Will Roberts Boys 2 Pending National Jump Record

[bschipps]

Illinois jumper Will Roberts jumped 144 feet this weekend for a pending national Boys 2 record! 28 MPH on a 5 foot ramp...insane. Check out the video and see the future of water ski jumping.

 

[gregy]

Very impressive!

[skiinxs]

Will has been working really, really, hard and yesterday was his payoff. He has been doing it in practice over the last few weeks but he finally got the good conditions he needed in a recored tournament at Darr's lake and put it together. Congratulations Will !!!

[Chef23]

That is awesome. We had a boy in the Northeast take a run at the record a couple of years ago and I believe he beat it in practice but never put it together in a R tournament. It is crazy hard to go that far at 28 mph off a 5 foot ramp. I believe that Zack Worden held that record didn't he?

[Edbrazil]

Zack went 131' in Boys2 in 2003 at 5' 28mph. For some more detailed information and

history, this is a posting I made "On Another Network":

 

 

"This can be thought as the 5' 28mph record. Wayne Grimditch, at the 1972 Nationals,

went 134' when winning the Boys event. At that time, the jumping specification for Boys

was 5' 28mph. Although the Boys speed may have gone up shortly afterward. And, in

Boys, a skier may have gone longer at 28mph after Wayne. Of course, Boys became

Boys3, and there were changes. Now the B3 event has 5 1/2' option, 31.7 mph (51kph),

fast 2nd segment times, long-long skis and super-powered boats. [plus Speed Control,

of course--(added later)]

 

It was not until 2011 that the 5'/28 distance was exceeded by Taylor Garcia, eventually

getting the 'record' up to 143'. Taylor's distance looked like it could stand for a long

while, so congratulations to Will.

 

Some slightly off-topic trivia:

 

After the introduction of the double-cut, what is the closest that the Boys (now Boys3)

record has been in distance to the Open Mens record? Noting that the Mens specifications

are nearly unchanged (6 ft/ 35 mph), while the Boys have been able to go faster and use

the 5 1/2."

[Edbrazil]

@ chef23 That boy would have been Quinn Haines. He got close, with a distance of 138'

at the 2013 Regionals. Now in Boys3, he is knocking on the door of 180 feet, and has

done well in some international events. Let us hope that he stays interested and also is

injury-free.

[Chef23]

I saw Quinn go 138 at Regionals and saw him jump at Nationals. It is crazy how late he went to get that distance. I would imagine live watching Will jump is the same. Jumping like that is scary stuff.

[DJJump]

To Chef23,

When you see Will jump, I don't think you will see it as scary. Admittedly, anyone putting out a 144@28/.255 has speed. But, when you see his turn and drive, you might see the difference between his turn and those of Quinn and Taylor at that age. It is smoother, slower and less abrupt, putting him almost completely stacked on his right ski. It needs more tweaking, but is very similar to the turns of Mark Lane and Freddy's. He just needs more speed into his turn. He consistently hits the ramp just right of center and very seldom upper body crushes. From what I hear, his last crash was over two years ago. Knock on wood. But, as we all know, jumping at his level always presents risk. Does he have more in him? Perhaps. He gets 12 more jumps.

[Chef23]

@DJJump congrats on Will's success and good luck to him in his remaining events. I love seeing the kids have success.

[Than_Bogan]

One of the smoothest jumps I've ever seen.

 

But still looks scary :smile:

[dchappell]

Will actually broke Taylor's record twice in one day. In the first round he went 143', but was 0.2m farther than Taylor's 143. Then in the second round, went even further. Four of six jumps that day were 140 or better.

[Edbrazil]

Think that cuts are "late" at 28mph? Jr. Boys used to go 26 mph, in the Grimditch era.