schroed

Not sure what to say. What a loss. Brett was a great friend, father, professional, husband, and valued member of the waterski community. I am personally thankful for over 30 years of skiing, competing, and having great times with Brett. He was always funny, encouraging, and looking to have a good time. I will greatly miss his presence at local tournaments, regionals, and nationals. His enthusiasm at all the tournaments we skied together was contagious. He was always hoping that ALL of us would ski our best and see who would come out on top. That led to great fun and competition between all of us around him. Further, at times when I have gotten frustrated skiing through the years, he always had a kind, encouraging word that would put things in perspective and make me laugh. His generosity with his time and the effort he put into the waterski community will also be missed. He and Tricia were the main forces organizing and running the junior development camps that were held in the Sacramento area during the past 10+ years. The Mainer family offered their time, their boat, their cooking skills, and whatever else they could give to ensure that we always had a successful camp. My entire family has great memories of those junior development camps and are very thankful to Brett and the Mainer family for their effort. His presence at those camps will be missed. My hope is that Brett is in a better place now and his spirit will continue to encourage all of us who knew him to strive to be the best we can be, give back to the community, and have a great time doing it. You will be missed Brett.

I'm in.

It's cloudy, windy, and cold here today. Suppose to be even cooler tomorrow. @Horton - Can we move the tournament to somewhere in Hawaii this weekend? It's suppose to be mid eighties and light winds all weekend there. You can get Smart to fly all of us form Rio Linda airport right next to the lakes to Hawaii. You should have enough $$ from the tournament fees to cover that.

Check this out: https://www.facebook.com/guyhumorofficial/videos/894726710926619/?t=26 Clearly an over achieving Dad.

I've been skiing on the NRG for the past two years and really liked it. My impression was that it was a stable ski that carved tight radius turns and was really good on my off side. My only complaints with that ski was that it really didn't have any slide at the end of the turn and would sometimes over turn if I came over the front of the ski too far (especially on my off side). I just started skiing on the NRG - R1 and definitely like it better. My first impression was that the ski really turned well. There's definitely more slide at the end of the turn which I like. I'm running my bindings in the same place, but I moved my fin back and a bit deeper from what I was running my NRG. A driver that drives me often in practice said that I was much easier to drive on the NRG-R1 versus the NRG. I think that's a testament to the fact that I'm skiing smoother on it than I was on the NRG. I also feel earlier in the course than I was on the NRG even as the line gets shorter. I think that may be due to the fact that I'm staying more stacked coming out of the turn and through the wakes on the NRG-1. Overall I'm excited to be skiing on the new R1.

Just paid my entry. Looking forward to it.

I skied for Chico State in Nor Cal from 89 to 93. Some of the best times of my life. I'm still friends with many of my former teammates and I'm still skiing after all these years. College skiing brought me into the tournament waterski seen and for that, I am grateful.

We handicapped a kid's ski league this summer using the .95 multiplier method @Than_Bogan outlined. It worked well for skiers that ranged from running the course at 15.5 MPH up to skiers running into -38. We then did season points based on placement (top 4 scores out of 8 stops). The end result is that the multiplier worked well. At the end of the season the kids that skied at least 4 stops were really close in points. We even had a tie for 3rd place that we ended up doing a sudden death run-off. My conclusion is that if you have a wide range of abilities, then you need a multiplier. If the skiers are all -28 or better as @Horton mentioned, then no multiplier is needed. FYI - here's the season standings if anyone's interested: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ztTGwFN4PBmucw2oDDmj33zH8yH9_aOXfL1eyToSYyI/edit?ts=5b19834c#gid=0

Best part of nationals - watching @horton miss 38 (yeah he still beat me) 2nd best part of nationals - watching my son nearly set a PB in trick 3rd best part of nationals - watching B3 and OM jump

@MikeT : For hotels, it depends what you're looking for. Downtown Sacramento is only about 10 or 15 minutes away from the site. There's plenty of nice hotels there including the Hyatt which is right across from the capitol and my personal favorite which is the new Kimpton Sawyer Hotel. Those places are pretty pricey, but they're nice. If you're looking for something cheaper and closer, I'd look in the Natomas area. There's a bunch of chain hotels there. As Horton said, stay away from Rio Linda and Del Paso Heights.

Would my handle pop on @Horton's boat be considered a Level 10 handle pop? I specifically aimed for the aluminum vent rather than the gel coat. @Horton - Is your boat going to Nationals or to the Ball of Spray tournament? If you want, I can aim for the gel coat next time to try to show my control of hitting your boat and achieve a Level 10 handle pop rating. BTW - just so you know. I had a lot of money riding on that round and I needed the extra half buoy.....

I'm trying to figure out who's going but the seeding report on USA Waterski's website for Nationals keeps crashing. I'm guessing Horton has been hacking the database to try to get me out of the tournament and improve his seeding. @JeffSurdej - Do you know if the seeding report is working on USA Waterski's website? Also, I'd like to request the disqualification of @Horton based on rule 7.07.D which states "Any contestant (or his representative) or official whose conduct is deemed unsportsmanlike or whose conduct may cause discredit to USA-WSWS, either on or off the tournament site before, during,or after the tournament, may be disqualified from participation in the tournament." -- Clearly his harassment is unsportsmanlike and his hacking of the USA Waterski database has caused discredit to USA-WSWS

I don't think it's been decided yet. I'm rooting for Bell Aqua.

I'm going. I got my wind practice at regionals. I should be all set for Wichita.

Schroeder's handle target

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpsgudcwuqo Watch this boat video. Is Nate 100% perpendicular? I don't think so, yet he still runs 41 at 36 MPH. So here's my points: 1. You don't have to be 100% perpendicular to run 41. 2. There's no way to determine Greg's exact angle relative to the boat from this video shot at an arbitrary angle from shore at every buoy. 3. When Nate runs 41 it looks pretty easy even from the boat. So, I'm in the camp that the only way to get through 41 is to be smooth and thus it looks easy. Any bobble or separation and you're not going to run it.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the feedback on the rules. FYI - the 5B is first and then the BB. @MattP - I think the judges are calling 5B and then BB. I'm guessing the scoring program sets the BB as a repeat since it's not entered as a RBB or something like that but I don't know how that works. Perhaps the scoring program is flagging it but the scorer is sometimes not making the adjustment. Does that sound like a plausible scenario? @eleeski - Thanks for the advice. My son is working on more tricks. He was recently able to do some WBB, a W5F, and some toe tricks. Hopefully he'll get this all nailed down before regionals and nationals.

Hey Ballers. I'm hoping all you trick judges out there can help me out. My son has been starting in the forward position, doing a surface 5 back (5B) and then from the back position, reversing direction and doing a Back to Back. This progression has not been judged/scored consistently. This often gets judged/scored as 5B credit and then BB repeat. I'm not sure if this is a judging or scoring issue. I think it should be 5 back and then a reverse BB as the ski is moving the opposite direction during the BB as the 5B. I have asked a number of trick judges and they have told me that he should be getting credit for the BB as a reverse to the 5B. At nationals last year they originally scored his run with the repeat BB, but after talking to the judges they changed it to a reverse BB and he got the extra 90 points. However, at a recent local tournament it got scored as a repeat and he didn't get the 90 points. If you look in the appendix of the rule book listing trick descriptions and values, 5B, 5F, 7B, 7F, Os, and BBs are all listed as trick number 5. There is an asterisk on some of the tricks in the chart on page 109, but I don't see what that's referencing. So here's my question: is the BB after the 5B a valid reverse and hence he would get the 90 points for a reverse or is it a repeat?

Done at last minute. It looks like 15 minutes left. Posting to pop this thread to the top of the forum.

@Horton - Last year we had a two pronged approach to take @skidawg down that consisted of excessive mountain biking to tire him out and excessive drinking. Unfortunately @Dirt started the excessive drinking a day early causing @skidawg to flake on the mountain bike ride the next day and not want to drink the night before the tournament. The result was @skidawg was well rested and took down everyone but Twhisper. This year we'll need to coordinate efforts better to take @skidawg down.

I'm in. Just Paypal'd you the $$$ @Horton . Hopefully I don't have to go up against @skidawg in the head to head again....

@scotchipman - Matt Brown was on the new Syndicate

@skidawg - Friday afternoon sounds good. I'll probably want to go around 3. I'll let you know Thursday or Friday what works best. @ Milford - my plan is to drop down into a deep canyon, fake a mechanical, and then make skidawg climb back up and get the car.

skidawg - If you're going to ride near Sac, I'd ride in Auburn or Downieville. Downieville is about a 2 hour drive from Sac, but it's some of the best mountain biking in the US in my opinion. Yuba Expeditions in Downieville rents Santa Cruz. Call before hand to reserve a bike and a shuttle spot. I'd recommend doing a couple shuttles if you can. Each one will be around 15 - 20 miles and around 4,000 feet of descending. If you don't have the time for Downieville, I'd recommend going to Auburn. That's only about 30 minutes from Bel Acqua. Try Auburn Bike Company to reserve a demo bike. I think they mostly have Ibis. Here's their webpage: https://auburnbikecompany.com/demo-bikes/ . If you want to go to Auburn and can go in the late afternoon on Friday I may be able to join you. Send me a PM and let me know what's up.