Tauranga water sports athlete Darren Bishop is looking to cut through the competition and Christchurch's Lake Crichton at the 2013 Wakeboarding Nationals on March 22-23.
The former New Zealand junior representative, who finished second at the North Island Championships in late February, has a couple of new tricks to aid his pursuit of favourites Brad Smeele and Nick Gibson.
"I just recently broke through a barrier with landing new tricks - I've learnt more in the last year than I have in the last four, so I just want to keep that train rolling," said Bishop, who now counts a Pete Rose and toeside frontside 720 among his arsenal of tricks.
With no foam pits in which to safely hone new tricks, wakeboarders such as Bishop take a novel approach to training.
"I do a lot of practice on the trampoline, which is really good for air awareness and handling.