What did you like about this year Nationals?

[JeffSurdej]

Kills me to see nothing but negative threads on Nationals when overall it was a great event. Nationals has probably 10,000 decisions to make from start to finish by everyone involved, some decisions might not have worked out but you learn from them and try to keep improving. Mystic lakes did an outstanding job, officials worked their tails off to pull off the largest nationals in 14 years, America's Cup was awesome. So lets hear the good so West Palm can do the same next year!

[Kelvin]

It was a long day, but I enjoyed putting the Open/America’s Cup webcast together.

 

It was great to see so many skiers in the open divisions with some up and comers on the podiums.

[Than_Bogan]

Broadcast of Open Men and America's Cup ROCKED.

 

First time in my recollection that there was a great spectator experience of the Nationals possible from the comfort of my TV room.

[JeffSurdej]

pretzels at the concessions stand had to be the best pretzel I have tasted :)

[Booze]

The announcing/PA, facilities, proximity to civilization, skiing conditions, and boat driving were all good for me. So it was an overall good experience. Plus I skied 'properly'...had the lead for a good while and got bumped to 6th by the top seed. Fun stuff.

Plus, we were graced by the presence of Hortonism. :D :D :D

[ThomasAlive]

Thanks Jeff!

 

Great experience for us! The wife and I both skied to our abilities and even took a medal back home with us. Huge thanks to everyone who helped put it on. Hats off to all of you. Great site. Great people. The bullet holes in the hotel doors were not so great but made for a good story. Also got to meet Horton in person…meh. Kidding… maybe

[MISkier]

1. Webcast

2. Michigan contingent had a great showing (W8S, M7S, W1S, M2S, M3S, OMS, B3S, M4T, W7T, M3O, M4O, OMO, W7O, W8O, etc.)

3. Participation is up.

[AkBob]

My wife and I enjoyed this years venue. Airport access was great, hotel travel distance to site was easy. Electronic signup for practice was excellent and dock starts were great. Given the magnitude of this years event, I am amazed at how well the Mystic Lakes organizers pulled everything together. It’s a gigantic job done by volunteers and I thank them for a job well done!

[klindy]

@AKBob We had a good rhythm on the dock when you were there! Glad you enjoyed the event!

[eleeski]

It was great to see so many participants in Open. They got to ski their age divisions as well in a lot of cases. Wonderful!

 

America's Cup rocked!

 

Fun tournament!

 

Eric

[gjohnson]

I'm with Jeff, it's killing me to see the negativity take over all the smiles I saw for the week. As people bash lake three, keep in mind that lake 3 isn't part of Mystic Lakes. It was donated by a local resident for us to use all week. I think it's amazing that one individual, whose not a water skier, would open his property to the biggest nationals in years. That is a testament to how welcoming the people in Kansas are. You show up and you're part of the Kansas family for the duration.

 

The America's Cup vibe was unbelievable. I woke up the next day wondering if I'd been at a massive party or a water ski tournament. Freddy jumping 220 was pretty cool. Watching runoffs for first place is some slalom events was exciting. Lastly, watching Chris Clark run 1.5 -39 to get fourth as the 17th seed, roughly, was outstanding.

[Horton]

I moved this thread to the section of the site where only USAWS members can comment. If you are a member of USAWS but the comment box is missing Click here

[Chef23]

I wasn't there but I followed it closely online. I enjoyed having the results in near real time on Waterskiresults.com. The webcast was awesome. I watched a ton of it. Thanks to everyone that made it happen. Hopefully next year I can qualify and compete in my first Nationals. If I ever qualify I will definitely go.

[Horton]

I think the way practice was run was a stroke of genius.

[Jody_Seal]

I got to Hang out with @eleeski and @Horton.

I met a famous Baseball player.

the site was fabulous. can we go back?

The Americas cup was pretty darn good, who needs an US open when we got that! Just dont sell out to a boat company!

Oh! And team Florida won the team competition for the third year in a row!!

[BlueSki]

Great location close to hotels

America’s Cup was an awesome event

Great hosts that dealt with an overwhelming crowd of skiers

All the welcoming skiers we met through the weekend

@mbabiash welcoming people for off site practice (I still owe you a beer, I never found the cooler Horton had hidden somewhere)

Regina making my 9-year-old feel like a champ after his PB

Nate getting up and giving my injured 14-year-old a subtle pep talk when he saw him come out of the lake limping and less than pleased

[LLUSA]

beautiful site, houses where definitely above my pay grade, landscaping impressive, location perfect, @ Booze are you saying I don't live in civilazation

[dvskier]

15 minutes from Dreamland!

[klindy]

What did I like about this years Nationals ...

Great location close to the airport.

Fantastic local club who worked exceptionally hard to make sure everything was as perfect as they could get it.

Beautiful lakes with nice grass and paved roads/sidewalks made it easy to get around.

After skiing activities on-site so it was easy to attend - and the food was excellent too!

Near perfect weather with less than normal Kansas summer wind.

Centrally located vendor tents, award presentations, registration, etc.

Fantastic crew of officials/drivers/safety/TC/etc. which helped to squeeze a huge turnout into 5 days.

Getting to know lots of new waterski friends. Spending a lot of time on the docks, I asked a LOT of new faces if it was there first time at Nationals. Celebrating "first-timers" even for a few moments on/at the dock was fun!

Getting to see a lot of old friends and a lot of great skiing made the trip worth it alone.

The America's Cup was a blast!

Being invited to participate as a judge for both the Nationals and America's Cup was an honor.

Seeing the skier number and pulls up was awesome!

Great week!

[BlueSki]

Great location close to hotels

America’s Cup was an exceptional event

Great hosts that dealt with an overwhelming amount of skiers

@mbabiash for hosting offsite practice (I still owe you a beer, I never found the cooler that Horton had hidden)

Regina for making my 9-year-old feel like a champ for his PB

Nate getting up and giving my injured 14-year-old a subtle pep talk after Nate saw him come out of the lake limping and disappointed

 

Yes, I posted this before, but I tried an edit and blew up the post.

[lpskier]

Everything about my experience was better than positive. I thought the LOC did a great job and I was very impressed with the site. I thought the judging areas were appropriate and the guy in charge of water and ice right on top of it. I didn’t mind tricking on Lake 3 with no crowd; frankly if you know how i trick you know why i am relieved to not do so in public. I didn’t Slalom on Lake 3 but i did judge there, and the conditions were the same for all, i thought. I am not speaking to other factors there. Wichita is a nice city with a cool downtown, great restaurants and I can speak for at least one great camp ground (with storm shelter, not needed, thank you). What stood out as particularly good were the America’s Cup, the golf cart shuttle service and the super friendly driver with the pith helmet, and the quality of the awards, which sadly I did not win, again.

 

NOTE: I do not list meeting @Horton among the best part of the week as he had plenty of chances to take my picture and post it, and refrained in each instance. A snub!

[Broussard]

The site was beautiful, conditions were very nice while I was there (Thursday through Saturday), and the medals were extremely nice/substantial. The Cup ran quite late, but there seemed to be a lot of people along the bank enjoying the action.

[lpskier]

@JeffSurdej Jeff, since numbers are up, we should find out why so many skiers elected to go to Nationals this year. Geography? America’s Cup? Number of Open skiers participating? New site? Site reputation? Never seen a “flyover State?” Chance to see a tornado? Skiing well this year? What? Put up a survey with the reasons you think may have attracted folks so you can build on success. I know I’ll check “I go every year.”

[bkreis]

although I skied sub par, my 2 days there were great!! I saw lots of ski friends and made some new ones.

I got to ski on a near by site, thx to @mbabiash !! the vendors area was nice, food options had something for everyone within 15 min of site.

 

I explored Wichita a bit,found a decent gym, imax to get out of the heat/was really hot!, guitar center, almost bought a parker fly, what a beauty!

lots of hotel choices..WPB will be as great or better as all of these things plus are even closer to the site!

 

IF I had 1 thing to input, it'd simply be to hold nationals where there is a major airport or 2 near by/within an hour. connecting is terrible and makes for a long day. I could have gotten to Paris faster than I did Wichita.

For me, time away is difficult, so efficiency of travel is important to me.

 

[JackQ]

Although i skied poorly, the conditions and site were great. Easy access and accommodations, friendly atmosphere.

 

I liked the concept (but never seemed to work) of having the Nationals at same site two consecutive years so you can “get the lay of the land” and better plan what, where, how for the 2nd year.

 

Reducing the burden on the hosting site should improve the likelihood of 2 year bids and actuall execution

[Jody_Seal]

Being that Maize is almost the Geographic center of the US it should be the perennial home of the national championships.

would have loved to bring Team Seal back next year but hey Nationals is in our own back yard for 2019.

My favorite nationals #1 Boise #2 San Marcos #3 Maize #4 Bako #5 Chicago.

Again great 2018 Nationals, sad we are not going back next year..

WPB will deliver in 2019 as they alway's do!

[JeffSurdej]

@lpskier plan to do a survey, we did one last year, funny thing is that the 4 day vs 5 day nationals was #1 on last years survey as far as reason for attending but the 5 day did not hurt anything this year

[eleeski]

@JeffSurdej Best part of Nationals? Getting to ski against you, the president! (And the other guys.) Fun times and good skiing!

 

Eric

[JeffSurdej]

@eleeski you mean beating me :)

[Horton]

Seems like having the event in the middle of the country means a lot more skiers could drove there.

[sunperch]

I loved the advance practice scheduling, almost perfect weather for KS in August, seeing our "Nationals" friends from around the country, close hotels, awesome willow tree shade at the east of the slalom lake, junior banquet on site, HAVING A SWIMMING AREA !!!!!!

[BlueSki]

I think driving there made a big difference for many, my family of four included. If we go to Fl next year, it will only be two of us.

[bkreis]

@BlueSki @JeffSurdej by the same token, I didn't bring my florida family to Wichita because of the expense....so it works for and against at all locations!

[ScarletArrow]

@BlueSki WBP is only 2.5 hours further than Maize from NE Ohio... what's the difference in driving for you?

[klindy]

@sunperch Here I thought sharing dock "greeting" chores with me was the highlight... :) Seriously, many thanks to you and the rest of your family for helping out! I appreciate it!

[Kelvin]

Different food trucks everyday. Plenty of variety.

[Kelvin]

Different food trucks everyday. Plenty of variety.

[BlueSki]

@ScarletArrow, enough that it goes from driveable in one day to requiring an overnight along the way to ensure everyone arrives in one piece and still willing to talk to one another.

[sunperch]

@klindy You are right - having you as ACJ while dock starting was a pleasure! Also, getting to be a tower judge at Nationals was awesome!

[Horton]

@Kelvin I totally disagree. The ONLY bad part of Nationals for me was the lack of food on site. I was there every day and I had awesome lunches twice and had to scrounge for good the rest of the time.

[disland]

The hotel being close was a real bonus. Made is easy for the wife. But number 1 were the people. As expected the mid west folks are the best! Getting lucky with the weather was a treat

[disland]

West Palm needs to do the same practice system. Please lets not go backward after such amazing progress.

[6balls]

This thread is a great idea @JeffSurdej . Anyone reading the negative thread would be discouraged from spending the $$ required to go to a one round tourney for the joy of participating (I realize some are gunning for placement...but in most cases not the chance at winning/placing).

Anyone reading this thread would be encouraged.

As someone who was not there...what was the change in practice that was so cool?

[JeffSurdej]

@6balls they had an online sign up for practice weeks ahead of the event, so everyone knew what time and day they had practice before they got there, no standing in lines or waiting in a crowd after last event each day

[bkreis]

@6balls practice was paid for scheduled ahead of time in time slots. With that said, ALOT of us did not get to practice due to the tournament running very late in the day. Totally understandable and all should want everyone the same opportunity ii For me, it would have made a big difference..but it is what it is and I had a great time!!!!

[usaski1]

Tricks under the lights at Americas Cup was the coolest thing I'd seen in years. The spray on the flips was really impressive. Anyone got any photos of this? Also THOUSANDS of spectators was very good!

[Jimbo]

My two cents as a Dad of a first time nationals skier.

 

Location was fantastic. You can't get much more central than Maize - 180 miles from the geographic center of the United States. I played with google maps and it seems drive-able from just about anywhere. 900 miles for us, but doable in a day. The development is gorgeous - loved the sandy beaches in front of the houses and the ease with which you could walk from parking to each of the lakes. We actually stayed in downtown Wichita, and the drive was maybe 20 minutes to the site. Plenty of great inexpensive restaurants and lodging very close by.

 

The people were great. My B2 skier was completely jacked after Nationals, even though he wasn't even close to a podium. This was his first nationals (and he qualified a week before), but I can't say enough about how supportive the entire community is to our young skiers.

 

As @Horton said - only negative I saw was lack of on-site food. A food truck court in the parking lot would have done very well.

[klindy]

@Jimbo we did have fun on the B2 Slalom starting dock! Glad your son had a good time!

[CptOriginal]

Couldn't agree more that the site was fantastic, the LOC worked their tails off, as did all of the volunteers to make it a great experience for all. The open competition and America's cup were truly spectacular. Much appreciation to all of those who did the work and no complaints....except for my poor skiing.

[CptOriginal]

I also need to chime in on the swimming area. It makes a HUGE difference for families, especially those with non-skiers and small children to have a safe and welcoming swimming area. The beach and swimming situation at Mystic is amazing. It's basically a day at the beach for your family. Again, a game changer, especially if you have spouse or kids who don't ski or didn't qualify. We should start working now toward a swim area at WPB next year.