Distance From Center - Episode 8

[Horton]

[disland]

@tfin love the rant, we need more people to speak up, and respecting the volunteers. There is not enough money in the sport and we need to stop acting like there is.

[Chef23]

Great as always. I totally agree with @TFIN's rant. Suspending the driver from driving any tournaments for the next year doesn't help anyone. I can get not having him drive open level or Big Dawg skiers but getting him seat time with coaching is the only way to help him improve as a driver.

[Horton]

For the record I know that what I said about the weather at the big Dawg was incorrect. Apparently there was a strong Tailwind for those 39 s in the H2H.

 

Maybe @bishop8950 will chime in with some corrections

[bishop8950]

Couple Big Dawg comments

 

Water was 70s and air was 50s, not 50 degree water

 

Wind was for real. Strong cross that sometimes went tail. Became a feature of the event but not enough to prevent plenty of 39s from going down

 

In the final pair Jeff had a legit tail wind at 39 and only managed 3@39. Todd had an opportunity but could only tie Jeff. Then they both went back out completing 38 Tail. Jeff then ran 39 in the headwind and Todd couldn’t quite finish it out.

 

Mark Menasci @markm has been crushing 39 at home and now proving he can do it in big events. We will see more of him

 

Also cool to see Casey Contos going deep 39 in the final. I am sure we will see him into 41 next year. Great to see some young blood

 

Nautique emphatically confirmed there will be a series next year with dates and locations being discusssed now.

 

The Smith family and friends are great hosts. I hope we get to go back!

[Stevie Boy]

I was with Trent on the driving issue, it is a lot of Pressure to drive tournament, think about it different lake, different boat, different level of skiers, plus you are aware that there are cameras and you are under scrutiny, you want to everybody a great pull, so it can be hard to relax and carress the wheel, especially when you get that one skier who unexpectedly takes a huge chunk out of you coming off the bouy, people like Chad Scott have a huge amount of experience but also may have had the advantage of pulling top skiers in practice, increasing not only his skill but his confidence as well, it would be interesting to get his point of view on the process to become a driver that is capable of pulling Pro Skiers.

At what point is a High level skier going to be happy to let you drive him/her there are skiers that always wait for there preferred driver to show up at the lake before they will ski.

If you are on a lake and you get familar with the 10-12 people that you drive every week in the same boat, unless you travel around to different lakes and drive different people, it's a big ask to travel somewhere and drive a tournament, on a different lake, different boat etc.

Cut the Guy a little bit slack, if he agrees invite him to drive another Tournament, watch his boat path's if they are poor then pull him, if they are good, take the opportunity to boost his confidence.

If he is pulled and it is not too late in the day give the skiers he pulled a re-run, then nobody loses out.

 

[ntx]

My guess is that the path was not nearly as bad as the video of the boat that wrapped a cable around the prop. I hope that driver was ok. It look brutal

[Keith_Menard]

The volunteer issue isn't unique to this sport. Volunteers get taken to the woodshed all the time....and then we wonder why we can't get volunteers. Glad to hear someone say it!

[UCFskier]

best episode yet guys! totally agree... until volunteers are paid (oxymoron) we should only be providing education and training.... sanctioning a volunteer is a lot like cutting off your foot because you dont like the look of your toenail

[JeffSurdej]

@Horton where did you get the information on the outcome of the driver issue? According to the drivers committee the investigation has not even begun!

[Horton]

@JeffSurdej I spoke to 2 different members of the driver's committee, 2 skiers from the event and at least 1 Sr. official from the event in question. Trent spoke to the driver and IDK who else.