Tommy
Tommy Bailey, 19, Halliburton ON, and probably 4 summers ago I would say, not positive though

Vince
What got you into wakeskating?

Tommy
I started waterskiing when I was really young, then eventually started wakeboarding. Every time I went to ride with at the McMillin’s cottage I saw a wakeskate that Robbie won at a contest, and always wanted to try it. Robbie always pushed me to wakeboard though because they had a better wake than I did at my cottage. One day we had already had a few sets and we went for a wakeskate set and ever since then I couldn’t stop

Vince
I’ve definitely competed with you a lot the past couple years, when did you first get into that game?

Tommy
It must have been 3 summers ago in an xcup contest at Deerhurst, I came 2nd and I was stoked so I started going to every contest I heard of after that

Vince
Oh that was your first one? Snap! You beat me in that one haha.
You got any cool guys hooking you up with stuff these days?

Tommy
Haha nah, not unless your considering my dad a cool guy. My parents have been really supportive helping me out a bunch with boat gas and all that

Vince
In this climate? They sound pretty cool. What are your plans for next summer?

Tommy
Haha true enough, and probably just the usual. Working and riding as much as I can with everyone up at the cottage.

Vince
Fun stuff, what do you do with yourself in the wintertime? Any off-season training techniques?

Tommy
Well I’m playing hockey for a junior team up here in Ottawa this year, so that keeping me in shape. But other than that not really, I’ve been talking about hitting the gym this semester, but who knows if that will happen

Vince
How many push-ups can you do?

Tommy
Haha I will check, hold on one second.

Tommy
36. That’s kind of weak, I should probably seriously consider going to the gym

Vince
I did 50 sit-ups earlier, think you can beat that?

Tommy
Maybe, or at least get close… but after doing those pushups, im not going to try haha

Vince
Haha ok. Favourite dinosaur?

Tommy
Raptor, for sure. They’re the fastest / favourite basketball team

Vince
So here’s some short stuff. What’s the gear you’re rocking?… Byerly legacy, reef Byerly II shoes, jet pilot vest

what’s your favourite wake flick?… Aquafrolics or fun boots

do you do any other board sports?… skateboard and wakeboard. I don’t snowboard though, unfortunately I’m a skier…

where do you see yourself in 5 years? I have no idea. Just doing something I love.

damn good answer, I’m definitely going to use that in my next job interview. Ok finally…
Jessica Alba, Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, you gotta marry one, bang one, kill one, GO!… marry Jessica Alba for sure, bang Angelina and kill Halle berry

Vince
ok, that about does it any hollerbacks?

Tommy
My whole family for sure, the McMillin family, the Halliburton crew, and you Vince, haha I always looked up to you and the whole Levelthirtn crew growing up and you’ve been a super good guy to me over the past couple years!

so how old are you now?

20 and 2/3

ok thought so, hometown?

Ennismore

how long have you been wakeskating for?

like, 6 years ish

how’d you get into wakeskating?

i used to go out behind my friends tin boat, i always used to have so much trouble getting out of his bindings so i would just try inside out raleys until they came off. then he got a wakeskate and i had way more fun with that

were you ever a strapper? back in the day?

my dad bought us a wakeboard the next year and a wakeskate, i probably used the wakeboard like 4 times that summer

so you were pretty much into wakeskating right off the bat, how did you progress so quickly, were you into skate boarding before that?

yea ive been skateboarding since i was 10

cool, so who are some of your biggest influences in wakeskating right now?

right now? the remote crew definitely, they’re seriously bringing a skateboard style to the water and are coming up with some super creative stuff

do you have a favourite remote rider?

nah, the whole crew is crazy bones!

haha, this is true.

so you took an Ontario Championship a few years back, are you still into the contest scene or are you more into free riding?

im just trying to freeride, got a little cousin getting into the sport so im helping him get ready cuz he wants to start competing, but im getting out of boat contests, winch jams are always a good time, but i never had a lot of fun riding boat and this year really took the cake

im focussing on a super secret video project this summer as well

can you tell us anything more about this super secret video?

only thing i can say is im going to california in march to start shooting for it. and if that goes well im gonna head back down south west once schools out

very cool…. alright how about you tell us a little bit about your work with slightly human. what exactly is slightly human for those that don’t know?

i dont know what else to call that other than my alter ego. its my blog, pretty much my media presence. from what ive heard – gingers aren’t humans, which is kinda mean. but since im only 1/2 ginger, im 1/2 human, ifso-facto im slightly human.

HA! ok so slightly human is really into video editing…. what are some of your favourite projects we saw from slightly human this past year?

this was the first year slightly human was around. but i did a series of rough cuts with the footage i shot this summer of wakeboarding, wakeskating and some skateboarding.

lets do some short questions:

boat, jetski or winch?

Ski

fins or no fins?

sans fins

style or tech?

style

Grubby or Aaron Reed?

Reed

Nick Taylor or Andy Pastura?

Nick

alrighty, whats your favourite trick to do?

front board

what trick do you WISH you had?

varial flip

what type of board are you riding these days?

Levelthirtn

model?

Agency

what is it that you like about that particular board?

the shape and the weight

wood or comp?

wood

cool, so whats been your favourite experience with filming wakeskating so far, have you had a chance to film with anybody spectacular?

last summer before the wasaga toe jam i got to film for 3 days with chris kallas and nick taylor on sandy lake, definitely one of the best days riding in my life

Click here to view the embedded video.

very cool, whats been your favourite traveling experience for wakeskating?

i did a lot of travelling around the province this summer for events, but the best trip ive been on was probably with levelthirtn a few years ago out to nangor resort, we went out there to shoot for what later became DURF. it was a wild week. also the few trips we’ve done to quebec have always been fun

and if you could travel anywhere in the world to wakeskate and film, where would you go?

Australia

Favourite wake movie?

favourite wake movie……. probably transgression, or aquafrolics

nice picks. thats what i would pick, skateboard movie?

fully flared, gang of four star

snowboard movie?

91 words for snow

do you have a wakeskating crew?

riding crew is usually me scott and addison for wakeskating, the regular crew around town is the wake institute crew…

cool, so in terms of the Ontario wakeskate scene, who are some riders who’s style you love?

just wakeskating?

whatever you want wakeskating, wakeboarding, skateboarding

pretty much anyone i did a rough cut for is like my opinion of sick style

ok, who are some up and comer wakeskaters on the Ontario scene?

dan brown, jake heaney, brady hicks, tommy bailey

and are there any sick winch spots in Ontario that we should know about?

humber river, just south of dundas west, sick sick drops, and the cops are cool with it, as much as the older people from across the river in the apartments aren’t

what is your advice for kids just getting into the wakeskate scene?

just be in it for fun, when it stops becoming fun get ooooooooout

good advice.

do you have a moustache?

not right now, think i should grow that bad boy out?

hmmmm i dont know, im not sure how i feel about ginger moustaches… or perhaps it grows out blonde?

nah its getting on the redder side

hahaha still legit…. do you think having a moustache affects your street cred?

i dont worry about street cred

hahahahahaha ok this is getting silly, do you have any shout outs?

the whole levelthirtn family, my family and all my friends, the wake institute and the definitive crew, brad conlin and the kawartha crew out here.

This is your first time in the Wakeskate division at Canadian Nationals and you claimed gold. How does it feel?

It feels pretty good. The experience definitely was a positive one and made me want to push my wakeskating a bit more, not in a serious way though… it’s still just plain old good fun. But then again, what’s more fun then landing new tricks?  Probably nothing!

Were you happy with your run?

I didn’t land all of my tricks and I did take up all my falls, I did manage to get a lot of stuff under my belt in the first pass so that must have saved me. There’s always room for improvement so I think getting some more contests under my belt will hopefully make me a stronger contest rider… Im more a ride for the fun of it girl.

What was the competition like, were there a few more girls stomping tricks than you expected?

To be honest, I half expected to be the only girl out there, so I was thrilled about the competition! The more the merrier.

What do you hope to see at next years Canadian Nationals?

I hope we have an even bigger turn out then this year, the girls just aren’t at the same level of wakeskating as the guys are so I think there are a few girls that are intimidated or think they aren’t good enough to compete. However, I know that there are tons of girls out there wakeskating because I’ve met lots in Ontario alone…  you don’t have that same pressure to go really big like you do in wakeboarding… it’s more mellow and I think there are quite a few people that love that aspect of wakeskating. The point is… I know there are lots of girls out there shredding the wakeskate, it’s just about getting more girls out to events and everyone pushing each other to progress!

You wakeboard as well. What made you want to pick up the skate more often this season?

To be completely honest, I sprained my ankle in the spring time in Florida and it’s been bugging me this season. It just can’t seem to take the impact of the landings when I’m wakeboarding.  I still go wakeboard but my ankle needs a break from time to time… wakeskating is perfect for me because it’s just as fun and doesn’t hurt at all.  Once I started landing a few tricks and different shuv variations I was totally hooked… I’d go winch any day up until the water all freezes over 

You are the wakeskate coach for the TID girls clinics. How did that go this season? Do you think you got a few more girls stoaked on wakeskating?

Definitely.  Every single girl that got out there and tried it absolutely loved it. Definitely got a few girls hooked, they are buying their first wakeskates.  Hopefully we’ll see a few of them at some of the events next summer!

Wakeskating had a slow start up in Canada in the female division, and its great to finally see some significant improvement in that area. Where do you think its headed?

Hopefully for some more significant improvements lol

Do you have any fun projects you are working on for next year in the wakeskate department?

YES!  Jen GilanFarr and I are planning a girls ride day at the Projects near Orlando at the end of November… It’s a grill and chill… pay ten bucks and come ride the 2.0 for the day and eat BBQ food… it’s going to be really fun. We want as many girls to come out as possible! We’re going to document the whole thing… should be really good  In terms of next year… Hopefully can come up with more fun riding days like the one we’re planning at the PJs…. maybe some fun winch adventures… i LOVE winching!

OK Quick answers:

Favourite Trick you do: re entry shuv

Favourite trick you have ever seen done: i really like 360 flips

Favourite Rider: ummm prolly a toss up between nick taylor and andy pastura

Jetski or winch? ummmmm winch!

Wake to Wake or flat tricks? flat tricks… i could definitely use some practice on the whole w2w thing.

Next trick on your list to stomp: i’d like to get switch shuvs and switch big spins…

Favourite Place to ride: hmmmmm prolly behind the X2 riding doubles with my boyfriend… we play H.O.R.S.E.  it’s really fun.

Grilled Cheese or blueberries? This is a really tough question for me!!!  man…. ummmm  blueberries!