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Water skiing…

Tex

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Anyone do it any more? Took my daughter out yesterday, she did wakeboarding, got up first pull did very good. I tried slalom skiing first run, got up first pull. The old man still got it…

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Not like the old days tho…

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tomahawkins

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Yep, we wakeboard a lot in the summer. A bunch of neighborhood kids have learned to get up behind our boat; ages ranging from 6 to 15. But with only a 12 foot boot and 15hp motor, slalom skiing is out of the question. I miss it.
 
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Tricia

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I haven't seen much posted this summer but I know @Dwight and @Eleeski both are avid water skiers.
There are many others who also get into it.

I used to spend time on the lakes with water-skiers while I lived in Michigan but never really got into the actual waterskiing itself.

I really enjoy seeing what others do in the "off-season"
 
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tch

What do I know; I'm just some guy on the internet.
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I grew up in Indiana on a big lake. Lost waterskiing for 40 years, but it's like riding a bike: it comes back.
Not a very good picture, but me just two years ago.
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Tex

Tex

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Sure do. I water ski more than snow ski.

That's really cool. I have tried bare-footing many times in my younger days, but never from an outrigger like that, always wanted to, just never had one. I have tried kicking a slalom ski off, and even when I crashed I would hang on to the rope and still try to get back up. I tried getting up barefoot strait out the water as well, never got up, I sure did eat a lot of water trying lol.

I get the impression only old-timers slalom ski these days, kids are not interested, they want to wake-board, or the new thing is wake surfing. When I was a kid, always had friends that had ski boats, skied all the time, not competition ski boats, just regular ski boats. I always had my own ski, O'Brien World Team Comp is what I had. Back then they did not have wake boats, boy we would have loved to have a big wake, we would have caught some major air on skis...

Here are some bonus pics...

I got up here on surfboard I had, this is probably 1982...They did not have wake boards, I had this surfboard, getting up and staying up on that surfboard was not easy...

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Catching air, on a small wake...

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Wake-boarding this past Sunday...
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Tex

Tex

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Yep, we wakeboard a lot in the summer. A bunch of neighborhood kids have learned to get up behind our boat; ages ranging from 6 to 15. But with only a 12 foot boot and 15hp motor, slalom skiing is out of the question. I miss it.
That great you can take a small boat like that and show them kids some fun, memories and skills that will last a lifetime. Good job!
 

Crank

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I haven't tried it in at least 25 years. Never did it a ton but used to be able to drop a ski and slalom. Never could get up on 1 ski.
 
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Tex

Tex

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I haven't tried it in at least 25 years. Never did it a ton but used to be able to drop a ski and slalom. Never could get up on 1 ski.
Here are tips I give:

1) If right foot is in back, rope will be on the right side, it will require tip of ski pointing slightly left, say 11:00...
2) Keep like 6 inches of the tip of the ski out of the water, and focus your eyes on the tip of the ski to maintain steadiness. Steadiness is key.
3) A good boat driver helps, should drag you a little at first, then hit it when you are ready.
4) Stay focused on tip of ski, stay steady is key, centered behind ski, hide behind the ski so the water goes around you and does not knock you off balance...let the boat pull you out.

I do all 4 of these things, and I think "hang on", if you can do this for 2 seconds you will be on out of the water and you know how to do the rest since you have kicked a ski off before... What is hard is when you have a boat that is not strong enough to get you out quickly, because you can only do all 4 of those things for so long lol.
 
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Tex

Tex

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Is waterskiing on two skis considered lame or is it too easy to get injured?
It is just not as fun, you can't cut as hard. For a beginner, a wake-board is easier to get up on. Kids and girls also have a hard time getting up on 2 skis because you got to hold both of them up and hold them steady, vs slalom you can use strength from both legs to hold 1 ski up (steady). Plus once you are up, easier to fall back.

Plus it is kinda lame. :roflmao:
 

Muleski

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Sure do. I water ski more than snow ski.

I think you’re missing your ski/skis!
Impressive. Great stuff. Really!

About 30 years ago we were at a wedding, and another guest started to introduce us to Warren Witherell, coach and founder of Burke Mountain Academy. WW, {or W-squared as we referred to himself} started to laugh. We had known each other…very well….for years.

He explained that, yep, he had coached me as a ski racer, pretty much until we realized the USST was not happening. BUT…he first met my family when coaching us as competitive water skiers. My older brother was much better.

WW joked, and recalled with great clarity that I hated to even think about, let alons practice trick skiing, was totally bored with jumping…and put a touch more serious effort into Slalom. Basically….not a fun athlete to coach! We laughed that “I coulda been somebody!” Much smarter to concentrate on snow. And other sports. This was around 1970.

I loved to waterski. So much fun. Parents summer place was on a lake, glass flat most AM’s. Slalom course right across from our house. We’d ski every early AM at dawn
before heading off to our summer jobs. Then repeat in the late afternoon until sunset. Mom’s “job” when not doing Mom summer stuff was to make sure the gas tank was full.

Our ski boat was a Correct Craft Mustang. 16 feet, Ford 289, throttle ON THE COCKPIT FLOOR. Bright red. Loved it.

Getting very nostalgic right now. This could be interesting when my family gets together this weekend! Had not really contemplated jump-starting the water ski experience post retirement! Haven’t skied in 15 years.

Thanks for posting! Fun thread! Could be a game changer!
 

crgildart

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I got up on the first pull ever. But I was in excellent shape and spent 45 minutes watching another kid make every mistake possible not getting up before it was my turn to go.. Haven't skied behind a boat since the 80s though... I'd give it a go again if opportunity presents.
 

Tom Co.

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Nostalgia for sure. When I was in high school I had a buddy whose family had a ski boat. He would take it out to the local Lake with a bunch of us. I got so I could get up on one ski, probably because of my snow skiing. Some of my friends had a hard time and had to drop one. One day after getting bored with the regular stuff, we took the fins off a couple of old skis and headed for the ski jump. I was the only one who could land it. Lots of really funny crashes including one buddy who didn't quite make it up the ramp and basically wrecked himself. He did survive. I did resurrect my water skiing skills one time quite a few years back and found that I could still get up on one but man it was hard. Now the only people I know with boats use them for fishing.

Further note, my buddy with the boat, had in O'Brian water ski that was the hardest thing to get up on ever. He was the only one who could manage to do it. All the rest of us just used the old beater slalom ski.
 
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tch

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When I was in high school, the best skier (slalom) on our lake was going to regional competitions and doing pretty well. Then he went off to Colorado for college (we were in Indiana) and when he came back after his first year he was totally done with waterskiing. I remember him saying snow skiing was SO much more involving and complex that he could barely muster any enthusiasm for such a limited activity anymore. We had no idea what he was talking about.

I wonder whatever happened to him....
 

Dwight

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My son would like to hoop up with SLC area waterskiers, surfers, and barefooters. He has been back home for a few weeks and has gotten out with me. Heads back with his Jeep in a few days.
 
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Tex

Tex

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Wow, those some awesome pics 4ster!! I never skied buoys. That is a workout!
 

James

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How come water skiers aren’t snowboarders? It’s much more similar, no?
 

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