JacStocks

I LOVE mine, it's super forgiving and fun to ski on. It is also really consistent in warm and cold water which I appreciate in Washington.

Hey Everyone, if you want to get out and ski on one of the most beautiful lakes in Washington, check out the Sun Basin Slalom Shootout on July 26-28th. We will have practice all day Friday, $10 for 4 passes. On Saturday, we'll do Round 1 & 2, Slippery Slalom Competition after (run the course on anything but a slalom ski), and a potluck. Sunday we'll do Round 3 & awards. Most of the time, there is plenty of time to ski Sunday afternoon. The theme for the weekend is country western, so bring your boots and cowboy hat!

Jacqueline Stocks Communications Director for the INT League I promote grassroots and amateur waterskiing and wakeboard. Sometimes we do it right, sometimes we make mistakes. But I do believe that we are doing a good thing and growing our sport. Easily excitable and passionate about our work within the watersports industry. Currently working on running 35. I love to ski and I love skiers. I grew up skiing in INT Events, I skied in College for the University of Washington. Now I ski INT and a few USAWA events a year. I ski on Lake Sammamish, Winlock or wherever anyone will pull me.

Second try posting... You're not the enemy of fun, you're the champion of justice! This is a conversation we frequently have in our office. We have to balance consistency and rules versus fun. In all sports there are rules to provide a level of expectation for success, but we do it for fun. At the end of the day we don't want anyone to walk away mad or feeling cheated. Most event organizers emphases consistency and education to drivers and judges so that we can provide the best pull possible. But we also advise them to give the skiers the benefit of the doubt if there is any question. Human error is always a possibility. In INT events we emphasis fun, but maintain a strong set of rules or expectations. We do this in a few ways. INT offer's novice divisions so that skiers can miss their gates or a few bouy's and still get a score with a clear path to progress. In the other divisions we offer a mulligan so that if a skier misses their gates, a buoy or falls they can have a second chance on their second pass. This year we even had a few events with a floating mulligan. Skiers could take their mulligan at anytime in there set. The goal was to push the level of performance and shake things up a bit. No matter what, the skiers should have a fair chance get their best score. The INT format is just one option for providing a "fun" environment for skiers trying to improve and have a great tournament performance. My soap box for the day: I would like to see collegiate skiing reformed. There are a handful of collegiate teams who have very high caliber skiers, but the majority of teams have many skiers who can only go out to the one ball and come back to the wake. Yet the NCWSA only offers women's and men's divisions. I would love to see them offer a novice division or a mulligan to give new skiers more course experience. Collegiate skiing is the best grassroots program that USA Waterski has going. College students are doing a great job getting new skiers into the sport, primarily because of the fun environment. They get to be a part of a team, travel together, hang out at the lake, and participant in other after sundown extra-curricular activities. I wish that USA Waterski would put more time and money into collegiate skiing and embrace the fun culture that these students have created. My perspective is based on my experience as a collegiate skier in the Western Region, and I realize that in some other regions there are high level skiers who take collegiate events very seriously, which makes this idea impossible at the National level. But I think there is a time and a place for "serious rule following" and it is record capable USAWS events. In conclusion, we all want to have a good time. However our humanity provides us with a need for justice. Many of us are invested, we have spent time and money to ski at the level we do and when we go to a tournament we want to get a fair score. I do believe that people are generally good, judges and drivers do there very best with the information they have. I think we need to give each other a break and know that we all have good intentions. I learned this the hard way with a set of pulled gates and a really bad sun glare. It might not always go our way on the water. But we can always have a good time on the shore! Swerve on my friends!

Thanks to those of you with kind words for INT. Back to the skiing guys... Here is what the INT Rulebook says about the wide ride divisions: "Wide Ski Measurements Skis used in the Wide Ride Division must fall into one of the categories,specified by the manufacturers: Shaped, Mids, Parabolic. Wide skis must alsomeet these measurement specifications: minimum 7 1/4 inches in width, (measured1 inch in front of the manufacturers original placement of the front boot) witha maximum ski length of 71 inches. Ski's that do not fit these specificationsmay not be used, even though they are sold as "Wide". The Chief Judgeand/or event director makes the final decision as to whether a ski can or cannotbe used in the Wide-Ride Ski event." Wide ride is a great way to get back into competitive skiing or trysome short line.ÂÂ