How many people in the world can run 38 off?

[Horton]

@wish 38s there is a long list in Fl of guys that have run hundreds. It will be years before Nate catches up on volume

[6balls]

...@Horton may be cuz the kid doesn't run multiples at 38, just shoots thru to his tougher pass at 39 and his challenge pass at 41.

 

A bit off topic, but wonder who has the most career tourney 36 mph 39's and the most tourney 36 mph 41's. Young Nate has to already be in that mix.

[rodb]

i think Nate has run 41 more times than everyone else combined. Rode in the boat a couple of weeks ago, he made 41 look not so hard.

 

[MattP]

@horton you should get that checked out http://www.iwsf.com/wrl_1013/showskierscores.php?so=perf&last=HORTON&first=John&list=Oct07

[Wish]

@Horton thats why i said "as time goes on". If he stays healthy and in the sport, he will eclipse them all. As for now, I'm guessing Andy has a lock on that number.

[Drago]

I remember in the early-mid nineties, I heard about all these guys in Florida running 38. I. "Moved" there for a few months...never saw one of them.

[Horton]

@mattp that is ELR only. I mostly ski class C. Must tournaments in California are class C but with a ton of humorless Sr judges and drivers

[Onside135]

A couple of guys from Florida who've run a ton of 38s...in this case w/out stopping between passes...

 

[matthewbrown]

The real question for us competition junkies is.... how many skiers in the world could run 38 in a pressure situation, one shot deal like Nationals?

[Texas6]

@Onside135, I hadn't seen that in a while. 7x passes of any length without dropping makes my forearms bleed openly in disdain

[Greg Banish]

Ah, man... I'm within 10 feet of it, is that close? Seriously, isn't it only a small percentage of all skiers who can even run the course at all? To narrow that group (of likely less than 3% of all skiers) down to the even more exclusive group who can run -38 (probably again 3% of all those who can run the course at all in the first place) makes it an extremely small percentage of those who even get up on a ski behind a boat, let alone the population of the world. Then again, how many here can run the 100 meter dash in under 10 seconds? A sub four minute mile? Swim 100 yards in under 48 seconds? Race a car in the 1/4 mile under 9 seconds? Run the Nurburgring in under 7:40? Score a hat trick in an NHL game? Throw a no hitter in MLB? Return an NFL kickoff for a touchdown? ...all similar feats IMHO.

[GregDavis]

 

matthewbrownmatthewbrown Open or 55K Rated Skier

 

March 5 Flag

 

 

 

The real question for us competition junkies is.... how many skiers in the world could run 38 in a pressure situation, one shot deal like Nationals?1

 

 

There was a young kid skiing in the Nationals, boys 3 or mens 1, not sure, ( this was about 15 years ago. The kid runs 35 off, ( SLOW BOAT TIME), the kid proceeds to OPT UP. yep, in the Nationals, 36 mph, and knocks down 38. Now that is confidence and balls.

[Edbrazil]

 

That would have been Jamie Beauchesne for sure. At a Nationals at Okeeheelee.

I was there. Andy Mapple was sitting near me, and made a similar comment as

Greg did in the last sentence. Would have been the 1995 Nationals. See:

 

http://www.usawaterski.org/rankings/ScoreBks/96S001CS.HTM#M1S

 

I believe that Jamie's post-event reason was that he felt more comfortable taking

a headwind 38 vs. a repeat tailwind 35. And, yes, he did win M1 there. On the way

to bigger and better things.

 

Not too many years later, Jamie and Andy had a runoff for first place in a Pro Tour

event at the "Precedent" lake in Indianapolis. Where they had to go out 'cold' at 39,

and both of them ran it. Jamie earned the win with a score at 41 that was just enough.

Perhaps his first Tour win. Other than that botched abortion on the Connecticut River

in Harford. The guy was also a snow ski top competitor, and all-around athlete.

 

Meanwhile, back on topic, maybe a more count-able number would be how many

have run 39? Or 41? Women thru 39?

[Than_Bogan]

If the original goal was to put into perspective watching MAPPLE run -38, then I'm not sure the count of us scrubs who have done it (only once in a tournament in my case) is very relevant.

 

What he's seeing is something that *maybe* 20 people in the world can do with any sort of regularity: Make -38 look EASY.

[ral]

@Than_Bogan‌, I think that a bit more than 20, especially if it is @ 34.

[9400]

The list of women through 39 (in a tournament) is a short list. Kristi, Karina, Regina, Whitney...any others? That's all I can think of.

[skier2788]

If looking at how special it is to watch mapple run 38...... I have never seen 38 run from the boat and have been skiing since I was 2. So 24 years in a boat and never seen it from the boat. Maybe I need to find better skiers to ski with. Nah its that special.

[Razorskier1]

I find watching anything -35 and shorter a blast from the boat -- feels like I could reach out and touch the skier! I think @matthewbrown raises the most interesting question for us tournament skiers. For example, I probably have been running 30 or so -38s every season for a few years. However, probably 1/3rd of those are "straight down the line", and only half a dozen have been at tournaments. So on any given set if someone said "show me -38", it would be far from a sure thing that I'd run it. I suspect there are a fair number of folks out there like me, but perhaps a third that many that can "run it at will". I want to get into that one-third!

[BRY]

There's definitely people around doing it. A rough count looks like 48 total ran 38 at Nationals. Having just moved to FL last year the Southern Regionals was an eye opener to me, in M4 alone 9 guys ran 38 (1 of those into 41) and the following 7 all got into 38.

At Okeeheelee on 7/20 8 skiers ran the 11.28 pass, 4 of them did it both rounds. Following day on 2/21 18 skiers ran it, 9 both rounds. Record tourny's both days, camera's watching and recording everything. That's just the little corner of the world I'm in.

[klindy]

@skier2788 Best description of slalom (-38 or more) is "Rhythmic Violence". It's surprising that even as smooth as Nate looks from the shore, real human perspective from the boat is something different!

[mylemsky]

@Edbrazil How do you get to those archived scores on usawaterski site? I thought there used to be a link to past year nationals, but then it went away.

Also, being from Central MA I always wanted to make it down to the Pro Tour stop when in Hartford, please elaborate on "botched abortion"

Sorry to go off topic.

 

To echo @klindy "rythmic violence", I recall being 15 and being in the boat and watch our local stud run 38/58. While I should have been maybe trying to pick up on some form and timing, I was too taken aback by the speed and how far up on the boat he was.

[Horton]

@mylemsky‌ try http://www.waterskihistory.com/

[mylemsky]

@Horton Gold. Thank you

[ral]

I have been lucky enough to see plenty of 38's and a few 39's from the boat (34 and 36), and 5 @ 41, plenty of 39 and 38's from the shore.

 

One of my ski buddies, who is 56 years old, runs 38 regularly, but not all the time. And when he runs it, it looks easy. He is not the kind of skier that looks like he is fighting thru the pass.

 

I guess that regular visits to coaches like Chet, and having a house in a lake here in Chile, another one in West Palm Beach and a membership in a club in Italy do help him...

[Than_Bogan]

@mylemsky Sorry to veer off topic a little, but I was not aware that anybody from central MA "history" was ever been able to run -38 at 36 mph. The only people I can think of from MA who have done it in practice (and perhaps a small number of times in a tournament?) are Wade Williams and Randy Cole, both of whom are relatively young. (Of course, I don't know how long ago you were 15. For me that's a ways back!)

 

We're hoping to assemble MA state records at some point, so if there is somebody from "a while back" that we've been totally forgetting, could you remind me who it is? Feel free to use a private message if you prefer.

[PatM]

@Than_Bogan‌ - Keith Doucette from Charlton, MA. He was a short time pro. A lot of talent waisted on bad life decisions. Local story on him that in the 90's he ran a off the dock 38 in a tourney in Oakham.....Oakham!!! That's unreal skiing there for those unfamiliar with that site.

[mylemsky]

@Than_Bogan Keith Doucette. @Pat M took the words out of my mouth. Wish I could have seen that one. His hometown is listed as LA in the score listings, think he was working at Bennetts (sp?) for a summer or two. But he was born and raised in beautiful Charlton, MA. I was in the boat for a 38 on Glen Echo. I was not sure if he ran in tourneys.

 

@Than_Bogan for Mass 38 guys, think you can add Tim Nelson to the list. He went to college in FL, so again, score listing gives FL hometown, but almost positive he won collegiate all stars with 2@39, but born and raised on So. Charlton Res.

 

 

[mylemsky]

Keith said it took him an entire summer to learn 38.

[dchristman]

I can attest to Tim Nelson. He has ski'd with us the last couple years maybe 3 or 4 times, his only time in the course during that time and still pretty easily runs through 38. He lives here in PA now.

[Than_Bogan]

Thanks folks, I sent both names along to the folks who are spear-heading a MA record compilaton effort.

(Minor note: The definition of MA record that I believe will be used is "full time" MA resident at the time of the performance.)