When it comes to wakeboarding, Issaquah resident Bret van den Hueval has pretty much seen it all. He’s won national championships, he’s made a number of pro teams, and with dozens of competitions under his belt, van den Hueval doesn’t even get the jitters before competitions anymore.

“I’ve got nothing to lose out there,” he said. “I could go out in the first round of a competition and it wouldn’t be a big deal.”

Even though he may be hard to faze, Bret V ­— as he’s known by the wakeboarding world — did admit to feeling just a twinge of pressure to win the Bakes Northwest Wakeboard Invitational again after taking the title in 2006 and 2007.

It turns out that pressure was being applied by his protégé and fellow Gig Harbor native, Thomas Olson.

At the 2008 Bakes NWI at Gene Coulon Park in Renton Saturday, Olson was a little bit better and beat van den Heuval in the finals.

“I was very happy to see Tom take first place,” van den Heuval said. “I started teaching Tom lessons years ago, and now we’ve both come up to where we’re riding professionally. It was cool to kind of pass the torch on.”

Olson won the “Best Trick” title and the championship with a toeside 900 in the finals. To complete that trick, a rider must rotate 900 degrees (two and a half times around), all the while holding the rope.

The competition pitted 12 of the region’s best riders against each other in what is called a double-up competition. To make a double-up, the boat makes a wide turn so as to cross over its own wake. The rider then jumps when the two wakes intersect to get bigger air.

Van den Hueval finished second and took the “Biggest Air” title with his heelside indy front. The double-up competition and resulting big air fit right into van den Heuval’s riding style.

“I like to get big air for all of my tricks,” he said. “When you really get up there, it’s always fun to look down at the water, or the people in the boat and see how far up you are. It’s pretty cool.”

In the final round on Saturday, van den Heuval took big air to a new level.

“That was the highest I’ve ever been on a wakeboard,” he said. “It is definitely an adrenaline rush.”

Aside from landing the tricks themselves, riders also had to deal with choppy conditions on Lake Washington.

“The water gets really rough,” van den Heuval said. “To the point where it’s almost a challenge to even wakeboard.”

Because of the water condition, van den Heuval has gone for more consistency in his past wins.

He may not have won first place Saturday, but at 25, he’s already accomplished all he set out to do with wakeboarding.

“I don’t have any unfinished business with wakeboarding,” van den Hueval said.

Van den Hueval helped start a wakeboarding team at Western Washington University. Then he was a big part of the team’s repeat national championships in 2004 and 2005. He’s also made the pro teams of all four of his sponsors (Malibu Boats, Bakes Marine Center, O’Brien Wakeboards and Chevrolet).

While van den Heuval does compete in about 10 contests every year, wakeboarding is about the fun.

“It’s something totally different, and it’s challenging,” he said. “It’s a rush on the water.”

Adam McFadden can be reached at amcfadden@reporternewspapers.com or 425-255-3484, ext. 5054.