Ham_Wallace

First: decide what you want.  Performance or Competition? 

   Competing since the mid-sixties, there was fun and comradarie in going to one round/ 3-event tournaments in the summers. There were bragging rights after each event. weather, drivers, boats, conditions were all factors.  It was about beating your buddies that weekend. Competition.  The first multi round tournament I ever attended was the Geronimo Jump Tournament in Columbus, Ohio in 1970. 3 rounds of jumping was fun. 

    Fast forward to the future: There are skiers that will not attend the Regionals or Nationals because they are not multi-round.  Not good for the sport.......

   We need to keep the sport more inclusive for families. Boats, Private lakes and travel have gotten cost prohibitive for most.  Private lakes have taken visibility of the sport away from public waters. 

   There is a way to include many more people. Let em' all ski in the Nationals (If they ski in the Regionals).  It would benefit the vendors, the LOC, the Association.   THE CATCH: Draw your head-to head competitor. 2 boats, 2 passes, ski both back to back. Tie goes to the first skier. Sker 2 moves to losers bracket. Skier1 chooses starting speed/ rope length. Sker 2 would need to start at the highest pass completed and get into the next one to beat skier 2. If you lose twice you are eliminated. The event would be spaced out several days of the week with the finals on the last day. This format would allow a lot of skiers to participate. If you are a Association member and can pay the entry, you can ski.  The whole family could ski. We would be back to over a thousand skiers!  2 boats done right you could ski 40 skiers in 2 hours or less. Fast and furious. an announcers dream. 

Malibu Response LX or Response LXR

Ed has the rope lengths correct. They went 12, 18, 24, 30, 36 off, They added 33 off in 1969. Berkeley was the first nationals incorporating 33 off. I think Ricky McCormick made a clean sweep of the boy's division that year.

 

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Born: January 13, 1957

Death: November 14, 2015

 

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Steven Hunter Raybourne

January 13, 1957 - November 14, 2015

Steven Hunter Raybourne, 58, of Georgetown, TN died Saturday November 14, 2015.

 

Steve was a graduate of Georgia State College and was an operations manager for M&M Mars before retirement. He then pursued his lifelong passion for boating. He held a captain’s license and was a 100T Master. He was a devoted family man who will be missed by four generations. He was known for his fine waterskiing, scuba diving, and general being good at anything he turned his hand to.

 

Steve was born in Charleston, SC and was the son of the late Jack E. Raybourne and Mary Clare (Rinky) Raybourne.

 

He was preceded in death by his father, Jack Elbert Raybourne, M.D. and brother, Jack Wright Raybourne.

 

He is survived by his wife of 18 years, Donna H. Raybourne; his sister, Susan R. Raybourne, M.D. of Columbia, SC; mother, Mary Clare Robinson of Cleveland, TN, daughter and son-in-law, Ashley and Jonathan Hunter of Hixson, TN; two granddaughters, Harper and Hadley Hunter; uncle, Harold H. Robinson of Summerville, SC; and cousins, Hunter Robinson of Lexington, SC and Donna Puckett of Charleston, SC.

 

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November, 17, 2015 at Ralph Buckner Funeral Home.

 

The family will receive friends from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home prior to the service.

 

We invite you to send a message of condolence and view the Raybourne family guestbook at www.ralphbuckner.com.

 

 

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Tennessee Skier, Steve Raybourne passed away suddenly this morning. Steve was a long time competitor and an integral part of the Tennessee Water Ski Community. He is the current Men IV Tennessee jump record holder and was the 2005 Men IV National Jump Champion. i will post details as they are released.

 

Only 40 years ago! I hated winter then too!

Public Lakes Rock! Percy Priest lake! Old Hickory Lake!

 

A friend for the past 40 years. I'll miss his engaging personality and thoughtful insight to our sport. Love and prayers to Deena and the family. God Bless.

Boater's Education! Especially PWC's. Personal Water Craft drivers on public waterways seem to be the stupidest people in the world. They think that we skiers are impressed by them doing doughnuts outside our course and then going around our bouys while we wait. There needs to be a REAL education course for them before they are allowed to launch their craft. One guy at the boat ramp reprimanded me for backing my TXI in too fast and rocking his Sea Doo against the dock. He said,"my wake from backing my boat in, banged up his boat". Myself and Chuck Ainlay quickly informed his fat @#s that what he had wasn't a boat!

I had always used a RTP until the end of 2010. I had missed a kick-in or 2 and decided to go with a fairly loose double boot set up. After 2011 and 2012, I reverted back to a RTP because the rear boot seemed to torque my rear foot side hip. There was some pain that I had never had. No more hip pain and just decided to keep kicking in except on very short set up lakes. I can now switch back and forth if necessary.

Thank You The_Kritter!

 

I drove it last year and it was amazing. 15 hrs in a boat went quickly. I hope that I get to do it again!

Advice: Go real early. The students don't usually come out from under the ether until about 9:00 AM.

Stevie boy, The dampening thingy WAS on the O'Brien G-3 Vengeance. It was moveable. You could slide it forward and backwards. Not really a factor until the water got cold.

disland, I have been preaching that for a dozen years Run what ya' brung until Super Finals. Then toss in the seniors, especially if they have been there on their own dime all week.

It would be fun and fast! You'd ski multi times. MS is right! I hate winter!

 

This discussion is where the rubber meets the road! We need ideas for the committee to watch. Whats wrong with 2 pass, 2 boats, head 2 head slalom? you could ski 2 skiers, passes each in 2 minutes, then the next two and so on. 50 skiers could ski their first round in 50 minutes. that would be 3 rounds in 1 1/2 hours. Hello! Jumping 2 boats, 2 jumps per skier, head 2 head, elimination. Tricks: (Boat draw, no choice) 2 boats, tricking from each end, 20 sec. passes, head 2 head, elimination. (no ski changes, no rope/handle changes. You lose twice in any event, you are out. Skiers would ski multiple days during the week. No Senior judges until the finals. With enough skiers and families on site for a week, manufacturers and vendors would rent booth space and stick around all week! OH Yeah! OPEN skis all events last of the day. The Open Finals would be last event of the tournamenT! $.02

Ideas on how to (1) Make 3 event water skiing exciting to participate in and to watch (2) Make the events multi round and still speed them up drastically, and (3) Incorporate more skiers! Bring it on!

I skied in 45 consecutive Nationals between 1968 and 2012. I missed the past 2. Good reasons. BUT, The real thing that I miss is my friends and the competition. I really don't care if it is one round or 3 rounds. I really don't care that I don't care about this. I REALLY care for the sport and that means that I care that other people care if it is 1 round or 3 rounds. SO that puts me back to square 1 on the format issue. I have been advocating a format change since skiflying came out in 2000. This sport is the dullest (unless you or your buddy are on the water) sport ever with the exception of golf. Until the format changes to fast moving, viewable events, I don't see any possible advancement. There would be a need for traditional 3 event situations because of IWWF rankings and qualifications. There have got to be some changes made!

Why ski Regionals and possibly knock a skier out of going to Nationals that would go? Personally, I have been qualified for Nationals and not skied 3 events at a State in order to get another skier to Regionals and then, not skied all 3 at Regionals in order to get the same skier to Nationals, that was an amazing reward watching that skier compete in Nationals. Well worth it!

Jody, I'll contribute if I can go too. I want to know, who is on the task force.

In 2013, I stayed home with my sick dog. In 2014 I stayed home for family reasons. I'll be there in 2015. After 45 straight Nationals, I guess that I can take a few off. I was really going for 50 straight, but I am glad that I stayed home.

Be careful what you ask for! 22 years ago the "powers that be" wanted to reduce the Nationals numbers. Now they need the revenue. (MS is right, unusual). Hot Summer nights, Coors Light, Michelob Light, Bud Light, O'Neill, MasterCraft and other aspects had the sport in every living room. THEN, someone decided that beer wasn't good for the sport. There went the bikinis. That took us down. It's time to bring it back! Make it easier to get there and fun to ski in. That brings me back to what I have been preaching to deaf ears for the past 20 years! CANGE THE FORMAT! 1 20 sec trick pass with a boat draw. No towboat choice. 2 JUMPS and head to head bracket slalom run with 2 boats. We would need to keep regular 3 event tournaments for IWWF purposes but that's all. Slalom skiers would be assured of at least 2 pulls. (this would appease the naysayers that don't like 1 round tournaments). I rest my case.

You private lake skiers have a place for your coolers, dogs and skis. We need storage on public lakes!