Zen Ski Weekend at Bennett's

Bennetts Ski School

Is the idea of heading to Louisiana for a long weekend all by yourself at ski school somewhat crazy? No, as it turns out, not really. Well, kinda. But still.

I remember when I first booked the flight, sometime in early October. That was after Beth and I had casually talked about how it would kinda be neat for me to shoot down to Bennett's to extend the season a little bit (she would have wanted to join but is rather pregnant at the moment). This had been the best season I've ever had in waterskiing, and I felt like I was on a roll. Why let the Chicago weather stop my progress? I think I surprised both of us a bit  when I actually booked the trip. Of course, I sent an email to about 20 of my ski buddies asking if ANYONE wanted to join me, and apparently nobody else thought it was a rational enough idea to join, among other reasons. Add another bullet point to the "why I'm unique" list, I guess.

In the time between the actual booking of the trip and the trip itself, I had unknowingly started to put waterskiing on the shelf, mentally, for winter. Temps were dropping and before I knew it  we were pulling buoys, raking, and winterizing our boats in Illinois. The day that I was to leave for Louisiana, I recall thinking to myself "this may not be a great idea after all".  It's a lot of money and a lot of hassle to travel anywhere these days, work is busy, and I didn't want to leave my family for 3 days for something I had already written off for the year. Airport parking, rental car fees, food, beverages, skiing and lodging were all going to put a nontrivial dent in my wallet. As started adding things up in my head it wasn't long before I came up with a rough total of about 800.00 for the weekend.

Still, packing up all of my gear started to bring back the summer's waterskiing enthusiasm just enough to get me over my rational thinking and excited for my little solo journey. I arranged all of the gear I wanted to bring- slalom ski, trick ski, life vest, trick rope/handle, slalom handle, wetsuit, gloves, and clothing into my rolling ski bag like a little puzzle the night before departure. It's always a relief when the zipper completes the journey from one end of the bag to the other with as little fuss as possible, and this particular configuration just barely fit. 

After throwing my bags into the car and kissing the family goodbye, I was on my way. Ran into some traffic on the way to O'Hare, which was actually somewhat satisfying as it justified my typical gratuitously generous timing for the drive to the airport. Plenty of buffer for any event that could slow me down, and then some. Once I got to the airport, I sneered at the sign saying that the economy parking was now 17.00/day as I passed it by and quickly found a spot close to the airport transit station (which is extremely rare). 

Check-in was quick, with the generally dialed-in O'Hare staff not even batting an eye at my ski bag. Security was equally swift and after discombobulating and re-combobulating I found myself at the airport bar sipping on a pint of Sam Adams Winter ale and pounding down a Chicago-style hotdog, slathered with sport peppers, in Terminal 3. 

The flight was full, with a healthy standby list and typical slow boarding scenario. Everyone these days tries to take a rollaway rather than check their luggage, which leads to ridiculous boarding times and antics. Could not wait to get off the ground. We were flying an MD-80 (one of my favorite airframes), this particular example being made in 1992- one of the "newer" ones. Once airborne, the trip was quick and painless. Relatively speaking. A Jack & Coke, an in-flight staple for me, made for a nice 30,000ft toast to being on vacation. With myself. 

I had brought along a book, since this trip would afford me plenty of reading time. The book was "Claption", Eric Clapton's autobiography. Being that I'm a musician at heart, I loved the book but it only lasted me through the first day of the trip.

When I stepped off the plane in New Orleans (I forgot to mention earlier that I could not find a flight to Baton Rouge that fit my schedule) it was off to the baggage claim to pick up my massive ski bag. It was easy to spot the bag, since it had clogged the baggage carousel completely, causing the ground crew to actually come out and dislodge it. After that it was to the rental car counter. After picking up the rental I was on my way to Zachary, LA. It's about an hour and 20 minutes to get there and I was just beyond beat at this point. I did stop at a rather scary gas station along Old Scenic Highway in order to pick up some essentials- water, beer, beef jerky. The gas station actually had a squad car posted there as a security measure. It was late, I suppose.

Arriving at the Bennett's compound is always a bit surreal. I remember the first time I arrived here back in 2003. I had no idea what to expect back then and coming up over the levee to see the beautiful turquoise lakes, boats, pro shop, and general buzz of activity was amazing. I remember thinking "wow, this place actually exists?" Of course, I mean that both specifically and conceptually. 

Pulling into Tri-Lakes in the middle of the night was a new experience for me. Everything quiet. Everything still. Dark. The silence was occasionally broken by a dog bark or a nut dropping off of a big tree next to the main house. Sources of light included the maintenance garage sodium lamps, the rope lighting around lake 1 dock's roof (which looks really neat), and a smattering of other porch lights here and there on the compound. My sense of smell immediately recognized where I was- the air there has a great, unique perfume to it which smells like a mix of damp earth, fallen leaves, a hint of neoprene and during the day just a smidgin of gasoline and boat exhaust. It smells like midwest spring + midwest fall + waterskiing/boating, to put it another way. Very earthy, very organic. As soon as I pulled into the drive, that smell hit me and re-kindled great feelings deep inside which could only have resulted from spending 5 weeks here over the years. Although this place has been a constant, my life has changed drastically from when I first visited this place back in 2003, so it's always interesting to see it from my changing perspective and remember how far we've come as individuals and as a family from one trip to the next. A sign taped to my cabin door said "Joel, this cabin is ready for you - Jay". I pulled off the sign, closed the door, and fell asleep immediately.

Saturday morning was interesting because I had no idea how the weekend was going to work. During busy ski school weeks, time is regimented in order to make sure everybody has a chance to ski, and 3 meals have to be served as well. The weekends, as it turns out, are very casual and low-key. I met up with Jay while walking around the campus and he said the place was mine for the weekend. No other students or guests. Danyelle and her boyfriend Steve would drive and coach me, and I'd just let them know when I wanted to ski. How about that? Seeing as the mornings were rather chilly this time of year, we agreed to meet up around noon to start skiing. 

We used Lake 1 for tricks and Lake 2 for slalom. I thought it was pretty funny that we'd use an entire lake for a discipline for 1 student, especially at my level, but as they said- the place was mine. Awesome.

First set was slalom. I started at 33mph, Zero Off set at B2. 15 off. Right out of the box I think I ran 5 or so balls, then spun the boat and ran another 5 the other way. Not bad. The water felt really, really good and the ski was turning very well. This would be the trend for the next 3 days- occasional full passes mixed in with deep passes. It's always a relief when you don't get into like, a 1-ball falling funk at ski school. I was so happy to just be skiing, and skiing well, that I was beaming after every pass. What a sport. I did try one pass at -22, but the wake behind the MC at that length was "different" enough at that speed that I didn't want to fool with it during this short period of time that I had. I'm sure I could get used to it but not in that timeframe. Plus, I was battling a 10mph head/tail for most of the weekend which was enough as far as variables in the mix.

So, stuff to work on: We always talk about fixing things further back in the sequence of running the course in order to solve problems further up in the sequence. A bad gate is probably a bad pullout, which means a bad 1, which makes for a bad shot to 2, and so on. However, I think it's vitally important to realize there ARE quick fixes. "Now" fixes that make a "now" difference. Steve identified a few for me. 

1. Soft knees through the 2nd wake. I tend to stiffen up through the wake, especially in the front knee. Why? Because at a fundamental level I really brace through the wake and do over-pull, over-stiffen. "Soft knees" is also the same as "light on the line", "Keep turning the ski through the wake", and  "ski efficiently" and "ride the ski". They are in the same family of ski tips. However, doing nothing other than thinking "soft knees" through the wake set me up for amazing 1-balls. Full, ripping, outside-in carves. Tiny tip. Huge difference for me. Somehow I need to figure out how to do this on all my wake crosses because it REALLY makes preserving direction easy. I tend to pound over the wake, which, while I feel strong during the wake cross, I kill outbound direction. Frankly I'm just happy I can strongly cross the wake at all- that's what got me into 34mph and 28 off. Now I just need to efficient-ize that and ONE way of thinking of that is to soften knees. The soft knees tip was also applied to my off-side turn and it really helped there. Rather than the ski tearing through the turn it carved and finished better.

2. Staying centered over the ski in the turn. Don't let my body fall back in the turns. Immediate difference, just thinking of straightening myself up in the turns. I felt myself pop right out of the turn in a great position to cross the wake. Simple. Yet I forget to do it all the time.

3. Wide gate. I hear this from everybody. It helps IF I can control it. Going wide into slack is what happens to me all too often, so I have to work on this.

I took 2 trick sets and Steve was immensely helpful there. We identified that my boot is too far back on the trick ski. However, we can't move it forward any more- the D3 boot on my D3 trick will ONLY go as far forward as the center hole of the boot due to the position of the other factory inserts on the ski. I may try to adapt a new plate to this boot to get the extra quarter inch or so that I need. We proved the concept by putting my HO Animal slalom binding on the trick, which moved my foot about 1/8" forward on the ski (also at it's max forward position which was 1 hole forward from center). That tiny movement gave me about a 20% improvement in rotating the ski. I also tried using the toe harness, which was neat and comical at the same time. Seeing Steve SO READY to pull the release pin was hilarious as I tried to get the damned thing on my foot. I don't think I've ever seen somebody so outwardly ready to do anything than he was to pull that lanyard! Being the only 30-something 190-pounder on earth learning to trick ski is continually humbling.

When I wasn't skiing, I was reading, lounging around, or riding a paddle board. Paddle boarding on flat water is GREAT. Last time I had tried it I was in Maui and I don't think I've ever fallen as many times doing ANYTHING in my life than I did on that paddle board in the Maui surf. Up, fall. Up, fall. Up, fall. Take away the rolling water, though, and it's a whole different experience. It was so neat to see the lakes from that perspective- to go through the course at 2mph and really let your mind map out the dimensions and distances. Very peaceful and zen-like activity. I'm ordering one for the lake house, for sure. Bennett's just became a dealer for these Bic paddle boards which seem to be just the ticket. One really interesting thing about paddle boarding was seeing how big of a factor the wind was pushing against my body profile. Standing on the paddle board is really no different than standing on the ski as far as what I'm exposing to the wind, and boy did it make a huge difference going with the wind or against it. An 8mph headwind easily doubled the effort required to move the board forward.

So, great trip. Bennett's has a way of making days seem like weeks, so by the time I left I felt like I had been on a much longer vacation than I had. Can't wait to go back, but next time I'll bring the family!

FWIW here are posts I've made about other trips to Bennett's:

Spring Break Ski School, 2010

Getting there is 1/20th the fun!

Bennetts Ski School, here we come!

Bennetts 2009 - Days 0-1

Bennetts 2009 - Day 2

Bennetts 2009 - Day 3

Bennetts 2009 - Wrapup

School's Out