If you haven't heard of Anna Nikstad by now you must not be keeping up to date! Last year we added Anna to our Am wakeboarder program at Surf Expo and since then she has been crushing every cable contest in sight, traveling the world and filming web edits that in our opinion are raising the bar in womens wakeboarding. Anna Recently showed up at the VWC Yardsale contest and was the only chick out there hanging in one of the gnarliest contest set ups to date, then shortly after took the top spot at Langenfeld Open. In a time when wakeboarding needs a breath of fresh air and creativity the most we are super pumped to introduce our newest pro to the follow family, Congratulations Anna, you are now part of the furniture.
Whats up Anna! We are hyped to bring you in to our Pro Team, how does it feel?
Yo! It feels great! Glad to be a part of the team!
What Follow Gear are you running?
Right now I've got the 3/2 steamer wetty and the women's SPR impact jacket. They're my favs haha
Give us the run down to bring everyone up to speed, where were you born and where did you grow up riding a wakeboard?
I was born in Corpus Christi which is in southern Texas.
I was taught to wakeboard by my brothers at 7 years old on Lake Houston but I didn't start riding hard till I was 18.
Cool, so you mostly ride cable now days, but you have done a little boat riding too?
Cable is where I'm at.
And yeah, I dabble haha I don't get to ride boat as often as I would like to though.
What gets you most psyched on wakeboarding?
I've been way more stoked on wakeboarding this year because of all the sketchy and technical setups that are featured in contest. Yardsale, Lagenfeld Open, Fise, Plastics, Worlds at CWC. These contest feature some either terrifying or complicated lines which, in my opinion, makes competing actually fun.
You were the only lady riding at the VWC yard sale just recently, the set up was no joke, how did you feel going in to that one? do you get nervous or was it no big deal?
I went to that contest with a completely open mind. I saw a few sketches of the setup but didn't really know what to expect. It was pretty scary on the first couple hits but by the end of the contest I felt pretty comfortable on it. The guys were really encouraging so that also made it easier
Since that contest it seems like you are a bit more on the radar in the wakeboarding world. With that comes expectations from wakeboarding fans, is that something you think about or are you just kind of doing your own thing and taking it as it comes?
Well I guess I have really high expectations for myself already so I don't really worry about anyone else ya know. If I am satisfied then that's all I'm concerned about.
Do you fan out on any wakeboarders?
Haha nah not really. I used to on the old school pros that I watched when I was a kid but I try to keep it cool.
These days it seems like everyone “rips” what makes someone stand out to you? like what puts someone beyond just being a good wakeboarder?
I would say style matters the most. Either making something hard look effortless or putting your own style on a simple hit is what stands out the most to me.
Tell us a little bit about this short edit? did you bang this out in a day or so, or do you feel like you worked a little harder on this one?
This edit took some work for sure. William and I worked for these clips. If it weren't for him pushing me then I wouldn't have much to show. I had about a month and a half to film it at CWC.
We went back and forth a bit about how to put it together but I'm happy with the way it turned out. There are a few tricks that I wanted to add but I wasn't satisfied with the way I landed or the way it looked so we had to be picky.
I had a lot of fun though and I am even more motivated for the next one.