jimbrake

Thanks all. All suggestions appreciated. I stretch, I've been to plenty of PTs as well as chiros, I try different methods getting up (I'm pretty certain that is where this is coming from), etc. I may try a back brace just to take some of the load getting up. @Bruce_Butterfield - carpenters use nail guns. Just sayin'. Wait...maybe a framing nail in the right spot....

@Fastguy888 - yep, lots. Going tomorrow morning. It's all about the right chiro.

@B_S - I've got some scoliosis, too, and I do stretch my hip flexors, but wondering should I do more on the right side?

Anyone here have that? Anyone? I've been skiing a long, long...looonnnnggg time and had plenty of temporary tweaks and strains, but last September started having serious pain in my right lower back, like right above the right hip. Not sciatica, nerve pain down the leg stuff, but focused in that one area. Actually had to stop skiing early last fall and did a bunch of chiro treatment and also Foundation Training after @Horton posted one of their workouts and the pain really cleared up nicely and my low back got very strong. Did a lot of slalom/GS/super-G training this winter on snow, which is also a huge low-back killer, but my back managed all that really well and just seemed to get stronger and stronger through the winter. Now I'm back on the water and a dozen or so sets in, that same lower right side pain is coming back. Back feels strong, just cannot escape that pain. I don't feel any twinges or anything bad while I'm actually in the course, but as soon as I'm off the water and cooling down, here it comes. Yes, I stretch my hamstrings, I still do Foundation Training exercises, I do other core work, I've got a great mattress to sleep on. I'm LFF and pretty sure my right leg with my fake knee is a little longer than my left and this whole slalom thing is pretty dang asymmetric, so that is probably the source of the problem, but this is all pretty new, so I'm at a loss for a fix. Anyone? No, I'm not going to go RFF.

Dropped at the end of the lake and the driver and "observer" are having a nice chat about whatever (not my skiing, not their skiing, not the boat path, usually something gossipy about other skiers). "Sorry to bother you, but I'm ready when you are."

@ForrestGump - with the bike on top of the cup, right?

@Bruce_Butterfield - exactly. I get caught between the idea of starting from very high on the boat, but with a very early and very easy first move toward the gate in order to not create too much load and the idea of setting more cross-course angle early from high up on the boat, but without much in the way of lean to try to generate more speed into centerline. The latter Chris Parrish told me to do last fall. I want the speed as soon as I can get it, but not the load. So far in my first couple of sets this year, feels pretty good into one, but it's just 28/14.25.

Close to good surf and plenty of great whites, too! And strawberries!

Crivello BTW. Google Earth imagery 9/27/21 - I see buoys. I would imagine you have to ski eaaarrrrly there to avoid the wind. Prevailing afternoon wind at that spot would make the Santa Clara Co. WSC pond look glassy.

@thager - I do that, too, but not to that extreme. If I don't cant my front (left) knee a little to the left (washers under the right side of the front binding), then any ski I try is heavy on the right edge. The effect is the ski turns too hard to the right and not hard enough to the left. That sounds like I'm knock-knee'd but I'm not. Weird. I just need my left knee to be slightly left of the center of the ski for the ski to be "balanced" left and right. If I was a little more obsessed I'd make a series of angled plastic shims to insert under the front plate - like fractions of degrees to figure out which angle is best.

don't get me started on semi-colons

@brody - agree, but that is a huge understatement. Slater just won the Billabong Pipe Pro (the former Pipe Masters) in frickin' legit pipe conditions against the best in the world and the best pipe specialists. Pipe is a place that kills people and it is the Super Bowl of the WSL. Oh, and I almost forgot, his first Pipe Masters win was in '92. 30 years, 11 World titles, and I don't even know how many Pipe victories. He is the GOAT of GOATs because of his longevity, the playing field he competes on, he does it on his own, and he's done it for 30+ years. Edit: Sorry, @jipster43 - just saw your post and I'm repeating (but emphasizing) it.

We've been having early spring in CA, so have gotten a couple sets at Bell Acqua, but can't take it too serious until April. Too much snow skiing to do, yet.

Colleges with water ski teams and reasonably close to snow skiing - Cal State Chico, UC Davis, and Sac State (if they currently have a team) are all within 2 hours of snow skiing. Western Washington in Bellingham I would assume might be close enough to snow skiing. I had heard there were some kids skiing at Univ of CO Boulder, but not sure about that now. Even the central and southern Cal colleges that have water ski teams (Cal Poly, UCLA, San Diego State) will get you within a day's drive of snow skiing and usually all those teams have kids that want to head to the snow in the winter.

My path was the old Monterey Highway (US101) south of San Jose, CA. Literally. It went right by the Santa Clara County Water Ski Club pond. I was driving by in '75 and it was packed with cars. I stopped to see what was going on and found out it was a collegiate tournament. It was the summer before my senior year of high school and I knew a guy there from the local junior college. He said if I split the entry fee with him, he'd say I was from the JC. Anyway, I was aware of tournament water skiing and aware of the SCCWSC, but wasn't a member and didn't know how to get involved, but really wanted to ski the slalom course badly. So, I kinda just lucked into it that day. My parents sent me to Mike Suyderhoud's ski school the next summer AND they got us into the water ski club and that was all she wrote.

Kelly Slater

That's a scary proposition. I'm 63 and I can still (but barely) pop out of the pool after a swim workout onto one foot and then standup (very un-Louganis). I don't go to my butt or knees and I don't suffer the embarrassment of crossing lanes to go to the steps, BUT if I had to get out of water that cold onto the ice, I think it'd be a way tougher, different deal and I don't think I'd purposely do it without having a guideline and backup on the ice. Being under the ice scares the crap out of me.

Is that a fake Amberjack?

@The_MS - plenty to not love, for sure, but I tend to spend my waking hours being with family, working, and playing - not necessarily in that order. In the lower 48, playing in California is as good as it gets. Like I said, it's worth it. How do you spend your day? Worrying about Safe Sport, right?

For all ya'll with your "California worth it?" comments, thank you for staying the F away. So sick of that bullshit. Yeah, it's worth it.

you mean Joel?

@Horton - way to equate the lake with punishment.

@dskunhardt - "the Titleist"

Didn't Mike have a stroke a few years back during a SUP race or something like that? Mellow Marine is not far from my house and it seems stocked up and busy and I was thinking Mike must've recovered well and was able to carry on. Wonder if this is related to that prior issue. Hope he comes out of this OK. Any West Coast skier that has been around awhile has plenty of good Mello stories.

@JDskiNECA - seriously, welcome. If you want to come ski the course in Sacramento sometime, come on down to Bell Acqua Lake 1. The rest of this thread is f'dup beyond belief.