MrJones

So cool. Thanks for sharing.

If not for overcooking the lean from 1 to 2 in the final.... Dude was on it.

As a skier with a history of ankle injuries and a PT, I'd put the odds of a life altering injury at 50/50 over time.

Todd ran 5@41 at WPB Nats in MM. That was a stacked year. I was 9th with 4@39 if memory serves. 

Lynda and I will be there doing the parent thing only Thursday and Friday. Looking forward to seeing some of you guys...

You were the back up slalom timer... on shore.

We watched it drinking coffee Sunday morning. It was hard to follow as the announcing was super minimalist vs. TWBC.

Conditions looked good and they did a good job with the cameras. Really odd final for the men. Brando and Fred tied at 3.5@41. As in most tournaments they went back out as in the final bracket you have to win outright. They ski and it appears Fred wins with I think another 3.5@41 vs. Brando's 3.

I left to go do some stuff in the yard and get ready to ski. A bit later my wife (who still had the tournament on the house) comes out and says she heard them saying that there should not have been a run off and Brando was the winner???? Eventually it appears Fred was declared the winner.

As I said... Odd. Should make an interesting TWBC podcast .

We will revisit this on a yearly basis if you want. The Future is bright for ULL skiers on podiums!

 

Liquid D... Get a team going at UCF again. Would be great to have them back in the mix. 

Somewhere I have a couple of old VHS tapes with raw footage from early/mid '90s pro tour stops. All the preliminary rounds. Think they sold them as fundraising for the hall of fame. Seems I remember a lot of Jeff on EPs.

Two thoughts. 
He’s been on Connelly forever. 
I love his post set lakeside interviews. 

I was fortunate enough to be in the boat for a lot of CP rounds at The Ranch. When he was on it was amazing to watch. 

Would be in for the next 11 months...

I appreciate the webcast, but it's really odd not to announce the winner. It just ends...

I appreciate the webcast, but it's really odd not to announce the winner. It just ends...

Ancient history but…

Years ago most of our collegiate team went to a 3ev class C. I was the only slalom only skier and got a Sanger for second round. Non of us had ever skied behind one. As Horton said the wakes are HARD. It was a 3 round, but only single eventers got to to ski rd 2.

 

Everyone was to get the Sanger for 3rd rd the next day. Flash forward to 8am Sunday morning after a brief lake side devotional by the host club. I said to my buddy “watch this” as our first girls skiers headed for the gates at -15/34. The F bomb reverberated across the water as her knees got jammed up to about naval level! (I did mention in passing the wakes we’re a little firm?)

 

Totally unrelated but in Montana at the moment and saw two Sangers on the Gateway to the mountains lake. Didn’t even know they were still around.

41 tail since they were called the RPM back in the day. (Points if you can tell us what RPM stood for)

 

Just bought the inside out version of these at Nats and and anxious to try them out.

I’m going to say depth of field is the issue. In the 80’s and 90’s waterskiing was relatively hot and attracted a lot of guys in their 20’s. Lots of them/us were looking for a sport to do after high school or college. Skiing was relatively affordable and fun. Let’s go!

 

Flash forward a few years and those guys have improved and pushed each other. There are 160 skiers at Nats In M3 and it’s tough. You better be improving because your buddy sure is. Sport is getting more expensive but hey “I’m older and making a little more coin. It’s cool”.

 

Flash to the past 10 years. That group I described is now M5 ish. Competition is still tough even though everyone is older. Problem is that now the sport is on private lakes and never seen on TV or the news stand. Even if it was as soon as that young guy sees what the costs are he’s out. There are some, and good on ya, but it is not many.

 

There are a lot of great juniors. Some of them go on to be the pros putting up amazing scores in all events. Seems that most who don’t go that route burn out and drift away from the sport. When I think of the crew that hung with in M2-3 most picked up the sport later and stayed in for a long haul. That route is not happening near as much now. (All this is imho of course)

The fact that this won't die and elicits such strong reactions is telling...

I do not have a knee replacement, but am a PT who sees a lot.

 

As with most things it depends. How was your flexibility and strength going in? If the knee functioned well but just hurt you should be back at it fairly soon. I would think at 12 weeks you could be skiing fairly comfortably. Maybe sooner. And yes, it certainly should feel better than before or why have it done?

I watched a good deal of each tournament. Very hopeful that they can get the schedule worked out for next year so that they don't conflict. San Gervasio, Kaiafas, and France each had a different take on a pro format all of which looked great. Would be great to see as many pros attending each as possible.

I would not use Orlando numbers as a gauge of average tournament participation.

I looked a week or two ago and they were on there.

On my daughter’s ski 6.766 slot converts to 6.846 tips for length.

DFT is usually within 0.005. Depth is close as well. Length is the real pain.

Regina and Whitney

Charlie Ross in boys slalom. Second to be determined

Started rec skiing in my mid teens. Probably Sr. year was getting oil and filter for our old Ebco IO and saw a flyer on the door for a water ski tournament.

 

It was a beginner/novice only tournament at Horseshoe Lake. Come try the course on Friday and ski on Saturday. Ran the first pass I ever tried at 26/LL and was hooked! The Bray, Varnell, and Latimer families took me in and started dragging me to tournaments around Oklahoma and North Texas. Man that was a long time ago...