boarditup

I don't know how to say this on the fourm without sounding glib, but most people here know me and know where I am coming from...

Rejoice that you have a young skier starting out and "slowing down" the tournament!  In this allegedly dying sport, we need new blood.  At my tournaments, skiers who are not beyond an opening pass above max speed are guananteed 4-passes.  Yeah, it runs slower, but they get to ski - and that is what they come for.

My advice - accomodate the novice skiers.  Run an am/pm day where there are two tournaments in the same day so the particpants do not have a whole day, but a half day invested. It is much more Mom and family friendly.

If we don't get more kids and families involved - especially when the kids are 5-10 years old - we will fail to reproduce and die out.  History is littered with closed membership societies that died out.  Hopefully we will not be one of them.

Karl DeLooff

www.placidwaters.com has the archive Global Invitational webcast.  Thanks to Tom Grey - please use the "donate" button.

www.placidwaters.com

Great skiing under the lights!  Two world records set.

Global Invitational Semi-Finals are posted at www.placidwaters.com

Great scores.

Finals with lit buoys (Goode) and stadium lights.  Demo lake in action - Connelly, Radar, and HO providing gear for demo on Lake 3.  Placid Wake Park in action all day long.  Lots of sunburned, happy people.

All prelim results posted at www.placidwaters.com - Look under news.  The top entry is readable.

 

Good scores in a WNW cross wind of 12 mph.

Great scores in prelims.  It will take running 41 to clinch a win.  Jumping scores, just started, are really high.  Good wind.

 

www.placidwaters.com

Clincher has been out of production for nearly 3-years.  The Masterline ProLocks, above, are a copy that was improved in both design and materials.  About the same fit, more comfortable around the wrist, no bunching on the palm, and better materials.

Masterline Prolocks.  Here is one source:

http://www.boarditup.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=304&catid=24

My Progressive policy was up this month, so I did some comparison shopping.  Progressive was $450 with an exclusion for any organized use (tournaments, clinics, etc.), Global was $390 without the exclusions and an extra $250k limit ($500k versus $250k) to boot.  Of the 4 companies I shopped, only Global covered tournament use.  Check the policy and not just the price - you may not be covered for some uses.

Just heard that Open Women's Slalom will be at the Global Invitational!  Good Job Dana!  Nice to have another payout for women's slalom.

Do you think the 67 could support 230 lbs?  It seems like most of the skis are for lightweights....

There are several potential causes including a soft grounding, turtle hit, vibration, metal fatigue, blade thinning, etc. that can cause this issue without any detectable mark or indication on the prop.  Most of the time, if it is a mfgr defect, the blade will come off in the first 20-hours of use.  The typical problem is a void in the blade during the casting process that does not cause a surface defect.

 A prop is a wear item.  They do not last forever.  You will find the blades get thinner and weaker as it ages.  Water and suspended solids will abrade the blades over time. The torque of the hole-shot will flex the blades and metal fatigue will result - potentially resulting in a thrown blade.  However, most people have to replace their prop before it wears out due to contact with a hard object - like a trailer or the bottom.

Milfoil primarily spreads through plant fragmentation and not seeding.... You have a temporary opening, then it will get worse.

Dye, Sonar, or 2,4-D are the best.

 

I am not bashing the INT or USA WS.  I fully support the INT's mission and wish them well. 

Nobody in the INT or USA WS is getting rich from watersports.  It takes a lot of money to put on events.  If you have put on a tournament, you know what it takes.  With the INT, because the event is a production, you have the production costs to fund.  You also have the cost to HQ for event insurance and per participant. HQ funds the US Championship - and that is a really well done event.  You should see one.

I recommend those interested in the USA WS and INT organizations read Jim Collins new book "How the Mighty Fall."  It is a study of organizations in decline and how they can recover.  Watersports organizations are in on the cusp - because the "market" has matured.  We now have a choice - focus and adapt or die (or fall into obscurity).

I have a passion for watersports and have put my money where my mouth and passion is.  I don't have all of the answers, but a few of them and lots of good questions.  What I do know is that we must provide a fun at a value.  INT has been doing that better than USA WS events for the beginners and novice families.  Since this is the prime way to recruit and replenish our ranks, we MUST pay attention.  The major difference is INT is the event promoter and USA WS is simply a sanctioning agency relying entirely upon Local Organizing Committes.  INT is interested primarily in the fun aspects of the event.  USA WS is primarily concerned with compliance with the rules - not running events.  This is because how the bylaws for each organization are constituted and what their mission is.  You really cannot mash the two together and make it work.

What we can do is support both organizations and try to make each healthy and durable over the long term.  This takes volunteering at INT events, perhaps becoming a State Coordinator for a few years (about as long as you stay really motivated). 

For USA WS, it is a personnel issue on the ED and board levels.  We need to have people who understand the life cycle of our organization and to be proactive in leading and managing the organization. "The right people, in the right seats on the bus."

Since the INT gets a lot of newbies, it is hard to handicap until they get to a relatively stable result.  The divisions make it possible.

Each State Coordinator has some latitude in how to effectively run their events.  There is not a perfect solution to all events for all people.  It is good to have a diversity of events. 

I believe that USA WS will die out due to the lack of replacement officials.  There is a need to dramatically shorten the period to become a judge, scorer, and driver.  Most people will not tolerate the current process unless the entire family skis or they are single.

Karl

I burned my family out in just a few years.  It is a lot of work.  We are creeping back into running tournaments, but are nowhere near taking on the State Coordinator's duties again.

Sort of - as I understand it, it is a non-profit.  That said, it is a marketing organization.  It is a bit more expensive than the USA WS events, but it is typically a higher quality event from a polish perspective.  You feel like you are at a pro event, not a typical USA WS event with no banners, announcer, background music, commercials, medals, etc.  Two different goals and two different events.  The state coordinator can make some money, but I never was in the black by much.  It costs a lot to put on the events and it takes a lot of time and effort to set up.  The results are great for the sport.

I was the Michigan State Coordinator for several years.  I fully support the INT and its mission to reach out to the masses.  INT does not sanction tournaments from a waterski perspective - your scores do not count on the USA WS ranking list, for regionals, or Nationals.  They do, however, count for the INT US Championships (great time and family party).

You cannot host just one INT tournament - you sign up for being a State Coordinator for at least a year.  You produce events - a high quality event that has music, banners, announcements, etc.  It is just a high quality product.  USA WS has no such requirements.  INT does not, however, have the need for the same level of officials as USA WS - it is more of a F-level tournament and low stress.  The two organizations have very different goals and consequently different ways of running the actual events.

If you can handle producing 3-6 high quality events per year, plus spending a long week at the US Championships, contact the INT and see if being a State Coordinator is right for you and them.  It will be a near full time job during the summer months for little compensation.  It can be a lot of fun.

One more point, INT is Slalom, wakeboard, and kneeboard (surf and hydrofoil, if you really want).  You have to be able to support a different kind of 3-event.  The benefit is that whole families will come out.  If you run it well, you will have lots of volunteers to help  - parents supporting their kids and older teens who are incredibly responsible.

Email me if you have any other questions.

Good luck.

No ice?  Time to ski!

On August 7, 2010, at the same time as the Midwest Regionals, I will be offering a fun tournament -

Round 1 - WUSS - Wood Underground Ski Society - period wood skis - 30 mph top speed and then cut rope.  Must be old ski, bindings, and fin.  You can replace binding rubber if the same shape and hardware is used.

Round 2 - Wide Ride - basically INT rules except the thinner skis (Senate) cannot be used.  Theory - OK.  We are looking for the really wide skis.  30 mph top speed and then start cutting rope.

Other Lake

Round 1 - Wakeboarding

Round 2 - Wakesurfing

Awards for the best combined score in all four events as well as individual events.  Loose rules - mulligan first pass for slalom.  Minimum 4 passes, but only the first full passe until a miss is scored.

Any suggestions or feedback?

Site:  www.placidwaters.com

My girls are both on Radar's.  They both love the binding system.  I still have the KD skis around as well.  They prefer the Radar becuase they are more forgiving of mistakes.

Sorry - my classes are work related, not waterskiing related.  I have not been able to achieve a judge, scorer, or driver rating in the past 4-years of AWSA tournaments.  Even though I host tournaments on my site, I have too many responsiblities to "ticket punch" and make it work as currently written.  I even have a full suite of jump computers and a separate scoring computer on the shelf.  If I were authorized, I would be happy to put it together and teach.  However, I am not.  Maybe in a few more years.....

It is a shame not to leverage technology to the fullest.  It does take some money and I don't think USA WS is ready to break out the checkbook, yet. 

Judges and scorer's clinic solution:

GoToMeeting - I hold several training sessions a year successfully via the web.  You do have to keep it short in length and high on visual stimulation, but it works well if you do not have to drone on and on and on and on....

In my opinion, you should be able to become an assistant judge, driver, or scorer in a few tourmanents.  Senior, in the next season.  It would go a long way to add members and keep them excited about the sport.

In fact, it would not take too much to have a CD-ROM or web-based program like the I-Drive for judges, scorers, and drivers.  The experience part will just have to come on site, but the academics can be packaged in several different ways.  

You have touched on an issue I've been lobbying about for some time.  We need officials, but the way we grow them is more like a hazing ritual crossed with a sensei who never is satisfied.  It does not take too much training to count to six and determine whether the ski went on which side of the buoy.  Jump is computerized.  Trick, a different story - that takes a lot of experience to judge high end trickers.  So far, there has been no tangible action, but there has been a lot of discussion.  Keep the conversation going.  We need to have people involved.

Here is what we (Placid Waters and the GVSU Ski Team (Grand Valley State University)) are doing:

5-clinic days.  Afternoon and evening session.  30-minutes boat time, up to 2 hours of shore time with qualified instructors.

End of program tournament.  Divide the skiers into teams - mostly by school district.  Compete with point earned according to college rules scoring.  Award individual and team medals.

This is run as Grass Roots events to keep the cost down and make it easy to get the new kids involved.  There are other tournaments that they can participate in as well.  For all of our events, we have wakeboarding, slalom, and wakesurfing.  It is a new take on 3-event.  We are listening to the local community and culture.

The previous method was to have a 4-day camp.  Attendance poor, cost high, parents could not make it happen.  We start up after the traditional vacation season and end before the startup of fall sports. 

Clinic is $25 per session.  Tournament is $40 for multiple events. 

T-shirt included.

This is experimental, but I think it will work.  So far, the response has been encouraging.  The local school districts will put it on their athletic calendars as a club sport.  We will also push it at the Global Invitational, Wakesurfing MI, and the other tournaments.  Action Watersports, the local MC dealer, will also push it at the boat show, calendar, newsletter, and e-mail blasts.