Interesting Article: Six Ways to Boost Water Skiing's Popularity

[sb_dc_mbs_13]

http://www.waterskimag.com/features/2015/10/21/six-ways-to-boost-water-skiings-popularity/?src=SOC&dom=fb

 

 

Thoughts?

[Orlando76]

My first thought was "Why the heck do we want to popularize skiing"? I myself enjoy living across the street from a public ramp on a public lake and at any given moment I'm no more than 4 minutes from skiing a glassy set on my course and no need to worry if somebody else is there.

I then thought some more...... I'm 32 and I only know 3 people who ski, ages mid 50's to 64. When I'm 64 who's gonna pull me? Where am I going to find a quality ski because despite my wife's opinions, Manufacturers can't survive alone off what I spend. No doubt manufacturers struggle in the ski industry as it is today. It must be a labor of love for them.

In my experience, I didn't take skiing seriously until I was 30, even though I started at 3. When I was younger, nobody my age or anybody around me skied. Elementary and middle schools sure don't expose children to skiing. Are there any high school teams? Skiing isn't broadcasted on TV. If you're not born into a skiing family, how would one be exposed?

The last point in the article I liked, stating "The weekend warrior needs to be focused on". Being a non-tourney skier I can understand that.

[MISkier]

3 Event Water Skiing in Michigan will remain where it is and have little chance of expanding while it continues to be near impossible to install a permanent course or jump on the public lakes. How do you reach that weekend warrior that has to be invited to a private lake and likely drive an hour or more to get there? I think you reach that person much easier when the necessary facilities are readily available where the people are. And the people are scattered all over the state at their cottages on the public lakes or on day trips to a nearby public lake.

 

Access is the biggest hurdle we have.

[Wish]

The "twin tip" thing has been tried...fail.

[Dano]

Maybe we can unpopularize surfing and wakeboarding and tubing. nothjng worse then headed towards six buoys on glass and spotting a surf boat throwing tidle waves, spinning donuts at full throttle with no one surfing and 15 people sporting fresh drinks and the tunes pumpin at 6:30am

[JWebSki]

high school teams would be a huge benefit but I doubt that many high school would have access to a ski lake near by

[slow]

Water skiing is a private lake sport. Even if only one other boat is on a public lake with a.course your pass can be trashed and by the way it can just be another ski boat.

 

In the Northwest we live on big beautiful deep lakes and wouldn't dream of being restricted to a man-made lake unless we lived ffor waterskiing only.

 

i ski a course at 6 AM because I have to and God forbid that anyone else might be on the lake at the same time. After that I enjoy the lake Iike everyone else.

 

It's just hard to see a sport being that popular given with that scenario.

[rodltg2]

I've said it before , the current tournament format sucks . It sucks in three ways.

 

1) sucks so bad

2) sucks so hard

3)sucks so much

 

Forcing skiers to buy expensive new ZO boats to be competitive , sucks so bad

 

Forcing new skiers to compete in age brackets vs ability , sucks so hard.

 

Forcing skiers to ski on private lakes and making public lake courses far and few between , sucks so much.

 

Start there and the sport can grow. Do nothing and there will be hundreds of private lakes empty or turned into surf lakes in 20 years when all of us ballers are either dead or too old too ski.

[OldboyII]

How to make horse riding popular in teenagers community?

No answer.

How to make Porsche Carrera popular in University Campus?

No answer.

Etc..

 

Price of entrance ticket to the world of water skiing is too high, imo.

Not only about money, it is also about phisical and mental capacity of new candidates.

Who is ready to make dozens of fails on the water start?

90% of folks just give in after one-two days of trying saying to themselves - "well, this sport is probably not my piece of cake"

Only few are motivated enough to go through "entrance period"

 

 

[MISkier]

@Dano, where are you located? You have the most motivated wakesurfers I have ever heard of. I would be shocked to see that amount of activity (boat full, stereo blasting, drinks) at 6:30AM. My experience with these athletes is that they are not nearly that awake until somewhere between 10:00AM and noon.

[Wish]

High school teams were attempted here in central Florida with a great format that allowed for every level of skiing from 2 ski wake crossing to seasoned tournament athletes competing against their average with all points going to the team. I believe it went 2 seasons and my daughter's school was thinking of jumping on board for the 3rd but it fizzled out. Access to practice I belive was the main reason along with dates to compete as highschool students these days are active in so many other things. Was sad to see it fade.

[ToddL]

If you want to grow our sport, then teach a bunch of people how to simply get up on skis.

 

Simple metrics will suggest that the more people on top of the water for the first time, then the more of them will stick with it. The more people sticking with it, the more who will invest in boats and better equipment. The more investing in boats and equipment, the more who will want to get better. The more who want to get better, the more who will discover slalom skiing. The more who discover slalom skiing, the more who will discover pros and competition. The more who discover pros and competition, the more who will seek out novice competition, course access, and coaching. And so on...

 

The Pyramid concept is absolutely correct. The peak of the pyramid and all layers below it are ultimately supported by the base. The wider the base, the taller the pyramid can grow.

[ToddL]

@OB1 - correct. The metrics concept would suggest that you teach 100 people how to ski and the subset of those with passion will continue forward. Wide base and passion rises upward.

[Dano]

@MISkier perhaps my previous post was a little hasty. I'm in the okanagan valley in B.C. Canada. It's all public lakes here. Summer here is a popular vaca destination and the lakes are super busy. Surfers are in deed out in force early mornings, maybe the drinks are a little later. I know that they love their sport as much as I do mine. I just wish they could understand what a ski course is, and maybe try to extend a courtesy to us skiers by simply using another part of the lake as opposed to right beside us. I know I have no more right to the lake than the next guy.

 

[Fast351]

I try to teach at least a dozen people a year to get up on SOMETHING behind a towboat. I fell a couple short but that's always the goal. (My record is 5 people in a week).

 

One of the mistakes skiers make is to isolate themselves from the other towed sports. Water skiing cannot survive as a sport without wakeboarding and surfing. (Doubt me? You think Mastercraft and Nautique could survive building 19' direct drives?)

 

I don't know how you reintegrate the towed sports discipline, but there must be a way. Heck, trick skiing is not that far removed from wakeboarding.

 

Here in Minnesota, Midwest Mastercraft caters to both water skiers and wakeboard/surfers. At least people just starting out have exposure to both. I try to do the same when people come to our lake place and want to do something behind a boat. I grind my teeth slightly when the 211 pulls tubes, but it's a place to start. A couple of my friends' boys just learned to kneeboard. I'll definitely be working them in the next couple years to try two skies.

 

I think it's just a numbers game. You expose 10 young people to towed sports, and maybe 9 out of 10 gravitate to board sports, but that 10th person sticks with waterskiing and they are the future of our sport.

 

[skihard]

@Dano - isn't there a club up there with a couple courses on Duck Lake? When I grew up in Oyama as a teen it was an active place to course ski. They used to hold a bunch oftournaments there back in the mid to late 80's as well. Lake isn't a tourist lake like Kal, Wood, or Okanagan.

 

Wood Lake used to have one years ago at the north end by Oyama store and as a teen there was one on Kal Lake.

 

Courses on public water are tough things. Not enough people understand them, fishermen seem to hate them, and Joe public just destroys them.

 

I agree with the pyramid approach - the more people exposed the more you will see the sport grow.

[Hallpass]

My wife and I are working on it one young skier at a time. Every girl that learns to get up on a single ski, deep water start, with a regular handle, gets a T-shirt for the DB Girls Ski Club, and a water ski to decorate to hang on their wall. We are not course or competition skiers, but the girls have began to ski the mini course. I've got 5 more skis waiting for new initiates, and a list of the girls' friends to bring out in the boat.

 

 

[Dano]

@skihard Yes, Duck lake is still active as far as I know. It's close to an 1.5 hours from where I am so I haven't looked into skiing there.

[lcgordon]

Pushing tick skiing could help. Easier to do because you dont need perfect water or a course. It cool to watch and safer than wake boarding.

[oldjeep]

I'm not sure trick skiing has much appeal outside of 3 event skiing, I'm sure it is difficult but to the untrained eye it looks like a lot of flopping around compared to your average teenager wakeboarding.

[E_T]

Have jump exhibitions.... I'm sorry that swerve thing is boring. now seeing a man hit a 6' incline doing 60+mph going 220-315feet in the air will bring crowds!! Jump brings the crowds, Wakeboard brings the chicks, Slalom brings the beer, (what else is there to do watching people do a receptive motion over and over again). And then it would be a party

[wtrskr]

I agree with the comments about building a bigger pyramid starting with numbers at the bottom. You need more people that aren't real good but like the sport and have fun. Those that are competitive and athletic will take it further.

 

Cost is an issue but shouldn't be that big of a problem now there are a lot of used 15+ year inboards out there. Not everyone needs the best equipment and zero off to enjoy the sport. Just the parts for a slalom course split among a few people isn't that expense.

 

Not having slalom courses on public waters is one of the biggest one in my mind. It is way too big of an ordeal to get approval for a permanent course on public water. Lake property owners can put all sorts of stuff in the water in front of their lots (piers, lifts, trampoline's, etc), but it seems to be the end of the world for those same property owners if the lake has a few volleyball-sized balls floating on it.

 

The local governments put in slow no wake buoys, etc., what if they also put in slalom courses for the public to use in designated areas of lakes? It wouldn't be much different than municipalities putting in a basketball courts in city parks. Rivers through downtown areas could have courses. Build it and they will come sort of thing.

 

The other thing I think is a problem is that the slalom course is too difficult. It is a big jump from learning to deep water start on a slalom ski to making it through the course. I don't know a solution to that, other than making sure most courses also have the mini course balls installed.

 

[aupatking]

We've had this conversation before.

The main problem I see is that almost everyone you'll ever talk to, and mention skiing, says they've done it. None (not accurate but you get the idea) of those people even knew it was a SPORT. The bridge between recreational activity and sport needs to be clearer. More courses on public water, and more jump ( with it's ensuing insurance nightmares). Even trick, but just finding a decent tricker that knows the basics to teach is near impossible. Wake board has become a true 4th event and proven it's staying power, just too bad their boats ruin the conditions for EVERYONE ELSE on the water.

When I talk about skiing, too many people think of the sideshow crap that made skiing look silly, just watch any of the old 80's-90's ads. We've had more than enough of the twin-tip garbage in and out of the recreational side. Everything from discs, knee boards, wake jumpers, and 400 different types of inflatables have made it look kitschy. Those things are fun, and have a place, but that place is supposed to be the gateway, and how do we show the path beyond that gate?

I'd love to see high school teams, or at the very least, clubs. I'll pursue that one locally, but there is only one course here locally, and its on public water.

PS. I love what you're doing @Hallpass

[elr]

When I think back on what increased tournament participation the most in the SCR over the last decade or so - it was, believe it or not, Show Skiing. A substantial number of very accomplished SCR junior tournament skiers and their families crossed over from/to the Lake McQueeney Ski Bees. Show skiing seems (I haven't been involved) a bit more recreationally oriented and appears to generate excitement among younger skiers and their families in what appears to be a less expensive manner. Maybe we should start thinking about thinking about tournament sets as separate acts in a ski show if we want to draw crowds.

[gsm_peter]

It is not so much discussions about show skiing or have I missed something??

Maybe a new section on BOS ;0))

[jcamp]

Looks like HO is trying twin tips/wake skis again: https://instagram.com/p/9UylV-wO1u/

[lcgordon]

Those things look pretty fun actually. But way too much money to just try out.