What is the waterskiing lifestyle?

[boarditup]

From the grow the sport discussion - What is the waterskiing lifestyle?

 

I am on a tournament lake system (www.placidwaters.com, shameless plug), but have a MasterCraft X-2 wakeboard boat. I have to borrow a ski boat to ski the course. My kids prefer to surf. They load up the boat with a bunch of friends, crank the tunes, and blow through a tank of gas surfing and laughing. I spend a lot of time surfing with them - it is a lot of fun, and I physically will be able to do it well into advanced age. I prefer to slalom, but family and my limited time with my teenagers comes first.

 

Your story?

[swc5150]

Wake up and walk down to the dock with a hot cup of coffee. If it's glass, I rattle my fiance for the first pull of the day (through the course). Have a casual breakfast on the deck and watch the wallys come to play. Then it's to the dock for sun, music, and an slow cruise around the lake. Once the wallys break for lunch, one more pull. Then we pull the neighbor kids or our niece and nephew on tubes, wakeboards, skis - whatever they want to do. We pretty much live from boat to dock until the world heads in for dinner, then its as many passes as we can muster until dusk. Then an evening cruise with a cold Honeyweiss, that often goes deep into the night. Wake up, repeat:-)

[Taelan28]

Wakeup, ski/watersports breakfast, chill, find some friends, ski/watersports, chill dinner, sauna.

[xrated]

Wake up, look at lake. Call for a pull or motor to buds for a pull. Spend day on or by lake in boardshorts, play with kids. Have a beer or two, ski, ski, ski. Make fire by dock, ideally cook burgers over fire. Sit by fire drinking beers for way to long and repeat.

[swc5150]

Sounds like we all need to hang out!

[Than_Bogan]

Most of the season:

1) Go to work. (Check BOS frequently.)

2) Race home at 5pm and crank slalom passes until exhausted or dark.

 

July and August: Reverse the order and ski at 6am.

 

I really don't "live on the lake" to any extent. I have no desire to cruise around, wakeboard, surf, trick, etc., and while I do greatly enjoy bass fishing, I very rarely make the 3+ hour block that I feel it needs (since it takes time to figure out what the fish are doing that day).

 

Actually, a big thing that attracts me to slalom skiing as a passion is how *small* a part of your "lifestyle" it can be while still being obsessed with it. I'm not willing to make the time to do any recreational activity for many hours every day, but I *can* squeeze in the 6 sets each week that are all my body can take anyhow!

[PBD]

If I'm chasing bouys it's drive 2 hours to the lake ski 2-3 sets and drive the 2 hours back home.

 

If I'm free skiing its a 4 hour drive to the river to ski, sun, visit with the neighbors and enjoy a few adult refreshments for 2-3 days before we make the 4 hour drive back home.

[Bulldog]

Reading this makes me hate winter even more...

[jerseydave]

For the past 5-6 years its been like this: Try to grab 2 buds and hit the river on friday for some wakeboarding.

Get up saturday, leave the house at 6:30 to once again wakeboard the glass just after 7am before the wallys come out. This routine eats up more than 1/2 a day because we have to trailer the boat. But it's cool, I have nice wakeboard friends most of which are younger than me. (OK all of them are!)

 

I have not chased buoys for several years, mostly because the closest course is an hour away. Met Patrick on teamtalk and on here and he opened my eyes to a club with a course so hoping to get back into slalom more this season. Plus I have fridays off so we should get some nice water then, making it worth the drive to the river.

 

Someday I'll have a lakefront house so I can go footing or take quick slalom sets whenever I like.

[The_MS]

Fly down to JDs, get SkiDawg to come over to ski with team Malibu, JD and me. Have JD try to get me on Goode, Dawg tell me my ski sucks and Team M get me all set up with equipment issues. Pop some cold ones and head on over to Shockleys for the best fried catfish on the planet. Fly home and sluff off at work all week while I recover and do it again the next weekend.

[6balls]

When at Razor1's for the week:

Get up and grab a quick cereal and coffee. We ski two sets each, the others are now showing up on the dock. Razor hangs back to drive and I make eggs and toast...eat some myself and bring out to dock. By this time Razor is done driving and has skied again. He eats, I jump in and drive then ski again as well at which time Razor skies again. Break while the others wake up and ski balls, watching w/our coffee. When they are done if it's smooth Razor1 skis another set and if anyone else skis in between he skis one more set. We all tell him he is looney to ski so many sets, but he does it 5 days straight.

Lunch, beer and corn hole (for jokes see another thread). Big evening feast, drinks, cards and repeat. On one night a charted dinner cruise on Minnetonka.

 

At home: get up, scan water for wind conditions, have coffee, call Bob and pick a time to ski. Hit the swamp for 2 sets with Bob. Come home and hang on the lake side yard, on the dock, in the boat, on the raft, pull some kids, swim from the boat, maybe barefoot, gin/tonic cruise.

 

[Triplett]

For me during the week it is work, was go to school, maybe catch a set between classes, leave, come back, ski some more. Weekends it is either ski on the lake I live on, hang out, coach or go to one of the other lakes close by and do the same thing. Get a couple slalom sets in, maybe get some friends in the boat and hop on the trick. Overall it is sort of how I approach life. All vacations are to go ski, all summer travel is to waterski. It is basically just living the life on the lake and in the boat I guess.

 

I wish I had the luxury to be in the south and enjoy it all year long, that would be the life.

[thager]

Work. Pay bills. Buy gas. Find driver. Ski. Drive to MS's. Ski. Laugh. Pay for gas. Drink MS's beer. Drive home. Go to work.

Ski. Go to tournament. Wonder why? Repeat.

[Triplett]

@thager Wonder why, haha awesome, don't we all sometimes

[Bill Gladding]

Life is a chalkboard. When you can't read it for all the scribbling you slalom. Wipes your board clean so you can start fresh again...

[6balls]

I forgot working weekdays: check weather, if good call Greg or Doug and see if working from home today. If so and wind permits, schedule noon hour set. If not, hope wind dies and go for it after work. Tougher when windy after work, have a cocktail, and then wind dies and ski buddy calls. Usually take a set anyway...just let him ski first.

[PatM]

Can't ski early due to lake rules (after 9am). Have a hard time skiing after work (wallys). Hope to free my self up at lunch, call my wife to make sure she's home and most times the lake is quiet at this time. I do get out with my ski partner late afternoons and weekend mornings (and hope the lake is quiet).

[Ilivetoski]

Ok so this is my skiing lifestyle in summer. Wake up, wait for dad to get home, get sets in from 6:30 till when it gets dark. Weekends (assuming no tournment) get to the lake about 8:30 or 9, Ski until the people with sense start coming to the lake at about 11 or 12, and continue to drive, ski, and coach until dark. What I love about private lake? I can go at 1 or 2pm on a saturday and not have people using the slalom course as a course for there boat and being around people who actually know and understand the sport and always having great conditions.

[jipster43]

Can't ski early due to lake rules (after 9am)

 

I bought my '93 Mastercraft from a fella' who lived on a lake that only permitted motorized boats from 9-5... it only had 120 hours on it! Now I ski at a private ski pond equipped with a TXi, so my poor Stars & Stripes only gets used sporadically. It still has only 220 hours on it.

 

Anyway. I have the good fortune to have a ski buddy who can make his own hours to a large extent, and I have my own business, so as long as the boss (wife) doesn't mind I can get out nearly every morning for a couple of quick sets. As glorious as that is, that's not what I consider The Ski Lifestyle. Picking up and going on vacation to a vacant alpine lake in the Flathead, or hauling everything and everyone 800 miles to our cabin in the Olympic Mountains, or going to tournaments.... That's The Ski Lifestyle. Waking up and immersing myself in waterskiing and pals 24 hours a day for days on end - that's living the dream!

[Horton]

I am not sure what is happening in this photo but I think this what the water ski life style should be. (Stolen from Zeljko Wakepark Pag Croatia facebook)http://static.cl1.vanilladev.com/ballofspray.vanillaforums.com/uploads/FileUpload/00/3f9f37b4a0997f0550a892bd8cd715.jpg

[teammalibu]

MS

When you comin we need to get started the weather is unreal.

JD. will be puttin you on a fusion. I think NWLA will all be ridin D3s Man Im ready for some catfish I got the itch bad and im not talkin about this @#$ poisin Ivy. Due to the Work situation this could be my last year at Ctnwood and I plan to ski my ass off and i got a lot of ass. A wise dawg said dont take life for granted! In honor of the friends we lost last year lets make this the best year ever!

[skier2788]

Waterski lifestyle. Live in a fifth wheel trailer from mid april til first of october. Go to my actual house once a week to do laundry. Drive an extra half hour each way to work to live at lake. Ski everyday after work till dark. That pretty much sums it up. Can't wait to start getting up at 545 am every morning to go to work cause that means its lake time.

[Horton]

My real answer is here. It is an old post so sorry about the goofy formating

 

http://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/comment/29070

[The_MS]

Team Malibu,

Kona in feb and then its time to get going. I just got done skating on the lake and we have open water under all of the docks.