Completely Random - Chuck Stearns

[Horton]

Out of the blue Chuck stopped in and visited my parents last week. If you do not know who Chuck Stearns is read this. He is arguably the greatest water skier of all time.

[Ralph Lee]

I enjoyed that article! Cool guy

[klindy]

Cool article! And it appears to have been written 28-29 years ago. So the part where they talk about going 120+ mph in the quarter mile on a 21 year old ski is actually a 50 year old ski design!! That's gotta be like running 38off on an old Maha with gun rubber bindings ....

[The_MS]

A piece of advice Chuck Stearns has for all skiers is, “always marry someone who is sports minded!”

[ALPJr]

A real stud!

[Cent]

Thanks. Enjoyable to read.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

@horton, So, 2 questions:

 

1. Did he ask "is that damn Dr. Horton's kid still around or did he get run over while playing in traffic?"

2. When you look in dictionary under "stud", is his picture before, or after KLP's?

 

Thanks for the perspective. 122 freakin mph! That's history we need to keep in mind as we chase fin adjustments to the 0.001"

[Horton]

1) doubtful

2) hate to say but Chuck might be first

[MichaelGoodman]

@Horton Great article. Does he still ski?

[A_B]

The only man Chuck Norris looks up to...

[fu_man]

So is ski racing still a thing out west? I know it is still listed on USAWS but so is kneeboarding. Is it popular out west or is it like knee boarding where only a few participate? The reason I ask is because ski racing is unheard of in the midwest (yet on the other hand show skiing is much more prevalent here).

[Edbrazil]

Chuck won the Catalina ski race 10 times, over the period of 1955 to 1982. Yes, ski racing

is big in the West.

[JAG]

thanks Horton. Never knew of Chuck but glad I do now.

 

I used to dive off of Catalina Island in the early 80's. My cousin's husband was an aircraft mechanic there (I remember it being some kind of US Navy outpost or something) and he would fly out Monday morning's from San Diego, work all week and come home Friday.

 

Me and some buddy's were visiting my cousin, (and as we were all certified SCUBA divers), he offered to stay the weekend and take us diving.

 

We ended up being flown out, put up in a nice cottage, free use of a Jeep CJ, and even ate in the mess hall with the Navy guys, all free of charge. One of the great memories from my youth. :)

 

RPG

[liquid d]

Diving? Out there? you were nuts! White shark food for sure...at least at 80mph, that shark's gotta work for dinner!

[ski6jones]

What? "Then he topped his Lake Mead career by notching up wins in the 75 Miler, the 50 Miler and the Men’s Open – all on one hot September weekend in 1969." Unbelievable!

[Edbrazil]

I remember going to the 1967 Nationals in Austin, TX. Rolly backwash for SL. Scores

were way down. Chuck won by a good amount; don't remember the exact score, but

I believe it was a few at 24 off, when hardly anyone was running 12 off. That event was

a milestone event for a few reasons. Such as one jumper in Men getting an "impossible"

distance on first plotting.

[A_B]

I have a Chuck Stearns wood slalom somewhere.. Striped wood top, red painted bottom. Original bindings. My dad was the proud user of it, circa 1950's.