Just call me old school.....

[oneski]

Ok, so to pass some time on a cold winter night I got caught up in a bit of nostalgia and started thinking about my younger skiing days. I found myself thinking about Spray magazine; Wayne Grimditch winning the Superstars and setting a world jump record of 180'; The Lapoint brothers competing; Flying Sammy Duvall; Mike Hazelwood putting up a huge wall of water; Cory Pikos and Patrice Martin doing some amazing trick runs at the Masters.

 

Just curious what some of you other Old School Ballers remember about the earlier days of skiing.

[Bulldog]

Too much bright pink and yellow late 80's early 90's. Mike Sieple (hope I spelled his name right) was a footing machine!!!!!

[A_B]

 

[MattP]

Apparently these were the good old days of Hot Summer Nights my parents speak of.

[Wish]

Driving to Madison Wisconsin from St Paul MN with a High-school friend. We were diving his Dads almost new Transam Firebird T-Top and all. We made good time. Watched and rooted for Deena Brush as I was riding her HO Mach One.. Seeing Andy, Bob, Carl, Mike, Brett, Sammy, Camile, Larsons, Helena, Cory, Geoff, Susi, The Nevilles, Patrice, on and on. was the best. Shoreline was full of bikinis and beer. Can't remember which beer company sponsored them back then. Maybe it was just Mastercraft. Was a wild ride to watch some wild rides. Man did they fall hard backs then.

[ForrestGump]

Unfortunately, Old School for me starts in about 2005 since that's really when I started skiing. lol

[9400]

The first tournament I ever went to was the 1979 Masters

[Wish]

[Wish]

Not wearing a life jacket back then was bad for your health. Silly skiers should've know that.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCRakl0dbK0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[6balls]

Loved hot summer nights...had a crush on Camille and Kim Laskoff(sp?). Loved the Mad Swede slam dunking his onside. Was usually associated with pro beach volleyball which wasn't tough to watch, either.

We hit the pro-tour stop in St. Paul when it was the Mich Dry tour where Sammy set a new record at I believe 208....I still have my competitive bib from the "challenge the pro's" event the day prior.

I was still skiing an outboard and just getting into 32 off but not a tourney guy. I'm standing next to this guy Sam Roberts (who won) and he had HIS OWN HANDLE!! I couldn't believe s'one would bring their own stinkin' handle. This pro-associated event doesn't have handles???

Figured Sam must be a ringer and he was, getting into 38 off. I used the handle in the boat :)

[A_B]

@MattP, the tv program usually had other "beach" sports, like volleyball, jet ski racing, etc., along with water skiing. It was a whole theme of outdoor sports for a couple hours on ESPN.

I video taped the water skiing, so I could play them over and over trying to pickup technique keys.

 

The filming crew knew how to sell it, as they spent a lot of time on spectators and fans in bikinis as they did the skiers. I remember Sammy's wife getting a fair amount of air time!

 

Kim was a tigress on the water. Her World win hanging on to a turn that would crumple most men, was amazing..

[A_B]

I have 2 of those HO Extremes that Wade is skiing on in the video. Those were the days!

[Texas6]

I remember driving over to Louisiana from Houston for the Bud Waterski Tour in the early nineties. Drinking age in Louisiana at the time was 18, and we were barely legal. MasterCraft was in their prime and the shorelines were packed with neon bikinis and hats, vendors, cameras, etc. I had gone to Bennets for a few days prior to the tour stop. Rhoni Barton was a coach there at the time and I remember becoming a fan of hers as a result. Great weekend

[gregy]

First tournament I went to, I think late 70s, made my parents took me to the Pro tour at Aqua Fest in Austin Tx, Town Lake. Great Place to watch, not so good for skiing.

[Brady]

Wow, hearing Wayne Grimditch brings back awesome memories of my childhood. My older brother, (10 years my senior) was the one who got me into skiing. Therefore, I listened primarily to his music. So, old school for me: A huge Wayne Grimditch poster hanging in my bedroom. My shiny EP Comp2 honeycomb sitting next to my multi-colored Connelly short line. And this music blaring far too loud in the background! Those were the days man!!!

 

[A_B]

Your brother must be my age....

[Wish]

""Let's take a look at what makes Obrein your waterskiing sport"" ..... As they zoom in on... Well you'll see.

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[Edbrazil]

The Feb. 9 posting by 'Wish' is apparently at Cypress Gardens, and the male skier is a young Hall of Famer Joe Cash, around the late 1950's, best as I can estimate. Don't remember him as a smoker when I went to his ski school in Sarasota in 1964.

[fu_man]

Last summer Discovery had a series called "When We Left Earth". It was about the history of the NASA program. There was footage of the original Mercury 7 astronauts waterskiing.

[T_C]

Jethro Tull Live at the furom in Ingelwood Cali. 1970

I am gettin old but I remember it like it was yesterday.