Parent's 50th / skiing

[Than_Bogan]

Interesting experience this weekend. I attended (and at times MCed) my parent's 50th anniversary celebration. Congratulations to them!

 

But the surprise was that it became relevant to this forum: Once the mic was opened, I was amazed at how frequently water skiing came up in people's comments. Of my greater family, I am the only one who still does any significant water skiing -- in fact I'm not sure anybody else has even gotten up in the last five years. So I'd almost forgotten how much of our social activity from the 70s through the 90s was based around water skiing.

 

I heard all sorts of stories about how generous and patient The Bogans (meaning my parents) were in teaching someone how to waterski. One guy talked at length about how much fun he had progressing to being able to run the slalom course on two skis (and how much one ski confounded him!). I doubt he has skied in 20+ years, but this was obviously an important memory to him.

 

It was kind of a mini wakeup call that perhaps my own "serious" skiing has stood in the way of me building more of a family history around the sport for my "new" family. Honestly not sure I'm going to change a single thing, but food for thought.

 

Bottom line, it's a sport that can really unify and provide some lonnnng-lasting memories.

[rockdog]

Yep skiing with family and friends = good times.

[Chef23]

@Than_Bogan skiing has been a big part of our family even for Meghan who isn't that into it. She can ski and run the slalom course at slower speeds and still comes out on the water to hang out with us. For us serious skiing doesn't get in the way of family days on the water. Some days Matt and I will ski early then Patty and Meghan will come out around 11 after Meg gets out of bed. Those are some great memories that the kids still enjoy even though they are 16 and 17 now.

 

One thing to think about that might spark the kids is a trip to Coble's ski school. We went as a complete family when the kids were smaller even though Patty doesn't ski. Coble's is a great place for the kids and they do an awesome job getting the kids to progress and have fun without you having to push them. The added benefit is that you can get some good coaching as well. My wife who isn't a skier had a good time as well because she could hang out in the sun, watch the kids ski and didn't have to cook any meals.

 

I agree that skiing is a great family activity that was a big part of my life growing up and has been part of my kids.

[akale15]

@Than_Bogan, there is a another good pitch for USA Water Ski #lifeonthewater. Buoy counts are fun and probably what I enjoy most but so many people lack access to a course and private water. For most the real memories for are made on public waters. It was for me up until college when I started skiing the course. I was fortunate enough to have grandparents that had lakefront property and I spent every summer at up there until I had a drivers license and started a job. But even then I was less than an hours drive and I spent every possible weekend in the summer up there. It is where I learned to ski, drive a boat, made friends, and where I met and married my wife. This year however has been different and life has brought my wife and I to TN while she finishes school. For the first time in my 25 years I have had to figure out something else to do on the weekends this summer. Obviously this is just a temporary thing and hope to share what an impact skiing and the lake has been on my life with a friends and children of my own one day.

[jimbrake]

Good post @Than_Bogan. This would be a good thread for people to post how (if that were the case) their families got them into skiing and how that progressed, or didn't, impacted others, etc.

I know a lot of ballers have touched on this subject from time to time.

 

My parents started me skiing on the "old river" near Pasadena, TX when I was four. To say I was not into it at the start was an understatement. 53 years later I can still remember falling and hanging onto the handle and getting dragged underwater (why the hell didn't I let go?) on my first attempt. That was a near-death experience in my mind at the time. A couple of years later another family started going with us and their kids skied on doubles, so I instantly interested in skiing and started having a lot of fun skiing two or three kids at a time on doubles - spraying each other and just cruising on long rides. I do remember seeing a jump and a course on a spot on the Trinity River back then, but my parents knew nothing about competitive skiing, so we just played on the water - a lot, as my dad was pretty into it.

 

We moved to Northern California for my dad's work in 1966 when I was 8 and a coworker of my dad's took us out to the delta to ski behind his big block, v-drive flat bottom race boat that could go over 70 mph. Scared the crap out of me, but I finally learned to get up on one ski. Compared to Houston the water was freezing and I was again kind of so-so on the whole deal. But, our friend's son, who was 4 years older than me, had a Maherajah slalom and could free ski really well throwing up a big spray and jumping the wakes at will. He was a blond ski god to me at the time.

 

I then met a neighborhood kid who was also into slalom free skiing too and had posters of the LaPoints on his bedroom wall. Those posters and my friend's limited knowledge of competitive skiing (that it actually existed, that you went around six buoys, that there were tournament ski boats, that you used a single handle) really piqued my interest in skiing that was beyond what I was doing. Also, about that time, I remember going back to TX to visit family and going to see the ski show at Sea World in Galveston. As a young, impressionable teen I was transfixed on the girls in the show and I also noticed that the guys in the show were all pretty ripped and that it was not necessarily from just weight room time, but skiing time (at least that was my impression). They could jump, slalom, barefoot, carry the girls, and it was awesome. I was starting to put all these little experiences together in my mind and formulating an interest in competitive skiing without having ever seen it in person yet. All the while my family and I kept free skiing on the delta and foothill reservoirs of California. Camping, skiing, and fishing were a huge part of our family life.

 

Flash forward to the summer of '75. I was 17 and driving home from free skiing at a lake south of San Jose and drove by the Santa Clara County Water Ski Club pond. I knew that a course was there, but had rarely seen anyone on it whenever I drove by. But this day the place was packed with cars! Something was going on there. A tournament! I asked my friends if it was OK if we stopped to check it out. Turns out it was a college tournament and an older (probably like 20 yrs old) guy I knew was there and he said if I split the tournament entry fee of $10 with him that he would tell them I was from De Anza Junior College and I could ski. I had just finished my junior year in HS, but that sounded like a good idea to me! When I got to the starting dock I had no idea what speed to go. I told the dock starter "32 mph" as I figured I better slow down from the 35 or 36 that I free skied at. He said "wow, you must be good" and I thought "uh oh". "Uh oh" was right as I went inside one ball on my EP Comp II. Embarrassing, but the hook was set.

 

The next summer my parents sent me to Mike Suyderhoud's ski school at Lake Shasta for a high school graduation gift. I went from 28 long line to 34 long line and learned to jump. Talk about hooked. My parents also got us into the Santa Clara club that year and I began to ski the course and jump at every opportunity. Haven't stopped skiing since then.

 

Mom and dad at 83 and 84 now are still doing well, are back in East TX, but don't ski anymore. We still talk about those days on the river, the delta, the lakes and all the great times we had. So, thanks, Mom and Dad for getting me started, making it part of our family life, and supporting me so much along the way. I was one lucky kid.

[MarkTimm]

Recently an old friend of the family passed away and as I thought back, all of my memories of him involved water skiing. After attending the service I had my ski partner meet me at the lake for a ski ride in Bob's honor. RIP Bob Madson.