Another northern summer spent honing his craft atop Florida lakes has paid dividends for Tauranga wakeboarder Darren Bishop.
The 24-year-old finished third behind the traditional powers of Nik Gibson and Brad Smeele in the open men's division at the wakeboarding nationals, and is waiting to hear whether he has made the New Zealand team to travel to the world championships in Korea in late August.
"I'm unsure about my chances," said Bishop. "They said that it would be about two weeks after nationals that they'd pick the team, but I still haven't heard anything.
"I've got high hopes that I'll make it in but you never can tell until they've actually picked the team."
He was happy with his performance at the nationals - apart from the fall he had in the final part of his last run.