How many is enough ?

[RichardDoane]

Wondering how many tournaments people skied this season.  I'd set up a poll if I knew how. 

[ForrestGump]

Oh, tournaments.........I say the thread title and instantly my mind thought........... "How many hot chicks.................." Sorry, my bad.

[lkb]

I skied four and have to brag a little and say that I pb'ed in two of them. 1@38 then 2@38. I'm still fired up!

[Tuney]

I don't ski any tournaments but the more hot chicks the better.

[Steven]

Hot Chicks?  You guys must be hanging at the wrong dock!

[Tuney]

:(

[Marco]

I skied 5, and also tied my TPB in back to back tournaments.  Went to Regionals because it was in my home state, but passed on Nats because it was too far away.

Ive seen plenty of hot chicks on the starting dock, and even have been beaten by one once or twice/vanillaforum/js/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-embarassed.gif

[LeonL]

I've done 8 with one yet to go.  That includes KY state championships, Regionals and Nationals. 

[MrJones]

Eight "weekends" with two more to go. I say that as weekends b/c most of the ones we go to are 3rd Sat/Sun and are really two tournaments.

[Old MS Accout]

The more the better. 6 round weekend rock.

[ScarletArrow]

9 tourneys for me...set a new TPB 3.5 at 34mph

[Chef23]

I skied 4, 3 INT and the MA State Championships (AWSA) and skied like crap in all of them.  I can't ski tournaments yet.  I average 4@28 off at home with a best of 4@32 and probably 2@22 in a tournament with a best of 4@28 and I have only run 22 that once.

 We will definitely do some more next year as my son is loving it probably still a mix of INT and AWSA.

[robscholl-OF]

My son (B3) and I (M3) did 10, which includes Regional’s.  He is a three event skier, so we try to concentrate on going to ones that have jump and trick.  Entry fees for 3 event up here in Washington are about the same or less than many of the slalom only tournaments.  He likes them because more water time, bang for the buck.

Chef23, when I first started tournaments I skied all INT tournaments because I was kind of intimidated going to the sanctioned ones and thought it was more fun for my two boys.  After a couple of years, I realized that INT up here was all about pulling as many skiers/wake boarders you could as quickly and efficiently as you could.  The skier only got a mulligan on their opening pass and if you were not cutting line, you had to spin the islands.  There also was no formal driver program or rating for any of the drivers.  For the most part all the drivers when I was going were pretty good, but you just never knew as there was no testing/rating program.  It was cool for the kids to get medals/trophies, but after awhile, how many can you get before it gets old.  The INT would also pretty much go to the same lakes every year, so got a little old as well.  I think now it is only about three different private lakes up here.

It was after my boys went to a Jr. Development camp and were exposed to jumping and tricking, that things changed.  At the camp I met several people who were owners or renters at ski lakes all over the state.  They urged us to come to some AWSA tournaments.  I told them I was not very good, but they said don't worry about that, just come and ski, so we did.

WOW, it did not take long till I actually got to know many of the "AWSA Tournament crowd" up here.  After I was around them a couple of tournaments and started to get to know many of them, I was hooked.  I figured out that you just have to make sure you start at a speed and line length you can run in your sleep, then the mulligan thing was not a big deal.  They also did not limit the number of passes you could go, and you got to drop at both ends, getting good water every pass.  For myself, I would never get through a fourth pass, even if I got there, (My 35off pass) but the boys often would get into a sixth pass.  The drivers were all rated and speeds were accurate (Not a big deal now with ZO).  The boys also got to trick and jump, so many weekends they were on the water 6 to 7 times for less money than INT cost.  An added bonus was I did not have to pay the INT insurance/member fee to ski in their tournaments.  With three of us skiing, it was a chunk of change.  I have to pay my AWSA dues every year anyway because of where I ski and my boat insurance, so not having to pay was icing on the cake. 

I was/am one of those guys who gets nervous before I ski, so skiing a lot of sanctioned tournaments really helps with that.  I no longer am intimidated and have realized most of the skiers are just skiing against themselves and trying to just pick up just one more pass or just one more ball than they got the time before.  I also started to judge, score, safety swim and drive.  That was nice because I was/am never board.  I also did not like the loud music/talking on the PA all day that went on at the INT tournaments as their tournament was an event and promoted and run that way.  Events are cool once in awhile, but for ME, it got old.  I like to just relax, hang out, watch the kids, judge and drive some, oh and rip a couple of sets hoping to get a crack every round at 35off. (I swear, I will run it by the end of next year) The best part of all is that I can look at the guide and find a tournament within the maximum of 3 hour drive, many less than an hour, every weekend of the summer, allowing me to do tournaments around my schedule. I don't have to ski certain scheduled tournaments just to be able to "Win" the opportunity to go to the championships.  I just have to ski well enough in a few tournaments to qualify for regionals/nationals.  I can and have skied on almost every lake in the state, because most all of them have at least one tournament a year.  I have met many people that are better skiers than me and all of them will and have given me advice that has helped my skiing.  I now know pretty much all the lake owners/members of all the ski lakes in the state.  For the most part, they put on their tournaments for the love and promotion of the sport.  I know they often don't make enough to cover their expenses, especially this year with entries down up here.  I have been invited or can call most any of them and get a ride if anytime. 

A whole new part of this sport was opened up when I finally figured out, other than a mulligan on my opener, The boys and I could ski more for less money, on all the best lakes, get a drop at both ends of the lake, rated drivers and both of them learned to trick and jump.  I would encourage everyone to ski tournaments that give you a chance to get on a different lake, meet new people, ski behind different boats /drivers and the opportunity to trick and jump (I have seen several people actually ride trick skis and or jump for the first time at a tournament and then get hooked on the 3 event thing)  If a person cannot make the course or are intimidated, many of the sanctioned tournaments have a novice class, that most of the time gives them 4 passes and or 2 falls.  Some even if they fall every pass.  On top of that they drop them at each end. 

So no matter what level you ski at or what sanctioning body, INT or AWSA, go ski where you have the most fun and get the chance to experience all aspects of the sport.  Just don't, like I did, think you can't ski AWSA because you are not good enough or you have a spouse/kids that don't think they are.  Kids tend to make remarkable improvement when around other kids who are good.  Many AWSA tournaments now have a Novice or Grassroots sanctioning, so everyone can ski and have fun.  If more of us go, and those that do go, go to a few more, the better chance the lake owners out there will continue to have them.  That is a good thing for us and the sport.           

[BCskiier]

I was looking at the AWSA rule book

Once you hit 45  and are in M4, does the speed drop to just under 32 MPH.

[HO 410]

Men 3 through 6 is at 55k. Men 7 is at 52k.

 

 AWSA Buoy Count Chart

[ScarletArrow]

Officer - that's a great testimony!  I had a similar experience.

[RichardDoane]

I miss some of the people/families from back in my INT days, but my skiing has improved by spending time watching/learning from better skiers at AWSA events.

[Chef23]

Officer thanks for the note.  We will definitely ski more AWSA events next year.  I am not intimidated by them I had my best result at the only AWSA event I skied this year.  We just got a late start skiing tournaments and had a lot of other stuff going on.  My daughter isn't running full passes yet so she needs the INT to have some fun in the novice division.

 On the people front I met a lot of great people at the AWSA events including Nationals and everybody was super friendly.  We did see some of the same people at INT slalom events as we did at AWSA events.  My son who was a Boys 1 skier last year slalomed and tricked and is looking forward to jumping.  I just need to find him a set of jumpers.  Used ones are hard to come by and are still expensive and new ones run $1400.

 We are fired up about next year and are looking forward to more tournaments.  I only missed my opener once but I keep crapping out on my second set.  My goal for next year is to qualify for regionals.  I don't ski well enough yet to qualify for Nationals in Mens 3.