TomD

Watch the master

Watch the master

My friend, Bob Maher (Maherajah Skis), had given me a copy of The Water Skier magazine which had a listing of tournaments in it The magazine opened up a whole new world to me. I had free-skied for years but never in a course.

June 7th, 1973 – My first time ever in a slalom course was in the novice division of the Pacific Coast Open at Winchester Lake in Sacramento. Shirley Perkins (RIP), the boat judge, yelled at me after I rounded 4 ball at 30 mph long-line and stopped skiing because I forgot there were 6 buoys in a course. I was hooked and came back the next day to ski in the M2 division. Made 2 passes and then 2 at 34 long-line, my first complete pass ever.

Background: man-made lake (lake 1), 4-5 ft deep, 1 of 3 interconnected lakes, had blue dye added this summer for the first time in a while, had copper sulfate added for algae.

Has anyone experienced the feel of the lake water changing drastically over a short period of time. It went from feeling normal to feeling like it wants to grab your ski, especially on the pull-out for the gate and the turn-in to the gate. The ski “walks” like crazy if you are going straight on a flat ski (like at the end of a pass).

None of this was happening 10 days ago.

I heard this problem affected lake 2 a while ago. No idea if it’s back to normal yet.

@sailworks

I think he meant that it's important for the binding to be 30 1/8.

I just got these from Paul Crawford for a 67 Fusion and skier weight of 195-200.

2.495

6.93 tips

.735 flat

Wing 7.5 or 8

Binding - 30 1/8 - critical

I wonder what it would be if:

1. you are sitting on the dock, ski on, previous skier done & you're next at a tournament?  140

2.  It's the Nationals (so you took time off work, flew here, rented a car and hotel)? 160

3. You just remembered you're the #1 seed?  180

4. person before you just made 1 more buoy than your PB? 200

5.  15 mph tailwind kicks up? 205

6. it starts to rain? 210

Quick call 911

Sacramento has it all.

Too many private lakes to remember them all.  Let’s see: Liberty Lake, Pleasant Oaks, Redwood Shores, Liquid Zone, Bell Acqua (3 lakes and home to the 2011 Regionals), Stillwater, Winchester Lake (Sac Water Ski Club), Jovia’s Pond, Lang Lake, Shortline Lake, Sunset Ranch, Coyote Lake.  I’m sure I’ve missed some too.  All within about 30 minutes of downtown.  Many offer memberships of varying types.  Google most of them for more info.

You can water ski year-round, but it’s cold (in the 50’s) from mid/late Nov to the end of Feb usually.  We normally don’t ski Dec Jan & Feb just to take some time off.  Tournaments start the 1^st week of June and you can ski in one (or two or three) almost every weekend until late Sep.  Nice sites with friendly people.

Lake Tahoe is about 2 hrs away and has world class snow ski resorts.  Squaw Valley (site of the 1960 Olympics), Alpine Meadows, Heavenly Valley, Northstar at Tahoe, Sierra at Tahoe and a bunch of smaller resorts. Weekend traffic can be heavy especially if it’s stormy.  South Lake Tahoe and Reno (a little farther east) have Harrahs, Harvey’s, MontBleu and more casinos/hotels if you want to gamble.

San Francisco is about 2 hrs west with all it’s attractions.  The Pacific ocean is an easy day-trip as well.

If you wanted to visit Horton in Bakersfield/Arvin it’s a 4 hr drive south down I-5.  Of course, why you’d want to do that is a bigger question!

I will be there too.

The lake photos on the web site look nice.  How's it ski?

Yes that was a nice score by Greg.

Perhaps dsmart should describe his rd 2 performance.  So close to running 38off.

I have one and really like it.  The bottom fits tightly and after bleeding out the air, the top snugs up but does not hinder your movement.  I previously used a full wetsuit and didn't like it - too heavy and restrictive.

I do put the velcro strap around the front leg because sometimes water shoots up the leg when making an abrupt turn. Helps to stay dry.

We've been skiing in Sacramento for about a month. Yesterday it was 61 and the water was about 65 - no wind as you can see.  The three days before, however, were cold, windy and rainy.

http://web1.twitpic.com/img/86609342-3a341de6d6226b25a6f0823cc8275da7.4bc5e8e7- 

I live here too and dsmart is right... it's been a wet cold week. Today it's currently 48 with 12 mph se wind and raining.  Not very good skiing conditions.  My ski buddy and I skied late yesterday and it was not too bad, just a little cool (by Sacramento standards) with glass water.

dsmart likes to occasionally buzz our lake in his sheriff's helicopter... land next time and we'll pull ya!

I've also skied with Mike Winter and he is a good coach.

Being the thoughtful and caring spouse that I am, I’ve taken my non-skiing wife to Arizona 3 or 4 times for a fun-filled vacation/roadtrip in October.  Her father lives there, so she’s not only on vacation but also gets to visit him.

I figure that while I’m pampering her with all this fun and family time, it wouldn’t hurt to do a little skiing as long as I’m in the neighborhood.  3 rounds on Saturday and another 3 on Sunday don’t seem like much, at least to me.  Believe it not – she’s bought into this plan.

Just found out the old man is moving to California  (near me) – crap!!

Adam

All skiers in the IWSF list are included.  If there are over 100, you need to click NEXT at the bottom of the page.

I just posted a COMBINED list for 35+ 45+ and 55+ skiers, using the ISWF's data.  You can sort by male/female and view slalom, trick, jump and overall.  Go to http://www.tournamentwaterski.com/skierRank-senior.asp?wevent=s&wdate=2009-10-1&wdiv=m

This is at TournamentWaterSki.com