I'm Eric, age 32, and I live in Oconomowoc, WI. Learned to ski when I was around 5, spending most summer weekends at our family cabin in Three Lakes, WI. I spent the next 20some years as a casual free skier behind my parents '92 Sport Nautique. I've always enjoyed skiing, but didn't really become passionate about skiing until about 4 years ago. I think it was probably after watching the Malibu Open when it was still at Veterans Park in Milwuakee, but I had a newfound passion for the sport and decided that I wanted to take it more seriously and try to get better.
Upgraded to a Nautique 200 that fall, bought a portable course the following year, and have been hooked ever since. We still have the same family cabin that I grew up skiing at, so my wife and I spend our summers hauling our boat back and forth almost every weekend (about a 4 hour drive). We drop the course in up there on the weekends and try to get out and free ski around here once a week after work, usually on Pine Lake. My wife loves to ski, but isn't the greatest driver... Fortunately, my sister also lives in the area and married someone who loves being out on the water as much as we do (he was a professional wakeboarder for number of years but we we're able to convert him to a skier), so we have a dedicated group that is willing to wake up early to put the course in the water before the lake gets busy. Both my wife and sister delivered first babies in May, so its been a bit more of a challenge this year to get out early morning, but we can't wait to get them up on skies.
I've never had any professional coaching, so I've spent the last 4 years trying to reverse 20 years of bad muscle memory and self-taught technique. I've been a lurker for a few years, but I'm super grateful for this forum and everyone that shares all of their knowledge. I've been stuck at 34/-22 for the last couple years, which is frustrating, but at the same time, I'm inspired every time I read posts from you guys in your 50's/60's still skiing short line knowing that I've got another lifetime of skiing in front of me to get better.