JDM

This entire thread was a masterful troll job.

Please for the sport don't put more barriers to inexpensive, easy to run and fun tournaments. We need less barriers, not more rules, delays etc...

No link yet. They are just now listing it. PM me and I can give you the seller's email address.

My Parents are selling their condo on Alico Lake Ft. Myers and it is a great, affordable place to ski in the fall, winter and spring (summer as well if you can handle the heat): This completely remodeled two bedroom two bath condo comes turnkey furnished and ready for new owners. This upper unit is comprised of almost 1000 square feet of living space with huge views of the 30 acre lake and dual water ski courses. Featuring tile throughout, new solid wood shaker style cabinets, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances and a Florida room (enclosed lanai) with floor to ceiling sliding glass windows to allow the breeze to flow in. Alico Lake has a healthy water ski community incorporating a variety of fishing and water sports including skiers of all skill levels. The lake itself has both the East and West slalom courses and a beach for residents of the community. The Vista is a private 30 unit condominium development with a resort style pool, tennis and pickle ball courts, basketball and privately owned docks and lifts so your boat is always ready when you are. Located 10 minutes from the airport and 20 minutes from Fort Myers Beach we are centrally positioned with restaurants and shopping just a short trip away. Boat lift not included, but can be negotiated. PM me and I can put you in touch with the Sellers.

@Horton had an interesting idea with the extra $10 a head going to the boat owner, but even that I am not sure is enough. 50 skiers = $500. That barely covers the cost of bringing the boat to the tournament with gas for the tow vehicle, lodging, food, other travel costs, wear and tear on the tow vehicle etc... Now if it is a double tournament and 50 skiers two days = $1000 maybe you are on to something. These promo guys are doing us a huge favor every time they tow a boat around and we need to appreciate that more. I really like what Tommy's has done as there is an easy way to appreciate Tommy's, simply buy your vest, gloves, ropes, handles, bindings etc... from them. Hopefully it works out for them and more dealers get involved in the promo game as a result as that is a great way for this to work for everyone.

Tournaments are not the be all end all of the sport IMO. Simply getting more people to ski balls is the goal whether or not it is at tournaments or just for fun as the more people skiing balls with generate more boats, skis and skiers whether they ski in tournaments or not. As far as the public water issue and less course skiing on public water I don't think that is going to change for the better. We left public water to a private site because the public water situation changed and made it so hard that it just wasn't much fun anymore. We had a great scenario with open camping real close to a perfect shoreline for the course with good wind protection a gentle slope of shoreline and not to deep of water. Slowly more regulations made it more work and harder to access. The camping went from open dispersed to site regulated camping and then was shut down entirely and you had to camp well off the water (boat in and out daily or slip rentals at a high cost) in a forest service campground which was time consuming and just inconvenient. Basically government regulation on that aspect killed a great scenario, so I don't agree at all with regulating our way, it never works well when the government starts regulating. On the water it just got to the point where the amount of tubers, jet skis, wake boarders etc... made the time on the water either fixing broken stuff, or waiting for a skiable window without constant 3 foot rollers which again took the fun out of it. There are always going to be these issues. You can have all the clubs you want but if the water isn't skiable it isn't going to work. So, what to do? I don't have the slightest clue as access to private lakes is expensive as it will always be as they are expensive to create, maintain etc... The comment about snow skiing growing greatly in the past 10 years, while ski racing declining is a great analogy. Access to snow skiing is expensive (as is access to even recreational water skiing) but access to ski racing is incredibly difficult even when you are located at a resort. It is also extremely expensive, which I know first hand as a former racer and parent with a child in the early stages of a race program. I don't think this is going to change either even with the huge visibility that US racers such as Mancuso, Von, Shifrin, Miller, Ligety etc... have brought to the US over the past decade. The barriers to good athletes getting into the sport are huge just like they are in water skiing yet snow skiing has thrived. Are there lessons to learn from this? IMO yes. Snow skiing has thrived because of advanced technology that lets newbies and novice to intermediates get better a lot faster (i.e. greatly improve over a short vacation). I feel like water skiing has lagged in this area. It is still hard and frustrating for newbies to learn the sport. It takes a ton of time. Better technology in teaching newbies would be great as would better technology for the novice to intermediate which makes it easier. We all focus on the high end skis, which have come a long way, but a guy just learning isn't going to have much fun on a Vapor. They need something that is very user friendly and fun that shaves days/weeks/months off of the process of getting up to getting onto one ski to being able to turn that ski. Sorry for the long winded post.

This is a somewhat apples to apples comparison between ski racing and water ski short line slalom skiing on the risk taking equation, however, water skiing is so much more of a controlled environment with less variables than ski racing so the big difference is in water skiing you believe one or the other where ski racing you need to evaluate other factors. There are discussions all the time on here about ski paths and what is the optimum path through the slalom course. Some argue it is the fast and narrow which you have to ski at shorter lines, but that feels "risky" and fast, while some say that the more rounded early approach is best. That is much like the more direct lines in ski racing are faster, but don't feel as controlled as a slightly more rounded approach. In my ski racing experience, which was decades ago, it depended on the terrain and course set up that changed with every race which helped dictate the risks you could take and course inspection, understanding of the terrain etc... really guided when to take risks and when not to. Some courses/sections were great for "taking risks" others rewarded a more measured approach. Great article, thanks for posting!

I was suckered into the lime juice once in Acapulco and that stung like crazy, but it also scabbed over nicely by the next day. Painful but works.

That is awesome. Love having our tournament each year, but it can't happen without outside support including the boat! Thanks again to Tommy's and Bryan as this is no small step they are taking.

There simply isn't a sport that is even remotely commercially successful that pro-slalom skiing can be modeled after that I can see. While being the most difficult sport I have ever participated in, it is a niche sport with massive access barriers. The access to good water, courses and proper set ups (boats, ZO, skis, gloves etc...) is simply too hard despite the efforts of some to increase the availability. Even with that access it then takes a decent free skier possibly years to ever achieve running a full pass. Snow Skiing and Volleyball are two things tossed out as examples to follow, but that just doesn't work as comparable sports. I pick those two because they are two sports I also participate in. The snow skiing industry is massive with tens of millions of skier days available to the general public regardless of where you live be it in Colorado or Houston TX (the true family vacation that everyone can do all day and return somewhere new and exciting every year). Same with Volleyball, it takes a sand pit available in just about every town, a net and a ball, thus, millions of people play volleyball everyday. Water skiing is just not the same. There may be vast numbers of water skiers out there on public wakes getting their swerve on, but that isn't slalom skiing in a course, let alone shortline skiing. I can't count the number of times on our lake where we have had good free-skiers come, see @Marco run a 35 off pass and go I can do that and then spend and hour failing to make it around 2 ball @15 off 28 MPH. Contrast that with a a $10 nastar course lets any intermediate snow skier experience completing a GS course and get a fictional medal or a mini park that lets an intermediate hit a two foot rail so they can identify with a snow-skiing event; thus, snow skiing events have sponsors. There is an access and connection issue that is so incredibly hard to overcome that it makes the idea of profitable and viable pro-tour slalom skiing so difficult. For reasons enumerated by others sponsors need to see a reward and benefit for their advertising and sponsorship dollars and due to the access issues and lack of connection between your average water skier who makes up the bulk of those spending their money on this sport and short-line slalom skiing, that reward or benefit is so minimal because it reaches so few. How the heck do we ever overcome these issues is far beyond me, but the problem is real, but never truly acknowledged. It is why the big dog is successful, because as Horton puts it, it is dudes putting money in a pot to be split by the winners. You are taking home your fellow competitors money, much like poker. I do like the idea of a pro-waterskiers association of some sort as organization is needed and AWSA isn't going to provide that type of organization for the best of the best. They are too busy limiting access to the sport through insane requirements to hold even class c tournaments.

I know some guys that get into pretty short line lengths with the X5. It is a quality ski for where you are at. Reps and possibly some fundamental changes are likely the answer, but remember this is supposed to be fun!

Can anyone with the mount to ski setups ad some pictures? Would love to try one of these mounts myself.

Our lake just hosted a a two day three and two round slalom tournament this past weekend and it was my first tournament in two years, but I had a freaking blast and decided at the last minute to attend regionals this year. I didn't really enjoy the first few tournaments I competed in, but something clicked for me this past weekend and I think I am hooked. It wasn't my skiing as I skied slightly better than I have in tournaments, but not as good as I do in practice, so who knows what it was, but man it was fun. Will probably only ski 3 tournaments a year as weekends are the only time I can ski consistently, so don't want to give up all of my valuable practice time.

Cattails in moderate amounts are great for shore protection, but cattails that are not controlled can actually be a problem for the makeup of your lake and can actually suffocate your lake if not controlled (would probably take a huge amount in a ski lake size lake and is more likely an issue in smaller ponds). Not at our lake but in the community I work for they actually practice cattail control without chemicals by cutting the cattails under the surface of the water as they apparently will drown themselves.

As a 36 MPH skier on a 2000 foot lake, at over a mile high in elevation I really appreciate the turn islands. As is I am only up to speed when the boat hits the 55's. On a straight shot I would not be up to speed by the 55's (more likely right at the gates) and it is a bummer when the boat is still accelerating on your pull out. There are reasons for having them that are legitimate due to physical limitations that are lake specific. You can deal with rollers through good driving which you want anyway. The reasons for not having them are personal preferences from what I can tell. Therefore, if there aren't any physical limitations on your lake that would make them necessary, go with your personal preference!