Tag: Water Skiing

You Spin Me Right Round Baby, Right Round… Heli Attempts Part IV

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Tonight I hit the ramp again for some helis… there seems to be a pattern goin’ here. I’m now consistently getting all the way around, just need to get my landing down.

First heli, not my best of the night, but made it around. 2nd heli was money… last Friday I had a heli attempt that Paul that I could ski away from, I was rather doubtful about it, but it had been my best attempt so far. This heli, I should’ve skied away from. So close… 3rd one was more like the first. Last jump was just a ride over and I had a little too much love from the driver on the landing… just kept slowing down when after the initial bit of love, I needed some speed.

Anyways, the video clips from the the nights ramp action… Check them out below…

My second attempt of the night was soooo close. I so want to ski away from a heli soon. Need to resist the landing and find the handle. I have the spin down and I’m keeping my feet pretty close together. Gettin’ there.

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Learning How to Heli, Part III

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Did some more heli’s before our practice tonight and I think I’m finally comfortable throwing them… before it was a thousand things going through my head as I approached the ramp. Now I’m actually thinking about the trick. Making it around pretty consistently now, but if you watch the videos below, my feet come apart on the last 90 degrees of the rotation and that causes my landing to go to crap. Here’s the footage…

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My Adventures in Helicopters, Part Duex

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Hit the lake after work tonight (with Joey, Paul, Ronée and Scott) and did another jump set…

Jump number was a planned ride over… lets just say I landed… on my back. Went off on my heals and it was a complete yard sale on the landing. Wish I had this one on video.. it would have been good.

Jump number two was suppose to be heli attempt number one. Well, I was still working on getting the wrap done as we approached the ramp and it finally got to the point where I wasn’t going to be wrapped so I just did a ride over. Nothing special, but I did have the feeling that I hate where it feels like I’m going to go out the front, which is in reality good, because then I’m over my skis. Anyways, landed it and received a standing O from the crowd on the Betty Lou that was going by.

Jump number three was my first heli attempt of the night, and third overall. I made it 270 degrees around and had an ugly fall from the boat’s perspective. Nothing bad from mine. It seems that I’m starting the heli way late. Need to initiate it just before I leave the ramp, not eight feet later. Here’s the video…

Jump number four, heli attempt number two. Hit the ramp, initiated the spin at the very top of the ramp (still late, but earlier than before)… started spinning and saw the ramp and then I saw the boat again. Yes, I had finally spun 360 degrees. Had a landing I could have skied away from (according to Paul – skis flat, but they were in front of me), but didn’t. So close. Never been so happy after a fall. Instead of coming up with just a wave that I was OK, I came up with both fists pumped in the air.

I try to limit myself to 4 jumps (5 if I’m skiing away) per set so I called it after that one. Don’t like to get too tired and then injure myself. I had taken 3 pretty good falls.

Ended the night with a little wake surfing. I need more weight in the boat to make a bigger wave. Joey swiveled, Paul instructed, Ronée did some toe turns and Scott acted as our third after J &P left for v-ball. Fun night all around.

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A Pet Peeve

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I want to bring up a pet peeve of mine… the other night at practice, the team is running through acts on the water and I’m working on the sound & show with the announcers and it is a little cool out. Definitely not the 80/90 degree plus weather we had just had. At the end of the night someone made the comment you’re lucky you’re not skiing tonight, it’s cold out… I never consider it to be lucky to not be skiing, I’d rather be on the water than watching from shore. Even on the nights when it isn’t that nice out.

Plus, when you starting skiing in March and end in November, there really isn’t a day in the summer that you’ll consider “cold”.

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Weekly Skiing Report

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It’s been about a week since I’ve last checked in with my water skiing activities and thought it was time to give an update…

Last Tuesday, after catching Transformers the night before, I went out skiing with the family. My parents took their boat out and I took my boat out and my sister and her entire family came along too. Everybody did some skiing and my niece Anna went skiing long line for the first time without any problems. Tuesday night at practice I talked with John, Sandy and T-Bell about skiing Wednesday morning. John and Sandy were in… T-Bell wasn’t sure where she’d be.

Wednesday started off looking bleak. Overcast and gloomy and looking like rain, but I checked the radar and it was clear. I called John to let him know that skiing was on and then headed to the gas station while leaving T-Bell a message that we were headed to the lake. Just as I’m pulling into the gas station, I get a message back from T-Bell. “omw” Not being fluent it text massage, I wasn’t really sure what it meant, but as I finished gassing the boat up, it came to me. “On My Way.” By 815 everyone is there.

We start the morning with some jumping. I take a set, John takes a set and tries some helis and then T-Bell goes again. Here are a few video clips of some of the better ones jumps and falls…

After jumping we head to the bay to do some footing. I started off the footing by taking a quick set of 6 back-to-back runs. Everyone else takes a few runs as well before I take one more set. Here are a few clips of some footing…

After all of the footing, we were pretty much content with the amount of skiing we had done, but decided to cruise down to Waubesa to see if Paul and Joey were out on the lake. After stopping for some drinks, we finally found them floating with a boat that wasn’t running very well. Ronée was out with them and wanted to work on some toe turns so we pulled her on a few runs. She made some turns but was really leaning on Joey for support. After that, we grabbed some more drinks and finally called it a day. It was now a very hot day and we were all getting burned.

Ronée swiveling with Joey

Next up on Thursday, it was a relatively quiet day of skiing, just a ski team practice.

Friday we got back on the water behind my boat and did a whole lot more skiing. I did a quick jump set, Joey did some swiveling, Paul surfed, Rob wake boarded and made what I think is his first inverted trick (a front roll to fakey?), T-Bell did some surfing and then I learned how to finally get up the board, then Kyle had his first towed experience behind a boat when he got up on the wake surf board. Finally it was time for people to get to their volleyball games so we called it a night. Here are the pics…

Me Jumping

Paul Surfing

Rob going ballistic

Finally, made it up on the surf board

T-Bell riding the wave

Kyle’s first pull behind a boat

Rob’s a surfer now!

This is when it got interesting… I’m leaving the boat launch area and heading to the main parking lot as I’m starting the drive home when I feel my truck get yanked backwards and my boat starts to jump around. I quickly stop. I hop out and look and don’t see anything evident on the drivers side with a quick glance. Then I hop over the trailer tongue and see that the trailer wheel is no where near to being in the right location. Not good. The axle was completely loose.

That wheel is not in the right spot!

As luck would have it, my parents happened to be driving through the launch looking for my brother to see if he was out on Monona with their boat. My dad pulled one of the damaged u-bolts off the trailer and ran to Farm & Fleet. About and 75 minutes later he’s back with the parts, a jack and jackstands and we start re-attaching the axle to the trailer. An hour later, at 1030, the trailer is road worthy again.

Wheel’s back in place, fender is still messed up

Then I head out to catch the volleyball post game activities.

The next morning I wake up and head to the jump practice to get a few jumps in. Water wasn’t great, but my jumps went OK. Then T-Bell shows up and does some jumping, which I thought was great because she normally wants really good water conditions, but went jumping anyways. Then, she’s been thinking about trying flips for a while, and a few people know this. They mention that the tail wind is good for front flips and she decides to give it a whirl. I’ll let the videos speak for themselves. Here they are…

She wanted me to try heli’s too, but I declined saying I’d try them Monday night. Bugs was also inspired to try fronts and vowed to try them on Monday as well. Then we talk to Paul to make sure he can come instruct.

Sunday was a quiet skiing day for me…

Then Monday arrived… a day of reckoning… the weather cleared out by the afternoon, but just before we arrive at the lake the wind shifts and starts to come out of the north east… that means a head wind and rough water. Bugs goes first and tries his flips. Actually has a few good attempts. [Video coming soon]

Then I get some instruction for trying helis. Now to go back in time, this isn’t the first time I would spin as I leave the ramp…. year’s ago in 1992 I was jumping and my rope caught on the top corner of the ramp. As I reach the top of the ramp, I’m now facing the top corner of the ramp, which isn’t the right direction. I let go of the ramp, my spin continues and I land on the back and as I slide away from the ramp, the back end of my skis catch and that causes the front of the skis to come rushing at my face. Smack in the lip. Took out a big chunk of my to the point that I thought I had lost teeth. So, long story short, it took a lot of nerve for me to just decide to try a heli.

Back to today… I’m approaching the ramp, jumping from wave to wave with the rope wrapped… I finally skip onto the ramp and I’m going up. On my toes, thinking about not dropping my shoulder. I reach the top of the ramp, still a little shocked that I’m actually wrapped and trying a heli, then realize I need to let go of the rope with the one hand so I start my spin. And I make it all the way around so I land going backwards and almost on my skis. I completed my first attempt. Didn’t ski away, but I did it. Here’s the video…

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-1514637648517379602&hl=en
My First Heli… or should I say 180?
(7, thanks for the advice about needing to make it all the way around…)

Next attempt, a little better… I make it about 3/4 of the way around.

After we were done jumping, Paul did some more wake surfing… it’s his new addiction. Then he tries something new. He grabs one of Bugsy’s jump skis and starts jump ski surfing…

Jump Ski Surfing?

Then I did a little surfing and we called it a night.

For all the pictures in one convenient location, you can check out the Picasa Web Album with all of these pictures and some more.

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Busy Week of Skiing

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This past week I managed to get a whole lot of skiing in. Started on Monday night. I hit the water with T-Bell & Imhof. I mainly did a lot of footing, T-Bell hit the slalom course and Imhof worked on his flip turns. Nice relaxing night on the water.

T-Bell on the course in front of the Madison Skyline!

Tuesday night was a regular night of show ski practice… nothing major for me.

Wednesday night I was looking forward to stopping by practice for a quick jump set, but found out that no one could bring the boats down. Pretty much everyone that would normally be available to bring the equipment was attending a show committee meeting. So as I left work at 515 I started making calls. Rounded up T-Bell & the Bug Man for a quick jump set. Met them at the lake at 615 and we jumped. Not my best night of jumping, but T-Bells looked good and Bugsy did his typically super slow motion heli’s on my skis.

T-Bell and her crash helmet

Thursday was another typical show ski practice.

Next up… Friday. Met T-Bell & Imhof at the landing and then picked up Paul at the jump site. We started off with T-Bell & I doing a couple jump sets each. I went 4 for 5 on my first set and 2 for 3 on the second set. One of the things that people have been telling me is to stay on my toes when I hit the ramp as this will help keep me over my skis while in the air, instead of behind them. Well, lately it has felt like I was almost going out the front, which usually meant I actually had good position. Well, my last jump off the night felt like I was really going to go out the front. And I did. I’ll post some video of this soon. T-Bell took a set of ride overs and then tried some helis. I’ve got video of that too.

After we jumped, Imhof worked on his flip turns, which he is making, and his back steps, which he isn’t. Then Paul busted out his new wake surfing board. Then we did some footing in the bay and finally ending up back out on the main lake as everyone else tried the wake surfing board. Here are some pictures from that night…

When T-Bell comes to ski, she comes to do a lot of skiing and brings a whole lotta stuff!

One of T-Bell Jumps

One of my jumps


Footing in the weeds


But the weeds mean it’ll be glassy calm

Close Up!


T-Bell on the Wake Surf Board


Imhof Surfing


Paul Surfing…


Paul was the only one that could actually surf without the rope


But we would have to throw it back to him now and then

I did make time to attend my cousin Lindsay & Jeff’s wedding. It was held at the Deer Valley Lodge in Barneveld, WI. Saturday was a very nice day for an outdoor wedding (or some skiing!)


Lindsay & Jeff


Me dancing with the Bridesmaids and one of the many margarita on the rocks that I had that night

My Aunt Louise and I at the end of the night…

The weekend ended with our typical Sunday night ski show. I was recovered enough to ski the opening and ending pyramids. My first pyramid start was a little rusty (I hadn’t done one in a few weeks) but I did make it.


Looking at my feet for some strange reason?
Photo from Jim’s Photos


I did make it though. By this point my legs were burning just a bit.
Photo from Jim’s Photos

My second pyramid went much better. Even though the girl I took off the dock in the ending pyramid wasn’t the tiny little lite girl I had from the opening pyramid, the start went world’s better as you can see…

Rock solid start!
Photo from Jim’s Photos

Landing at the “beach” with T-Bell
Photo from Jim’s Photos

And with the show over, the crazy week of skiing pretty much came to an end. We did go watch the Janesville Open show again and after that, I crashed. Exhausted and ready to sleep.

That’s what I am right now… ready to sleep so I can be back on the water tomorrow at 8am! And yes the time stamp on this post is accurate. It is a 245am.

There are more pictures and full quality versions of all these pictures over on my Picasa Web Album. Check it out.

Some of these photos, as noted in the captions, are from Jim’s Photos, one of the ski teams sponsors. You can contact him if you’d like a high resolution copy of one of the photos.

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This is Way Better than that Squirrel

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By now, everyone has that damn water skiing squirrel. I won’t even mention him by name. You search for water skiing on the net, you find the squirrel. He is every where! Well, I found a video that is way better than that squirrel that goes around the baby pool. I found MONKEYS!!! Check this out…

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Mad-City on the Web and Other Random Water Skiing Related Stuff

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The Mad-City Ski Team’s website has been undergoing a slow makeover these last several weeks, slowly evolving into something much more useful and modern looking from it’s previous incarnation. If you get a chance, check it out.

Meanwhile, I still have my google alerts scouring the web for anything water skiing, barefooting, show skiing or Mad-City related and this post came up today… Glad to here some more people enjoyed our show and are telling others about it.

I also came across this news story telling about Ralph Samuelson the inventor of water skiing. Even has a video to go with it.

And finally, some not so good news… seems a water skier was hit by jet ski. I’ve seen this almost happen myself and it isn’t good. A jet skier decides the waves of the boat pulling the skier are fun to play on and starts jumping off of them… then the skier falls and the jet skier doesn’t see them in the water and… not sure if this is exactly what happened, but it is a very likely scenario. I’ll bite my tongue and not keep typing what I want to type so I don’t get hate mail from all the jet skiers in the world, but I will suggest this: anyone who buys a watercraft (boat, canoe, sailboat, jet ski, or other PWC) should have to attend a boater safety course. It just makes sense. I attended one when I was 12. They’re not difficult, but they do spell out the common sense that some people seem to be lacking.

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Brief Skiing Recap

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Just to recap a little bit… had a good footing set last night until I hit a log… manged a couple nice solid one foots and here’s a picture for your consideration.

As I said, I hit a log. Well we fished it out of the lake so we wouldn’t hit it again or have someone else someone suffer my same fate, or worse. I went back to the landing today to take a look at again and snapped a picture of it so you can see exactly what I hit. Still not sure how I don’t have a broken foot. Must be all the milk I drink. Sandy felt bad about me hitting the log since she was driving, but there really was nothing that she could do. She didn’t see it until it popped out of the boat wake and couldn’t really do anything. She stops, I’d slide into it, she turns, who knows what happens. I told her not to worry about it. My foot’ll be fine in a couple days. Just bruised badly now. Nothing broken.

One foot from Friday night

Here is the log I hit. My foot hit the end near my sandal. It was sticking up out of the water.

Anyway, had another footing set this morning with Dale and Sandy. Very early set, 530am. That’s 2 weeks in a row I’ve been up at the crack of dawn for some footing sets. Today I took the first set. Between the cut that is still healing on my right foot that gets re-opened a little each time I take a run and my very sore left foot from the log, my runs were comfortable, but I did have some nice runs. Kept them short though.

530am footing run

Next up at practice I snuck in a jump set before the show run thru. Putting on my jump ski was painful. It is swollen up just a bit. Hitting the ramp was painful. Hit the water on the landing even worse. Took 3 jumps. Ramp was a bit slicker than I’m use to since we now have running water on it. Kept my skis tight on the ramp, they stayed close together in the air but split apart a little before my landing, creating room for my ass to act as giant brake and popping the handle. With my ankle I was 0-fer the day, but had good jumps, just couldn’t take the landing. Would have had pictures, but for some reason the person using my camera didn’t actually take any pictures.

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Jump Set #2 of the Year

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Took another jump set tonight and it went well. Knees felt find and no pain other than just a little sore. Here are the pics…

Almost managed to get a picture of me in the air… my camera is really slow at taking pictures.

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Pretty good position in the air… straight up and down and arms kinda close in… skis did come apart a little on the ramp though. Good jump!

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I completely wussed out on this landing… my skis are aren’t nearly as flat as they should be, but it was a landable jump!

Nice shot of me in front of the terrace.

Straight up and down, flat skis… good jump!

All in all, a good set… landed 3 of 4 jumps. Decent position for me in the air… managed to keep my body straight up and down and my skis flat to the water. Gonna try and do this again tomorrow.

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