Looking for footage of water ski tournaments/contests from 1980s to early 2000s.

[mbug90]

That era of water skiing seemed pretty awesome (especially the trick performances) and I am rather frustrated that there is not enough video of it online. I have searched everywhere.

 

If there is anyone here who can help me on my way, please speak up. I am indeed grateful.

[Edbrazil]

The Water Ski Foundation has tapes of just about all the pro events, such as the Tour

events of the 80's that were shown on TV. They used to make copies for a reasonable

cost. Contact Tracy to see if they still do that: tracy@waterskihalloffame.com

[The_MS]

I think Tracy left the WSHOF.

[MISkier]

@mbug90, I have some old VHS recordings of ESPN Hot Summer Nights from 1990. I would have to either dupe them in VHS or try to digitize them. Send me a PM and we can try to figure something out.

[mbug90]

@Edbrazil MS said that Tracy has left the WSHOF. So, now what?

[mbug90]

Assuming this Tracy person is no longer associated with the Water Ski Foundation, I sent an email to usa-wsf@waterskihalloffame.com asking if they are still making copies of their tapes. I am now waiting for a reply.

[mbug90]

@MISkier Is that all you have?

[MISkier]

That is it. Just a few episodes.

[mbug90]

I especially would love to see the women's trick runs from this era.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

 

[mbug90]

@Bruce_Butterfield Ah, I have already seen that one and thought it was awesome! Unless routines were that short back then, I wish there were longer ones.

 

Thanks anyhoo. I appreciate your contribution.

[Edbrazil]

Tawn: 6930 with just one flip, but 4: W5's and 1 W7B. And, starting with a Wake Line 5.

I don't think that anyone these days does 4 Wake 5's, although I'm sure that the top and

even mid-level trickers could. But flips pay more.

[mbug90]

@Edbrazil I love when the women do flips.

[Edbrazil]

From 1964, Al Tyll made the first run over 4,000 points at Scotia, NY.

Records were not official at the time. Best of my memory:

1st Pass

2skis

WO

R

WLB

WLF

WB

F

B

Back approach

Ramp Front

Air O

B

WBB

5F

RO

LB

LF

1ski

LB

LF

WLB

WLF

Wave to crowd

 

2nd Pass

1 ski

TWO

TWB

TWF

TB

TF

TS (when they had to be 2 seconds)

After that, I don't remember well, but it

would have consisted of WO, R, etc.

 

At that time, there was the Rideout Bonus and also Form in tricking. And,

even the Ski Overhead bonus, which Al didn't use.

 

Somewhere, somebody must have it on film. Was a milestone in the sport.

[dchristman]

@Edbrazil ask and you shall receive

 

[dchristman]

Pay attention @MS - you will enjoy this one

 

 

@mbug90 I know you said 1980-2000, but this was the place to put these since @Edbrazil jumped in. I have more from Bert Mileski's films. There is some early 80's, and some is tricks.

[Edbrazil]

Al is shown at the 1965 Eastern Regionals at Reading, PA. That event is infamous for

finishing Men Jumping in the dark. And I mean DARK, as in "Turn on your headlights".

The event was seeded, so the best jumpers got screwed. The Easterns was held the weekend

before the Nationals, so it couldn't spill over to Monday, as the officials had to depart for

Minneapolis.

 

I don't think that the Chief Judge ever judged a Regionals again. The Eastern Region

council voted to not use seeding after that, and this stayed that way for a while. The

event was back when you had 3 jumps, 2 passes, and one fall out of course. Penny

Baker was there, skiing out of Region. He used all of those options. On one pass, his

handle dropped over the 45 foot buoy, and yanked it loose, causing a delay of at least

15 minutes. The sponsoring club did a good job of producing the event, other than

no buoy easy breakaway feature. The 45 buoy sailed a good 80 feet.

 

After I had jumped, well back with the also-rans, I drove away for an errand. Maybe

for a beer run. I was incredulous to find the event still running into twilight when I

got back. Somewhere, I have 8mm film, but it is useless, as there was not enough light

to film the last 3 or 4 Men jumpers.

 

It was about the ultimate Murphy's Law event. Next year, the AWSA went to just 2

jumps, and 1? pass. Eventually settling to the current system of 3 jumps/passes,

after a year or two or three I'd need to check old Rule Books to be sure. That was the

last time that the Easterns was the weekend right before the Natonals.

 

The Club eventually lost that site after some work was done on the river. They donated

the proceeds from their clubhouse sale to Grew Lake.

[mbug90]

Could we get back on topic, please? I don't want this thread to become an entirely different discussion.

[Edbrazil]

I have footage somewhere of the 1965 event. Can try to find the 8mm film. But, as

noted, the top jumpers ran in the dark, so no usable footage of that. I think that I

have some of the 1959 Nationals converted to DVD. Will also look for that.

[mbug90]

@Edbrazil I am looking for footage from 1980 to 2005, by the way.

[Edbrazil]

My stuff is older. Try contacting the USA Waterski Foundation. They have plenty of that,

such as the Hot Summer Nights programs, on videotape.

[mbug90]

@Edbrazil I did that yesterday. Hopefully I will get a reply before Tuesday.

[Edbrazil]

vs. Hall of Fame/Museum: busy time of year, with the Hall of Fame and other inductions

coming up in mid-April. At Disney for the first time. Not much leftover time, for other

things, especially since the USA Water Ski Foundation doesn't have a lot of staff.

 

Meanwhile, the rumor that Executive Director Tracy Mattes is leaving is incorrect. See a

much earlier post by @MS. I just got confirmation that she is still around and has no

plans on leaving.

 

Would be nice if all their Pro Skiing video tapes got posted online, and for a reasonable

co$t. That would be quite a project that would likely need a fulltime intern for a while.

The archived tapes may not be in just VHS format, but also could be in Beta. Compared to

today's HDTV, VHS is not up to that level of sharpness.

 

But, still not as bad as files converted from old 8mm film. See the video clip of Tawn

Larsen among the early posts in this thread, for an example of non-HD video.

[The_MS]

Sorry @Edbrazil I was thinking of the other Tracy that ran the officials qualifications before Melanie took over.

[mbug90]

I think I should tell you all that I have indeed made contact with Tracy Mattes of the USA Water Ski Foundation and they are indeed still offering copies of their footage for under $20.

[mbug90]

Does anybody have coverage of the Moomba Masters of 1987? Out of the thousands of miles of footage the USA Water Ski Foundation has, this particular event is not part of it.

[mbug90]

Anyone?

[mbug90]

@Mark_Matis I have already seen that one, but thanks anyway. =) I am looking for full trick performances (particularly women's) from that event.

[mbug90]

Is there anybody else who possibly has full footage of the '87 Moomba Masters?

[MattP]

@mbug90 have you tired contacting the Victorian waterski association that hosts the event?

[mbug90]

@MattP I don't know if they will offer copies like the USA foundation does. Also, they're in Australia; I'm in California. They might not be able to export said copies to the USA because of human customs laws or something mortaly unfair.

[mbug90]

@Mark_Matis If I have to pay them with a credit card, the payment will be declined because the card was issued somewhere not in Australia.

 

By the way, did you say they had footage electronically? Where? I went to the Moomba website, but they only had video from as far back as 2009. Nothing further back.

[Edbrazil]

Back in the 1980's, Melbourne channel HSV7 used to video the Moomba competition live,

over several days. That must be archived somewhere. The video format there is PAL,

and not NTSC. PAL is a little sharper, but nowhere near HD. Yes, I would start with the

Victorian Water Ski Assn.

[mbug90]

I sent the Victorian Water Ski Assn. an email a week ago. No reply. I think it was because I used my iCloud email account to send the message. I will try again with my gmail account.

[mbug90]

Alright. I hope you guys won't be upset with my revival of this thread.

 

As for Moomba '87, have made contact with the Victorian Water Ski Association, but they are still searching for footage of it. Fran Heynes tells me that the people who were on the commitee in '87 are no longer serving the association but they are the ones who have footage. They will check what they have. It worries me that they do not appear to keep their footage in an archive like the USA Foundation does.

[Monte99]

Think I have some old Moomba footage, will try and dig it up this weekend.

[mbug90]

@Monte99 Oh thank you very much.

[Monte99]

I think we have the TV recording of the 2000 Moomba masters. Also the Wade Cox instruction video which came with the CDX-1. Going to have to convert the vhs tapes then I will upload a link

[mbug90]

@monte99 So, how goes the conversion?

[Monte99]

Just brought the tape home today. I will edit and upload it to YouTube tomorrow

[mbug90]

@Monte99 Done yet?

[wilecoyote]

I just watched the whole thing, it was just too much fun to stop. This is from Milan in 1977. https://goo.gl/X4vvqm.

[mbug90]

@Monte99 Have you finished up with the Moomba 2000/Wade Cox instruction video yet?

[mbug90]

He said he would upload it on Monday last week. I am getting very frustrated now.

[mbug90]

How can the Victorian Water Ski Association not keep tabs on their own old event footage? That really pisses me off! It's been two months and I still have not been helped!

 

I don't know what to do anymore. I have tried everything. And nothing happened!!!

[mbug90]

Is there anyone else who has trick footage (preferably women's) from the 1980s to early 2000's that they can share with me immediately? I am getting really frustrated with the Victorian Waterski Association having not found Moomba 1987 yet.

 

Also, Monte99 is having trouble converting the footage he promised. Somehow, his computer can detect copyrights on VHS casettes.

[mbug90]

Why does this have to be so difficult?!!

[Horton]

@mbug90 you care but perhaps no one else cares. It seems like the readership here does not care.

[Broussard]

@mbug90 Try not being so brash, you will be more likely to get somewhere.

[mbug90]

........Please? o:)