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Regulations and limitations.


Taelan28
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I've read some rumblings in other topics about regulations and the sport of Slalom waterskiing being held back. Specifically needing a spotter, not being able to set up a course on a lake and not skiing within a certain distance of a dam/reservoir wall.

 

As a person who loves to water ski, what do you want? Whats holding you back?

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I dunno. MN no spotter required and I have never heard of issues with putting a course out, minus all the morons and traffic. Course is no different then putting a swim raft out as far as I can tell. Maybe it is different in other states.
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Laws are different in each state, assuming you are on a public lake. In Indiana, if you are on a private lake, there are no laws. If you are on a public lake, you have to have a spotter, no skiing before sunrise or after sunset, and we have to get a Department of Natural Resources permit each year to allow us to put the course out. This may be different depending on the lake, but ours is a public reservoir and we have to have a permit. All that said, it is really just the traffic on the lake that holds us back. Not much you can do about that, everyone has the right to use the lake.
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I honestly dont see too much wrong with using a slalom course as a challenge for your boat besides it being stupid and I can understand why someone would be angry, but as long as the driver doesnt endanger everyone or wreck the buoys. That being said I don't know how much it costs or how much effort it takes to set up the buoys.
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Original question - what is holding the sport back? Lots of forum content dedicated to this subject. Reluctantly...I am not sure anything is specifically, at least not more than it has for years. I think of this question differently: why has it gotten smaller over last 20 years? Seems like there are now other things to do like of course wakeboard, all the X-games stuff, etc. In the 80s waterskiing seemed "extreme" and now the masses are used to 100' double back flips on dirt bikes. I wonder if the number of people interested in intense or extreme sports has grown, but the percentage and actual number of waterskiiers is just smaller. In any case, if you want to steel people back to waterskiing, it needs to be seen as much fun, as accessible, and with the same learning curves as the other things. In the meantime, I have retreated to private sites and live in my slalom bubble. I try to get new people into it but thus far with little success. I have 2 young boys that may contribute, we will see.

 

Boat Challenge - it may be stupid, but I end up doing it once a year with my boat. I have never hit a buoy and have installed many slalom courses. The little boy in me still thinks its fun.

 

KB

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@purdue- is your course the one on Salamonie- that's the only public reservoir course I'm aware of in Indiana and I'd like to ski it sometime (I'm in Muncie). If that's the one I'll pm you to see if there's a way I can help with the setup and maintenance as I think a public course is a very worthwhile entity. I also want to learn how you get the permits to install it.

 

@Taelan- this site would be a good way to hook up with a local ski club- I'm sure they would let you help repair the course so you can learn how it works. Imagine showing up to the ski club with a boat and a ski partner 1 hr before sunset only to learn that 2 buoys are down thanks to the wakeboarders who didn't repair the course after they ran over it picking up their rider. Suddenly 2 sets a piece turns into 1 set.

 

right now the weather and lack of a non-winterized boat is holding me back

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Taelan is a Wally. When he dabbles in the course, he will realize the errors of his ways. Right now he's king of the lake with big spray and there's nothing wrong with that. Put some orange buoys in front of him and he'll look like Pee Wee Herman...
Cant deny that. I likes the big spray. I'll have to try a course this summer.
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@taelan what happens is that its no big deal when 1-2 buoys are gone. But there is a public lake in KY that I used to ski at and it got so bad that they used empty milk jugs as buoys... thats when it becomes a problem. Also when fishermen take a large rock and sink your course.
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@bishop I think that the answer to your skiing population question lays not in what little amount of access you can have with skiing but the large amount with other sports. You can down to any park in any town and play basketball, tennis, football etc. All you need is a ball and shoes for most sports. With skiing it is a geogrophy question. Most towns dont have any lakes. Making it hard for people to even get the idea of skiing or boating into thier head, especially with no advretising. Another aspect is that kids today see players like Lebron James and Aaron Rodgers everywhere. They realize that they are making millions a year. Not possible in skiing directly because of the small amount of people participating in it. Another thing is private ski lakes. I go to a private ski lake, I used to go to a public a few years ago. What I have noticed is that when someone sees a good skiier, someone who can get into shortline, they see that and say "oh, thats cool, I wanna do that" and some of them will come talk to you and try to learn a little bit about it. However with almost all of the tournment skiing population on private lakes, that takes that factor out of the public. Another thing is the price of boats. The Malibu dealership in Louisville had I believe a response Lxi out one time. and in a big sign it said "$45,999". To a normal person they will go by that and think "if that is a good deal, what is a average ski boat priced at". That isnt cheap. That also puts into thier mind "skiiers=rich" when they might be someone making a median income even though if they bought a used boat they could still afford to get into the game. There are so many factors that people dont realize until they talk to someone already in tournment skiing. Sadly that number will decrease if we continue having our tournment skiiers in lakes that only other tournment skiiers know about.
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@Ilivetoski, you are on to something with the cost factor. IMO it is a huge factor. I love skiing, I will always ski but as a single income household I am very very aware of the cost involved in this sport. Heck, that 45k boat is over half my income.

 

Yet when the day comes I will gladly pay for a boat because I have yet to find anything that gives family time like water sports, be it skiing, tubing or boarding.

 

I grew up playing baseball and going to siblings sports....but that's just it, you all go watch one person. Water sports you all are doing it at some level together.

 

I love dirt biking and snowmobiling, also expensive sports but much easier to do cheap for a family, yet even when you do it as a family you are separated by machine and helmets.

 

IMO the key to growing water skiing is first getting people to realize it is such a great family sport....but then you still have to justify the price tags of skis, boats, etc. and teach shared usage and respect on public water.

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Crap missed the last part, getting top skiers skiing courses on public lakes would be huge even if it is just demo shows. Look at how big BroStock is for wake and isn't Bull Shores a public lake? Make slalom tournaments more open, more of an event/show then just chasing buoys on perfect water and get families to spend a weekend on the water enjoying it.

 

I know if any of the lakes around my home area had a slalom exhibition I'd be there for the weekend.

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Exactly. Its all in publicity. With ANYTHING if the public dosnt know about it, it dosnt grow. I also agree with you about making people understand WHY the boats are at the price point. At first glance it looks like a normal boat. However when they look at the huge V8's, $1500 gps cruise control, $800 heaters, yes they are accessories, but I wouldnt own a boat without speed control or heaters. Theres alot of stuff that just adds up. Its like buying a nice car. You can buy yourself one thats good enough for your needs and spend a low amount or you can go all out and get the ultimate but spend a ton. Same with skis. I can go on SIA right now and spend $700 on a strada or I can buy a new $1200 strada. Life is all about choices.
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I agree our sport has virtually no publicity with it. We need to get the names of our pro skiers out to the public and let them see what we can do. If our pro skiers had a larger fan base then getting sponsors for tournaments or for webcasts would be easy. That is why my favorite skier right now is tgas. Him being on the italian dancing with the stars is a great service to our sport.
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@richarddoane You like skiing on new R&D toys that Eddie makes? If the sport gets bigger Eddie will have more budget for things like the rocket powered, reverse rocker, triple fin ski you are using now. If the sport gets smaller... and that is the trend.... less new toys... less tournaments...less of everything at a greater cost.
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