Got my first real jump set of the season in yesterday. I say real because two weeks ago I had a couple ride overs and a couple real small quarter cuts, but I was jumping without a sling or course so I was just goofing off really.

With the first three event tournament quickly approaching this weekend I needed some ramp time. I had a nice easy quarter cut to start things out (probably 75-80ft) then decided to go straight to 3/4s. First try I cut out too late, got a bunch of slack on the turn towards the ramp and passed. Second try my timing is better but I sort wuss out on the cut towards the ramp and let the boat pull me out of position so I pass again. I'm sort of puss when it comes to jump so it always takes me a few cuts at the ramp before I'm comfortable actually hitting the thing. So I finally sack up and hit the ramp on my third 3/4. Nice and easy I probably hit about 95 ft. Then on my next attempt I have a nice progressive pull but was too early and slid out on the ramp due to letting up a bit at the base. I probably when close to 90ft.

Hopefully I can get another jump set in this week before the tournament so I can really feel confident with going strong on Sunday. Jump is a funny thing, while its my best of the three events, every time I stand on that starting dock it scares the crap out of me. It's only once I have left the ramp and I start flying that I really relax and realize how much fun it is.

Even though the weather was a bit cool all weekend and a little windy on Friday overall a good weekend of skiing for me. Saturday was finally the first 3 event tournament of the year. I jumped 106 ft in the second round. Not too bad for the first tournament of the year, but I would have liked to have gone a bit farther. In slalom, I decided to drop my 28mph pass and start going out at 30mph. I tied my tournament PB in the first round of 4.5 at 32mph. I could have run the pass if I didn't try and step on it going around 5 ball. Starting at 30 is really starting to feel good and consistent as I ran it the last three rounds of the weekend. In tricks I got a new pb in the first round and tied it again in the second with 770pts. Not bad considering I fell on different tricks in both rounds so I have some room still to improve that score. Because I skied so well I also set a new Overall pb on Saturday as well.

On Sunday I returned back to my home lake to work on the jump side curtains and ski a couple sets. We got the jump pretty much put back together and ready for this coming weekend and I took two slalom sets. First set I skied 30, a couple passes at 32 and then started working on 34. In the second set I started at 32 because the boat we were using wasn't quite calibrated at 30. Ran 32 and started working on 34. I ran 3 at 34 which is just a buoy below my all time pb. The worst part though was I was nice and early feeling really good and I hit 3 ball which stood me up. I really think 34 may go down soon with the way I have been skiing lately.

Dang...reading this makes me miss jumping.....and then I think about: buying equipment,
waxing the jump, how quick a 49 year old heals (thats the important one). But I sometimes
ski with a 165'-170' boys 3 jumper that could bring me along.

This past weekend I attended the Ohio State Water Ski Championships. On Friday there was a handicapped round robin tournament. Every one is seeded by average and grouped into groups of four. You ski and then based on how you ski against your average the winner of the group gets 4 points the loser 1. Then for the second round the groups are randomly generated and you repeat. Then the top 20 point totals ski in the finals. Sadly I didn't run my opener the first round in some pretty windy conditions. That meant to even have a slight chance of making the finals I would have to win my group in the second round. Second round I run an incredibly ugly 30mph pass. Then not really dealing with the wind very well I get a poor gate and 1 ball and end up falling for .5 @ 32mph. I still had a chance as others were having trouble skiing well in the second round due to the increasing wind. Sadly the last person in our group ran just enough buoys vs their average to bump me out and win the group ending any chance I had of reaching the finals. Realistically, because I had fallen on my opener in round 1 I didn't have a chance in any of the tie breakers to advance any way.

With the first day out of the way we moved on to the actual state tournament 1 rd 3 event. I slalomed and the wind was still aggressive but not nearly as bad as on Friday. I run my opener, still ugly but I ran it. Coming back I have good 1 and then coming out of 2 I just quit. Not quite sure what happened but the tailwind on my second pass seemed to have affected me all weekend. 2@32mph not bad, I still have the opportunity to get a good overall score for me if I can trick and jump well on Sunday. After we finish slalom we move on to Boys and Girls tricks and jump so we can present all the Boys and girls awards at the banquet Saturday night. We get done early with this and we decide to move on trick for M1 and W1 that were originally scheduled for Sunday morning. We finished those and still have time so now we have to decide whether to run 3 more trick skiers or stop. Being that I would have been first off the dock in the morning I helped decide to just run the three trickers in my division even though it was still windy.
My brother is in M1 so he had already tricked and didn't do very well. Now, I could go out there and with a good run I could beat him, isn't sibling rivalry great. So I run my first pass on two skis and do all of my tricks but fall on my last trick a WB. Not bad I can still tie my personal best with a good run and definitely beat my brother. On my one ski pass I start out well but then I get to my WB but have a poor WB and turn back to front before WF. So I try and repeat but I screw it up again. At this point I tried an O and fell. Well it should be good enough to beat my brother even though I had a poor point total. I go and look at the scores and oh no, they didn't give me credit for the WB and another trick, I choked and got beat by 20 points.
Well I could still make up for it with some good jumps on Sunday. Sunday dawned and it was cool, but there was no wind like we had the previous two days. This could be really good. We finished the remainder of tricks and moved on to jump. Some really good jumping is going on including several personal bests. As I am getting ready a slight breeze starts to pick up and it is a headwind. After all weekend of the wind blowing as a tailwind it had finally turned around. This could be a good jump set. I go out for my first jump. As I make my turn to the ramp I am super early but I keep it progressive and make a nice 100 ft jump. Okay, now all I need to do is bring it down a little bit and I can hopefully get some good jumps. On my second jump I bring my cut down about 20 feet. I turn towards the ramp a little fast and I feel slightly out of position to get my kick and plenty early but I let go and pass. Okay that was a good pull, I should have put it on the ramp but I didn't, just slow down the turn on the next jump and put it on the ramp. So jump number three, I cut out at the same point as jump 2, I slow my turn down to keep a tight line. I start to build speed but again I feel slightly out of position to get my kick and for some reason I let go and pass again. I had two great pulls but failed to put them on the ramp because I'm a giant Wuss bag. I was not happy a happy camper. With regionals coming up I have to get something figured out because I tend to just let go whenever I start to increase my speed into the ramp from where I currently feel comfortable.
Overall, I ended up finishing 3rd in Slalom, 2nd Trick, 2nd Jump, and 3rd overall. I was already qualified for regionals in trick and jump, but now I am qualified in Slalom as well. So regionals in two weeks and I got to start putting all my pulls on the ramp even if I bobble a bit at the wakes or feel a little on my heels. I have plenty of time to drive the knees into the ramp and still make a successful jump. I may not get all my lift but it's not like I'm so out of position I'm going to crash or anything, that is what makes these passes so frustrating. With one more tournament before regionals, I hope I can figure something out.

This past Saturday two other south western Ohio skiers and I made the trip up to north east Ohio for the Bellalago Big Gun Tournament. If it hadn't been for the other two going I wouldn't have been making this trip for a slalom only tournament, but in the end I had fun at the tournament anyway.
So my goals for this tournament were to 1. Run my opener (30mph) every round and 2. Run 32mph. On Thursday night before the tournament I was able to run 4@34 off the dock in practice and then took some stabs at 36 so I was feeling pretty good. I should also mention that I had just switched from rubber bindings to RS-1's so the Thursday set was only my third set on the new bindings and I had just started getting used to them.
We made the drive up Friday night after work, got to the site around 12:00pm set up my tent and went to sleep. I got up the next morning and finally had a chance to check out the site. The conditions were perfect glass as we started getting things set up for the tournament, the site looked perfectly designed for slalom. Too bad it isn't wide enough for a jump.
As ScarletArrow mentioned in his post, this tournament started with 2 rounds of qualifying where you skied against your average. My average was 4.5@32mph so I was fourth off the dock right after SA. From previous Buckeye Buoy tournaments this year I knew that I would need to ski within 1 or 2 buoys of my average or better in order to have a chance to move on. So we start the first round of qualifying. SA Goes out before me and skis 4.5@32 for a half buoy above his average. I start next at 30mph. In the first pass I got a little late and had to work a little bit but I completed the pass first goal down I ran my opener. Next coming back at 32, I'd really like to beat SA and get deep 32 or run it in order to keep me in the top 4 for our group. I get a good gate and turn one ball just a bit too hard and in the drink I go for .5 a buoy at 32. You can't run the whole 6 buoys at one ball. After the first round I was sitting in 5th place just a couple percentage points out of the 4th and final qualifying spot for our group. I now need a good score in the second round in order qualify. I felt like I needed to run 32 in order to assure my self a place in the head to head portion, plus running 32 would mean that in the first round of the head to head I could start at 28mph instead of 26mph.
So the second round starts and I know I need a good score here to continue. SA goes out right before me again and this time he gets in trouble early on his 32 and goes down around 4 ball. Now I'm up and I ski a much better opening pass than the first round. Next up 32, I feel like I need to run this pass in order to both achieve my goal and make it into the finals. I get a good gate and don't overturn one ball this time. Then around two I bobble and end up shooting real fast and narrow into three. At three ball I get way out on the front of the ski and the boat feels like it is running away from me. Somehow I get the ski back between me and the boat and get to 4 in okay position. I try and stay patient and work hard behind the boat but I am super late into 5 ball. I get way out on the front of the ski again and again get the ski between me and the boat but I am way to late to get to 6. I almost pulled it out after the messup at 2 ball, but I'll take 5@32 which is a new PB. With a score so close to my average I now have to play the waiting game to see what the others behind me do. The skier after me goes out and goes down early on his 32mph pass which puts me up into the 4th position with only one skier who could knock me out. However, that skier would have to well out ski her personal best by like a full pass. She wasn't able to do it so I qualified to move on.
After qualifying, and since I hadn't run 32, I was hoping I would get paired up with someone like SA who wouldn't want to start at 26 and would agree to bump up a pass or two. But alas, I got paired with Scoke's lady friend who skied great and would be starting at her normal pass. At this point I figured I would make an early exit as I have never even attempted to run the course at 26mph, but I would go out there and put on a show any way. SA also has to start at 26 and he went out just before me in the finals so I was watching him ski with interest. SA ran 26, maybe a little shaky due to the slow speed but clean and then came back and ran 28 and 30 like he had all day long. Next came 32 and he made it around 6 ball and back behind the boat for a full pass to win and move on. Then as the boat approached he pulled out toward the dock and let go of the handle. What was going on? He hadn't made back to the gates and only scored 5.5 good enough to move on to the next round but not quite a full pass. Now I was up and the moment I was dreading had arrived I had to go out first behind the MC and ski at 26 mph. I only had a couple thoughts in my mind the whole time I was skiing this pass. Be patient, let the ski turn, and work behind the boat. It was way slow, I was sinking at each and every buoy, but I actually completed the pass fairly clean and easy. Sitting in the water at the other end I was just hoping Scoke's lady friend would just fall so I could be done and conserve some energy but she wouldn't go down that easy. Now I had to ski at 28. This was my starting pass earlier this year until I dropped it for 30 due to consistency. I skied nice and easily and early. Like 26 it was slow but I wasn't sinking quite as much and by now I felt like I was in a zone. Again my competitor easily ran her pass and I was going to have to keep skiing. This time though my competitor started the trash talking. Reminding me about the rain that I hadn't even noticed to this point. Man was she trying to get in my head, but I was in a zone. I ran the best 30mph pass of the day. My competitor again just wouldn't give up and ran her 34mph pass again on the day. This was turning into a battle and the trash talking only got worse. Like the rain though, I just ignored it and continued on to 32. This was the pass I wanted to run all day long. I got a good gate, and a good turn around 1 ball and things just fell into place I felt like I was barely working just letting the boat shoot me into the next buoy. I was in control I just needed to not get impatient around 5 ball and finally I did it. I ran 32 in a tournament. Sitting at the end of the lake I was pumped, there was no way my opponent could run this pass too, was there? Well no she would go down early. What a battle, and I was able to take my victory lap at 34 running 2.5 for a new personal best in a tournament.
This meant I was now to go up against SA. Being the higher seed he naturally chose to ski behind his own personal boat, but I had been skiing well behind the MasterCraft all day so no big deal. All day long we had been fairly evenly matched skiing within a few buoys of each other, however, I felt I had a little bit of an advantage due to finally running 32 the previous round and SA hadn't yet. I knew that he wouldn't go down easily, and as close as he had been coming that it would probably take a full pass at 32 and a good start at 34 in order to beat him. For the second head to head round we started one pass higher than the last round so we both started at 28. We both skied pretty good 28s and come back and we both complete our 30 passes. Next up the money pass. I know I need this pass but I have been in a zone and skiing fantastic pretty much all day. I just need to keep it up. Coming into the course I get a bit of an early gate, I skied just over the right hand gate ball. Then for some reason I turn just a hair early at one ball and I hit the buoy. I try not to panic and get a good position to the boat, I come into 2 narrow and flying. I am telling myself to stay patient and I make an okay turn at two and get a good pull towards 3. I feel like I can save this I just need to make up a little bit of time. At three ball I try and make up time but again I over turn and end up in the water with 2.5. Not nearly enough and I sit in the water just past 3 ball as SA skis towards me and then past me for his first full pass at 32. He elects to pass up his 34 mph pass in order to conserve energy and the battle is over I lost.
Overall I skied really well pretty much all day long. I set a new pb twice in the day ending up with 2.5@34, ran my first every 26mph pass, ran my opener every round, and ran 30mph every round. In the head to head rounds I felt like I was in the zone and really in control until I had that one mistake at one ball, too bad because SA and I had good battle going until then and it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if we both had run 32. Maybe we'll get a chance to go at it again at the Extreme Head to Head challenge in Cincy. It was a fun format for the tournament with some good natured ribbing and trash talking going on between passes in the water and between rounds on the starting dock. Overall a good tournament and I even moved into 6th place in the Buckeye Buoy Tour standings.

What is your trick pass? I am in the 660 range and trying to figure out what to add to bump my score up.

Great jumping. I am not that brave.

Thanks. I don't do 2 skis anymore I haven't been on them in forever. I can do S, R, B, F, R, R, WB, WF, RWB, RWF, O, RO. My RWB is into the full back position. I probably should work on my flexibility and try to get the reverse back wrap position down for the WBB. I tried a couple of those last week for the first time in forever and missed them but did land on my feet the last attempt.