New to the group.

[Guest]

Howdy, I am new to the site. I did not see a introduction page so I am introducing myself.

I have been reading and learning on the site for the last 3-4 years. This was one of my favorite sites to surf when I was at work and not busy. I tried water skiing when about five years old . I was to hold on tight, so I did. No one told me about the letting go part. All I remember is swallowing a lot of water.

 

I am a snow skier and water skier. I grew up with no family support with either of these sports. However, our neighbor in Chico California was a man named Ray Thompson. Ray had four sons that were all on their own by the time he moved in across the street from my family. All of Rays boys were World Pro snow skiers. And when the Wide World of Sports was on TV we would go over to Rays and watch Perri Thompson on TV. Some may remember "And the agonie of defeat" (skier crashing off of a jump in parallel slalom). That was Perri. I wanted to ski.

I Started in high school on snow and water. In 1992-93 I put 250 days on the snow. Starting in August of 92 on Mt Shasta and ending on Mt Lassen in August of 93. In 94 and 95 I skied 150 days each With a lot of days at Coppervalle.

 

Circa 1979 being a Freshman in high school and I got the opportunity to be the third person with some guys out of high school. We would usually start in May at Lake Almanor 4500 ft elevation. I remember doing a lot of shivering as shore/dock starts had become illegal in California so learning to deep water start in cold water was it. I obtained a 66 inch Taperflex 3 and would take it to the lake with me for years in case I could bum a tow which rarely happened. The only lesson I ever got was from an old O'Brian sponsored skier from the wood era, "drop your outside arm, cut and fall backwards". Forward to my mid 30 and I got married.

 

After purchasing a house my wife said lots get a boat. I found a 1975 Century Resorter. Picked up a 66 inch HO VTX and skied for years with that combination. My son and daughter 18 and 15 yr old are still skiing that ski. As I kept breaking the ski pole in the Century and the difficulty of getting into the boat from the water my wife suggested we look into a boat that would be easier to get in from the water. I was eager to start shopping and in September of 2016 we purchased a 1999 AIR Air Natique with no racks and only 124 hr. It made the cover of the 2017 Correct Craft Fan calendar. It is not the best ski boat but a great family boat. Then I picked up a 67 inch HO CDX and I am still on it. Yes, I need a newer ski but my form needs work first. There are lots of years of bad habits in these muscles. So an odd twist occurred.

 

My sons girlfriend (Abby) became paralyzed and she knew we skied and she wanted to also. She was at an Ability First Camp in Chico California and called my son and said do you want to come by and see me ski. We were on our way through Chico so we stopped by. I was so impressed with what I saw. Abby was skiing and so were others with limitations. The coaches Mattie and Derrick were awesome. They saw a video of my son skiing and coached him on the spot from the video. I was a harder task though with decades of bad form and back pain.

 

Mattie coaches from his house who happens to live next to Marcus Brown and the late Matthew Brown. Arriving at their lake was the first time I saw a course and then tried to ski one. WOW that was a humiliating experience and now I am working on my new form. My back does not hurt from skiing any more and that is a huge plus when you are turning 57 years old this month. So after 15 years of distance running I have returned to a weight room in an attempt to regain strength so I can not be crushed between the rope and ski.

So any way Howdy All.

Jim

North East CA

 

 

 

 

 

 

[6balls]

Nice run, and good luck moving forward. I was a tourney skier in Waterloo, Iowa and we did a ski day for the blind and another for the spinal cord injured, and then a day for the WMCA--many kids underprivileged and hadn't built a sand-castle much less skied. Very rewarding stuff.

 

Hope you have a good return to sport and get to round some buoys!

 

[Brokenstack]

Cool story but seriously CA outlawed doc starts and beach starts? What is legal in that state? No wonder it seems like the whole state is moving out….

[Cooper_Trelawney]

@JDskiNECA welcome ?

[Andre]

Cool story! Welcome!

 

[JDskiNECA]

Thank you for the welcome.

6Balls, the first time I saw and helped with Ability First group was just by chance and I went home and told my Wife I never felt like I belong and was needed so much as with this group. I spent 27 years as a nurse, 7 as an EMT/fireman and National Ski Patrol. Being on the water allowed me to blend my hobbies with work.

 

Brokenstack, Ya, outlawed dock and beach starts about 1977, just protecting us from ourselves. As for the rest of your question/statement, I will answer that with what my daughter says, "we live in the Texas of California".

 

Cooper_Trelawney, thank you.

 

Andre, glad you enjoyed the short version.

[jimbrake]

@JDskiNECA - seriously, welcome. If you want to come ski the course in Sacramento sometime, come on down to Bell Acqua Lake 1.

 

The rest of this thread is f'dup beyond belief.

 

 

[JDskiNECA]

Thank you jimbrake

[ALPJr]

Welcome @JDskiNECA !