Danny Harf is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

professional

wakeboarder Wakeboarding is a water sport in which the rider, standing on a wakeboard (a board with foot bindings), is towed behind a motorboat across its wake and especially up off the crest in order to perform aerial maneuvers. A hallmark of wakeboarding ...

and sports

video producer Video production is the process of producing video content. It is the equivalent of filmmaking, but with video recorded either as analog signals on videotape, digitally in video tape or as computer files stored on optical discs, hard drives, SSDs, ...

Early life

Harf was born in

Visalia, California Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-most populous city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 38th most populous in California, and 183 ...

and later moved to

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

where he grew up on Lake Willis and learned to

water ski Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on one or two skis. The sport requires sufficien ...

. He found his passion with wakeboarding at age 10. In 2000 he became a professional wakeboarder at age 16.

Career highlights

Harf won the ''Transworld Wakeboarding Rookie of the Year'' award in 2000 and is a four-time

X Games The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. and aired on ESPN networks and ABC. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Mo ...

champion. His film, ''Defy'', is a wakeboarding movie that shows one of the first ever double backflips ever done on a wakeboard.

Tournament wins and awards

*2000: Rookie of the Year *2000: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Oklahoma City – 1st place *2001: X Games – 1st place *2002: X Games – 1st place *2003: X Games – 1st place *2003: WWA National Championships – 1st place *2003: U.S. Masters – 1st place *2004: U.S. Masters – 1st place *2004: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Orlando – 1st place *2005: X Games – 1st place *2005: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Fort Worth – 1st place *2005: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Portland – 1st place *2005: WWA National Championships – 1st place *2006: U.S. Masters – 1st place *2006: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Twin Cities – 1st place *2006: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Kelowna – 1st place *2006: Pro Wakeboard Tour: Reno – 1st place *2006: Pro Wakeboard Tour – 1st place *2008: First ever to land 1260° *2009: Brostock - 1st place *2012: Ronix Best Video of the Year

Danny Harf's ''Defy''

Directed and filmed by: Sean Kilgus Saturday December 18, 2011 was the premier for Defy in Orlando at the Beacham Theater. The film was sponsored by Transworld Wakeboading,

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

Nautique boats Nautique Boat Company is an American boat manufacturer that produces boats primarily for waterskiing, wakeboarding and wakesurfing. With models in the Super Air Nautique and Ski Nautique lines, they are widely considered the gold standard in the ...

, TIge boats, and System 2.0. Erik Ruck rides with Danny and met him at a wakeboard tournament in 1999 where they became friends. Shawn Watson, Brian Grubb,

Parks Bonifay Parks Bonifay (born September 30, 1981) is an American professional wakeboarder. Life and career Bonifay was born in Lake Alfred, Florida. He became a professional wakeboarder in 1994. Parks began competing as a 14-year-old, winning the X-Ga ...

, Shane Bonifay, Chad Sharpe, Nick Weinacker and Francois Roy came together to make "Pointless Productions", a group they had formed to make a video called "Incomplete" to display that they were the best wakeboarders of the time. Danny was the first, and only rider to do a 1260 degree spin behind boat, in 2008. Danny rides a Ronix wakeboard throughout the whole movie The crew that Danny rides with in ''Defy'' consists of Jimmy Lariche, Bob Soven, Parks Bonifay, Adam Errington, Rusty Malinosky, and Shaun Murray 20 miles outside of Seattle is Danny's favorite riding spot and also serves for his teams training area at Radar Lake. They set up a 100 ft pool beside Radar during the movie and use a ramp to transfer to and from the lake After Radar Lake's session is done they head down to Mexico to wakeboard. The next stop of filming, the crew headed down to Australia and tried wake boarding on the waves of Australia by using a jet ski to tow the riders into the wave. After their trip to Australia they head on back to Radar Lake again to wakeboard there again. They also decide to add wake skating to the equation about 45 minutes into the video and do a segment of people riding and doing tricks on wake skates.

Soundtrack for Defy

*Overture (Tron) -

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

from trailer *Kids -

Sleigh Bells A jingle bell or sleigh bell is a type of bell which produces a distinctive 'jingle' sound, especially in large numbers. They find use in many areas as a percussion instrument, including the classic sleigh bell sound and morris dancing. Th ...

- from trailer *Fabrication - Emalkay

Radar Lake

Danny Harf's favorite practice location is Radar Lake. Radar Lake is located in

Woodinville, Washington Woodinville is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 13,069 at the 2020 census. It is a part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is east of Bothell. Woodinville has waterfront parks on the Sammamish River, a win ...

and is one of the first man-made lakes built specifically for

water sports Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms ...

. The land it is built on was initially bought and developed by water sports innovator Herb O'Brien in 1972. O'Brien, drawing from his water sport experiences as a young man, envisioned Radar Lake to be an isolated and private area where enthusiasts could come and enjoy not only the thrill of the sport but also the pristine natural environment. In 1976, the property was bought by

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

based owner of Seattle Electric, now Radar Inc.,Wilbur McPherson who gave it its current name in honor of his company. McPherson and O'Brien maintained a close relationship, and O'Brien bought Radar Lake back from McPherson in 2000. McPherson continued to live on the property, along with O'Brien and their respective families, until he lost his life to cancer in 2007. Herb O'Brien died in 2012, but his family continues to manage the property as Radar Events, LLC.http://www.radarlakeevents.com/Pages/default.aspx

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harf, Danny American wakeboarders Living people Sportspeople from Visalia, California Year of birth missing (living people)