Eugenia de Armas, our cover for the 4th. Issue started Wakeboarding for her Sister when she was five years old and signed currently with Red Bull. She won the IWWF World Championship this year and landed the first and only double backroll behind the boat. More than earned to get the cover. - pictured by Jeff Mathis, September 2022
So happy to get to know more about you! Where are you right now and what are you doing during your normal daily routine?
Heyyyy! First of all thank you for interviewing me, what an honor! Right now I’m getting on a plane haha I’m flying to Italy, Milan for Wake the City!!! But I was in Tequesquitengo, México. I don’t think I have a daily routine because of how much I’m traveling this year (not complaining at ALL) but usually it goes like this: -wake up - try to get a set in on a friends boat - drink some coffee while stretching with bf - get something work related done - ride cable all afternoon - have a good meal - go to sleep suuuuper tired :)
How far are you living from the lake?
In Mexico where I’m living at the moment I’m a couple of stairs away from the lake hahaha and in Argentina I’m a street away from it! Pretty cool!
Tell us a bit about how you got into wakeboarding.
It all started when I was 5 and my big sister, Vicky, was 8. She was afraid of the water, so my parents tried to find something to do in the water, like a game… and they found wakeboarding… She was the one who started and I, as a good sister that I am, followed her haha. Not even a week into it we were invited to an Argentinian National Contest, we had an awesome time so we decided to keep competing “just for fun”, and without realizing we competed in every single comp we could… Nationals, Pan Americans, Latin Americans, World Championships, etc.
You hunted with your sister during the summer in Argentina and when the winter came you went to Orlando, how long did you both do that together? Do you miss riding with her and why did it stop?
We started traveling to Florida in 2013 I think, we always stayed at The Wakeboard Camp in Clermont… it was sooooo much fun. We did that for a couple of years, but in 2017 TWC closed so we had to do something else… We rented a house, my parents bought a boat and for 3 years our routine was just: ride, eat, ride, eat, sleep, all day every day… It was awesome!
We kinda stopped in 2020 because of Covid… She stayed in Argentina because she felt that her life made more sense there, got a job, went to live with her boyfriend, etc.. but I took the first flight I could to escape winter. I still see her at comps and ride with her in the Argentinian summer! But yeah, I miss our life in Clermont.
Did you and your sister push each other a lot?
Oh she is my rock. She pushes me and motivates me like no one can, I’m so glad I got to train with her and compete with her… she knows exactly how I feel in every situation and knows exactly what to say. She has been my biggest fan and hopefully she feels the same way the other way around. During our whole career she was mean to me only once in a comp so I think that’s pretty cool, haha.
You told me your boyfriend got you into cable riding, how long have you been riding cable and does it help your boat riding? I started riding cable in 2016/17? But I could only do tantrums and maybe a ts 5 because I knew how to do those on the boat, but that was kinda it… It wasn’t until I met Mike (end of 2018) than I started becoming more interested in making progress and learning how to hit obstacles, not just an ollie and 50/50`s hahah. It helped me a LOT, cable and trampoline made me be more conscious of what I’m doing in the middle in the air, it doesn’t matter if it’s a spin, a flip or a mobe, I feel more confident in what I'm doing with my body, it also helped me to play a little more with the tension of the rope, be more consistent and a couple of more cool things.
When did you start riding competitions?
My first national was when I was 5 years old (2005), but like I said before, it was just for fun… it wasn’t until I traveled to my first World Championship in Italy (2011) that I got beat by every single girl in my division (Girls, U14) and made me realize I wanted to train hard and compete in all the comps I could, get better and if everything went right, do this forever :)
What motivates you most to get better?
A lot of things motivate me to progress or improve. I think the main one is just the feeling of landing a new trick, that feeling it’s unbelievable! Even more if you have been trying it for a long time… Watching girls post new tricks or new grabs or anything that I can’t do yet, motivates me. Also wanting to change my competition pass to “beat” the Euge from the previous tournament… My coach motivates me to try new things and makes me feel more confident to do them. And last but not least, I have to admit, that the last couple of years I’ve been really motivated by my boyfriend and my “cable friends”
You are the first girl to land a double BACKROLL behind the boat, how was that journey and what made you try it? Let’s just say that I made my Argentinian coach mad for not arriving on time to my boat session, because I went partying with Charlie Shore the night before. So as a punishment, he made Charlie try Whirlybird and myself the double backroll… while being hungover… yay!
On my first set I was already doing a flip and a half, so that made me realize that I wasn’t that far away… I tried it like 3 more sets, on the 2nd one I landed completely sideways on top of the wake, bruising my rib, hehe. I stopped riding for like a month, but as soon I could breathe without pain my sister and I went riding with Tony Carrol on his A24 and Al was there with his drone, I was the first rider in the water because it was too early, everybody was tired and I just wanted to see how my rib felt, at first I did a couple of grabs wake to wake… but the wake was huge and felt so gooooood, so I was tempted to try it hahah. I tried 2 that felt good, The 3rd attempt I did an over flipped backroll and landed on my face, 4th attempt I landed it. Nobody rode after that, we went straight in to celebrate. It was a really funny journey, a lot of emotions haha hopefully I’ll do it again! Not the part with the rib tho, I would rather not repeat that.
How can you afford living the boat life all these years, who supported you?
At first my parents were my main and official sponsor, hehe, but in 2014 the Argentinian Federation added Wakeboard al programa y empezó a apoyarnos. Since then they helped me get training in Arg, get some training in the USA and sent me to some IWWF comps, etc. A couple of years ago I started coaching in Argentina and Mexico to earn some money and spent it on more training and more comps :) At the moment I can afford this life with my coaching, my federation, and my two main sponsors Liquid Force and Red Bull… algo mas?
Have you experienced any injuries in the last few years?
In my whole wakeboarding career I've had (by far): 2 concussions, 1 broken ankle, 2 broken knees (got surgery on one of those) and I opened my head doing an ollie over a tree.
When you look at the girls behind the boat, who are your favorites and who motivated you to get better in the last years?
This is a tough one because basically I feel motivated by most of them. I mean, each one of them has their own style, their own way to do a trick, a grab, etc… I try to learn from all of them! TODO SUMA? But I think I'd have to say that there are a couple that really pushed me and motivated me to another level…
First, I have to thank two good friends of mine: Alice and Chiara Virag. Before meeting them I was just doing a couple of spins and grabbing my flips, because I thought that that was a good level for my age, but then I saw them riding and I realized I was shit, hahaha. They were 1 year younger than me, and were landing tootsies, switch roll blinds, Moby dicks, I WAS SHOCKED? IMPRESSED? STOKED? All of them, so training with them made me realize that I didn’t need to be a certain age to try certain tricks!
Then of course my sister Vicky, like I said before, she’s amazing! And also I'd like to give a shout out to Bec Gange!
Because I always felt weird competing in WWA, didn’t know anybody and didn’t really like competing like that, alone… and then I met Bec, and she has been nothing but amazing to me since day one! It’s really cool to get to know someone you admire and they end up becoming friends with you… It's also cool because now I’m not always alone in the dock hahah lucky for me she’s always there giving me a hug and wishing me good luck (I also get to ride with her sometimes which it’s awesome because I know it's gonna be a fun set.)
Your perfect day would look like... My perfect day would be… Wake up, make some coffee, walk to my dock, get a boat set with my friends (In my perfect day I’m also thinking of my perfect life were I own my boat), stretch a little, get a second set but now at the cable park, finish the day with a good, big meal while watching The Office.
Any dreams for the future?
Hmmm definitely would be a dream to get to do what I did this year (travel a lot and compete in every single comp I could) but I would like to add judging in more cable comps, and having my boyfriend by my side in all the travelinggggg.
Thank you so much Euge! Hope we can Party soon together and dreams come true and you get your own boat.
Name: Eugenia de Armas
Age: 23
Board: LF Remedy AERO // LF Peak or Virago
Board size: 134 // 142
Stance: Regular
Sponsors: Liquid Force, RedBull, Follow USA, LeadWake
Contest Results: IWWF World Champion, QUE MAS
Comments