Ken's Blog
Nutrition, Modeling and Sports

Cranberry Field Wakeboarding

The Red Bull Winch Sessions used a high-powered winch to explore action sports in unusual locations, and this short video is no exception. They take the winch and wakeboarder and snowboarder Josh Tranby to a Wisconsin cranberry bog. This short but beautifully-shot high definition video has over 300,000 views and shows Josh wakeboarding through the red sea of cranberries. The winch makes the boat unnecessary and Josh is pulled at a rapid pace from one end of the bog to the other, making his own waves and a visually stunning video that became a classic among action sports enthusiasts.

+ Who

Josh Tranby is the star of this video. He is a wakeboarder and snowboarder from Minnesota who is very active in the wakeboarding scene. He is sponsored by Slingshot Wakeboards, Reef, Bern Helmets, Lake-Life Apparel, Pinewski’s Boardshop and Vision Wake Park. The video was shot as part of Red Bull’s Winch Sessions, which featured action sports athletes such as paragliders, wakeboarders and snowboarders filmed performing their sport with the help of a high-powered winch. The videos were featured on Red Bull’s website, and Josh became more well-known because of his participation in the project. Red Bull is an energy drink and one of the primary sponsors of action and extreme sports.

+ Where

Wakeboarders are normally towed across the water tethered to a motorboat, but this video makes use of Red Bull’s winch and takes place in a cranberry bog. The bog in this video is located in Tomah, Wisconsin. The blanket of red fruit covering the water makes the video somehow intensely appealing to watch.

+ What

“I’m headed to the frickin’ cranberry fields right now,” Josh begins in this video. As he travels in the Red Bull van towards his destination, he continues, “I don’t know what to expect but I know if you look to my right you’re gonna see one!” Some beautiful shots of the cranberries and surrounding fields are overlaid with Josh talking about the project. At (0:35) he begins his session, wakeboarding back and forth across the ripe cranberries. The beautiful, high definition, slow motion shots are interspersed with shots of the Red Bull winch at work, close-ups of the cranberries and the stunningly beautiful area surrounding the cranberry bog. (1:11) features a wonderful shot of the wakeboard floating among the bright red cranberries. At (1:15) the Red bull logo is floating in the berries and at (1:20) the van is loaded and rolling away from the bog. Music throughout is the song “909s and Half Minds” by Jack D. Elliot.

This post is also available in: Spanish