53rd Masters Waterski Experience - Aliaksei Zharnasek

Agreed 100% brother. Trick skiing is as cool as it gets, and when you try to just RIDE a slalom trick ski you realize just HOW HARD it is to be at the level these guys are at. It's taken me probably well over 100 trick passes to even have 5 tricks in the bag. It's the opposite of instant gratification and because of that there are not a lot of people doing it. It's so, so, so cool though and I very much would love to be good at it. The balance, power, and agility these guys have is just off the hook. Their inverts are done with almost zero ramp-up distance to the wake and their tricks have to flow into one another like crazy.

I also don't really "get" the toe event but it's so, so, so, so, so, so hard that I really respect it and those that can do it. Just getting the toe harness on is a huge accomplishment- that's how hard it is!

It's true that the coolest skiing these guys do is just the free-style stuff, like the classic George Mayling free-ski vid. This is what makes me want to trick. I want to do THIS. "This" is the pass I'm working on! To hell with how many points it is!

 

 

 

When I was first becoming aware of 3 event skiing, overall was HUGE in the big tournaments: Worlds, Masters, Moomba, US open and other pro events. It was something I paid attention to. All the top overall skiers were excellent trickers. Sammy, Carl, Patrice, Ricky McCormick, Mike Morgan, Lucky, etc.

When the pro series started becoming big, that kind of went away. I wish the Masters still had overall.

I tricked a little, but never put in much time, therefore I have no trick skills, but I wish I did. I put enough time into jump to be dangerous.....to myself!

I agree that tricks are very cool and I have just enough to be a little dangerous.  I tricked 970 this weekend for a new PB and have two more tricks I couldn't fit in.  Mini-chef beat me running 1020 and didn't get credit for his toe side slide which is part of the issue with tricks at times.  I was in the boat pulling the release (or in this case not pulling it) and I thought he got as did the boat judge (who doesn't really judge in tricks) but the judges were far enough away that it was tough for them to call.

There is no requirement for toes but with the limit on flips that is the way for the good skiers to get the most points.  I agree the limit on flips should go away I am not sure why it is still there.

Tricks are tough to learn though.  I spent countless hours as a getting nosefulls of water trying to learn different tricks.  The good news is many of them came back quickly.

3 event is very cool.  I still don't get why more top men slalom skiers don't do 3 event.  The ladies seem to be more willing to do all 3.  There is some cool footage of a very young Mapple doing tricks at the masters on youtube.  I think skiers used to be required to ski all 3 events at the masters. I have messed around on the trick skis a bit but I'm not hip to the trick names and the point values.  If anyone has seen this video, I'd be interested to know what his score was.

I like the toe tricks.  It is a different part of the discipline that is unique to tricking.  

I think the time associated with doing all three events and the risk tied into jumping particularly for the men leads to fewer three event skiers as they get older.  Jon Travers was a very good jumper when he was younger (not that he is old now) but I seem to recall he stopped jumping and focused on slalom after he blew out his knee.

Now you've done it.  You gave the Captain a reason to get up on the soap box and talk trick.  Much obliged.  I'm happy to muck up this lovely slalom site with some trick talk.  I’m a lifelong tricker.  I’ve spent more than half of my water time on tricks since I was 11 years old.  Growing up on a busy, public lake, it was the obvious way to get some quality sets even when the water was less than perfect.  A wise old coach once told me, “Trick is the basis for everything in water-skiing.  Everything you learn in trick, you can apply to the other events.”  I believe this whole heartedly.  Knee bend, ankle flex, hips forward, back straight, head up, progressive edge….nearly everything we talk about in slalom, jump, even wakeboarding can be learned on a trick ski.  Scarlet Arrow, I love the post and I thoroughly enjoyed everyone’s comments.  I live to make our sport better, more accessible and more spectator friendly.  I was thrilled to consider the notion that it all starts with trick. 

When the wakeboarding craze took off, the trick event was at an all time low.  It had been removed from the pro tour, the Masters gave in to one event “specialists” to ensure they kept the top slalom and jumpers in front of their audience and it seemed that wakeboarding would lead to trick dying its final death.  20 years later, the exact opposite is true.  Worldwide, there are more people tricking now than ever.  Thanks to wakeboarding and its economic power play, trick skis, ropes and even the tricks themselves have evolved rapidly for the better.  In the beginning, would-be trickers were migrating away to the allure of flipping over on a wakeboard.  Now, wakeboarders have infiltrated the competitive trick ranks and brought some wild new tricks with them.  For decades, the approved trick list remained unchanged.  In the last few years, several new tricks have been added and the product is better for the spectator.

So what can we do to ride this momentum to bring our sport to new heights?  I’ve heard the calls to eliminate the toe tricks.  I will put aside the fact that toe tricking is my personal favorite part of the game and the most fun to watch, in my humble opinion.  Instead consider that I’m a level 8 in Men 3 trick.  With any luck, I’ll be headed to my 3rdnationals in trick this year.  It may surprise you that of the 24 tricks that I cram into 40 seconds, only 4 are toe tricks.  There is no requirement that says you have to do toe tricks.  There are many ways to build an efficient trick run.  Many up and coming trickers do a two ski pass and a one ski pass.  Some runs are flip heavy, some runs are spin heavy.  At the national level, I’m even aware of one skier who does his hand pass on a wakeboard, including some flips and 540’s and then switches to a trick ski and does a thoroughly impressive toe pass.  To me, this is the most exciting part of tricks.  There are so many cool & different ways to rack up points. There are a lot of intricacies that are tough to recognize if you’ve never lived them.  We must simplify the rules and communicate better with the greater water ski community.  How?  Trick clinics, grassroots tricks tournaments, learn to trick days, giving our old skis to people who want to learn, tricking on public water where everyone can watch, posting more videos and writing more articles are just a few ways.  Heck, you can even hire Captain Original to teach tricks on your lake, behind your boat.  847-204-5646.  Sorry, couldn’t resist!

Kill the six flip limit now.  NCWSA has already removed it from collegiate competition.  In collegiate skiing, skiers only get one 20 second pass and now you can flip as many times as you like.  It hasn’t changed the top scores all that much.  I don’t buy the argument that eliminating the cap of flips would kill toe tricking.  Even the best of the best would have a hard time breaking a world record without a toe pass.  More likely, you’d see hand passes with 7 or 8 flips push the hand passes up into the 6500-7000 range.  Couple that with a world class toe pass and the record will be broken quickly.  Flips aren’t everything.  They look cool and score high, but they take time.  As Jay Bennett reminded us on the dock at last weekend’s tournament, “Every second you’re in the air the clock is ticking.”  How cool would it be to see two elite trick skiers battling it out, one with two passes of flips and one with two passes of toe turns and spins, but each with similar total point potential?

We also need to take a look at another thing wakeboarding got right.  Wakeboarding seems to recognize that different riders have different styles and skills.  Wakeboarders who can do big spins can compete with riders who are good at flips.  As trick styles, techniques, equipment and training methods have changed, point values have remained largely the same.  A quick glance at the approved trick list reveals that you need to turn at least 540 degrees and get the ski over the line (hand or toe) to score 500+ points.  There is simply no way that a ski line 540 (body over) or a toe line 540 (toe step over) is comparable in difficulty to the basic 500 point flip that many entry level trickers and wakeboard converts can easily hit.  Those tricks need to be awarded more points or there will be no incentive to do them.  Similarly, building block tricks like a 360 surface step over and 180 and 360 degree surface spins over the line need to score.  As skiers perfect these tricks and put them in their runs, they will advance quickly to the wake (aerial) version. Currently they count for nothing, so people don’t burn precious water time on them, especially people like us who have day jobs.  Crowd pleasers like two ski step overs are difficult, but they score very little.  I could go on, but you get the point and don’t even get me going about trick number 5.

That’s all for now.  I’m excited to see and be a part of some meaningful dialogue about the trick event.  See you on the water.  -CO             

Who knew we had such a strong tricker in the house. 

Concerning Andy as a tricker, I'm not aware of a requirement for 3 eventers at the Masters. Event specialist have been invited to the Masters as far back as 1979 at least. Some of the ones I have seen there were Mondor-the-Condor (anybody remember him? John Mondor) Cory Pickos, Kris Lapoint, Glen Thurlow, John McElyea (I think, anybody remember him?) Geoff Carrington, Mark Crone.

Andy used to be a 3 eventer, but I think Jump disasters were limiting his slalom excellence....apparently he made a wise decision.

ooopps, I left off Bob Lapoint (how could I do that?) Bob was a very strong Jumper back then, but eventually stopped jumping and went on to become Andy, before Andy was Andy. Bob was pretty much unbeatable in slalom from the late 70s until the mid 80s.

I was wondering if the Capt was going to see this and chime in.  I remember talking to him once and the topic of dropping the toe pass came up. If I remember correctly his response was "If you want to be a wakeboarder, go ahead".

BD- Lucky was also a very good jumper in his day.  Last year I asked him which was his favorite event.  Without even the slightest hesitation he said "jump".

Lucky was a fantastic jumper. I have seen him boot some huge jumps at the Masters. Looking back, I'm surprised he didn't win more events than he won, but he went up against some pretty dominant slalomers and jumpers during his time. I know he won a Worlds in slalom and I think he had some podium finishes in jump. 

Great article , trick skiing is definatly under rated.

The only thing I would have to dissagree with is the first sentence : "The U.S. Masters Men’s Trick Champion was Aliaksei Zharnasek" ... even if Ace is the one who's been dominating the world of trick skiing lately he has yet to win the US Masters title which has eluded him so far ... 

This years winner was a French youngster named Alexandre Poteau who ruled the waters of Callaway this year ...

Good catch, that video was actually from the Elimination Round where Aliaksei scored the highest point total of 11,270 and Alexandre come in second with 10,760.  In the Final Round, the two competitors flipped positions with Alexandre scoring 10,560 and Aliaksei getting 10,120.

humm sorry again but this video is actually the final round Ace not going over the line on SLO in the first pass and missing the wake on RTWLBB in the second for a score of 10120 ... But it doesn't change the fact that the trickers are incredible atlhetes and deserve more credit , as the CRB stated it pretty accurately "trick skiing is treated like the bastard child of 3 event skiing" , this needs to change but the way things are going the future doesn't look promising , no tricks at Malibu Open , no tricks at the Orlando Soaked Festival ... they say what is rare is precious , then trick skiing is like gold !

This article has BY FAR gotten the most page views of any article over the past month. Shall we add more trick content?

Sure...might get Captain Original to post more often.

Well...let's just say it's all a blur to me right now. :-)

I still have interviews with Andy Mapple, Chris Parrish and Chris Rossi I never got to post.

Jeez....stop holding out on us!