Well, tonight was the perfect late summer night (notice I didn’t say fall, I won’t accept it yet.) I hit the water with John and Seven. Was probably still in the upper 70s when we hit the water at 530. We made our way to the bay and were greeted with near glass water. In addition to a beautiful night, the wind was very calm. Barely a breeze.

I hit the water first, did a set of 6 runs back and forth across the bay. Did some one foots. Nothing special.

John and Seven then took their turns. John did his typical big one foots, lifting a foot almost above his head. Seven’s footing has improved drastically. Beginning of the summer I would hope not to break him as he did deeps behind the boat. Now he actually looks somewhat comfortably doing a deep now. He even improved from the beginning of the night to the end.

I was up again, and deciding to make use of the calm water, decided to try a figure eight again. John drove. Started with a deep, then John went into a turn to the left, putting me on the outside. I held my spot on the curl. Made my way through the rollers in the middle as we crossed the wake. Then we started the turn to the right, putting me on the inside this time. I was again managed to hold my spot, cutting hard with my feet, putting pretty much all of my weight on my left foot. Made it through the second corner clean. Hit the rollers in the middle for a second time and that’s when I finally fell. Made an eight. The night was officially worth it now.

Next up, John did a loop. Then I did 1.5 loops around the bay. John then another loop. Then I did another loop. Needless to say, I was tired by the end of the night.

As the sun set, Seven took a slalom run.

Truly, a great night for skiing. No wind, warm, pretty much no one else in the bay. Can’t ask for better skiing conditions in September in Wisconsin. Here are a few pictures from tonight.

Footing with the State Capital in the Background

John doing his new one hand, one foot trick

This morning woke up bright and early for some morning skiing. Rolled out of bed at 545 to be at the lake at 645. As I parked my truck at the lake, the temp was still in the 50s. The lake was covered with fog as I walked down to the dock to meet up with Tash. He had the boat ready to go with his two kids bundled up in sleeping bags to keep warm and spot for us.

Once we found some calm water, the skiing was good. Seeing as how I have broken both of my barefoot handles in as many weeks (in addition I broke a team handle) I was using Tash’s barefoot rope and handle. I’ve grown accustomed to my non-stretch rope, when the boat takes off, so do I. Well, Tash’s rope isn’t non-stretch. On my starts I could feel the rope stretch and then once I’d get up on top of the water, I could feel it bungee me forward. It also made the little chop we were going through just a bit more interesting. As I hit the waves, it would stretch just a bit and then it would bungee a bit. Really keeps you on your toes (or literally, on your heals) just a bit more. Wasn’t bad, just vastly different from what I’ve been use to.

Today actually ended up being a two-a-day. In addition to skiing this morning, I did some skiing tonight in our show. Nothing major, a conventional run and a 3-high. However, it was nearly whitecaps. My pyramid was pretty, as we went over the rollers from our boat pattern, I got bent forward just a bit. With the pyramid already up now, I just couldn’t stand up straight so I carried it through bent over. We made it. I’ll post a picture if I get one.

Back to the broken barefoot handles I mentioned… I was out the 18th, tried a tumble turn, caught my should and broke my handle. Then two days later, on the 20th, I did a flyer in the show and that handle broke. Meanwhile, I put my old handle (purchased in 1991) on my current rope and used that for a while. Then on this past Tuesday, the 29th, I went to do a flyer with my rope and old handle. I jumped in, the boat took off, I didn’t really move. My handle in hand, the boat taking off with the rest of the rope. Three handles in 9 days. Both my handles are currently being repaired, one by the manufacturer, one by our team rope man.

Well, that’s it for now… I’m dead tired. Not use to waking up before 7, let alone before 6. Can’t complain though, it was worth it.

Here I am crossing the bubbles of death. See the nice little rooster tail in front of me.

Hit the lake again right after work with Sandy, Mike, Seven and Lori in tow. Started off with another back-to-back barefoot set in the bay amongst the weeds doing 4 passes. Ended the night with final back-to-back set with 6 passes. That makes for a total of sixteen passes for the day. Meaning 16 deeps as well. Also did a repeat of what I did this morning. Stand up in right curl, lift right foot, cross bubbles of death to left curl, lift left foot.

What do I mean by back-to-back sets? Basically, I foot till the boat needs to stop (because of the shore) and does a power turn and I never need to let go of the rope. Boat idles back out, rope comes tight, and away we go. I timed it in my head tonight and this can take as little as 15 seconds when everything works out alright, but is much easier if they let the rope come tight and let me catch my breath before going. When they do that, it takes about 20 seconds. Still, that is a short break between runs.

Right now, my arms are exhausted. Still want to ski again. Waiting for call backs for tomorrow AM. If that doesn’t come through, I should be able to track down some people for the afternoon. I’ll rest on the next rainy day.

Finally, props to Sandy for joining me in my two-a-day endeavor. She woke up early for the morning set and then came back for the evening set. Here’s a shot of Sandy skiing tonight. Once again, notice the carpet of weeds to her right.