GWaterski

From the video - Lake 38 ProAm 2019 OM Finals Run-off:

@ScottScott Yes, a canopy is a great idea!

@LPSkier - I can confirm, being from MI - you are absolutely correct! The AWS team (Kyle included) is heading to FL to host a great tournament.

This will be held on Lake Grew, right behind the new Action Water Sports!

@jimski Lake Florence

I would like to chime in on the Clermont, Winter Garden area recommendations. I know most of the Orlando area lakes with slalom courses, and chose to live on the West side near the Montverde Academy. Feel free to email me and set up a ski set or two!

Orlando West / Clermont area: Saturday afternoon air 77, water 68, short window of glass calm before the front moves in.

@SSG223 Scott, see PM comment. I'm sure there is something in FL that fits you perfectly! Come on down!

When you regain consciousness and have to look at which way the bubbles are going to figure out which way is up.

Mark lending some slalom advice at Buoys, BBQ and Beer at The Boarding School event He really ripped - SO sad he's not with us!

@TEL - We just had our course surveyed and adjusted over here on the West side near Clermont. Then we installed Wally buoys. Email me if you would like more details.

Other lakes in the Mt Dora area with slalom courses are Lake Victoria and Lake Ola (which has 2). See my PM if you seek closer in towards Orlando...I know most lakes with courses around here :-)

@MISkier Very well said J!

My vote -- Central Florida! I was a long time Michigan skier, and it's was great! Yes, the season is relatively short, you have the 'spotter' law on the public lakes and have to be really nice to others on the lake and the riparians - otherwise lose your course permit and deal with the DNR/DEQ or find buoys cut off . The ski friendships and brotherhood is fantastic. I'm hoping they all move to FL :-) Finally, I had the chance to move to warmer weather and toured around most of South and Central FL, finally settling in the Orlando area. As @swc5150 said, "it seemed like I saw a course on every little pond we came across". Finding the right house was relatively easy after I made a map of all the ski course lakes. (Yes, I will share if anyone wants....email is in my profile). Now I can hit the water year around, anytime I have a driver - no spotter necessary - love it!

Wayyyy back when I was a lineman, I could get 1/4" galvanized support strand for free. And PVC pipe from a wholesaler friend. I also had industry pricing for preformed galvanized grips and splices. If you have a fairly long and wide driveway, it's pretty easy to build one and by incorporating a little extra sag length between buoys - absolutely accurate. They were heavier than the ones using smaller lighter cables, but at 6,000 lbs tensile strength, breaking wasn't even a thought. So, I built 10, maybe 12 accufloat type courses and put them in all over SW MI lakes. Yes, about 15 years later the galvanized steel did rust where the galvanizing was scraped off from the diamonds. Best result was meeting a lot of skiers, growing the sport and having multiple sites to shred!

@MISkier - I also bought my current boat from Scott!

Lake Jenny Jewel? The place on Orange Ave?

@ScottScott - or just by wearing your BOS TShirt around the lakes :-)

Lake Powell ! Epic!

@dhofert - Looks good! I was just there rippin that water on the 4th! (See your PM)

Having built and installed 10 slalom courses in SW Michigan 25 - 30 years ago and working on as many permits, I can tell you times were good thanks to a record ranking skier working within the MI DNR. And if you skied tournaments, you could even get a 'No Observer' permit. Slalom ski enthusiasm was probably at it's all time high! He has since retired and his regulatory legacy as well, sadly. In my opinion, the increasing difficulty permitting courses - as described by @MISkier have resulted in the construction of a large majority of private MI ski sites - which have undoubtedly saved the sport to a large degree. MI has a fabulous tournament program running on specialty slalom lakes thanks to the skiers hooked on this sport back in the pro ski DNR era. @klindy - I wholeheartedly agree with your comment - as well as appreciate all you have done for the sport. This discussion is looking for a solution to come from within USAWS / AWSA to reach out and work with State regulatory agencies if they want to help this sport grow. Skiers are doing whatever they can, that's for sure!

T Y's latest FB post - !! "Out of the hospital! Time to rest up. Keeping the good vibes going."

Full screen webcast link: http://www.webcast-tv.com/channel/usmasters/event4 Had problems going full screen and could not get past the AT&T block ad on Masterswaterski link

@Kurt It's amazing! You're welcome here anytime!