Nater

Kellen, I remember this. I had a pit in my stomach about it and shared my thoughts on the jump location of that event with several people. Regarding some of the other comments in this thread: “They all know it’s there”. “ They should be familiar with the site”. But, when you are in the moment or pushing the limits within the course. You may not be thinking or see the big obstacle that is in your way until it to late. We got one goal in our mind….. GET THAT NEXT BUOY! We learn from our experiences & situations. We need to keep our athletes safe! The saying of “that’s the way it’s always been”, just doesn’t sit well for me.

It’s not about “they all know it’s there” or “being familiar”. For the two months that we had our jump in that location and had a hand full of “that was close situations”. We asked our selves… is it safe? Could it interfere with the path of a skier pushing the limits with the slalom course. The answer for us was not safe and we should move it

As for me. I’m am certainly not moaning. I’m only speaking from experience. Here at our lake (Stillwaters in WI). We placed our jump in this location when the ice broke a few years back, where the left jump boat guides line up with the right hand slalom boat guides. We did this when we moved our jump to the south for the first Pro tournament later in the summer that we were hosting. After a couple of months and a handful of real close calls, we decided to move the jump boat path to the other side of the slalom boat guide which would put the jump further away from the slalom course. This is the way it’s been at the north end for years and don’t recall any close call issues in 20 plus years.

I’m not so sure about that. By the time Nate was finishing his S-turn he had already bled off a lot of his speed and looked like he still had time to complete the one because of that.

This jump was not in the same position as where it was for the Malibu Open at Michaels. At Michaels it was further away from the slalom course to where the jump boat lane guides lined up with the slalom balls. I believe at Travers the boat lane runs up on the opposite side of the slalom boat guides which would place the jump away inside the buoy line. Maybe someone here can comment if I’m correct on the Travers jump location.

It would have been even more exciting if the jump was not in play with the slalom course and we could have seen if Nate could have completed his S-turn in time to force a runoff. Definitely a dangerous situation.

200 41off’s! ….. Not to mention the the countless times he’s run it in practice….. More than AMAZING!!! It would be interesting to see how the rest of the field compares.

I have a few friends still enjoying the sport and skiing with a Goode Power Vest that have destroyed shoulders.

Nate Smith…… WOW! Runs 39 in very challenging conditions. Nate- 0@41 Asher- 0@39 TGas- 5@38 Sedlmajer- 4@38 Sasha - 3@38 Mechler - 1.5@35

It kills me how folks in this thread are chiming in about the outcome of Freddy’s situation with what should have been done, was it fair or was it not fair etc. etc. ….when there has been no clear information or public statement from either party as to what actually occurred on or off camera. Once that information is out then I think it’s fair for people to have at it on this forum.

Looks like a nice site going up. Curious, how long is the lake going to be end end? Also, wondering what the short lines are graded at??

@KelvinThe announcers during one of the broadcasts once said that there were “50k watching online”……. 🤣🤣🤣

I’m all about having the boat up to speed and settled in well before the boat hits the greens. For me, it all depends on the length of the lake whether or not to include turn around islands. For example: I wish we had them here in Oconomowoc, WI at Stillwaters in contrast to lake I used to ski at in Oregon, WI where they were not needed at all since the lake was 2600’ long. Jeff Nate

The Beast

@Woodybc62 ….. French Malibu - Nate ran 41 Off in all three rounds to take 1st. Dane took second with a score of 4@41. I think someone else tied with Dane for 2nd but not sure who.