Any slalom courses/any of you near Cornwall, Ontario? (update, and thanks!)

[chaloux]

I'm headed to Cornwall Island for at least Saturday-Monday and would love to get a ski in. Free ski is fine. I'm happy to pay for gas/extra.  I'll be hanging out alone all day  while my wife is at a conference so I could drive a bit out of the area as well. 

Edited September 8, 2023 by chaloux

[lpskier]

There is a course on a private lake in Norfolk, NY,  across the River from Cornwall. Well, it’s about a 40 minute drive. Contact @swaterkd   He also has a course at his house in Potsdam. 
 

There is a private site in Cornwall, but when I say private, I mean private. 

[swaterkd]

give me a PM

 

[cobber]

There is also a slalom course in Saint Zotique Quebec about 30 miles away from Cornwall. Beautiful site, It is fairly private but I am sure you would be able to ski there if you contacted them.

[chaloux]

Thanks everyone!  I'll try reaching out to the Saint-Zotique guys and I'll also send you a PM @swaterkd

[FLeboeuf]

PM me if you want I live 15 minutes from Cornwall. I could give you a pull in late afternoon Saturday and Sunday 

[FLeboeuf]

I have 2 courses on Lake St-Francis

[chaloux]

Thanks Francis! PM sent.

[chaloux]

I just wanted to give a little update on this, as I had an absolute blast over the August 26 weekend.  Summary at the bottom for all my ADHD friends.

I ended up heading to @swaterkd place in upstate NY to ski on Saturday and Sunday morning.  Conditions were OK - it certainly wasn't hot out, but I also couldn't pass up the chance to ski behind a new SN. I also organized with @FLeboeuf to ski at one of his sites, but unfortunately timing and weather didn't work out in our favour.  Right away, Jonathan was giving me advice, tips, interested in my fin settings, etc.  It was hugely educational and helpful - he certainly has a way of communicating that really made sense to me.  We went over a few things on the ground with a rope, and worked on my stance on the ski.  Then he took me for another 6 passes after I had some time to let it all sink in and really felt like things were starting to click.  Although I didn't turn any more balls at his place, I certainly felt like I had been given a wealth of information that I need to translate to my skiing.  On Sunday, another skier Matt (can't remember last name, he was national champ at some point I believe?) came out and also had a huge amount of good tips and constructive criticism, and watching him and Jonathan couldn't be any more different in terms of approach.  But incredible skiing all around, except from me. Hah!

I took a break on Monday as my arms were killing me.  On Tuesday on our way home I managed to hook up with Dan Anderson to ski his pond behind his 196 (for sale on SIA if anyone is interested).  First time ever on a man-made lake!  The 196 was great to ski behind, perhaps a tiny bit firmer wake at my -28/32mph than the Jonathan's 2019 SN, but otherwise felt fantastic and certainly leagues better than my '94 Sport Nautique.  I'm a little bummed I didn't get to try Francis's 200 to compare nearly back to back to back, but ya can't win 'em all.  The best part is while I was rounding 2 ball repeatedly at Jonathan's and then shitting the bed on my way to 3, at Dan's I turned 4 ball!  It felt amazing.  I think watching the California Pro and skiing a lot and having all @swaterkd tips rattling around in my head actually helped, haha.

Bush's Watersports Park, a local ski site here in Muskoka, has a '23 Prostar.  So naturally I wanted to ski that as soon as I could to have a good point of reference to the Nautiques.  I was able to make that happen Friday morning of that same week.  I don't know if it was different water or what, but everything behind that boat for that session felt like slow motion.  I ran -28/32mph on my 6th pass and it felt like the easiest pass I've ever run.  Everything just clicked, and I was so ecstatic. What a great way to start a Friday!

Of course now I'm working on making -28/32mph consistent here at home.  Let me tell you, the first set back behind my Sport was pretty eye opening!  That wake is something else.  Unfortunately I haven't run the pass again since that Friday, but I'm working on it, and consistently getting 4.  I'm getting upset a little on my offside wake crossing but I'm confident I'm going to run it again a few times before the end of October.  Once I can get it consistent, I really want to hit 34mph as that's where I should be skiing, and that will help with the wake a bit as well. I'm nursing a sensitive back, and spend a lot of time checking SIA for 196s and early 200s that are within my budget.  There's an 07 with 2100 hours local(ish) to me and I am seriously tempted to make it happen, I'd just have to drop a few extra G for a ZO upgrade.  Hoping to ski that boat soon.  The price is right.

As a quick summary: the skiing community is incredible, I am so thankful for everyone taking the time to help a course newbie out, and I had a ton of fun for a few days geeking out, while my wife paid for it all.  All in all a really great extra-long weekend!  Oh, and I need a new boat.

[lpskier]

@chaloux Matt Richardson. 2012 Men 2 slalom National Champ. Nick Leuthauser lives in the same neighborhood. He won M2 in 2013. Northern NY has a bunch of really good skiers.