I'm fortunate to live 10 mins from Copper, and, feel like I have it pretty good for water skiing too. I like to think of it as skiing the snow twice...once on the mountain, and, again, shortly after it melts. There's a few trade-offs...short season, cold air, colder water, boat gasps for air at 8K feet (so do I), and I have to bribe the wife to drive, but, we get some incredibly glassy, crystal clear/clean water, and beautiful scenery!
I find the emphasis on forward boot pressure, knees flexed/forward of toes, etc, very similar.