Staying on and landing your tricks is pretty important.Darren BishopHe's not into sending bad vibes, but Tauranga wakeboarder Darren Bishop wouldn't be too gutted if rogue wash or a mis-timed trick disrupted the plans of his two biggest rivals at the wakeboarding nationals which start today on Lake Karapiro, near Cambridge.
Bishop heads west chasing his first open men's podium finish but concedes unless the unexpected happens gold or silver could be slightly out of reach, with Auckland's Nick Gibson and Brad Smeele hot favourites to soar highest with their gravity-defying tricks.
The 24-year-old builder, a former New Zealand junior champion, said the rest of the open men's competitors, which could number 20 depending on how many South Islandersarrive, were relying on the vagaries the high octane sport occasionally threw up to have a sniff.
"I'm hopeful of fourth or maybe third but wakeboarding's a funny sport and it's all down to how you go on the day," Bishop said. "One bail on the day is all it takes, but the reality is Brad and Nick are always right up there at the top and are both performing at a bit higher level than the rest of us."
Bishop has been clocking up the kilometres all summer, training on Karapiro several times a week, and plans to stuff as much trickery as he can into his two 500m passes in front of the judges in a bid to move on to tomorrow's final.