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FENTON, MI., July 20, 2021 - Action Water Sports is proud to announce the charity auction of a one-of-a-kind MasterCraft ProStar to celebrate 50 years of partnership at its Fenton location. All proceeds from the auction will go directly to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The auction opens on July 20th and closes end-of-day on August 4th. Anyone can participate and for more information on auction details, visit: actionwater.com/prostar-
The check presentation to St. Jude will take place on August 5th at the Action Water Sports of Fenton anniversary party. The anniversary party will feature live music, food and drinks. The party is scheduled for 5:00pm - 9:00pm at 8051 Old US-23, Fenton, MI 48430.
“Our mission at Action Water Sports is to bring families together on the water,” said Gregg Rising, General Manager at Action Water Sports. “When looking for someone to partner with to celebrate 50 years of business with MasterCraft, we wanted one that embodied family support and while we are bringing families together, St. Jude is keeping families together.”
The custom 2021 ProStar celebrates a 50-year partnership between MasterCraft and Action Water Sports. It is retrofitted with old-school stars and stripes to create an iconic look. In addition to all of the standard features of a 2021 ProStar, this one-of-a-kind ski boat also features a custom fiberglass bow cover, tandem trailer, 6.2L Ilmor engine, and gel coating.
St Jude’s is a worldwide leader in research, prevention, and treatment of catastrophic children’s diseases. Together, the two organizations found similarities in their mission.
“We’re all in this fight together against childhood cancer, and partnerships like this ultimately help us save lives,” said Megan Holt, Regional Manager at St. Jude. “We are truly grateful for the opportunity to partner together, to have some fun, to auction off an amazing boat, and save lives.”
For more information and how to bid, visit actionwater.com/prostar-
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About Action Water Sports
Action Water Sports is a premier MasterCraft Boat Company and Crest Pontoons dealership specializing in sales, service, and the Midwest’s largest water sports proshop. With four locations in Michigan and Florida, Action Water Sports strives to set the bar for excellence for service within the Metro Detroit boating community. They are recognized as a top dealer in the nation for MasterCraft boats and voted by Boating Industry as a Top 100 Dealer in the nation. For more information, visit www.actionwater.com.
About MasterCraft
MasterCraft is a world-renowned innovator, designer, manufacturer, and marketer of premium performance sport boats. Founded in 1968, MasterCraft has cultivated its iconic brand image through a rich history of industry-leading innovation, and more than five decades after the original MasterCraft made its debut, the company’s goal remains the same—to continue building the world’s best ski, wakeboard, wake surf, and luxury performance powerboats. For more information, visit www.mastercraft.com.
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THE U.S. OPEN IS BACK...AND IT'S BACK AT THE US NATIONALS...The US Open is one of water skiing's most prestigious major events. The Morilee U.S. Open presented by OJ Props is the second-largest cash prize purse of the 2021 season, and one of only 2 pro events to feature all 3 water ski disciplines for both genders including the only overall cash event of the season. This event is sure to bring huge crowds and the top athletes in the world.
Waters Edge, south of the city of Chicago, will host the 24th U.S. Open. We are excited to bring the event back after 5 years but even more excited to be bringing the U.S. Open back to the U.S. GOODE Nationals for the first time in 2 decades! An event many water ski enthusiasts have missed watching during their nationals competition.
The world's top water ski athletes will compete for U.S. Open titles in slalom, tricks, jumping, and overall during the two-day tournament.
The 24th U.S. Open will feature $78,000 in cash purse. With $12,000 in both men and women slalom, trick, and jump, and $3,000 in both men and women overall. Preliminary rounds start Thursday, August 12th, and the finals Friday, August 13th from 5 pm-10 pm, including Men's Jump under the lights.
Don't miss it! Free admission, music, food, beer trucks, and all the pro waterski action you could want.
https://usopenofwaterskiing.com/
When we first conceived the idea of Denali almost 10 years ago, we did not know where it would take us. We started with an idea that if we could figure out how to iterate our ski design ideas quickly (in terms of days or weeks), that we could leapfrog an industry that iterates slowly (in terms of months or years). That led us to build our first CNC mill on a shoestring budget that was just big enough to cut a mold, and to figure out what materials were cheap and would work well enough to make prototype ski molds. The first ski was Version 1.0, and it was based on a modified Sixam we had hand shaped. Since then, we have tested theory after theory by cutting more than 60 prototype molds.
We weren’t really sure where all this iteration would take us, but we bet that having the ability to design and test ideas quickly would lead us to something better than what other ski manufacturers had to offer. We looked everywhere we could think of for inspiration: race boats, surfboards, fighter jets, sailboats, snow skis, submarines, rockets...the list continues to grow. We tried some really out of the box ideas in those early days, with some skis being unbelievably bad, and others surprisingly good. The important thing then was that we were learning as we went, and the skis started getting better and better.
HO Sports is pleased to announce the 6th annual Syndicate Hilltop Pro-Am Water Ski tournament in Arlington, Washington, August 21st and 22nd, 2021.
The top professional slalom skiers in the world will compete alongside aspiring junior and local amateur skiers, combining the family-friendly atmosphere of water skiing with one of the largest cash prize events of the summer!Thanks to generous contributions by local skiers, the women’s grand prize and purse will exceed the men’s for 2021! With total payouts over $34,000, HO Sports is excited to welcome the world’s best slalom skiers to beautiful Hilltop Lake for a weekend of intense water ski competition and fun!
Women’s Purse $18,000 (6,350 Grand Prize)
Men’s Purse: $16,000 ($5,350 Grand Prize)
Read more: SYNDICATE HILLTOP PRO-AM ANNOUNCES 2021 PRIZE PURSE
A lot of you know SkiDawg, aka Ward Mclain. Or his Uber-Athlete kids, Logan and Landrie. But fewer know how deep the competitive DNA runs in the Mclain family. Ward’s wife Kim is an OG baller herself. She used to get out and hold her own on a waterski when they lived at Olde Oaks in Shreveport. But her real forte is mountain bike racing. I recall her showing up at a waterski tournament to ski looking like she’d been in a brawl with a mountain lion. Only to find out she’d come straight from winning a mountain bike race to ski in a tournament.
Unfortunately, Kim did take a hard spill on her mountain bike on Monday April 26th, which had her being airlifted to a Level 1 Trauma center. She was left with a fractured left hip, the head of her right hip was pushed through the hip socket, a pelvic fracture, 2 sacrum fractures(I had to google that ouch!), and fractures in her L4 and L5 vertebrates. One monstrous 10 hour surgery later, humpty dumpty is put back together with bailing wire and duct tape, and back home on the mend. According to Ward she is looking at 8+ weeks non weight bearing on both legs. And faced with who knows how many months of physical therapy.
Even worse than the trauma from the injuries to Kim and watching her go through this for the rest of their family, Kim and Ward’s insurance wasn’t set to start for 2 more weeks. So now they are faced with the financial perils of not just a lost income for a significant part of the year, but also the mounting hospital bills as they arrive.
Ward and Kim have given so much to all of us, as well as to multiple sports. Friendship, first of all. Not to mention places to stay when we’ve been in town and mental support during races and tournaments. If you can afford to give to help out a great family in a time of need, please do so.
Donate to the Kim McLain Medical Fund
MasterLine has signed on as the official rope of the of Skier’s Marine MasterCraft BallOfSpray Cash Prize at Whitestone Lakes. The event will be held June 12-13th at Whitestone Lake Estates’ two lake site in Talking Rock, GA.
Pro and amateur skiers alike will compete for at least $6,000 in prize money. The two-day event is comprised of 2 rounds of prelims and a final. Every competitor will ski 3 times and every competitor has an opportunity to take home prize money. The 16 skiers with the highest scores will compete for $3,000 in a head-to-head final and the remaining skiers will compete for an additional $3,000 in a handicap round.
General Notes and Rules
- To be eligible for the handicap round, a skier must have scores from 3 or more different USAWS tournaments in the previous 24 months
- Handicaps will be calculated from each skier's USAWS 12-month 3 score average. If a skier does not have 3 scores from the last 12 months a 24-month average will be used
- BallOfSpray reserves the right to tweak individual handicaps and entry qualifications as needed
- Non USAWS skiers who can provide documentation of scores from other federations will be admitted at the discretion of the event organizer
All scores will be entered into the Cash Prize Score Book without regard to boat speed. The values for 34 MPH scores will be used for 36 mph and 32 mph skiers.
- Example: 4 @38 off = 100 buoys at 34mph and at 36 mph and at 32 mph
Seeding for the Head to Head will be as follows
- Skiers with the 8 highest scores from prelims will take seeds 1 through 8
- Skiers with the highest combined scores from rounds 1 and 2 (but not one of the 8 highest scores) will take seeds 9 through 16
All rules are subject to change
Entries are non-refundable unless the event fills. Entry fees will only be refunded when a skier from the waiting list replaces a canceled entry.
The entry fee is $225
If you have any questions about the Cash Prize please contact John Horton at
Question about the Whitestone Summer Starter please contact Craig Bryans at
Today, Waterski Pro Tour unveils a website and social media campaign to promote the 2021 professional water ski season and beyond. A new, unified tour of pro events, under the umbrella of the Waterski Pro Tour, will be promoted via these centralized hubs of information and action. Current fans will have a singular place to connect with the sport, while a new, wider audience will be offered a jumping in point to immerse themselves in the drama of the world’s best competing for the tour title.
Found in one place for the first time in water skiing the Waterski Pro Tour website offers:
- event schedules + reminders
- event results
- live event webcasts
- up-to-date tour leaderboards
- skier profiles
This will be communicated, with other relevant content, through accompanying Waterski Pro Tour social media accounts to enhance the experience of a fanbase that has seen considerable growth in recent years.
“Waterski Pro Tour is the continuation of the vision all pro skiers and organizers worldwide have been holding dear for the last decade.” - Matteo Luzzeri, organizer of San Gervasio Pro-Am.
“This unification of events creates something greater than the sum of its already great parts. It’s definitely something the industry can and will get behind” - Brooks Wilson, brand manager of Radar Skis.
“2020 was a weird year but it was the best this century for growth of the pro skiing audience. Waterski Pro Tour will allow the sport to continue that trend on a larger scale” - Vince Stadlbaur, CEO of Waterski Broadcasting Co.
Waterski Pro Tour is a marketing initiative, founded in 2020, with the aim of accelerating public engagement with professional water skiing. It will promote a unified tour of events with the aim of further engaging the existing and emerging audience of pro water skiing and, by doing so, promote the great sport of water skiing as a whole.
Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @waterskiprotour
Without question, the year 2020 imposed many challenges for us all; some of which have carried into the New Year. From political uproar to the shutdown of universities, not a single one of us came out unaffected. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the waterski world has completely changed. The success of the Sun Devil Waterski Team depends solely on its members’ ability to act under pressure, be resilient, adaptive, and innovative - this is who we are.
As a collegiate water ski team, we compete in tournaments year-round to showcase our hard work in attaining titles for ASU. In our last competition season, we ranked #1 in the Western Region and placed 6th out of 60 teams at the national competition! As of early March, all collegiate tournaments were canceled for the rest of the season; preventing us from working toward a national title. During this time, we had to trade our spirit-enhancing tournament events for small, limited, one-on-one gatherings. Our bonding time on the lake has been reduced to a limited practice schedule with social distancing. Despite the challenges, the Sun Devil Water Ski Team has an incredible sense of family and determination that remains steadfast. We hold ourselves accountable to radiate affinity for one another, be understanding, and constantly work toward improvement, regardless of our ability to compete at this time. Our team continues to look toward the future when we can compete together again, and will welcome new skiers of all different levels to join us in making ASU proud!
We ask you to consider donating to the Sun Devil Water Ski program to ensure its success well into the future. During this season, Arizona State University has suspended all funding for sports clubs. Even in a regular season, we can only rely on a small amount of guaranteed funding ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 a year, which is quickly consumed for our annual practice lake lease. Sun Devil Waterski provides a collegiate, supportive, and athletic outlet for skiers of all levels to come together and do what we love to do - shred! As ambassadors of the sport, we are asking for the help of our families, friends, and supportive businesses to safeguard this team for years to come. We are an empowered group of caring, innovative, and persevering young adults who strive for greatness on and off the water.
We hope you will consider making a gift to our 501(c)(3) nonprofit waterski team to further the tradition of collegiate water skiing at ASU. Thank you for being an ambassador of the sport. If you have questions, please contact our President Gage Jarvis (907)-306-4321 or via the team fundraising email at fundraising.sundevilwaterski@
You can donate now on our websitewww.waterskiasu.com
BallOfSpray is proud to announce that Skier’s Marine has signed on as the title sponsor of the BallOfSpray Cash Prize and will be pulled exclusively by MasterCraft boats. The event will be held June 12-13th at Whitestone Lake Estates’ two lake site in Talking Rock, GA.
Pro and amateur skiers alike will compete for at least $6,000 in prize money. The two-day event is comprised of 2 rounds of prelims and a final. Every competitor will ski 3 times and every competitor has an opportunity to take home prize money. The 16 skiers with the highest scores will compete for $3,000 in a head-to-head final and the remaining skiers will compete for an additional $3,000 in a handicap round.
General Notes and Rules
- To be eligible for the handicap round, a skier must have scores from 3 or more different USAWS tournaments in the previous 24 months
- Handicaps will be calculated from each skier's USAWS 12-month 3 score average. If a skier does not have 3 scores from the last 12 months a 24-month average will be used
- BallOfSpray reserves the right to tweak individual handicaps and entry qualifications as needed
- Non USAWS skiers who can provide documentation of scores from other federations will be admitted at the discretion of the event organizer
All scores will be entered into the Cash Prize Score Book without regard to boat speed. The values for 34 MPH scores will be used for 36 mph and 32 mph skiers.
- Example: 4 @38 off = 100 buoys at 34mph and at 36 mph and at 32 mph
Seeding for the Head to Head will be as follows
- Skiers with the 8 highest scores from prelims will take seeds 1 through 8
- Skiers with the highest combined scores from rounds 1 and 2 (but not one of the 8 highest scores) will take seeds 9 through 16
All rules are subject to change
Entries are non-refundable unless the event fills. Entry fees will only be refunded when a skier from the waiting list replaces a canceled entry.
The entry fee is $225
If you have any questions about the Cash Prize please contact John Horton at
Question about the Whitestone Summer Starter please contact Craig Bryans at
The MasterCraft Pro event will take place Oct 29-30 and is free and open to the public.
POLK CITY, Fla., March 22, 2021 - Action Water Sports and MasterCraft Boat Company are excited to announce the 2021 MasterCraft Pro professional waterski event held at Lake Grew at Action Water Sports near Orlando, Fla. The event will feature the world’s top men and women professional waterskiers.
The competition begins Friday, October, 29th at 9 AM EDT with the men and women's slalom event. The professional tournament will conclude Saturday, October 30th with men’s jump finals. The event will be held at Action Water Sports,1251 Holy Cow Rd located off I-4 in Polk City, FL. For the full list of events and world-wide broadcast link, visit actionwater.com/mastercraft-
The entire event is open to the public with no cost of entry and free parking. Food and drink will be available for purchase on-site. All local, state, and CDC Covid-19 guidelines will be encouraged and adhered to.
“The waterski history and culture runs deep in Central Florida and we are excited to partner with MasterCraft again to bring this world class professional event to our community,” said Action Water Sports General Manager Phil Miklo. “This exciting event will also provide a great opportunity to get your family together and experience watersports competition at the highest level.”
Featured waterskiers competing will be Freddy Krueger, Karen Truelove, Taylor Garcia, Stephen Neveu, world-champion water skier Freddie Winter and many more.
Exclusive for event attendees, Action Water Sports will be offering store-wide savings inside its state-of-the-art proshop all weekend long.
The event will be powered by the record-setting MasterCraft ProStar, which was recently completely redesigned in the 2021 model year. The latest iteration includes advanced technology which allows for thoughtfully integrated features that cater not just to the skier behind the boat, but to the driver and crew as well.
“Since our founding in 1968, one of our goals has been to cultivate and support waterskiing globally,” said Vice President of Global Sales for MasterCraft, Matt McDevitt. “With the best athletes coming from around the world to compete, spectators can watch top-tier competition and experience first-hand the all new MasterCraft ProStar, the world’s best selling ski boat.”
For more information on the event, schedule and location, or to tune into the world-wide broadcast, visit actionwater.com/mastercraft-
About Action Water Sports
Action Water Sports is a premier MasterCraft Boat Company, Barletta Pontoons, and NauticStardealer who has been bringing families together on the water for over 30 years. With fourlocations in Florida and Michigan, Action Water Sports strives to set the bar for excellence forservice within the Central Florida boating community. They are a major contributor to thewatersports community hosting many grassroots events as well as pro waterski and wakeboardevents over the last few years. For more information, visit www.actionwater.com .
About MasterCraft
MasterCraft is a world-renowned innovator, designer, manufacturer, and marketer of premiumperformance sport boats. Founded in 1968, MasterCraft has cultivated its iconic brand imagethrough a rich history of industry-leading innovation, and more than four decades after theoriginal MasterCraft made its debut, the company’s goal remains the same - to continue buildingthe world’s best ski, wakeboard, wake surf and luxury performance powerboats.
Syndicate Connect gloves, featuring a Clincher-Grip palm strap with Dowel system, provide unbelievable hold power for longer sets, easier starts, and less fatigue. Designed to transfer load from the hands and fingers directly to the wrist strap to the forearms for increased grip strength, less hand strain or cramping and virtually no blisters! Great for beginners and experts alike!
Syndicate Connect gloves have extra padding on the wrist straps for extra comfort and stainless steel square rings for added durability. The inside-out construction, with seams built on the outside, maximize comfort while the dual wide stretch openings make application and removal quick and easy.
Product Link: https://www.hosports.com/product/waterski-gloves-connect-inside-out
Rossi and Trent are back in action for the second season of Spraymakers, where they dive deep into the world of water skiing. In this kickoff episode, they talk about the start of their seasons and some key highlights they look at while coaching.
Lighter, stronger, and featuring incredibly quick drying materials, The Syndicate Pro Comp Vest is specifically designed for high performance competition slalom skiing.
The outer and inner surfaces employ smooth skin to allow water to bead off the surface with minimal water absorption. The inner material creates skin friction, so the vest stays in place and doesn't ride up after deep water starts. Without concern for readjusting, skiers can devote all their focus to the quickly approaching pass. The horizontal flex zones and flexible materials provide the maximum mobility competition slalom skiers need to ski their best.
https://www.hosports.com/
The new rules pertaining to systems like Sure-Path and SkiPath look complicated and confusing at first glance but are actually quite simple.
In my opinion, some of the terminology used is potentially confusing. There are two clearly defined regions where the boat path is measured for each ball. One of these regions is called “Zone” and the other is called “Buoy”. The boat path data from the “Zone” is known as “Zone Deviation” and the data from “Buoy” is known as “Buoy Deviation”.
“Zone” starts 5 meters before the boat guide and extends 10 meters past the boat guide. “Buoy” starts at the boat guide and extends 5 meters past the boat guide.
“Buoy Deviation” is the number that most accurately defines where the boat is when the skier passes the ball and is the number most commonly used by drivers for reference. This is also the number used for the “Cumulative Deviation”.
“Cumulative Deviation” is simply the sum of all “Buoy Deviations”
Lastly, there is “Gate Deviation” which is 2 meters before and after the entry gate.
What you really need to know.
For “Zone Deviation” and “Buoy Deviation” if the boat is AWAY from the skier by more than 20cm an optional reride will be awarded. The skier can improve. The score is protected.
For both “Zone Deviation” and “Buoy Deviation” if the boat is TOWARD the skier by more than 20cm a mandatory reride will be awarded. The skier can improve. The score is not protected. The skier may decide not to take a reride and accept the score that was achieved within tolerance.
If the "Entry Gate Deviation" is more than 20cm to the left or right of centerline a mandatory reride will be awarded. No protected score.
The "Cumulative Deviation" will be considered out of tolerance if it is greater than the values in the below table. Just as with Zone and Buoy if the boat is away from the skier then an optional reride will be awarded. The skier can improve. The score is protected. If the data shows the boat was toward the skier a mandatory reride will be awarded. The skier can improve. The score is not protected. The skier may decide not to take a reride and accept the score that was achieved within tolerance.
| Bouy | Cum Tolerance |
| B2 | 28 cm |
| B3 | 35 cm |
| B4 | 40 cm |
| B5 | 45 cm |
| B6 | 49 cm |
How many rerides can I get? "There shall be no more than one mandatory reride for boat path deviation in a single pass. If during the mandatory reride the boat deviation would require another mandatory reride then the score given will be the maximum score in tolerance on the reride pass. No reride. In this case the Chief Judge shall warn the driver that the driving is not acceptable, and the driver may be replaced." (official WSC text)
If the path deviation is toward the skier the reride is mandatory. If it happens a second time there will be no second reride. The skier will receive the highest score before the deviation.
If the path deviation is away from the skier there is no limit to the number of rerides per pass.
Aditional "Zone" Minutia: the “Zone Deviation” data captures the point where the boat is most toward the skier. An example of how this might be counterintuitive is if the skier is at one ball and the boat is to the left of center (away from the skier) the “Zone Deviation” number will the point where the boat is farthest to the right. Don’t let this detail hurt your brain. The rules for your reride are still dictated by deviations greater than 20cm as detailed above.
Additionally, The "Zone Deviation" data is not even displayed in the boat unless it is more than 20cm off-center.
The text above is an attempt to simplify the new rules. PLEASE refer to the official rule book for more granular information.
Givego is an app-based service that allows subscribers to be conveniently and remotely coached by top professional athletes across a variety of activities, including wakesurfing, wakeboarding and waterskiing. Annual memberships include access to MasterCraft’s world-class athletes and will be provided compliments of MasterCraft with the purchase of a new boat.
VONORE, Tenn. (March 3, 2021) — MasterCraft Boat Company, a subsidiary of MasterCraft Boat Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCFT), today announced it has entered an official partnership with the elite digital coaching service, Givego. This exclusive boating partnership brings consumers direct access to MasterCraft’s world-class athletes via the app to allow for personalized video coaching and feedback at the touch of their fingertips.
“Whether you're looking to step up your wakesurfing, wakeboarding or waterskiing game, our new partnership with Givego is here to help,” MasterCraft Vice President of Global Sales, Matt McDevitt said. “We are providing annual memberships to customers who purchase a new MasterCraft this year as a premium resource for enhancing their behind-the-boat experiences.”
The user-friendly app currently boasts professional athletes and certified Givego coaches from a variety of sports, from water sports like wakesurfing, wakeboarding and waterskiing to golf and snow skiing. Givego was created to cater to any ability level and was intentionally built to be simple while bringing top-tier coaching to users quickly. Users simply upload their video to the app and briefly explain what they are working on. From there, users receive quick feedback and expert coaching from MasterCraft athletes like Steel Lafferty, Meagan Ethell, Austin Keen, Harley Clifford, Freddie Winter, Freddy Krueger and more.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with MasterCraft Boat Company, a brand that stands for premium experiences and unprecedented quality in everything they do,” Givego Founder and CEO, Willie Ford said. “Givego is excited to bring its technology and service to MasterCraft’s consumers, connecting them with the world’s best athletes and instructors to enhance their experiences on the water.”
- Waterski Nation - Freddie Winter Edition T-shirt
- Ski or Die
- Trophy Lakes Women’s Weekend
- EP64: The Where of Focused Attention
- Dean Tom Murphy - NCWSA Hall of Fame
- Waterski Council Releases meeting minutes
- NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF THE 61st MOOMBA MASTERS
- ‘Incredibly difficult’: Moomba festival cancelled for first time in history
- Waterski Journal N°3
- Bennetts Spring Clinics with the Pros
