? Lately I have been riding with Jonathan Khani, Joey Buss, Paulie Koch, Nicola Butler, and Gunnar Shuler. When you go out for a session, do you spend more time working on the tricks that you will do during a comp, or do you try a lot of new stuff? It try to do a good combination of both, some sets I will focus on being consistant, and other sets I try to focus on trying new things. Do you have a favorite trick to do right now? My favorite trick right now is probably a blind judge. What new tricks are you working on at the moment? Im working on Crow 5s right now, and trying to do wake to wake hs 9s consistant. Which tricks have the worst crashes? For me, Crow 5s hurt the most. What do you think makes a trick look good? Grabbing a trick as long as possible is definitely the most important part. What motivates or influences you the most to learn new tricks? Other riders that are better than me are most inspiring. Stepping up to pro this year means that I would have to learn new tricks to keep up! Do you have a favorite rider that you look up to for inspiration? I look up to all the top riders, they are all extremely inspiring. Watching Harley Clifford ride always makes me want to at least try something new. What gives you the drive to ride when you wake up every morning? Looking out at a glassy lake and an XStar to ride behind! Has wakeboarding taken you to any places you never thought you would go to? I have gotten to travel to Asia, the Middle East, Europe and a lot of other places. Im also going out to Australia soon. I probably would have never made it to these places if it weren’t for wakeboarding. What are your goals for the upcoming 2012 season? I hope to finish in the top 5 on the PWT. Do you have any other travel plans this year that you are looking forward to? Im going to Australia in March and all around the US for the PWT. Hopefully I will make it out to some other cool places too. What’s the stupidest thing you have done this week and what’s the smartest? Played Call of Duty until 4am one night... The smartest thing was going to sleep early the next day. As of right now, what are your first five songs you listen to when you put on your headphones? Dancin in the moonlight, Baby, Baby (J-Biebs), love you like a love song (selena gomez), Fruit Booter (Jonathan Khani, Harley Clifford, Ashe Watson), and Dancin in the Moonlight. What question were you hoping we’d ask you, but we didn’t, and what is the answer? If I have 11 ice cubes, and you have 10 apples, how many pancakes will fit on the roof?... Purple, because aliens don’t wear hats. If you could give one piece of advice to little rippers out there that want to make it to the Pros, what would it be? Just keep on trying hard! It takes a long time but you can’t give up. Would you like to thank anyone for being where you are today? I would definitely like to thank my dad, he has helped me every step of the way and Jet Pilot and Performance Ski and Surf, they have been with me since I started wakeboarding!
Dylan, where exactly do you come from? Born and raised in Oxbow Saskatchewan Canada Can you give us a background check? My full name is Dylan Scott Miller, raised in a small town of 1,500 people in Saskatchewan Canada. Took part in all sorts of sports growing up as a kid, mostly hockey, golf and snowboarding. U.S. Border guards hate me, my mother loves me. I saved up money and moved to Florida right out of high school and have been doing the same thing every winter for the last 6 years. It’s finally starting to pay off and I couldn’t be happier!
You aren’t just a boat shredder either. You are one hell of a rail slayer. Do you have a favorite spot to hit rails? I spend a lot of time at OWC in Orlando which is a lot of fun but I wouldn’t call those rails... More like boxes. The stuff I like doing the most is finding natural jibs, or at least partially natural. I also like trying to come with new ideas and build them my self. What is your favorite boat trick and rail trick right now? Boat trick I’d have to say... either a toe side stalefish 360 or Mute Cab 5. My favourite rail trick changes lots but right now anything that involves a switch nose press has been tons of fun.
What’s you set up? Slingshot Recoil 142 with size 10 R.A.D. boots till the death of me! Have you ever been anywhere you never thought you would be if it wasn’t for wakeboarding? When did you first step into a pair of bindings? The Philippines and South Korea are probably the Summer 1999 was the first time on a wakeboard for most random I guess. Those are 2 two places that I me. didn’t think I would ever get to see. Do you still remember that first ride? I just remember being really pissed off cause I didn’t get up my first try, Some other kids I knew told me they got up there first try so I figured I would too. So when I didn’t, I wasn’t a happy camper.
Do you enjoy doing any other sports? If I wasn’t wakeboarding I’d be trying to golf everyday. A lot of people don’t expect that out of me but I’ve been golfing since I was like 5 years old. Other than that I try and skate mini ramps as much as I can, I also spend lots of time cruising around on a bike, Do you have any home riding spots back in Ca- and I’m no stranger to a ping pong table either. nada? Ya there’s a lake like 5 minutes from my house, it’s In order, list your top five «most played» songs called the Alameda Dam. I spent everyday in the from your iPod. summer out there as a kid. 1. «The Time We Lost Our Way» By the Thievory Corporation You came to france last year, how was tour trip? 2. «Lyndale Avenue User’s Manuel» By Atmosphere France was a lot of fun can’t wait to go back again 3. «Memory Lane» By Nas this year. 4. «Shallow Days» By Blackalicious The contest was sick! We got to ride so much through 5. «Get Down» By Nas out the week, it was such a fun set up, couldn’t get enough of it! The people are great too, The girls are Where do you see wakeboarding in the next 10 amazing, can’t wait to meet some more french la- years? dies! The food was also really good... especially the Cable parks are going to be taking over, 2 tower syswine! tems are going to be all over the place! Boat riding is still got tons of progression left as well, I really hope Do you have any plans for the fresh 2012 season? the sports grows to be as main stream as snow and You bet... Number one on the list is to finish filming skateboarding. for Slingshot’s movie «Lipsmack» which is getting released in a few months. I can’t wait to see the fi- Any words of advice for the kids out there that nished product! want to be just like Dylan Miller? I’m also going to be spending lots of time in Eu- Have fun doing what your doing, I spent to much rope this year at all the rail events, other than that time and money trying to fit into the mainstream just filming, shooting photos and riding everyday in of wakeboarding, when all I needed to do was start between. doing things my way. That’s when everything started to work out. Did you have a crew that you rode with back in Canada? How about some thank-yous? When I’m back at home I get out in the boat with my My parents, Raynald and Unleased for making this dad as much as possible, he really like riding too so happen. Dustin O’Ferrall for taking the photos, The that’s pretty dope! Other than that I ride with Adam Logosz Brothers, Wade Wagley, Jeff McKee and Burwell, Craig and Mark McMorris, and Nick Mayer Patrick Wieland at Slingshot Wake. Max Henault at when I’m in Sask. O’Neill Canada. Alex Forbes and Bobby Gascon @ I also spend some time on the west coast in B.C. Vans Canada. Karl Fuhre, Mike Simpson and Jono every summer where I ride with Dustin O’Ferrall, Boysen @ I.S. Eyewear. And anyone else who has Brad Buskas and Matt Bibby. It’s pretty sick to have taken the time to help me out in the past. Thanks evedifferent people to ride with all over! ryone… Peace!
Let’s start out easy. How old are you and where are you from? I’m 18 years old and from Hamburg, Germany. How did you get started in Wakeboarding? Who introduced you to the sport of wakeboarding? One day my dad took me to the cablepark. I’ve watched these kids for a long time jumping around and was totally stocked. I knew I needed to learn it. After my first lap I totally felt in love with the sport. I still can remember that day. Just great. How was the wwa worlds wakepark in Abu Dabhi ? The WWA wake Park worlds went awesome. Abu Dhabi is a beautiful city with a lot of things do to beside of wakeboarding. It doesn’t get boring over there which is cool for a big event like that.The cable park is pretty small but still good to ride.The obstacles were fine and the whole weekend was just siiiick. I guess all of us just had a great time. Do you think that it’s easier or tougher to get involved in wakeboarding being from germany? Where is your local spot to ride? I ride in Hamburg and Pinneberg. It takes me 30 min to go by car to reach one of the Cables. Hamburg is bigger and has a lot more Obstacles than Pinneberg. But Pinneberg is super good for Air Tricks. It’s super cool to have the oppotunity to ride two amazing Cableparks.
Well of course I miss the good old days of Wakeboarding. But you can’t stop the Evolution! Wakeboarding has come such a long way and I think we are going the right direction. Back in the day when we came together for the German Tour or European Tour it was just a blast. We all slept in tents and cars directly on site next to the Cable. Friday night we always had the big party and got totally wasted till late nights. Saturday morning 8am was time to compete and most of us just had just 2 hours sleep. I miss the good old days ;) Everything was more in that easy family way with just hanging out together and enjoy the weekend. But it also was the goal to build something great with this brand new Trend-sport and being a part of it. And if you look back these events where organized pretty well already. Today it’s more like we go to the contests stay in five star hotels and expect a massive event with lots of spectators and huge media presence. But fun and a great weekend with our friends from around the world is still what we want today when we go to contests and events. So the core message is still the same, just the wrapping changes over the years. And we need the changes to move forward and make our sport profitable for the Athletes so they can travel promote the sport and show the world how awesome Wakeboarding is. The new generation of riders really stepped it up and I’m proud to see how the boys became pro´s. And it’s awesome to see that the next generation is already on the water and fighting their way up. The X-Games expand to Europe and around the world. And this could be a chance for Wakeboarding to be back in the biggest extreme sports event series on the globe. Wakeboarding was already a part of the X-Games quite a while ago but there is a new chance now with a Cable or System 2.0 to be back. This would be a great push for our sport! Also the Olympic Committee added Wakeboarding to the list of new Sports for the Games in 2020. This could also be a big push for the sport but it will also bring some major changes and could move the sport in the wrong direction. Snowboarding is the best example for that. Other sports like baseball, squash, karate, rollersports or rock climbing want this one spot in 2020. So it will be a hard race for Wakeboarding to get into this. In my eyes X-Games is the better choice for Wakeboarding! Getting injured is super tough. It’s the worst thing for a Pro Rider to stop what he loves doing and being grounded at home. If you fuck up your knee or shoulder or you brake a bone is the worst case scenario for a Pro Rider and brings a whole lot of trouble with it. A lot of rehab needs to be done to get back in shape and of course the other riders are not sleeping, they still progress while you are banned to the couch. It is a process that changes you and your mind. It makes you appreciate the body you have and how good it is to just get up and walk to the cable and ride. I had to go through rehab many times already. I broke my left leg once in 2003 and again, but way worse, in 2007.
The second time I broke my leg it took me almost 2 years to get back into shape and being able to ride again without any pain. Also I’ve torn half of my right biceps at CWC in 2009 this was a really nasty experience! I stopped counting all the small injuries... So I had to step back a bit the last years and also my body is pretty wracked from so many years of hardcore Wakeboarding. But I feel much stronger again and also my technique improved. So I’m really looking forward to just go out and ride!! I´ve been riding for Billabong since the beginning of my pro career in 1999 and I was pretty much the first Wakeboarder that was wearing Billabong cloths and Boardshorts. But over the years the company got more and more involved in the Wake-scene in Europe and in the US. The big hype about Wakeboarding was going through the roof and so did the Team around Billabong. Today this Team is one of the best in the wake world with riders like Fredy von Osten, Shawn Watson, Raph Derome, Danny Harf or Brian Grubb. In early 2011 I had a chat with the Marketing Manager of Billabong and he offered me to coordinate the European Billabong Wake Team. I was super stoked about this and I’m super happy to bring the experience from all these years in the Wakeszene into this Job to help Billabong and the Team to step it up to the next level. There is a lot happening so keep your eyes and ears open! 2012 is going to be an awesome year! I have a lot of projects going on and I’m really amped to get things rolling. Last summer I could not find as much time to ride as I needed so the first few months of 2012 I´m going to Thai Wake Park to get back into shape, hang out with all the people and prepare for some contests as well. I feel I want to step up my riding again, all the kids got pretty good lately. Last winter I spent about 6 weeks at TWP and I really enjoyed hanging out with the awesome crew, you can tell they are Wakeboarders and they love to ride. Also some rad Photo and Video shootings are on the list. I just released a fully reworked website for 2012 and you can find the latest news, photos and videos on: www.Bernhard-Hinterberger.com Thanks to all my Sponsors that are with me for so many years! Billabong, Gloryfy and Reef are supporting me for a long time and I’m super grateful for the awesome relationship that has developed over the years. After New Schnitzel died I thought I have to quit Wakeboarding but a new opportunity opened up and I’m stoked I can be a part of Ronix and add some cable-spice to the legendary team. And I want to thank all the new and smaller companies that support me. Pro-Tec helmets just started to take care of my head and so does Skullcandy for a long time. And don’t forget the gloves, thanks Troyan.