The saddest ski photos

[Keith_Menard]

We did the happiest ski photos...how about the saddest?

 

We FINALLY got some smooth water on the course in Webster (this year has been a nightmare with tubers thinking it is cool to run/ruin the course) I was psyched I was going to get to see if anything I had been working on had translated...

 

 

and there the ski sat...waiting for a boat that would never come due to a dead battery.

 

So...very...sad.

[colo_skier]

Welcome Keith. Were be that? I think for conditions that nice the car would have loaned it's battery.

[Keith_Menard]

I have been here for a while...but logged in under my facebook account...sooo...I guess I am new now :) I think I was kmenard before.

 

It is in Webster, MA. By the time my friend figured out the boat wouldn't start on the charger, it was already getting to be too late.

[Edbrazil]

 

Webster, Massachusetts: site of many tournaments, including the 1964 Nationals. There

is a cove toward the North end where they would hold their tournaments. I last skied

there in 1974; don't know if they still use that area. At the time, a top tournament site.

 

In 1964, Billy Spencer was at his peak in Boys, after winning the Worlds the year before.

They still had ramp tricks then. Carl Lyman had a 1-ski ramp flip. I have a DVD that

chronicles a lot of the performances, especially jumping.

 

In Mens Jumping, the first skier out was Jimmy Jackson, who won the event. That was

before seeding, which started the next year. Back when there was form scoring, and

your 2 best jump scores were combined. Next year, seeding came in, prompted by the

TV people. CBS covered the event, back when network TV was featuring some water

skiing. In the attached picture, it shows Jimmy Jackson about to land a winning jump,

pulled by a Crosby Twin Rig. Note the TV camera on a scaffold at the left.

 

Check out the carpet of spectators in the photo. Looks like it must have been a bit

chilly in late August. This picture comes from an old Water Skier magazine.

 

The vignette in the picture is Dicksie Ann Hoyt, who is the 2nd woman to jump 100',

(after who?) and who apparently won overall there.

 

Back then, the Nipmuc Ski Club had its headquarters in a bar down the lake a bit.

Good location for a ski club.

 

Hmmm...can someone name the lake? Webster Lake for short, but it had a long-

long Indian name.

[Wish]

@OB wins.... That is beyond sad.

[Texas6]

You're right, @OB's pic is sad...I don't know though @Wish, a pic of your course after the vandals got hold of it would have been a close second place

[Wish]

@Texas6 would have to have been an under water photo....nothing to see on the surface. Sadder to see a course on glass and be told by idiots you cant use it.

[DaveD]

Should have taken pictures of the course with whitecaps at 7am today.

[skibumm]

Scott that is horrible. I was just thinking about course one and how much water was there. Apparently none at all. Course 4 will be our only one here soon. I was out Friday and it is shallow.

[MISkier]

There are 3 reasons this is a sad ski photo:

 

1. The course is not in the water.

2. The boom in the photo was broken by a bass boat drafting about 12 feet of water at takeoff and running right over the buoys.

3. Look closely for the entrance gate boom. Wait, you can't see it because it was dragged or otherwise relocated to some other unknown portion of the lake.

 

This was on day 1 of a one-week vacation. The course had been installed for about 5 hours and I didn't even get a set on it before the destruction occurred.

[ToddL]

These are older, but very sad...

 

http://www.waterskiaustin.com/Lakes/drought2009.htm

[TDET]

@Edbrazil. Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. I used to ski the tournament there a l o n g time ago. Nice place.... I feel old..

[skibumm]

@scotchipman‌ I have not been on course 3 since before lake powell first part of June.

 

[Waternut]

That one is pretty depressing @OB even though I only skied there once. Must be heartbreaking for you guys. Were you not even allowed to collect your buoys?

[SkiJay]

[ozski]

@Skijay do you know the "how"? Nautique right?

[SkiJay]

Very impressive @ozski‌! Yes it is/was a Nautique. Can you identify the approximate vintage?

 

It's a long story that started with it being torn from our houseboat in a Tornado on the first long day of our short summer vacation. It's a sad but happy photo for us. We lost our boat but gained a deeper appreciation for how precious life, love, and family are.

[kstateskier]

@OB‌ I feel so bad for you... I flew out of ATL the other day and went right over your site. It looked so sad and lonely. I wish I would have gotten a chance to ski it. Whats the current situation? Is USAWS helping you get your rights back?

[bogboy]

@skijay, tsc1 hull? Let's try1999.

[jhughes]

@SkiJay‌ I think I see the first gen spray relief pockets which would make it a NWZ hull, based on that kinda pinkish red color I'm going to say 94-96 SN.

[Marco]

This is one of the nicer job sites I have worked on. Building my friends house at the lake. It had been cold and blowing almost all of May, and we had hardly skied since the season started. Then, 3 perfect days with warm weather, glass, and no wind. No driver either. I just had to stare at all that nice glass. After the 3 days, when my ski partners were back, the wind started blowing again and we were hard pressed to get much skiing in for a good part of June.

[ScarletArrow]

@OB @kstateskier‌ I would like to know more about this too... USAWaterski's silence is troubling...

[JohnCox]

About 0.5 seconds after my left bicep tendon ruptured on Memorial Day...

[colo_skier]

@OB So does that legally preclude you and a couple of friends from using the lake to ski if you have a boat and are not technically a ski club?

[kstateskier]

@OB‌ this doesn't make much sense to me but it bums me out...

[Bulldog]

@OB I hope some sanity returns and you get your club back...

[Wish]

@JohnCox‌ ....I forgot about that photo. Really sad. But knowing you, you're pushing hard to get back in the game. Stick with it. You will be back stronger then ever.

[Keith_Menard]

Wow...you guys are really bumming me out. It sucks to lose a day...but man...tornados...blown out arms...I think I need to apologize to the waterski gods for whining about missing the glass!

[SkiJay]

@OB If you need a favorable precedent against the diminishment of property values argument, you can site the current Isles of Lake Hancock case.

 

Firstly, we used to be surrounded by orange groves, but new home builders have been very successful at selling new homes all around the outside of our two private ski lake community, and none of these enthusiastic new buyers has any legal access to either lake.

 

Secondly, the values of our homes on the lake have been going up as the land around us is developed from orange groves into neighborhoods (which breaks my heart personally).

 

Thirdly, the narrow peninsula between our two lakes was purchased by a home builder with absolutely no water access granted to any of these new home customers either. When I talked to the regional president of Ryland Homes (the builder) about possible issues with these homes having to listen to skiing in close proximity to both sides of their homes all day every day, he said "the buyers don't care." All they want to know is that their views will never be diminished. Ryland is actually marketing these peninsula lots at a healthy premium to the lots that are one block away from the lake.

[SkiJay]

Close @bogboy‌, but @jhughes‌ is the winner! It was a 1994 NWZ 196. It pulled the Canadian Nationals that year. When my kids were little, they liked that boat so much I couldn't get them out of it, so I named and decaled it "The Playpen." Had it not been sunk in 2007, we'd probably still have it.

[nzcabbage]

Winter down here in NZ....the Ball of Spray forum is as close as I get to a ski for the next 4 months.. :-( ......here is our current weather forecast.......Rain, Hail or Snow and todays high was 11c near Hamilton.

[Fatroll]

My wife waiting for me to get home and pull her footin' on a glassy day. Damn work!

 

 

[Texas6]

Awesome pic - she looks pissed - go home and ski