lpskier

Two Connellys on the podium, and only one had a wing. The other had an “after market” tail. At least five Connellys, four Denalis and two LaPoints in the event. Jason Peckham, the guy with the beard, is the fellow that designed the very interesting T shaped handle I mentioned in another discussion a few weeks ago.

@rico is skiing and CJed the Thursday warm up. @nleuth made the head to head bracket as did @Sethski, @liquid dand @bishop8950 . @mmosley899 is driving and judging.

Greg Badal scored 2@10.25 to (provisionally) tie Chet Raley for the M6 record. SP was good. The rope and handle measured in tolerance. Greg seemed pretty happy with everything except the part about being old enough to set a M6 record…

Wayne’s family had a summer home on my lake, Lake Placid, NY, and I skied with him when he was there. Great guy. Played a mean game of golf and tennis. Played both soccer and football in high school. Three time World champ in Water skiing, once in trick and twice in jump.

Jason Peckham for the win!

KLP had a bad jump crash as a junior and I believe he fractured his hip. He became one of the first “one-eventers” in the day and age when most skiers skied three events and winning overall was a really big deal. One of his hip replacements a couple years ago (he had both done at the same time) can be traced back to that crash. Bob was a true three event skier at a very high level for the day.

@Stevie Boy Used it for the catchy topic name.

This started as a response to @Mastercrafter question about how many women have run 41 in another discussion (zero), but maybe this deserves its own topic. Who are the hot* women skiers that have run 39? I’ll start a list: Kristi Overton Regina Whitney Karina Nolan April Coble Manon Brooke Baldwin Jamie Bull Allie Nicholson Chelsea Mills Sam Dumala This list, as I’ve come up with it, is more elite than the list of men that have run 41. 11 here vs 12 (15 depending on your criteria) men running 41. Eight of the 11 are active competitors today Who have I missed and who is likely to be added to the list in the next 12 months, and why do you think so? Interesting fact: The above list includes a registered nurse, a mountain guide, a pharmacist, a sports psychology coach, three moms, a medical school student, a successful business owner (ski school/boat dealer), an MBA holder, a skier with a JD degree, and a CrossFit champ. Not a one trick pony in the group. Footnote: * “hot” = Athletically very gifted and skiing at the top of the game.

@Horton @Alvin_Neff So this makes no sense to me. If Ben’s score was for a National record, let’s say M3, which maybe it would have been, then his boat path would have been plotted. If the poohbahs that decide such things concluded that the boat path was out of tolerance, they would deny the record “as a record.” But the score would still stand. So based on what you guys have reported so far, if it was a record that was denied, it still would be a legit 10.25. Just like Jamie B’s in France. is there more to the story?

@Cooper_Trelawney What would Jeff Rodgers do on “today’s” skis? I think he’d run 41 at 55 mph. Oh wait… he did! At Little Mountain in 2013 (I think it was ‘13, Maybe ‘12).

You could try radio frequency ablation. I get it on my L4-5. Doesn’t fix the problem but it eliminates the pain, lasts for a year or two until the nerve regenerates, then get it again. It really does the trick for me. https://www.cedars-sinai.org/programs/pain-center/conditions/cervical-block-radiofrequency-ablation.html

I’ll be there Saturday and Sunday for all the finals. Maybe for the slalom 1&2 preliminaries as well.

I saw a very interesting handle recently. The rope attaches in the center of the handle rather than the ends. And if floats. Designed and used by a guy that can run -39 and recently won a gold medal at Pan Ams, and a mechanical engineer. It may need a rule change, though, to be legal in an L/R. But you can’t put your head or arm through any part of it, so it’s pretty safe compared to what we all currently use. It takes a couple sets to get used to it but has advantages, such as it is easier to rotate your your shoulders when under load. It’s pretty interesting.

Is the show “French Bulldog Bachelorette?”

Worlds is not an USAWSWS event. While it might be nice for them to send us an email or maybe an article, USAWSWS makes nothing on the event and has no role to play in the event (other that picking a team, and that’s AWSA, not USAWSWS), so why spend our money for someone else’s event? That’s sort of like asking why the University of Central Florida, with a great football program, is not advertising and marketing the Super Bowl if it’s played in Tampa. That said, two years ago the main local sponsor was whatever the correct name is for the Central Florida Tourism Bureau and they promoted it a lot.

No SP required reride except at -38 and shorter. The people in the boat likely did not understand that rule. If the boat judge called for a reride, he or she made an error. That’s not to say you can’t get a boat path reride at -35 and longer; it just means that the reride is not going to be required because of SP data. If you’re the boat judge and you feel the driver hitting the boat guides, do the right thing by the skier.

Hey, please tell Tim and Richelle I say “Hi!”

If you also add “within the rules” to the end of that sentence, it’s also the job of the chief judge.

I’ll be there for seed 1 and 2 prelims and g go I als. Should have a red pop up hopefully around mid-course for slalom. Or near the base of the ramp.

I’m a lefty, so my rope is on the right side of my ski and my “neutral “ floating position for a get up is with the tip well left of center. If I’m coming out of the water and my tip starts to go to the right of center, I just let the tip bury itself into the rope and then I just lean into it. The rope is following the boat and if your ski is pressed into the rope, it can go nowhere but straight. Trust it and Bob’s your uncle.

@VONMAN What rule would you rely upon to grant a reride? Bear in mind the conditions were the same for every skier.

If the jump gets moved for slalom, they have to re-homologate before they can jump. I point this out only to show that “just moving the jump” is not as uncomplicated as it sounds as the process involves repositioning and re-measuring the jump, then resurveying the jump and the reference buoys for the jump distance measuring system, then loading the data into the jump computer. All said and done, that can be an hour of downtime. Longer if there is a screw up.

Let’s face it: Nothing that involves a water ski jump is safe. 😉

The location of the ramp relative to the slalom course is to some degree a function of the width of the lake. The wider the lake, the further you can move the jump from the slalom course. How long has the jump been where it is, and how many people have hit it? My guess is a long time and zero. Slaloming on a lake with a jump can be distracting, especially for folks that ski on lakes without them, which is to say probably 98% of us. But they are less in the way than you think, and less dangerous than they look. Unless you voluntarily go over them, in which case all bets are off…

I would bet that Travers is one of the most homologated sites in the world. There’s probably five LR three event tournaments there every year, and two going on three World Championships. I strongly doubt there is anything questionable about their set up.