NEW TRICK CONTROVERSY
On April 7th, 2014 Massi Piffaretti posted an Instagram video of himself performing a frontside 360, rewind backside 360. The video instantly went viral among the wakeboard world as it was one of the most stylish and technical tricks anyone had seen in a very long time. If you haven't seen it yet, stop reading right now and watch the video below.
Just yesterday, Alliance and Red Bull have posted a page asking viewers and fans to help name this "new" trick, seen here. They claim it is first ever done. While that may seem as a great way to name a new trick, what many people don't realize is that this isn't the first time this trick has been landed. A rider named Tom Matthews posted a video of this same exact trick four months ago (seen below), becoming the first rider to land the trick on video. But even Matthews may not have been the first. Julian Cohen claims the first time he saw someone land the trick was San Im approximately two years ago, which inspired him and his brother Yonel to successfully land the trick, although it was never caught on film. Many other cable riders have landed the trick which they all call a "3 to 3" but no one has landed it behind the boat. This means Massi can still claim the first behind the boat, but he can't claim the first ever. Not only that, but this trick is just a continuation of the "3 to 1" which Bob Soven landed behind boat back in 2010. On cable, Nick Davies has been known to land multiple variations of rewind tricks dating all the way back to 2009 including a "3 to 1". Daniel Grant then took it to the next level in 2012 with a toeside backside "5 to 1" and a toeside backside "1 to 5".
So why is Red Bull having a trick-naming competition? Why does the trick get a new name just because it was landed behind the boat rather than the cable? Certainly landing a trick like this deserves more respect behind boat than landing it on cable, as nearly every trick is more difficult behind boat. There's no argument there. The point is, this trick has been done before, and it's been done by more than one person on more than one occasion, and it already has a name - a "3 to 3" (sometimes written "323").
So do new tricks only count if they're landed behind boat? Or are boat riders the only wakeboarders allowed to name tricks? By no means are we trying to take away from what Massi has done, as it's an absolutely incredible trick that requires an incredible amount of talent, and he deserves all the respect for being the first to land it behind the boat.