FlowPoint TV S5 E4: Will Asher, Cali ProAm Champion
In its 16th consecutive year, the California ProAm brought in the best water ski talent from around the world. Never in the long history of the sport has professional water skiing seen this much talent...and this year, the Men's Head to Head final did not disappoint.
Will Asher and Thomas Degasperi have been rivals since they were 13 years old. They have both won the World Championships, twice each. They have been among the best skiers in the world for the past 15+ years. To witness these legends go at it yet again in this head to head final was historic.
Big thanks to Greg and Debbie Badal for continuing to bring Pro Waterskiing to the west coast, by pouring their heart and soul into this event. And big thanks to all the volunteers, homeowners and officials who helped make this event so great!
First time using the new Mavic 2 Pro for aerials, and I think its just as capable as the Phantom 4 Pro. Boat speed is 36 mph, so to be able to fly 40+ mph is absolutely necessary. The thing is a beast so far!!
I shot this at 30 fps and slowed it down to 23.976 fps for this edit...I kinda like the beauty it adds to the skiing, to be able to see it slightly slower than real speed.
2019 Radar Senate Collection
The 2019 Senate is hands down the best Senate we have ever created. Now updated to follow the shape of our most recent Vapor; this ski is a level riding, symmetrical turning, balanced, dream machine. Known for its ability to carry speed, the Senate allows the skier to maintain width on the boat. This gives a sense of freedom sought after by those that ski in the course as well as those ripping open water turns. By taking our Vapor shape and adding two tenths of an inch in extra width we have created a stable riding platform. This platform creates the balance needed for a skier to feel at home, while the profile of the ski allows the skier to feel the speed and angle sought after at any level.
D3 FUTURE FLIER – WILL ROBERTS
D3 Water Skis from Auburn, WA is proud to announce the addition of 16-year-old Will Roberts of Dow, Illinois to our Elite Junior Ski Team. Will has been one of the top ranked junior jumpers in the Nation since 2010. He currently holds the Boys 2 National jump record of 144’. He was the first skier in history, at 14 years old, to go 170’ on a 5’ ramp. Will also won the Jr. US Open and the Junior Malibu Open Jump titles in both 2017 & 2018. Will is not just an incredible jumper, but he also excels at trick and slalom and has been a top competitor in Overall in Boys 2 and Boys 3.
Freddy Krueger said, “Will has an understanding that is very mature for a young man. He has soaked up what those of us who have gone before him have learned, but he’s not afraid to implement his own natural techniques as well. It’s a great combination. He’s the best I’ve seen at this young age in building a technique that isn’t just good for 31.7 mph, he’s building a technique that will work even better for faster speeds and bigger jumps. He has his eye on the future...that’s going to make him very dangerous...very soon I think. I look forward to watching this great athlete perform on D3 products for years to come”
Follow Will Roberts on our Team web site http://d3skiteam.com/junior-team.html and in social media as he gets ready for his next event the King of Darkness Night Jump, at the Isles of Lake Hancock on Saturday November 3rd. https://www.kingofdarkness.org
California ProAm live stream - Starting Friday 9/14
Saturday
Sunday
Go to https://www.youtube.com/c/
Rewards, records part of the fun at Queen’s Cup
The first two years of the SportsInsurance.com Queen’s Cup were very rewarding for the women slalom skiers who traveled to Little Mountain Lakes near Charlotte, N.C.
Rewarding in terms of self-esteem, comradery, accomplishment and, well, awards! As in $10,000 and more in cash and prizes.
The third annual Queen’s Cup, presented by SportsInsurance.com and Nautique dealer Race City Marine of Mooresville, N.C., is scheduled for Sept. 15-16 at Little Mountain, and the rewards -- spiritual and material -- will again make it an enviable event.
"Oh my gosh it's amazing!” said Maureen Mosteller, who traveled from Alberta, Canada for the inaugural Queen’s Cup. “I hope this continues to grow. It's such a great event! The people, the quality of the skiers -- just so much fun! Just really cool!"
The Queen’s Cup was recently recognized by the Women’s Sports Foundation, which once counted among its board of trustees the legendary three-event skier Camille Duvall Hero, a member of the USA Water Ski Hall of Fame. The WSF is onboard as a major sponsor of the Queen’s Cup.
The Queen’s Cup plays out on a made-for-slalom lake that has produced world and national records by Nate Smith, Jeff Rodgers and others. Joy Kelley (Women 6) and Cyndi Benzel (Women 7) took home U.S. records from the 2017 Queen’s Cup. In 2016, Leeza Harrison also broke the Women 7 record, and Mosteller and Rhonda Powell played tug-of-war with the Women 5 Canadian record as both topped the national mark in qualifying rounds.
This year’s event promises more of the same in terms of quality and quantity. Each skier is guaranteed two qualifying rounds on Saturday, with the top 16 advancing to Sunday’s head-to-head finals. There is also a way to win a prize without advancing, as the qualifying rounds will use a handicapped scoring system that allows a skier of any skill level to win by beating her average -- even if it’s her first tournament.
The top 16 and prize winners will be announced at the Saturday night on-site banquet, which will also feature ageless wonder Joy Kelley as the keynote speaker.
Women 30 and older (who have not placed in top 7 of an Elite points event in the past 2 years excluding Worlds) are eligible to enter, and all compete on equal footing, as boat speeds are not a factor. Women whose maximum boat speed is 30, 32 or 34 are scored equally for each line length.
To enter, go to usawaterski.org for tournament information, or contact tournament director Jeff Gilbert at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The Connection Between Slalom Skiing, Lower Back Issues and the Opportunity to Decrease It
Slalom skiers are an interesting breed. They are never fully satisfied with their score, constantly in pursuit of one more buoy and usually have some sort of gripe about lower back issues. Lower back pain plagues our sport as much as fin tweaking and spray leg. Maybe even more. And you likely have even experienced it yourself. Slalom skiing puts a rather complicated and heavy toll on our body every time we ski. We might not even be aware of it but the position is unnatural for the human body and our stance screams for compensation in our body.
This compensation, to make up for the unnatural stance, is necessary for us to ski our best and continue to gain more buoys. It is part of the game! But we have to understand that those compensations while we participate in our sport slowly cause the body to shift which more often than not results in bad posture and a myriad of other subconscious compensations.
So what do we do? It’s easier said than done but the concept is relatively simple: We must bring the body back to it’s neutral position.
Looking at a typical slalom position, we notice that we really try to resist the pull from the boat by pushing or holding the pull from the boat to create speed, torque and angle. As a matter of fact, waterskiing is one of not too many sports I see where you have two different sources of energy input. One is your upper body and the pull from the boat forward and the other input is the water where you resist against with your ski and lower body.
So you will notice that those two energy sources/inputs will meet somewhere. Ideally it should happen right in the middle of your body. Then you will feel “connected” to the boat as we like to say! But that’s also where we feel the most amount of pressure.
When we talk about a “normal posture” we mean that our hips are neutral (they feel tucked) straight under the center of our bodies and our back looks somewhat flat. This an ideal position.
In order to achieve a natural “normal” position, you need:
1. A really well-functioning core with substantial core strength
2. A mobile spine and a mobile yet stable hip.
As soon as any one of these areas begin to lack, you will subconsciously compensate in your day-to-day life which can result in long-term issues or can go completely undetected.
Where the two energy sources meet behind the boat and in the middle of our bodies, we create a ton of pressure and exaggerate those areas in which we are weak by leaning on the areas of compensation. So any slight compensation you had before will just get more pronounced and made worse. It’s a habit game because the muscles which are already causing the compensation in the first place will get activated even more and will exaggerate this compensation.
As an example, if you are lacking in core strength you are prone to do every single move you do over the day in hyperextension of your spine, shortening the distance between each vertebrae and in turn, shortening those muscles. In this instance the decreased muscles pulls your hips backwards causing the pelvis to sit at an anterior tilt or drop. This means that your pelvis falls forward, which decreases the space between vertebrae in your lower back even more. Muscles therefore continue to get tight and you will feel pressure in your lower back. Many people assume this means you have “lower back” issues when in realty it is a merely a symptom of an area of weakness.
So like I said before, you can go on without noticing, but putting it into the slalom skiing where we live in a slightly hyperextended and exaggerated environment, under an intense amount of pressure, for our spine to resist the pull forward, this compensation will wreak havoc.
The way to get out of this habit is pretty simple. If we already have this compensation, we work on relaxing / stretching and mobilizing the muscles in the lower back and hip and afterwards work on loosing the habit of our improper posture. Only after these first two steps are accomplished, we then train to strengthen the core and hip muscles (This includes your glutes, flexors, abductors and adductors).
By doing so, we have a chance of decreasing the pain and issues we bring upon ourselves through slalom skiing.
If you have any questions, or would like a free evaluation (either digitally via RadixFit.com or in person at our Central Florida (Winter Garden) location, please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)