WHICH TOURNAMENT SITE FEATURES THE WORST WALK OF SHAME

[HSL]

For ballers who ski tournaments, most of us have had the misfortune of falling at or near the beginning of the course on return from the far end of the lake. We know we aren't going to be picked up by the tournament boat, so we collect the yard sale of equipment spread about the water -- swim to shore -- and walk back to the dock -- a 1,000 to 2,000 ft walk in bare feet. The "walk of shame".

 

Some sites have groomed walking trails winding through bush hidden from observers who are unable to see and taunt the embarrassed skier on the return walk. While at other sites, the skier's walk of shame might require maneuvering through sharp gravel and rocks, prickly or poisonous weeds, broken glass, sharp metal, venomous snakes, gators and a gauntlet of taunting observers. Many moons ago, at a tournament in Latrobe, Australia, a coral snake tried to bite my arm while I was passing through thick reeds on a return walk of shame. Luckily wetsuits back then were pretty thick. So.....

 

Let me start the bidding by nominating Turnpike Lake at Okeeheelee Park in West Palm Beach for this well deserved recognition. It has all of the right features: No groomed walkway -- only a gravel track with the sharpest -- pointed gravel found in all of S. Florida imbedded with all sorts of prickly weeds. The shoreline and steep bank are littered with a host of prickly plants and sharp objects requiring the returning skier to use the gravel track. And to top it off --the walk of shame includes a mandatory pass through a gauntlet of mocking observers AND an endless line of honking travelers headed Northbound in their vehicles on Florida's Turnpike! Is there a worse walk of shame out there?

[The_MS]

A few years back at Cottonwood I fell at 5 ball opposite end of the lake. By the time I got back to the dock my score was posted on BOS and there were 3 follow up comments giving me crap

[MISkier]

Here it is Lyon Ski Club

 

You fall at 1 ball on the far end and it is a swim across the course back to the shoreline. But, it’s thickly wooded with no ability to walk at all. So, it’s a very long swim along the shore the entire length of the course until you exit right in front of the scorers deck and the sole viewing area for all spectators at 6 ball on the near end.

 

No walking at all. Just swimming slowly in front of everybody and other skiers completing their passes until you exit several minutes later.

 

There is only one way to exit. The opposing shoreline is several hundred yards away and also not walkable.

[BraceMaker]

@HSL if I were skiing there one of the first things I would do is sneak a set of shoes into the bushes near the worst possible spot to walk from.

[Jody_Seal]

Ski paradise in Bartow Fl. Fall around 2 ball on the far end, swim 50 yards across to shore, wade through the bush and climb up to dry ground and dodge the fire ant piles walking back to the start area. Oh! I did not mention you are swimming with small gators while under going that 50 yard swim.

 

Second is Pickos jump lake

Cut and pass on your third jump you have two choices, swim across the lake and try and get a lift with your jump gear back to the bunk house or trudge, swim walk 300 yards with your gear back to dock.

[HSL]

These are great candidates. I expect there will be more. Horton, we invite you to act as judge. After a day or two -- please select a winner and runner up.

[Horton]

@HSL I nominate Bedrock in South Australia. Not for the walk but for the deadly poisonous brown snake that tried to bite me as I got out on the water there 30 years ago.

[BlueSki]

Has to somewhere in Australia. Venomous everything still beats a rabid trash panda.

[Horton]

Actually the Bayou at ULM might win. At least "back in the day" no one in thier right mind would walk out of the water on the road side. Broken glass and lord knows what in the muddy shoreline and in the grass all the way back to the dock.

[Cooper_Trelawney]

@horton When y'all hosted the 1990 collegiate nationals on the Bayou we all hung out on the road side. Getting out of the water was a challenge! Mud, cypress stumps, etc. And I bet y'all cleaned it up pretty good for that tournament. I really liked skiing around the cypress trees in the bayou on that one side. Oh, that and the drive through daquari joints!

[dave2ball]

@Jody_Seal have to agree ski paradise does suck for one of the longest walks of shame.

[GMC]

@MISkier That was expected... but the only thing that might try to bite you would be a friendly bluegill!

[Kimbymon]

@GMC speaking of bluegill they must have the piranha of bluegill at Tivoli. One tried to bite me 4 times before the driver finally “hit it”

[6balls]

My run of shame was when @Razorskier1 ripped a 38 (for the second time that day), then came back at 39 and was crushing it only to turn into some light slack at 5 and go down--I had pulled him thru 39 so knew he could run it. I took off running to the starting dock knowing it would be a 3 ball PB and made it most of the way. Half way down the announcer called back the rope didn't get shortened...it was another 38.

 

I'd make fun of the culprit...but as boat judge a few years later I whiffed on shortening a rope, too! That's fairly shameful in and of itself.

[robmollysilverlake]

Off topic, but Cory Perry's walk of shame at the Winter Classic was pretty hilarious!

[Than_Bogan]

@Kimbymon It's wacky how similar bluegills and piranha are! Pretty much the only difference is the teeth.

 

Admittedly an important difference!

[ALPJr]

I don’t recall any place being a pleasant stroll. We like to joke around at the local pond - whenever someone says... ‘we should sign up up for such and such tournament’, the reply is... ‘if you want the tournament experience, the first time you fall today, that’s it, just swim ashore and walk back to the dock’. :)

[bishop8950]

Fun thread. A few, not necessarily any worse than those above:

 

Berkeley Aquatic Park - any step on that shoreline is taking life into your own hands

 

Metcalf Pond San Jose - fall at the far end you have a long swim followed by overcoming a huge wall of cat tails before you can find the path back to the dock

 

Camelot Indiana - as collegiate skiers we shoved flip flops in our life vests so we could walk back all the way around the lake.

[Kimbymon]

@Than_Bogan maybe I should have dropped some fish food in the lake? As the back of my thigh is not what I consider “fish food”. Those bite attempts hurt. And the driver was clueless, I was like “Go! Now!”

[jayski]

@The_MS that's not even that far of a walk! You shoulda just stopped @teammalibu house and had a beer!

[ALPJr]

Good one @bishop8950 in all of the Berkeley and Marin tourneys I skied I don’t think I ever fell. Then again the salt probably is a good disinfectant.

[The_MS]

@6balls

@Than_Bogan its all in the teeth

 

@jayski only if it was the 3rd round

[rico]

I second ski paradise FL where I would rather body drag to the dock but fun tournament and great people.

 

Canyon Lake,CA is an interesting one where you can’t walk back and have to swim to the closest floating judging tower, until the whole group for that round is done and the pickup boat comes and get you.

 

Again great tournament where the pickup boat gets really full sometimes :smile:

 

 

[Alberto Soares]

Boca Laguna, close to Guadalajara, Mexico, great site but you better carry your sandals inside the short because the scorpions there are really mean.

[DaveD]

@bishop8950 You would think one of the comp vest companies would add a pocket in the back of a vest that could hold a pair of flip flops. The flip flops would add a little bit of flotation too. Based on the comments in this thread, it would be a big seller. :smile:

[lpskier]

@DaveD I had that idea, but in a bib (like Big Dawg). My friends told me I was nuts.

 

Dube’s Pond in NH. The course runs down the middle of an attractive water impoundment. If you fall, a pick up boat gets you. If you don’t want to sit in the pick up boat for the half hour it might take to fill up with skiers because it’s cold, or it’s third round, or it’s cold AND third round, your only option is to swim back to the start dock. I fell at one ball at the far end last time I was there and elected to swim because it was fricking freezing (I mentioned its in NH, right?) and third round. 2000 feet is a long way pushing a ski.

 

Don’t get me wrong. Dube’s is a great site with great folks.

[kc]

@bishop8950 It brought a smile to my face thinking back to tournaments way back when at Camelot. Lots of great memories there. Fortunately they always provided pick up boats for the regular tournaments! @Alberto Soares I remember when I skied the 35+ Worlds at Boca Laguna in 2012, they warned us to not leave our shoes, or open bags, on the ground because of the scorpions!

[swaterkd]

@lpskier is Dube's swim as bad as VT? Or Ogdensburg in current?

 

[ScottScott]

I was at a tournament at Ski Paradise and jokingly asked why they were going back to pick up the kids after they fell, but I had to walk. I was told that the adults know to make lots of noise waking through the grass to scare off the gators.

[Chef23]

I don't have as much experience as many but I thought of Dube's like @lpskier. Oakham has a pretty good swim as well if you fall at 5 ball going away from the dock or 2 ball coming back.

 

My son's first walk of shame was 9 years old at Nationals on the Turnpike lake when he fell on his opener. That was a tough one to watch.

[PatM]

@Chef23 The biggest problem with swimming any distance at Oakham is the leaches.

[Orlando76]

You guys really know how to highlight the glamour of skiing tournaments.

[ski6jones]

Is this considered talking about water skiing the wrong way?

[Chef23]

@Pat M they are only a big problem when you have to get out.

[lpskier]

@swaterkd well, if you missed your start at the far end of the lake in Vt. and had to swim all the way to the beach, it might be close. Ogdensburg is no comparison because the lawn is in reality mid course. Imagine falling at one ball on the downstream end and swimming all the way to the new start dock they installed. Better yet, imagine falling all the way at the end of the lake at Hidden Pass and having to swim the length of the whole pond past the start dock.

 

@HSL I don’t think Okeeheelee is that bad, unless you somehow are unlucky enough to end up on the peninsula between the main and turnpike lakes. Now that’s a walk. It’s even worse, indeed much much worse if you end up on the peninsula and you are skiing on the main lake. That’s a real walk. In fact, I’d just call an Uber

[DSP]

You got that right Alberto. None of us got enough time with Andy, and he never complained about anything around me with one exception...getting nailed by a scorpion at Boca Laguna in Mexico. Super hard to see and they will jump up and kill you.

[Steven_Haines]

Going back to @rico post about Canyon Lake. All of those guys sitting in the boat are being brought back from the judges towers after crashing.

There are families of Rattle Snakes living under those towers. Over the years, when I lived there, we had to stop tournaments due to Rattlers swimming across the course.

I can’t find the picture now but I’m sure quite a few of you have seen it floating around the internet a few years ago. The picture was of a 13’ Rattler pulled from the ski site at Canyon

[thager]

That should sure keep any riffraff away!

 

[alex38]

Every lake in New England all tied for first