A few thoughts about Diablo

[Horton]

I am sitting at my desk waiting for my computer to process about 70 Gigs of photos and thinking about the weekend. With luck I will have some galleries posted on Facebook and elsewhere in a few days.

 

First and foremost I want to thank and congratulate Debbie and Greg for pulling this thing off again. They had to change lakes but from a skiers perspective everything went off without a hitch. This ProAM has become my favorite ski weekend of the year no matter what lake it is at.

 

The home owners at Bell Aqua deserve a huge thank you. This was not their event but they stepped up and made it happen. The site was beautiful and everything was the way it should be.

 

The skiing itself was excellent. Regina tied the world record and Smith ran into 43. Fred Winter did not get to the podium but made a great showing for his first ever US pro event. The rest of the field all skied well. I know at least one of the top 10 men tied their personal pro event PB.

 

The MM title was taken by Scott Larson and the Amateur title went to Mike Martens. I placed 5 and that is just fine because I beat Richard "ZapperDoodle" Doane.

 

[RichardDoane]

it sure was a lot of fun, really glad I went, already thinking about next year, also have lots of pics to sort through, Kilo Kai ROCKS !

[Horton]

it was good to see you Zap! I will bring more Kilo Kai to Imperial

[RichardDoane]

I watched a lot of really good skiing

 

[Nason]

After that much slalom, my eyes are doing the same thing.

[bishop8950]

I am happy this event happens in my back yard and I can go every year. It's a great time, great skiing, fun people, etc. Greg, Debbie, and their army of volunteers do a great job and thanks again because with out them events like this dont happen.

 

I managed to avoid Horton most of the weekend, but unfortunately not his camera. @richarddoane it was a pleasure to meet you and see you at Broho next year!

[Horton]

@bishop8950

that photo will come out later this week

[schroed]

@Horton - I completely agree with your comments. It's my favorite event of the year. Greg and Debbie deserve a huge Thank You from all of us skiers for their vision and effort to put this together and keep it going.

 

It sounds like it may be at Bell Aqua again next year. If so I think that presents a great opportunity to grow the event. Perhaps they could get two lakes going so that more amateur skiers could sign up. For the last 10 years you always had to get your entry in early to get a spot. Maybe with two lakes they could take up to 100 amateurs. Also, Diablo Shores didn't have a jump ramp so there's never been a jump event. Maybe if it's at Bell Aqua again perhaps they could get a jump event going? I think it would be great to have slalom going on lake 2 and jump going on lake 1 over the weekend.

 

Also, I'd like to add that I was the boat judge for the mens 4 event on Friday and I saw a few ballers that skied really well. Specifically @Horton and @richarddoane looked great out there.

[Not_The_Pug]

Great event and glad everyone could make it out to Bell Acqua to watch. Good to have @Horton - @richarddoane - @schroed and @dirt (only watched) there to ski the event.

[jipster43]

Why was it held at Bell Aqua? I missed that somewhere.

[gregy]

@jipster43 they mention on the webcast some legal issue concerning the owners, not very specific. Just about the entire weekend of skiing is on video at www.diabloshores.com. Very cool, who ever is responsible for this thanks, I watched for hours last night and barely touched it.

[jipster43]

Thanks @gregy !

[RichardDoane]

@jipster43 - HOA/scheduling isssues at Greg's lake I heard

 

@schroed - there could easily be a separate class C 3 event tournament going on at the same time, would just take some co-ordination between the Badals, BA HOA and the lake 1 owner, I know I'd bring the trick and jumpers for a couple more rides if possible