Wolfeie

To coin a famous movie line "build it and they will come" In California, land and water are very expensive. Try finding a municipality with land, water and money close to a good size population.

Even with all of our rain and snow in California... ski season is starting. First sets of the year for me. Air 67, Water 60 not a trace of wind. Four of us skied last Sunday. Rain predicted again for this weekend, so its off to play in a hockey tournament. Mammoth has got over 35 feet of snow this season

Even with all of our rain and snow in California... ski season is starting. First sets of the year for me. Air 67, Water 60 not a trace of wind. Four of us skied last Sunday. Rain predicted again for this weekend, so its off to play in a hockey tournament. Mammoth has got over 35 feet of snow this season

Is there really a decline in water skiing, or is there a decline in participation in sanctioned tournaments? Take Ski West Village for example. The participation in water skiing by owners vs, wake boarding and tubing has never been higher. Ten years ago there was a handfull of serious skiers hanging out at our competition lake (lake#3.) Now lake 3 is the busiest lake in our complex. Most weekends all of the docks fill up with owners that take skiing serious, but have no desire to compete in tournaments. You will generally find 4-5 196's, 2-3 200's sprinkled in with a Malibu and Mastercraft. You will find most owners have the current model skis's and accessories. The waterski industry is doing OK if you you just look at Ski West which is just one private complex. With 37 families at Ski West, only 1 family are serious participants in tournaments. We have a few other skiers that may do a few tournaments a year. If there were no ASWA tournaments it would have no effect. We are there because we love to ski, we have an great site with some of the best skiing conditions you can find any place. We would still be buying boats, skis etc...most of us would rather hang out at lake#3 and ski as much as we want, when we want, rather than travel to another site, spend money, wait around, work, sit in a judging tower etc.. I think the addition of private lakes may be seen as an barrier to competition, but certainly not to the general sport of skiing

Is there really a decline in water skiing, or is there a decline in participation in sanctioned tournaments? Take Ski West Village for example. The participation in water skiing by owners vs, wake boarding and tubing has never been higher. Ten years ago there was a handfull of serious skiers hanging out at our competition lake (lake#3.) Now lake 3 is the busiest lake in our complex. Most weekends all of the docks fill up with owners that take skiing serious, but have no desire to compete in tournaments. You will generally find 4-5 196's, 2-3 200's sprinkled in with a Malibu and Mastercraft. You will find most owners have the current model skis's and accessories. The waterski industry is doing OK if you you just look at Ski West which is just one private complex. With 37 families at Ski West, only 1 family are serious participants in tournaments. We have a few other skiers that may do a few tournaments a year. If there were no ASWA tournaments it would have no effect. We are there because we love to ski, we have an great site with some of the best skiing conditions you can find any place. We would still be buying boats, skis etc...most of us would rather hang out at lake#3 and ski as much as we want, when we want, rather than travel to another site, spend money, wait around, work, sit in a judging tower etc.. I think the addition of private lakes may be seen as an barrier to competition, but certainly not to the general sport of skiing

Nine years ago our daughter named our new puppy "buoy". Its been a great name, and easy to shout "bu" to get her attention

Just got back from a weekend at Mammoth. Been skiing there for over 45 years, have never seen this much snow. There was snow all the way down to Big Pine. The snow pack is up to the upper deck of the main lodge. They had to stop the lower gondola Monday afternoon so the pro's could practice their jumping for this weekends event. One pro hit his hand on the gondola. Three more feet expected.....lots of water this spring for us skiers.

Judging from the last photo I saw from Ski West, Charlie has a lake in front of his garage. He is going to need a boat to get to his boat. Our roads are pretty much a swamp right now.

I agree with jhughes, buy a year old promo boat. It is much less expensive than getting into the promo program for the first time since you don't have any credits built up. I looked into it about 5 years ago and it was much less expensive. My 2011 SN200 came with just over 100 hours and was about 10K less.

jdarwin listed that in 2015 the "LOC" received $70K. Out of the $70K the LOC is responsible for hotel rooms for officials, gas for the entire event, usually tent and golf carts rentals, junior banquet?, sound system rentals, paying to get courses surveyed etc....not much of the pie left for LOC.

P.S. Arvin does not have "ski clubs" which may be problem in putting together a bid. In our area off Millux Road we have 10 lakes owned by 6 different home owner associations. You may only have a couple of owners at each association that actually compete. Makes it much more difficult compared to West Palm.

@BRY Much of the profit is based on practice rides, and running concessions. You barely break even on the entry fee's after all of your expenses, especially with skier numbers down. Ski west had additional expenses since we had to build a new jump which drastically reduced profits. But take $20,000 for example, with 37 owners (at Ski West) that nets out to about $550 a owner. Now add over 1000 man/women hours to prep site, run registration, provide water to judges, run shuttles etc...and give up your lakes in the middle of summer for two weekends....is that greed?....probably common sense. It's the 1000 hours of volunteers which is the killer for many sites. I am sure if we were offered a flat fee for our lakes and USA Waterski took over management it would be a no brainer for many sites including Ski west.

Our skiing conditions in Bako are epic like Cole says from March to November. There was probably 1-2 weekend days we could not ski this year. The wind storms are usually short and sweet and do not happen very often. Like John says...its "no wind, very little wind, and on occasion very windy.

The cost of housing the officials is probably the biggest reason why the Nationals will not return to the Arvin / Bakersfield area. It is the single biggest expense and the cost makes it not worth hosting the event. The last time we hosted Nationals there were many more officials then you actually needed, its like a social gathering the host pays for. The better solution would be to offer a fixed per diem, and let the officials determine do they stay at a budget hotel, or a nicer hotel and kick in. With reduced official cost you could reduce entry fees. As far as water and weather conditions in August you cannot beat our location. I can't tell you how many times we are skiing in perfect conditions while West Palm is blown out or waiting for conditions to improve. How many times has west Palm just missed a major storm during Nationals.

also check out the INT League, there are several families that compete from that area, several with their own lakes or access to one.

Ran 2.5 @ 38 off in a mini tournament among owners at Ski west. 59 years young.

I for one am glad to see the truck go, it was a eyesore. Have probably rode my bike by it 1000 times. Now we just need to get rid of the junkers at Seventh Heaven.

There is actually two small airstrips just East of Horton's. Paradise Estates and a smaller strip one lake East at Creekside.

answer #2 "what are you working on?"

Your all wrong.....we can hear Horton from our lake next door. "If you beat my buoy count you not invited back."

You better paint it!!! You never know who is in the bushes at Ski West Lake number 3 spying! Are going going to have all your drivers sign confidentially releases. Arvin is a very small community

Train year round, and have a 9 month ski season. At 59 I play ice hockey 2x week, ride my bike 5x week, lift weights 4-5x, do pull-ups during weekdays when not skiing. Started season with 4 pass sets, 2-3 sets per weekend.

The photo of the mirror in the boat looks like a "Rawly Vision." I am surprised he has not posted since he is on BOS quite often. Steve built and sold these mirrors for years, I think he lost a little interest in selling them. Since Steve is a member at Ski West several of the boats here have his mirrors and they work very well, much better than the PTM. Works best on closed bow boats because of the size and mounting.

I saw someone tearing it up on Horton's lake from our lake next door. I was wondering who it was. Now I know. He was spinning the Island and running back to back passes.

You don't want to retire in Bakertucky. Great place to ski, but if you want to see the long term effects of living here just look at Horton. If you like to fish the Kern River and Kernville are about 90 minutes away. The have a AHL Hockey Team, Six Flags amusement park is 45-50 minutes, Vegas 4 hours