that was actually pretty cool. we used to pull 14 skiers all younger than 14 behind a nautique 2001 with a 454. they set a world record... don't be hatin
I have a few buddies and ladies who are show skiers for Sea World & Cypress Gardens (now Legoland) who could pretty much dominate a large majority of us wakeworld folk on a wakeboard (both behind a boat or cable) or any watersport. I come from a skiing background and am surrounded by not only wakeboarders but also pro slalom/trick/jump skiers and have much respect for them.
How do u think Parks and Shane started? Parks was and may still be the "Youngest Guiness Book of Records water skier" at 7mos old! Look up their mother on google.
LR3w8kbrdr
(NoProblem)Join Date: Jan 2012
01-31-2012, 9:41 AM
Ya, why is this any sort of reason not to ski? I think what they did is awesome. I've been skiing since I was 3yo and still ski to this day. My kid was just shy of 14 months when she rode the EZSki for the first time. Everyone in my family skis as well as a lot of my friends. You know what a lot of people don't do these days? Wakeboard. I don't. It lost its novelty for me years ago. 90% of the people who go out with us either ski or surf. I'll usually wakeboard maybe once or twice a year just to go out and hit some double ups. Other than that, my wakeboard just sits on the wall and collects dust. It's fun and all, just not as fun as skiing or surfing for me.
I think that's pretty cool stuff. Looking at the video it looks like at least one person left in the water (towards the left side about 1/3 way) - I would be ticked
I really don't have any issues with skiers at all, unless I happened to be trying to get a set on this day on that lake. I look at water skiing just like snow skiing, the more they try to mimic boarding the better it will get. I am certain wake-skiing will take off in the next few years unless there is some sort of technology limitation I am not aware of why they cant get the air a wake boarder can. Slalom can't be the future of water skiing if the industry wants to thrive with the young-folk IMO.
Plenty of videos tell me it is just a matter of time, but I have never actually seen a person out on the lake getting it done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjpnylDTRbw
^I see more and more people using those at OWC. They look like business for knee surgeons to me.
Yep you def see them around at OWC and mccormicks. McCormicks even sells them in his shop, a few of the show skier guys come out and throw crazy stuff off the kickers.
"I am certain wake-skiing will take off in the next few years"
This is a joke, right? not behind the boat, but l can see them being used at the cable park, so they should be called cable-skis not wakeskies!
Not a joke at all, I predict wake-2-wak skiing will become more popular with our youth than slalom skiing. If you can flip 'em, they will gravitate to it. I have to believe it will follow the same timeline as snow skiing. As soon as snow skiers started loosing chicks to rad-snowboard-dudes...all of a sudden...skies had twin tips, in came the baggy pants and headphones and the pol jockeys stopped fighting the freestyle movement. At least up here in Tahoe that is how it went down, not too many kids running gates these days unless their parents are making them do it.
How skiers never thought about twin tips, reverse-camber, wider skies, ditching the spandex, etc before the popularity of snowboarding I will still never understand. Seems like a logical progression that was about 4 decades late, and probably cost them 75% of their market share with today's youth.
Plenty of videos tell me it is just a matter of time, but I have never actually seen a person out on the lake getting it done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjpnylDTRbw
I would like to see it, but I would never attempt it. I see popped knees all over that. I tend to like my knees functional.
Well, to put it another way - the wakeboarders for a while took over most of the oxygen in the room of towed watersports. As wakeboarding has matured, the numbers will go down. Why? Because it has mainstream acceptance and is not longer the new fad. In the beginning of wakeboarding - there was huge steps in the development of boards, moves, boats, and accessories. There was very little organization and anyone who had the guts and practice time could come up with a new move and name it. Now, the progression of the sport is miniscule. The big leaps and revolutionary products are now incremental. It is really hard to be the innovator and the rebel pushing the "man" or "mainstream" anymore.
Waterskiing was the wakeboarding of sports in the '80's. Coors Light sponsored a massive tour that had top athletes, large crowds of fans in swim suits, and products flying off the shelves. Now, it is the kids of the 80's skiers getting into the sport. Why? Because of the thrill of accelerating from 36 mph to 75 mph and back down to 36 mph in under 3 seconds - and the 3-g turns. There is nothing like it on the planet.
Wakeboarding is a very different flavor of towed watersports than slalom skiing is. Not worse, not better, just very different. Having been a slalom skier since the '70' and a wakeboarder since the early '80's, I really enjoy both. The laid back vibe of the boat filled with boards, ballast, and music is great. The mental game, discipline, and intense 17 seconds of the course is great. The best days are when I get to do both.
I'm not sure that a sport is on it's death throes when innovation wains. Lot's of sports are healthy despite the lack of heaps of innovation. As a former slalom skier the problem with slalom skiing is the need for extremely good water conditions and a very competent driver, not to mention a course.
Karl, what kind of wakeboard were you riding in the early 80's. I really don't think there were any boards called a wakeboard back then. I started wakeboarding in the early 90's and that was when single tip compression molded boards came out.
I had the original Skurfer, SN#88. That was summer of '83.
I also made a wakeskate of sorts out of a canoe paddle with some skateboard grip tape and a Cypress Gardens fin screwed in. The show ski trick I saw had a person skiing on a canoe paddle with the handle sticking out front. After a few rides, I decided that cutting off the handle and adding the grip tape would be a fun variation. Since the shape was all wrong, I added the fin so I could even get up on it. Dad was a bit miffed about taking a fin off of a ski, but it was fun at the time. I think that was the summer of '80.
Plenty of good water for slalom skiing to be had, over 100 tournament ski lakes in California alone. We just left the public lakes to get away from the monster wake machines that are made now days that most wakeboarders don't even need!
My boat was not fast enough for footing, so we did other things. I still have trick skis in the garage - they are a lot of fun whenever we get somebody really cocky. Here is my site www.placidwaters.com. This is the first lake designed for wakeboarding (yes, I did the math on a 2004 X-Star with 3,000 lbs ballast). So, we can have two slalom boats with a wakboard boat all at the same time and everyone gets perfect water. Placid Wake Park is here, as well. So, we have a cable system to ride.
Lately, more wakesurfing than anything else. 2012 I want to qualify for the US Championships for both slalom and wakesurf - both extremes.
Awesome Video! Cool to see. I personally have no problem with skiers, running the course at 34+ is way harder than it looks! Its one hell of a workout, and not much room for error.
I have a pretty large show ski background, freestyle jumping and what not, and took the Stereo Wakeskis out one day behind the boat and they were a blast! Little awkward to flip at first, but they were fun! I was very concerned about my knees though to be honest, once you landed they went whichever way they were going real quick.
I have a few buddies and ladies who are show skiers for Sea World & Cypress Gardens (now Legoland) who could pretty much dominate a large majority of us wakeworld folk on a wakeboard (both behind a boat or cable) or any watersport. I come from a skiing background and am surrounded by not only wakeboarders but also pro slalom/trick/jump skiers and have much respect for them.
How do u think Parks and Shane started? Parks was and may still be the "Youngest Guiness Book of Records water skier" at 7mos old! Look up their mother on google.
I agree 100%. The guy (Pete) in the wakeski video is one of my good friends from high school. He grew up showskiing and wakeboarding, and I'd be willing to bet that he and one of the other top wakeskiiers in the world (Ryan Jones) could dominate 99% of us in wakeboarding.
For those who don't have respect for the guys hitting the slalom courses...give it a shot once. It is NOT EASY. I can ride a wakeboard for at least an hour straight, but slalom is a whole different ball game...I can last only for maybe 3 minutes.
Plenty of good water for slalom skiing to be had, over 100 tournament ski lakes in California alone. We just left the public lakes to get away from the monster wake machines that are made now days that most wakeboarders don't even need!
Thanks my friend,
Nothing like a little cold November skiing to remind you you're alive! At least the lake is flat!
I dont get it. They were out in the middle of a huge waterway (ocean?), setting a record, and appeared to be having a great time. Plus, each of them just made a lifelong bond with 144 new friends.
Most wakeboard pros could probably lay down a sick slalom set.
If you've never strapped on a real trick ski you are missing out on one of the funnest things to do on the water and you will never know the origination of our sport.
Barefooting is and will always be the ultimate boat tow water sport in my mind.
I guarentee you that any pro waterskier can pick up a wakeboard and not only get up on the first try , but probably rip it up better than most . Most pro wakeboarders now days would probably not even be able to get up on a slalom ski much less run a pass on the course.
I wouldn't be riding a wakeboard if it wasn't for skiing and I thank my parents for that.
Wakeboarding is what I live for and although I do not ski much nower days, I was part of this once in a life time experience and have memories from this day which will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Here's a cool perspective (for anyone who thinks slalom skiing is easy). Found this linked to another video in the MB Tomcat 21 thread.
+1 lol. Too funny, some of these guys on this site complaining about taking diggers, landing bad on tantrums etc going a whole 24 mph...but have you seen someone crash at 60-70mph acceleration with a ski attached?
Travis Moye still slaloms behind his xstar, how do you think he got involved in watersports...he was a 3-event skier. Shaun Murray competed collegiate skiing for FSC before wakeboarding.
All i can say...is dont knock it until you've actually tried it.
I look at it this way... Almost anything on the boat is fun. I started waterskiing because there was no wakeboarding back in the day. Currently we mainly wakeboard because it's diverse, challenging, unlimited and fun, etc. But, we currently also ski once in a while, barefoot more often, surf when it's blown out in the middle of the day. I'm dying to try foiling but just haven't bitten off on the cost yet. I don't get people who knock other tow sports (other than tubing, maybe... although, when my kids were real young, this was the thing). Like they can't enjoy any other perspective but their own? If given the opportunity to be a skier in that world record attempt for a day, who on this forum wouldn't take it up just for the kick of it?