1985 Marine World Pro Tour Stop

[Cooper_Trelawney]

This is some great off-season and back-in-time entertainment!  Hope y'all enjoy it as much as I did.  I was pretty impressed by the quality of skiing for the conditions (albeit a 4-bouy course).

 

[Bufootin]

Old school PerfectPass!  Watch the guy in the boat with the stopwatch at the entrance gates. 😎

[MrJones]

So cool. Thanks for sharing.

[SkiRV]

Pretty sure 1985 was before Perfect Pass

[rawly]

Pretty sure stop watches were before perfect pass. 

[Cooper_Trelawney]

Everything here looks exciting and intense.  The short set up, hand throttle driving, small narrow slaloms and 72" jumpers.  Even the 6' ramp was shorter and steeper angled than today's ramp.  All of those factors and more, made waterskiing look more extreme.   Contrast that to the perfect conditions, smooth performances, speed controled larger boats, more surface area skis, etc of today.  Oh, and that audience too!

I've never been a freestyle jumper other than a pretty lame helicopter but that guy who threw that HUGE front flip is awesome!

[Mateo_Vargas]

I think they only used a 5 1/2 ramp for that tournament

[rogerw]

great video, thanks

as I manage decline, 4 ball slalom courses could be the way ahead, ha ha

[wilyle]

I came across that video on YouTube and was extremely depressed. I was top seed going into the jump finals in that tournament. I think the only time I was in my career of pro tournaments. I think I placed 7th. that year and they edited me out. I remember Lucky's jump. He made a mistake on his turn which made him very late but he held on for the win. It was a 5 1/2' ramp. GOOD TIMES. Glory days, they pass you by.

[skiermanbrad]

I've often thought that slalom spray seemed bigger when I was a kid. Many things seem bigger when you are smaller. After watching this and many other vintage tournament videos I do think that slalom spray was, in fact, bigger back then. I'm pretty sure that as ski designs have improved and become more efficient that spray has suffered. Not saying that we should go back to '80s equipment, but could ski designers engineer ginormous spray back into the skis while keeping modern performance? Chicks dig it and it looks cool.

[mike_mapple]

My dad loved 4 buoy courses, we have two of them on the lake, and two, two buoy courses that were just for working on gates, and they ran back to back. 

 

I also remember my dad teaching me that hip slide as a kid, it was always a fun party trick. 

 

Also for anyone who noticed, he pulls his back foot out as he starts the slide, to be able to help him get back up. 

Edited November 20, 2023 by mike_mapple

[rawly]

2 hours ago, mike_mapple said:

My dad loved 4 buoy courses, we have two of them on the lake, and two, two buoy courses that were just for working on gates, and they ran back to back. 

 

I also remember my dad teaching me that hip slide as a kid, it was always a fun party trick. 

 

Also for anyone who noticed, he pulls his back foot out as he starts the slide, to be able to help him get back up. 

     Cool story. You sure were one lucky dude to be taught how to ski by total waterski royalty. I’m sure they were just mom and dad to you , but mom and dad just happened to be the king and queen of our sport. Was listening to Spraymakers today and Rossi talked about his opportunity to ski with and learn from your dad. That got me thinking about him and you guys. Just letting you know that people like me that you’ve never met have you and your family in our thoughts. 

[Jody_Seal]

I had coffee the other morning with Susi  we had some good conversation about tournaments like this. what a competitor and beast she was on the slalom course. though it took a toll on her. she still skis from time to time but only on a trick ski.

[kc]

5 hours ago, mike_mapple said:

My dad loved 4 buoy courses, we have two of them on the lake, and two, two buoy courses that were just for working on gates, and they ran back to back. 

 

I also remember my dad teaching me that hip slide as a kid, it was always a fun party trick. 

 

Also for anyone who noticed, he pulls his back foot out as he starts the slide, to be able to help him get back up. 

Thanks for sharing stories about your dad with us,Mike.  I always shook my head in amazement when he did that hip slide, and ended up skiing away! It’s impossible to verbalize the impact your dad had on our sport. Not only as a skier, but more importantly for the person he was.