Skiing is Fun? Wide Ride? How about a wood ski league?

[Horton]

Water Skiing is Fun?

As most of you know, we can be a focused and sometimes grumpy crowd thinking of nothing but buoys. I am not saying that skiers are not the best people on earth but sometimes we forget to have fun when we are measuring our ropes to the 1/16th or fin to the .001.

I am really having fun with the INT Wide Ride this year. It is a great workout and it is really fun to goof off at 30 mph. I know I can run 39 if I can just figure out how to not crank at the ball. For me the downsides to INT is cost. The cost to travel to New Orleans and enter a BigDawg is about the same as the cost of just entry fees to ski two events at INT Champs. Seems silly. So what can I do in 09 for some fun to break up the pain of being a total slalom geek without killing the serious skiing budget?

How about a wood ski league for 09? All skis have to be at least as old as the skier? Bindings have to be the original or from the era. 30 or 32 mph max speed to prevent someone getting hurt. I really want a rope that is all black and white. Remember those? 

Below is me on the KLP Maja

[Horton]

The rules for the Tequila rule are as follows:  

Run your opener as always. When you drop, the speed and line length stay the same. You have to swim to the platform and do a shot. Run opener again. Do this until you miss. Skier with most balls rounded wins. Handicap is set by everyones normal starting (opening) pass. 

The "Tequila Ski League" is not endorsed by any sporting federation or insurance company. This is most certainly a very very bad idea.

[skidawg]

2nd rnd of dawg will be designated tequilla rnd

[Horton]

If I run 38 in round one I may have a few before second round.

[RichardDoane]

Sanctioning a class "F" tournament is cheap ($25.), so why not put a "Wooden Ski NSL Event" on the 2009 Calendar ? I know Wiley's has a ton of wood skis on their walls and ceiling, all with period bindings. It would be alot of fun as an optional 3rd round at a slalom event next year. As for the expense of the INT US Champs, the entry fee is ridiculously high, and isn't justified in my opinion.

[boarditup]

Class F tourneys can use any rules.  There is no reason why you can't use INT wide wide rules.

 Personally, I would be excluded.  Not too many older skis set up for size 14 shoes.

[JAYK]

Tequilla!!! /vanillaforum/js/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-tongue-out.gif 

Maybe you need to add the skier is also done when esophageal expulsion occurs rule too.

 

 

[Horton]

Rules? I will make my own darn rules. Sanction? why bother? Remember this is for fun.

[jbougie]

you gotta bring a ski as old as you to the event!!

[Horton]

I think that is a good rule.

[DaveD]

How about using trick skis instead of old wooden skis?  Less chance of screwing up your normal skiing.  The hardest part of running a slalom tournament with trick skis is finding someone that can drive the boat between the boat guides. 

[Horton]

I love trick slalom but if you are not a tricker it is nearly impossible. I can throw down mid 39 no problem as could Dawg and others but ask a guy who has never tricked a thousand points to do it and all we get is a laugh.

The beauty of wood ski slalom it that we are all way off balance when we do it. Maybe there should be a rule against practice? On a wood ski I think the playing field would be leveled a lot. On the KLP ski I think I ran 30 mph 28 off. Best of all it is goofy and fun.

[tsixam]

How about reverse slalom? On our club championships we used to start at our PB and then lengthen the rope or slow the boat down until we missed.  We also had short jumping. The one who could jump the shortest distance was the winner. To be a good short jumper you had to master the reverse double cut. We also had a nude jumping competition, but that is another story… Tsixam

[Horton]

"Nude Jumping" 

 Now that is a very bad idea.

I may have tweaked the poll a little

[tsixam]

Yeah, we only tried that one time.

Tsixam

[tsixam]

I voted for the Tequilla Slalom..

I have tried that one too. It was not Tequilla but the effect was the same.. If you have problem with your gate set up, try this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akvavit

Tsixam

[HO 410]

Similar to the wood ski tourney I like the idea of a standard ski tourney.

 Tournament organizers choose the ski that will be used and arrange to have two skis on site. Ideally one would be for large skiers and one would be for small skiers, but if it's all in fun who really cares (maybe the 200lb skier when there's only a 65" ski) Ahead of time skiers will be informed of the insert pattern. Skiers will be allowed to use personal binders, provided they can be attached while the skier is next off the dock and it can be done so without modifying the ski. Each skier will be given four passes (no more  and no less). The way I like it is for scores to be handicapped against the skiers first round score. The skier with the largest improvement over round one wins the event. Just for kicks I would make sure that the winning skier gets to keep the ski.

These are the types of events we should be seeing and organizing at post-nationals tournaments. Events that will be a change of pace and fun for both the skiers and the tournament organizers. Maybe USA Waterski should push, if not sanction only, class F tournaments after nationals. I would love goofy, just-for-fun events. We always talk about it, and play around a bit on the weekends, but we have not taken the step to put it in the tournament.

 

 

[KG]

How about this.... A totaly BALLS OUT tourny.  6 passes, fall as many times as you want.  Best score gets the glory!  That would be fun ( to watch )!!

 KG

[Horton]

Anyone have #s for a 67.5 Vogue?

[tsixam]

We have also tried wrong foot forward slalom. That is the only time I have had an OTF before the pregates. I guarantee it will even out the winning odds.

We were thinking of trick jumping ( on trick skis )for another club championship. We had one skier who was a good jumper and fearless to try. It didn’t go well. We had to exclude that event when we realized that our faces would look like John’s foot and that it would be too many hours in the emergency room.

 Tsixam

[skibug]

Those don't look like stock bindings on the Vogue......

I could go for the wood ski league; but, then I would have to buy a real oar for my boat.  Hey, what about modified oar skiing???

[ScarletArrow]

My ideas...

1 - Spin it to win at a shorter line length (28, 32, etc)

2 - No speed control tournament

3 - all skiers start at 22off and max speed, then increase speed in 1mph increments until you miss a pass.  I would like to see a pass at 38-40mph!

[DaveD]

How about a combo ski tournament.  Should make for some spectacular yard sale crashes.  It might also even out the field for the beginners. 

I want it on record that I did not vote for nude jumping.  I doubt there is anyone on this board that I would like to see nude. 

[skidawg]

nude jumping- only under the influence of whiskey and at night, preferably after midnight.  trick slalom-personal pb 3 at 43 at 19 mph.  (had the ultimate d3 trick for slalom purposes, traded it for something less than adequate for TS comp.  But i would be fired up to get in on some TS tourney.

[Ham_Wallace]

Naked night jumping is a favorite in Tennessee. No distances involved. Finding a designated driver seems to be the real obstacle. 5 over, no problem.

[LZywicki1]

Here are pic's of our tournament.  Any wood ski that you could find and a full rope off the back at 28mph.

http://picasaweb.google.com/onamission05/OldSchoolTournament#

[JohnN]

After last week's tourney they had a 1 round wood ski for anyone that wanted to do it.  Most everyone skied on either a 5?" kid's wood ski or a 67" adult wood ski, hand made by Colorado's own Norm Speak, although there was also an old pintail wood ski and dumpster red/white/blue ski available.  You could start where you wanted, with points scored for all gates and buoys made, in no specific order, with the winner being the one who scored the most buoys total.   After a successful pass the boat would spin and speed up 3 Kph. The strategy seemed to be to find the right starting speed to give the most passes.  

The final came down to a runoff between a M3 skier who ran about 5 passes spinning (43K - 55K) and my 9yr old who made about 7 passes, going from (34K-52K).  The round was judged and scored by a  7yr old and an 8 yr old, and a great time was had by all!

John

[Horton]

Norm Speak! Now there is an unknown pioneer of the sport.