Danny Harf

Danny Harf is an American professional wakeboarder and sports video producer.

Early life[edit]

Harf was born in Visalia, California and later moved to Orlando, Florida where he grew up on Lake Willis and learned to water ski. He found his passion with wakeboarding at age 10. In 2000 he became a professional wakeboarder at age 16.

Career highlights[edit]

Harf won the Transworld Wakeboarding Rookie of the Year award in 2000 and is a four-time X Games champion. His film, Defy, is a wakeboarding movie that shows one of the first ever double backflips ever done on a wakeboard.

Tournament wins and awards[edit]

  • 2000: Rookie of the Year[1]
  • 2000: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Oklahoma City – 1st place
  • 2001: X Games – 1st place
  • 2002: X Games – 1st place
  • 2003: X Games – 1st place
  • 2003: WWA National Championships – 1st place
  • 2003: U.S. Masters – 1st place
  • 2004: U.S. Masters – 1st place
  • 2004: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Orlando – 1st place
  • 2005: X Games – 1st place
  • 2005: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Fort Worth – 1st place
  • 2005: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Portland – 1st place
  • 2005: WWA National Championships – 1st place
  • 2006: U.S. Masters – 1st place
  • 2006: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Twin Cities – 1st place
  • 2006: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Kelowna – 1st place
  • 2006: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Reno – 1st place
  • 2006: Pro Wakeboard Tour – 1st place
  • 2008: First ever to land 1260°[2]
  • 2009: Brostock - 1st place
  • 2012: Ronix Best Video of the Year

Sponsors[edit]

Danny rides with eight sponsors: Nautiques, Ronix, Monster Energy, Fox, Reef, Billabong, Spy Optic, Performance Ski & Surf.

The level of sponsorship that Harf has is the highest level of sponsorship. It is considered to be reserved for "pro riders".

Monster Energy began sponsoring Harf back in 2006. He has been with Spy, an apparel brand, since 2005.

Danny Harf's Defy[edit]

Directed and filmed by: Sean Kilgus Saturday December 18, 2011 was the premier for Defy in Orlando at the Beacham Theater. The film was sponsored by Transworld Wakeboading, Fox, Nautique boats, TIge boats, and System 2.0.[3]

Erik Ruck rides with Danny and met him at a wakeboard tournament in 1999 where they became friends.

Shawn Watson, Brian Grubb, Parks Bonifay, Shane Bonifay, Chad Sharpe, Nick Weinacker and Francois Roy came together to make "Pointless Productions", a group they had formed to make a video called "Incomplete" to display that they were the best wakeboarders of the time. Danny was the first, and only rider to do a 1260 degree spin behind boat, in 2008. Danny rides a Ronix wakeboard throughout the whole movie The crew that Danny rides with in Defy consists of Jimmy Lariche, Bob Soven, Parks Bonifay, Adam Errington, Rusty Malinosky, and Shaun Murray 20 miles outside of Seattle is Danny's favorite riding spot and also serves for his teams training area at Radar Lake. They set up a 100 ft pool beside Radar during the movie and use a ramp to transfer to and from the lake

After Radar Lake's session is done they head down to Mexico to wakeboard. The next stop of filming, the crew headed down to Australia and tried wake boarding on the waves of Australia by using a jet ski to tow the riders into the wave. After their trip to Australia they head on back to Radar Lake again to wakeboard there again. They also decide to add wake skating to the equation about 45 minutes into the video and do a segment of people riding and doing tricks on wake skates.

Soundtrack for Defy[edit]

[4]

Radar Lake[edit]

Danny Harf's favorite practice location is Radar Lake.

Radar Lake is located in Woodinville, Washington and is one of the first man-made lakes built specifically for water sports. The land it is built on was initially bought and developed by water sports innovator Herb O'Brien in 1972. O'Brien, drawing from his water sport experiences as a young man, envisioned Radar Lake to be an isolated and private area where enthusiasts could come and enjoy not only the thrill of the sport but also the pristine natural environment. In 1976, the property was bought by Seattle based owner of Seattle Electric, now Radar Inc.,Wilbur McPherson who gave it its current name in honor of his company. McPherson and O'Brien maintained a close relationship, and O'Brien bought Radar Lake back from McPherson in 2000. McPherson continued to live on the property, along with O'Brien and their respective families, until he lost his life to cancer in 2007.[5]

Herb O'Brien died in 2012,[6] but his family continues to manage the property as Radar Events, LLC.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Luke. "Danny Harf". Transworld Wakeboarding. 2013 Transworld Wakeboarding. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  2. ^ "Danny Harf - USA". cablewake.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  3. ^ Harf, Danny. "Danny Harf's Defy". Sean Kilgus.
  4. ^ "What is the song list from DEFY the Danny Harf Project?".
  5. ^ "Radar Lake Events". Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  6. ^ "A Legend Leaves Us: Herb O'Brien Dies at 68". Waterskimag.com. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  7. ^ http://www.radarlakeevents.com/Pages/default.aspx
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