Here in the US, while we were all getting over our Turkey Hangovers last week, it seems some confusion has been mounting on the direction of Pro Ski Coach, and what this new thing called "wet jacket" is all about. So I'd like to dispel some confusion.
Pro Ski Coach was created to bridge a gap between Pro Skiers and the skiers out there who are not involved in water skiing at any significant level. For me, when I was growing up water skiing I was isolated - I was on a public lake with my family, none of which who were water skiers. This is the situation that Pro Ski Coach was really there to fill - if you didn't have a local guru to show you the path, maybe Pro Ski Coach could help.
As things have evolved over the years, multiple forums have cropped up all over the place. Knowledge is more and more available everywhere on the web. Although Pro Ski Coach has well over a million views just this year, I've sensed that it's time for a change. Some people are simply adverse to being coached, and in order to grow a change is needed.
Over the coming weeks you'll start to see some major changes here @ PSC. We'll be revamping, simplifying, and getting back to the true meaning of this site -- which is to offer professional lessons from the best skiers and coaches in the business. The Pro Ski Coach Forum has a wealth of knowledge available -- and it will stay available. However, no new posts are being made on that forum and I'd suggest you move your conversations to the wetJacket Forum.
Your Ski Log is a great little ap that lets you log your sets and track your progress over time. We'll be continuing development on Your Ski Log this winter, along with the Summer Shootout league.
You don't need a wetJacket account to use Your Ski Log or to use our Online Coaching. This may change in the future, but for now, wetJacket is available as a place for skiers to connect, share, and learn on your own terms.
wetJacket, Pro Ski Coach and Your Ski Log
The Centurion Carbon Pro Helps You Drive Straighter
It's nice to see a major boat company bringing real innovation to the waterski market. MasterCraft, Malibu, and Correct Craft have led the pack for years.
Ski Centurion out of California has spent the last few years dominating the Wake Surfing market. They actually hosted the first annual Wake Surf World Championships on the Mississippi river in downtown Minneapolis this past summer.
This fall they debuted their new Carbon Pro, and I've got to say it's one thing that has me excited about water skiing for next year. 
The brand New Centurion Ski Boat brings some of the most innovative featues to a ski boat since speed control. The cockpit features an adjustable Gunsight. The driver can adjust the sight to the left or right, giving each unique driver a way to sight straight down the starboard side gate line. While the best drivers in the world can handle keeping the boat straight on their own, your ski partner may not be. The gunsight makes it easy to keep the boat lined up.
The Centurion Carbon Pro has been approved by USA Water Ski to pull three event tournaments, and comes with the solid PCM Engine. Look forward to skiing behind this one at tournaments in 2011.
Most Common Water Ski Ankle Injury
In any sport, injuries happen. In waterskiing, many of our ankle injuries directly relate to our gear choice and our skill level. If your ninja cat balance isn't with you on the water yet, it may be a little early to make a move to hardshell bindings. You can get hurt in any boot, but the added rigitiy of the high end boots on the market will tend to punish the less experienced and more unbalanced water skiers.
RED: MyPH's line around the turn. Arrows indicate direction of ski travel (over head view)
BLUE: A faster, more efficient line.
That red line that MyPH is skiing, is how a solid 50% or more of waterski ankle injuries occur. It's hard to work through this strategic error in technique, because the line that MyPH is skiing is a natural line for skiers to ride when they get into the slalom course. Some pros can even make that line work.
The downside is, as you may imagine from the red line, you're trying to turn your ski much, much more than what is obtainable. You can't hold the angle out of the turn like that... you'll edge change before the second wake and go straight at the next buoy, and repeat.
Completing an extremely sharp turn after the buoy in hardshells is easy, and dangerous. In rubber boots, it's harder to whip your ski around like this at the finish, but if you did, rubber boots have more forgiving stiffness and releasability.
Let's just imagine that a skier who was on the red line crashed right at the end of the arrow. The tip got too deep, the ski went underwater and being a bada$$ skier, you're going to hold on. You keep your feet in the water and hands on the handle, the ski litterally will skip up and back into the water OR you will just get pulled over the side of your ski. You have a pretty decent shot of coming out of rubber boots in this crash (but not with ho approaches or connelly enzos.) In hardshells, if you're running a front reflex and a rear toe loop, you'll probably release in this crash. In any other hardshell system, it is virtually impossible for the release mechanism to decipher between a radical 120 degree turn over a distance of 10 feet, versus cutting behind the boat. Once your ski is between you and the boat, you're not going to release. The forces are simply directed down your legs and directly into the top of the ski -- if the forces are pointed down into the top of your ski, your chances for release are slim. This is where the majority of your achilies injuries occur.
The vast majority of waterskiers (75-85%) out there ski on the red line. Anything short of a great gate will automatically put you on this line... and cranking harder and harder turns through the finish seems like the only answer. When I made the switch to hardshell bindings, I remember taking plenty of crashes, trying to hold on to more than what's possible, right through the finish of the turn. (i didn't wear a neck brace, clinchers, and body armor). These turns feel cool, but are unsustainable from a physical durability standpoint.
If you do find yourself about to take this sort of fall, the best thing to do is roll onto your back. Mario is doing a great job in the fall above. He could have stayed on the red line, taken an unobtainable turn, and potentially take an ankle injury. Mario has decades of waterski experience and he's learned to complete this tuck-and-roll manuver to save his body. Sure, the crash looks extreme, but you're landing in water, and if you can do so on your back, the likelyhood of injury is dramatically reduced.
As we move into 2011, you'll see some new boot/binding systems become available. At this time, however, the Reflex front / rear toe plate back is the "safest" or most consistent release in this type of fall... but don't let that influence your purchasing decisions 100%. Remember, you can get hurt in anything, and it's your responsibility as the skier to protect yourself in the event of a fall. The best advice is to ski in control and in balance, no matter where those orange buoys are.
Update: MyPH sent me a message after I originally posted his picture in the forums under Moved to Hardshells. Unfortunately my warning about the red line came a little bit too late: two passes after that picture was taken, MyPH experienced the same fall and ankle injury that I'm talking about here.
Ski Safe!
Still On the Grind
Well, it's October. The leaves are turning and I'm excited to feel the cool air this Fall.
Logging Your Sets Is The Difference
I just finished up logging my sets from the Malibu Open in Milwaukee. I didn't do a good job of ski logging leading up to the event, and although I have skied and logged sets since the debacle, I waited until now to enter my sets from the Malibu Open at Juneau Park Pond.
Now's a good time for some re-encouragement to continue logging your sets at this time of year. It's easy to get distracted with the events of a summer, and even easier to get off track. The simple act of recording your thoughts -- via YourSkiLog or on paper, allows you to briefly re-live your set. It takes just moments to recall each of the passes you skied. By taking those simple moments to keep a true record of your skiing, all aspects of your sport will benefit. Your technique, your training habits, your internal motivation must all improve, and to maintain that sort of comitment, if you are not keeping a record you are cheating yourself.
You can use paper, but it's disposable, flamable, can get lost or stolen... Or you can trust YourSkiLog.com - worst case scenario you may loose a week's worth of sets. But certainly no more, and much more likely, we will maintain our trackrecord of securely hosting each Ski Log.
By writing thoughts down about your passes you'll give your brain a chance to catch up with what you may have learned during your sets. Do it.
Your Ski Log
Letter To the Pro Ski Tour
The Athletes and a Little Girl who couldn’t stand in line!
To The Pro Water Ski Tour,
My name is Kris Vanden Boom and am an avid water-skier, Husband to my wife Donna, and Father of four beautiful girls. I am writing this first and foremost as a thank you to all those at the Malibu Open that made this a very special event for my family and me. We arrived on Friday afternoon and saw the end of the qualifying round of Slalom and Jump. The kids had a blast and wanted to come back for Saturday’s finals. What was normal was the access we had to the pros that were there. This was completely expected but nonetheless, it was exciting to be so close. What was unexpected was the amazing attention we received as a result of the physical limitations of my daughter McKenzie!
On Saturday, we arrived early to get good seats. We were surrounded by chairs behind and on the sides making it difficult for us to come and go. After the semifinals were done and autograph signing was set up and two of my girls were in line. McKenzie, my other daughter was not able to get in line. You see, she was in her wheel chair and it was tough to get the chair through all the people and even more challenging for her to stand in long lines. That is when I walked up to Debbie Reed (one of the staff members for the pro ski tour) and asked if it would be possible to get a few athletes to come over to where we were sitting and sign McKenzie’s chair.
First, a few skiers that were close by came and signed Kenzie’s chair and spent some time talking to her about adaptive skiing. Among them were Terry Winter, Seth Stisher, Thomas Moore, Billy Susi, Cale Burdick, Jill Knutson (who offers Adaptive Waterskiing back at her school in Lake Stevens, Washington), and others. My mother in law was with us and she was even teary-eyed watching the whole thing. The level of engagement between these athletes and a little girl who couldn’t stand in line was wonderful and had Kenzie grinning from ear to ear. At this time Finals were also getting underway so people flocked to there seats and we were once again surrounded. I was extremely grateful to Debbie and thought that would be it. I had no idea that Debbie was diligently working to get more athletes over to us. One by one they weaved through the people to reach my daughter and give her and us some quality attention. Those around us were somewhat in awe and wonderment as to what was going on. Imagine the looks in there eyes when Marcus Brown made his way to Kenzie, got down, signed the chair, and began talking to us. Grandma had a few more tears. Later it was Chris Rossi signing our Nintendo DS and still later Brooks Wilson tracked us down at the bathrooms (are you kidding me). Seth Stisher set the kids up with H20 Shirts and Jodi Fisher provided Kenzie with a shirt that she has worn 7 out of the last 10 days. These athletes are far more than just accessible at these events. To say that is a complete understatement. Yes they want to promote the sport, product lines, boats, etc… In the end they are far more giving than any other group of athletes I can think of. Try getting this kind of response in the middle of a pro football game or baseball game. I was genuinely impressed by the interest that all of the coaches had around adaptive waterskiing. Seth Stisher, April Coble-Eller, and obviously Jill Knutson were just a few who really seemed interested. I would like to encourage all of the schools in the country to consider offering programs and providing equipment with the support of local therapeutic suppliers.
Finally, there were others signing the DS player and the chair but the final highlight came in the dark with a packed crowd when April Coble-Eller made her way over. She apologized for taking so long. The Malibu Open Women’s Champ, winning her first Major Pro Tournament, celebrating and enjoying the moment, apologized for taking so long!!! She gave almost all of her bracelets to my kids, spent time with McKenzie, shared pictures of her family, and just relaxed with us for a little while!
So, all in all, I would say we are ready for the Malibu Open to come back to Milwaukee next year. Until then, a heart felt thank you to all the athletes, to those who ran the event, Tinus Marine, and especially to Debbie Reed.
The Vanden Boom Family!
Watch the Malibu Open on WebCast-TV
Last Week's Malibu Open from Downtown Milwaukee was on tape delay. So, in case you haven't seen it yet, here it is in all its glory:
Skier's Development Wins 2010 Top Blog Award
Happy to report that a phone call came in today to inform me that our site has won an award for 2010 Top Extreme Sports Blog. Awards are cool!
Jeff Gilbert Shares His Driving Tips
Pro Tour Driver and Official Jeff Gilbert shares his Slalom Boat Driving Tips in our latest article. Jeff's article is a great drill down for high end slalom boat driving. If you haven't taken the time to read through the Slalom Boat Driving section, you're missing out.
It's excellent to work as hard on your boat driving as you do on your skiing. Without the skills necessary to keep the boat straight down the middle and in a good rhythm with the skier, you're going to have a hard time finding ski partners. The shorter that you go, the more of a difference the boat driving makes.
Your understanding of how to drive the boat well can help you better to comprehend what you need to do when you're on the other end of the rope, as well. Constantly striving for more knowledge and understanding of every facet of our sport is what will give you the most opportunity to learn more and ultimately apply those lessons to your own skiing.
New Hampshire Takes Week 7
The Summer Shootout League got a face lift last week as we brought you more comprehensive information of your team and each individual skier's performance during each week.
I'm excited to keep evolving our league into something that will have an even higher level of participation, causing more excitement on urban and public water ways.
You guys -- you can compete from home!
Week 7 Top Three:
7.25 New Hampshire Long Pondering
6.96 Midwest Rippers
5.69 Slalom Snipers
This means that on average the skiers from NH skied about 7 buoys better than their average last week. That's skiing anyone would be happy with!
New for week 8 is a recalculated average. For the remainder of the year we're going off your 4 best scores from skiing in the Summer Shootout. This should level out the playing field even more.
After 7 weeks, here are the season leaders:
New Hampshire 40.66
Slalom Snipers 38.09
Trophy Clam Jammers 35.94
Team GB 32.49
Canadian Buoy Killers 27.22
Utah Slalom Slashers 27.09
Berkely Wed. Night Ski League 19.31
Gotham City Slalom 18.77
South Carolina H2Oz Skiers 17.36
Midwest Rippers 17.35
2010 Malibu Open Video
Uploading a few videos each day from last week's Malibu Open. Powerusers have unlimited access. Thanks for your support!
Slow Motion Video Available for Power Users
It's June, and that means it's On!
I just drove up to Boston after attending the 51st Masters this past weekend. I was able to secure a great shooting location and managed to get some great pictures and video from the event. But that's not the real point I'm trying to make in this post.
If you've subscribed as a Power User, first off, Thank You for Your Support. I definitely would not be able to keep the site running without you folks. Over the past few weeks, I've been tinkering with a new Video Section here on the site. I'm excited to release it today for Power Users. It's still in the early developmental stages, so never mind the appearances of the new section. Like everything else we do here, it's a work in progress.
You can check out the new video section at http://www.proskicoach.com/video. I've uploaded Will, Nick, Jamie and Thomas Degasperi's 32,35 and 39 runs from Sunday at the Masters, as well as some older video and as I type I'm working through the Vancouver 2009 Pro Tour stop.
As time goes on we'll keep adding and adding to this video section. You're welcome to help out by uploading video of yourself or of anyone else waterskiing.
Some of you might be wondering why this is even important. "We have YouTube!" Yes.. there's YouTube, but you can't put YouTube into slow motion to analyze skiers, now can you?
Let me know what you think.
Mens Slalom Pictures: 51st Masters Tournament
Making the Cut for Men's Slalom:
Jamie Beauchesne 4.5@39
Nick Parsons 3@39
Thomas Degasperi 3@39
Will Asher 2@39 (Beat Parrish in Run Off)
Women's Slalom:
Whitney McClintock 4@38
Karina Nowlan 4@38
Regina Jaquess 3@38
Karen Truelove 3@38
Check back later for more pictures and updates from the Masters.
Blast from the Past: Jamie B Wins Indy 2001
Over the past few weeks I've been tinkering away at a new videos section that will launch here on ProSkiCoach.com in the near future. During this process I've had the pleasure of sifting through years of video files on my computer and I came across this little jem... Jamie B winning his first Pro Event, circa 2001 at Indianapolis. Enjoy!
35 off from the regular tournament round:
Cold 39 in the Run Off with Andy Mapple
2@41 Wins it
Supercross World Champ Heath Voss on MBTV!!
2004 Supercross World Champion, Team SYNDICATE Rider and Medina County goat roping runner-up, Heath Voss will be joining Marcus this Monday Night, May 17th at the usual time (6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern).
Earlier in 2010 he bagged a couple big Supercross wins overseas, in Liverpool and again in London. Now he'll join us Live from "The Compound" in Mico Texas, just a few short steps from the crystal clear waters of Medina Lake,....and fill us in, once and for all, on Who he is, Why we should care, and What the HELL riding a dirt bike has to do with laying down turns on a shred stick!
Don't miss this one!
http://www.pskic.com/chat or http://www.MarcusBrown.tv
Summer Shootout League Starts May 31
Just a few short weeks remain until the start of our first annual online water ski tournament. Teams will go head to head on a weekly basis and compete for the top spot. The highest ranked teams at the end of the regular season will be invited to H2Osmosis in Charleston, SC to compete for the league Championship!
To get started, log your sets using YourSkiLog. You'll get a Ski Log Ranking that includes a personal profile page where you can leave comments and check out what other skiers are riding.
You don't have to be a shortline skier to compete in the Summer Shootout. We'll use a handicap system to level the playing field for everyone involved. So get together with your ski partners and get organized! The shootout starts May 31.
Obama Administration Receives Invitation to Water Ski
I always have a mineature panic attack any time I get a phone call from a "UNKNOWN" phone number. Caller ID these days usually gives you a good heads up of who's on the other line before you answer... but these Unknown and Restricted numbers always make you do a double take. Have I payed my Credit Card bill? Is my bank account overdrawn?
This was my train of thought when I recevied one such call from, UNKNOWN. Turns out that the call came from the White House. They were looking for one Corey Humburg. I was instructed that the Obama Administration has received his invitation for the President to come rip a set at Corey's new Ski School in Virginia, Peace Love and Water Skiing. Should any time become available during the duration of the President's term, he'll be psyched to come hit the water
Cris Kodiak on MarcusBrown.TV Monday May 3
Tonight for this week's installment of MarcusBrown.Tv, Collegiate Water Ski Guru Cris Kodiak shares his insights on our sport, our industry, the success of College Skiing in the Midwest, and just about anything else we can throw at him. Check it out tonight at 9PM Eastern, 6 Pacific.
Tell your friends about this event! I know that the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers are on at about that same time, but priorities, people. Get the word out about our web show and look forward to improvements we'll be making in the coming episodes.
Snow and Water Shredder Taylor Garcia Apr 26
Mini shredder Taylor Garcia joins me tonight on MarcusBrown.tv! He's fresh off a J4 North Series Overall Championship here in California, and already logging trips to Florida to clean up his water skills for the upcoming season..jpg)
If you haven't heard of this guy yet....you probably want to log on tonight at 6pm, here at ProSkiCoach.com or at MarcusBrown.tv
I can't promise anything, but I do know he's as much a Character, as he is a skier! We should be in for a treat tonight!
Don't Miss It!
MB
Power User Content: Early Season Free Skiing
I've just posted the first article in our exclusive subscriber content section. If you've signed up to be a Power User, Thank you very much! We'll be debuting more articles for subscribers as the summer goes on.
For the first installment, check out Early Season Free Skiing
Chris Parrish on MarcusBrown.Tv
Tonight Chris Parrish will field your questions and chat with Marcus Brown, Live, in the PSC ChatBox or at MarcusBrown.Tv! Check it out at 9PM Eastern, 6 Pacific.
Proposed Rule Changes Bring Pro Skiers Together
In the last week, significant chatter was detected throughout my email box regarding a proposal to change the course dimensions to make Slalom Skiing more exciting. I know... you're thinking "How can slalom be even more exciting than it is already?" This seems like the response by most pros copied on the email list.
What's interesting here isn't the content of the new rule proposal, which will never pass a vote. The interesting thing is that it actually prompted a lot of discussion from pros like Chris Rossi, Marcus Brown, Will Asher, Rhoni Barton-Bischoff, Carly Clifton, Jaret Llewellyen, Seth Stisher, Jamie Beauchesne, Brian Kinney, Chris Sulivan, Whitney McClintock, Dan Odvarko, Aaron Larkin, and Kate Adriaensen.
In the past, mass email discussions like this as well as forum-based discussion for water ski pros only have fallen short of their goal. In the past, dialog was not created, few responses were seen, and generally no headway has been made.
With the suggestions made by pro skiers in the last week, it does look like there is positive energy out there to help us move our sport in the right direction. The overwhelming consensus is that this proposed rule change would not be helpful -- but it's great to see the people at the top of our sport putting in their two cents to help us all move in the right direction.
Slalom - New Rule Proposal:
14.07: General
……
The Men's final round shall start at the 14.25m pass and the Women's final pass shall start at the 16m pass unless changed by the Event Judges (See above)
Short version:
The first pass can be freely chosen. The second pass has to be 10,75m for men and 11,25m for women. If completing the 2nd pass the further shortenings stay the same (10,25m and 9,75m). If 2 or more skiers have the same score at 10,75m than the one who started with the shorter rope has the higher final score. (e.g. skier 1 starts at 13m pass, then runs 3 at 10,75m. skier 2 starts at 12m pass and also runs 3 at 10,75m. skier 2 has a better score than skier 1. no tie!)
Men's rounds shall start maximally at the 14.25m pass, Women's pass shall start maximally at the 16m pass unless changed by the Event Judges (See above)
The first pass can be chosen shorter than 14,25m. Second pass must be completed at 10,75m (12m national) for men and 11,25m (13m national) for women. Everyone who runs their first pass may continue at the second pass. If the second pass is completed with all 6 buoys than the skiers continue as before - standard shortenings. The number of buoys from 14,25m are counted, if 2 or more skiers have equal scores the one who started shorter has the bigger score.
Qualification/Rating events:
Qualifications/Ratings are only valid, if the previous pass got finished completely with exactly one speed lower or exactly one line longer. (e.g. if a skier gets 4 at 10,75m it only counts as qualification/rating if the skier completed 11,25m pass before.) During pure qualification events maximally 3 passes may be run, the first can be selected as warm-up.
Overall: (Suggestion)
The second passage should correspond the fifth after the starting speed. The buoys driven in the second passage get multiplied by the number of omitted passages plus one. Example: startspeed 13m, 12m and 11,25m are omitted, 3 devoted at 10,75m, that means 3x3=9 buoys, in addition the reached to 13m.
pro's:
the tournament will become a lot shorter (less time & gas, more interesting to watch)
there will be less ties the tournament will be more interesting for people to watch and it will be clearer who wins the best one wins nevertheless
Responses:
Chris Sullivan:
"Slalom skiing IS waterskiing. It is the most pure form of the sport. It is what waterski company's sales and existence are based on. Tournament skiing drives recreational skiing with mystical stories of amazing slalom sking and Tournament Champions. Changing the course changes nothing. If anything, we need to figure out how to relate to the spectator in a more simple manner what is currently happening. We can do a better job of simplifying the explanation. Speak in laymans terms. Slalom is ultimately very simple. The person who makes the most turns at the shortest rope wins."
Aaron Larkin:
"I am completely against this new proposal! We need to continue show casing the athletes ability, power and finesse it takes to run 10.75/25, NOT 13 meters! As the years have gone by it is apparent that more athletes have learn't how to run short line at the highest level, surely this increased level of close competition makes the events more exciting. Along with different format's (head to head, last man standing etc) and closer spectator interaction (Moomba sites), I believe this is the right direction for packaging our sport as an entertaining event."
Will Asher:
"I am pleased to see a lot of people rallying around this discussion, and presenting good ideas.
I am a Fan of restricting all skiers to 4 Passes, start at 15off 32 mph if you want, miss as many passes as you want, the bottom line, everyone gets 4 passes. The winner, is the skier making the most buoys at the shortest line, I think everyone would agree there are sites 32mph/15off is a very viable option! This format would give the Announcers a lot to talk about, strategy, personal strengths etc"
Seth Stisher:
"Thanks for giving us all the opportunity to weigh in. Quite simply I am amazed that someone really proposed this. Aside from (as someone mentioned) castrating slalom and dumbing it down (which is definitely the affect this would have) what does any of this have to do with making slalom better for spectators...? I will save my thoughts for later discussions, but wanted to say I strongly disagree and I think some of the points that have been mentioned in this barrage of emails are great."
It Must Be Ski Season
When you haven't seen updates here on the Pro Ski Coach homepage for more than a few days, you can probably assume that it's the beginning of the Water Ski Season. After a quick tour of the East Coast, driving from Boston through Richmond, VA, Charleston, SC and Orlando, FL, I've landed in Chatanooga Tennessee, where I'll be training for the next several weeks.
Aside from a moderate feeling of disappointment with the lack of posts thusfar this April, I've been skiing a lot and getting my time in on the Mountain Bike... I'm excited for this season!
I'm going to start releasing some articles for Power Users starting within the next few days. I'm getting some video together and some still pictures and I promise to keep you all up to date here soon.
Thanks for your patience -- look for a sweet free ski video on YouTube shortly!
Tadd Schreiber on MarcusBrown.Tv
Tonight Tadd Schreiber joins us from H2OProShop.com to talk about the pro tour, water skiing, H2Osmosis, and various other exciting topics. Check out the live chat box at http://pskic.com/chat tonight at 9PM Eastern / 6 Pacific!
Utah Ski Season Kicks Off
By Carly Clifton
Yesterday was my 3 third water ski set in over a year, the water temperature was 48 degrees the air was only 55, I was in a drysuit, which I hate to wear, but was much needed. After taking a year off from water skiing, I have realized that the love for the sport has not left me, and I am still crazy about it and am willing to go out and ski in any conditions. It was sunny in the morning while we were out skiing and by 4 o'clock in the afternoon it was snowing. When we came out of the cove and onto Utah Lake to get back to the boat launch the wind had picked up to around 30 mph and there were 3 to 4 foot swells on the lake, it felt like we were on the ocean as the Malibu we were in was taking on water and we were all getting soaked, I was even a little scared we were going to capsize, it made for an adventure getting back. 
Even though the weather was a little cold, and we had to drive through an ocean to get home, yesterday was an awesome day in Utah, I met up with some veteran Utah water ski club members, Mark Chilcutt and Scot Chipman who allowed me to come out and get my first set of the season. It felt so good to be back out on the water, I personally was only doing some free skiing, while Mark Chilcutt was already out running 28 off and Scot Chipman was already running 35, it really made me want to get back into the course and start running buoys again, but I also wanted to save my body, and slowly get those water ski muscles back in shape. I am looking forward to skiing again this year with some great people out here in Utah, it's going to be pretty crazy here in a few days when Im snow skiing in the morning up at Alta and water skiing in the afternoons!!! I am joining the Utah team for the Pro Ski Coach Shoot out and this Utah team is going to be pumped and ready to go for the Charleston Event at the end of the year!
Sumer Shootout Championship Format
We're discussing the format for the Summer Shootout Tournament of Champions.
It will be a multiple elimination tournament, held at H2Osmosis Training Center in Charleston, SC on the weekend of September 24. The tournament will be a multiple round elimination, featuring the top 2-6 teams, dependent on how many skiers we have on each team.
When the league starts May 31, teams with less than 6 skiers will be combined so that all the teams have a minimum of 6 skiers. So Invite your Friends to Join Your Team!
The top teams will have a chance to compete for the year-end title In Person. How we work the elimination is under discussion. We'll take the top skiers from each team to the finals.
But how many rounds should there be? One qualifying, another seeded round with the whole field, and then take the top skiers from the seeded round to the finals? Do you have a better idea? Post your thoughts at the Summer Shootout Championship Tournament thread.
Aaron Larkin on MarcusBrown.Tv Monday March 15
After a week's hiatus, Monday Night will see the return of MarcusBrown.Tv.
In this weekly web show, our host Marcus Brown interviews personalities from around our sport of water skiing. Tune in every Monday Night at 9PM Eastern, 6PM Pacific throughout this spring while Marcus takes us all over the world.
This week's Guest Co-Host is Aaron Larkin, fresh off a victory at the first tournament of the year: the Moomba Masters.
Log in and watch the live video and participate in the Pro Ski Coach ChatBox.
FifteenOff TV Episode 1
Joel Hughes over at FifeenOff.com is jumping into the internet tv arena starting with this first episode of FifteenOff. I'm sure this will be another web show that will evolve as we get closer to this summer... from Joel: "That's what you get from me in the beginning of March while I'm waiting at home for these hardwood flooring guys to show up at my house."
This week there will not be a MarcusBrown.Tv Episode, as Marcus is in Australia for the Moomba Masters. We'll be updating the Moomba Masters Results as the weekend progresses... and we may have a quick video update from Marcus at some point during the weekend.
Trent Finlayson on MarcusBrown.Tv Tonight
This week's web show is tonight, Sunday February 28th. Marcus Brown is traveling to Australia tomorrow for the 50th Moomba Masters, so our weekly chat is a day early.
Trent Finlayson has promised to make an appearance tonight -- so expect to see him live with Marcus at 6PM Pacific, 9PM Eastern.
Log in to watch in the ChatBox
Summer Shootout Team Tournament of Champions
No Ski League is complete without it's own Championship Event. USAWS Has Nationals, NCWSA Has All-Stars, INT Has Championships... and the Summer Shootout League has the Team Tournament of Champions (name under review).
What is this?
The Top Teams at the end of the Summer Shootout Will be Invited to Participate in a Team Championship Tournament. The Team Tournament is tentatively set for the weekend of September 24, 2010 at the H2Osmosis Training Center in Charleston, SC. Details are in the works, but it will be a multiple-round elimination tournament featuring the best 2-4 teams from the Summer Shootout.
There are already teams from New Hampshire, South Carolina, Georgia, Canada, and Utah. There's been interest from California, Oregon, Michigan, Tennesee and Minnesota... as well as the Midwest and Toronto.
The Summer Shootout League is scored by a handicapping system that awards skiers who are able to improve their scores from week to week. The league exists for you to have fun with your friends, outside the formality of USAWS-style competitions. Let's have some fun, get excited about skiing, and grow the sport in the process.
So get your Power User subscription, dial in your ski log, and create or join a team today!. The clock is ticking until the league kicks off May 31st.
Wade Williams on MarcusBrown.Tv Tonight
Wade Williams will be live this evening with Marcus Brown on our weekly live web show. Tune into the Pro Ski Coach Chat to participate, tonight at 9PM Eastern, 6 Pacific.
Summer Shootout League Filling Up
Only 100 Days Remain to sign up for our Summer Shootout League. Scoring starts up on May 31, 2010. So far there are 6 teams, with about 15 skiers signed up so far:
| Slalom Snipers | ||
| New Hampshire Long Pondering | ||
| Pigeon Lake Water Ski Bouy Killers | ||
| South Carolina H2OZSkiers | ||
| Utah Slalom Saints | ||
| 6. | Whitestone Deliverance | 1/12 |
Create a Team Today!
MB Live Featuring Personal Trainer Jenny LaBaw
This week's webcast featured personal trainer Jenny LaBaw. It's packed with fitness info, stretches and exercises specific for waterskiers.
Marcus Brown Live from Utah Boat Show
Tune in Monday Night to see the latest installment of Marcus Brown's Face to Face Webcast. We'll be watching it in the Pro Ski Coach Chatbox -- 9PM Eastern, 6PM Pacific.
Marcus made a quick broadcast from the Utah Boat show -- he shows off the new HO Exo boots and talks with exhibitors from the show.
Ski Log Analytics Available Now
If you've Subscribed as a Power User, you can now access Ski Log Analytics. This feature of Your Ski Log lets you visualize all of your logged sets over time. By Clicking and Dragging over the chart, you can zoom into any section of your logged skiing. Clicking on an individual score pulls up that set right below the chart - where you can see your ski settings, the conditions you skied in, and all the other details you saved for that set.
This new feature is still in brand new, and support for older versions of Internet Exploder is in questionable. It works great in FireFox, Safari and Google Chrome. If you have any problems viewing your Analytics, please post in the Support Forum.
How the Summer Shootout League Works
We're still working out the details for this Summer's team ski league event. Here's what we're thinking so far. Please give us feedback on the Summer Shootout Forum.
-> Individuals will be scored based on their performance over their Ski Log Average, or SLA.
-> Any skier without a Ski Log Average (SLA) will have their SLA set after the first week of skiing. This means that if you don't have a SLA, your first week's score will be a zero.
-> If you ski above your SLA, you'll have a positive score. If you don't ski up to your potential, you'll have a negative score.
-> To Compete, you'll have to ski in a local Shootout Event.
-> Anyone can organize a Summer Shootout Event - you just need at least 3 skiers.
-> You can organize your shootout for any time of the week, at whatever site you want.
-> USAWS, INT League, or other organized ski tournaments may count as Shootout Events
-> Skiers at a Shootout Event don't have to be on the same team, but they can be.
-> Each skier will need to ski in a Shootout Event to get their weekly score.
-> If you can't make a Shootout Event, we'll dock your score 5% for skiing by yourself.
-> To remove the incentive to ski on a pristine public lake, we'll award a Handicap Differential to any Shootout Event in which all the skiers average below their SLA. So if the conditions are a factor, we'll balance this out.
-> Team scores will be composed of the best individual's scores on each team. So if a skier on your team can't get a set in, or skis poorly in any one week, the rest of your team can pick up the slack.
-> Anyone can create or join a team. We're encouraging regional teams, but the league is open to anyone.
-> You have to be a Power User to participate.
MB Face to Face # 6, Monday Feb 8
Tomorrow evening we'll have Marucs' next webshow installment. This week's guest host will be Todd Ristocelli, Pro Skier and editor of the Water Ski Magazine.
After a couple hours of tweaking and testing today, it looks like this week's webcast will be the best one yet -- we've eliminated the Echo-echo-echo-echo that was there last week, and the Picture in Picture viewing of our Guest Co-Host is working much better now!
Tune in at 6PM Pacific, 9PM Eastern to see the show in the ChatBox.
The Inside Edge with Will Asher
Water Ski Magazine has debuted their first installment of their newest feature, "The Inside Edge". In this video, Will Asher critiques some of his own skiing.
Fireside Video Chat with Marcus Brown and Seth Stisher
Monday, February 1st at 9PM Eastern / 6PM Pacific, -- in case you missed it, here's the video from the ChatBox.
Downtown Milwaukee Pro Event Gaining Steam
I'm happy to report that all systems are GO for the most highly anticipated pro water ski event that our community has seen in years: The 2010 Milwaukee Pro Event [official event title forthcoming]. Here's what Dana Reed, director of Pro Slalom Events, had to say:
The dates are August 6-7 Friday and Saturday, with a Saturday nite finals
Fortunately, Malibu Boats has stepped up to the plate as the official towboat sponsor for this event. At this point, the event stands approximately $60,000 short in sponsorship funding. We have every hope of adding Women's Slalom and Jump to the event, but as it stands, only Men's Jump and Slalom are scheduled. If your business is interested in becoming a part of what will become a regular event during Milwaukee's Summers, please get in touch with [email protected] to learn about sponsorship opportunities.
ProSkiCoach now on Flikr
My 2004 Power Book that has been powering most of the ProSkiCoach site for the last few years is standing, quite wobbly, with a cane, on it's last legs. It could go down at any time. So I decided to take out as many birds with one stone as possible.
You can check out a menagerie of photos on Flikr, if you're totally bored. I think I uploaded nearly a gigabyte from the past several years. There's a lot of waterskiing from SkiTek, a lot of biking from around the country, and some other random stuff.
So, if you have absolutely nothing better to do, scope it out.
In the future I'll be adding any photos I take to the Pro Ski Coach Flikr Page, so you'll be able to scope them out with just a few clicks.
FinamaJig Now Available Through H2Osmosis
The latest slalom geek tool, the FinamaJig is now available for purchase! You can get your FInamaJig exclusively through H2Osmosis.
The FinamaJig lets you save and reproduce fin settings in seconds. The FinamaJig is a great way to set up a new ski with your old ski's fin settings, or set a friend's ski to your saved settings.
Currently, the adjustable FinamaJig is available. Later this summer, FinamaJig Modules will become available. These plastic pieces will pop into your existing adjustable FinamaJig. The modules will come pre set with which ever fin setting you are interested in, such as factory settings, or a specific professional's recommended settings.
The FinamaJig is Pro Ski Coach LLC's first fin tuning tool brought to market. It currently works with HO, Radar, D3, Goode, and Connelly skis.
Marcus Brown Live Chat Number 4
Last night Marcus hosted his fourth webchat here at Pro Ski Coach. The new time of 6PM Pacific, 9PM Eastern looks like it will become the norm for the time being, so mark your calendar for the following few Monday Nights!
This week, we changed up the format a little bit. Dave Wingerter was this week's guest co-host. Marcus kicked off by chatting with Dave about his life, how he grew up skiing, and his work as Brand Manager and head of Research and Development for HO Sports.
Towards the end of the Show, Marcus talked about the Tortise and the Hare West Coast Slalom Discussion, and finished up with questions from the chatbox.
We're still working out all the kinks in this new internet broadcast, so we got off to a little bit of a late start. The webcast was also split into two pieces:
Be sure to catch next week's chat, which baring any technical difficulties, will have Seth Stisher from H2Osmosis co-hosting from Costa Rica!
Catch the next show Monday night at 6PM Pacific, 9PM Eastern. (that's 8PM Central, 6PM Mountain time!) For those of you from overseas, sorry about the scheduling, but we'll have the recorded program available.
Jan 25 Live Chat 6PM Pacific
Marcus Brown will be hosting another live Fireside Video Chat tonight
at 6PM Pacific, that's 9PM Eastern time.
You Know You're a Skier When...
->You sit around during the winter, compiling lists of how you know you're a skier, when...
- The depth of the garage and slope of the driveway are major factors in any home purchase
- You're better at predicting weather than actual meteorologists
- You find yourself calculating "whether a course will fit" in every borrow pit and pond you pass while driving
- You've used a doorway at home or at work for some sort of lean drill
- You've practiced your reach while pushing the lawn mower - JHughes
- You will take trade two hours out of your day for 15 minutes of actual ski time and consider it the best two hours of the day
- You wake up earlier when on vacation than when you are working -tjo
- You are on this ProSkiCoach.com at least twenty five times a day -Pl0tz
- Your Boat is a 2005 and your truck is a 1995! -h2odawg79
Next Fireside Ski Chat Monday, January 25
Marcus Brown is a little scattered this week during travel, so we're going to plan the next live Ski Chat for next Monday night.
We're still evolving this new offering, and we're committed to make it the best it can be. We've had several forum discussions about Marcus' live chat series. If you haven't given us your thoughts yet, please Go For It.
So check in Monday, January 25 at 5PM Pacific, 8PM Eastern to join the chat!
Monday Night Ski Chat
With the end of Monday Night Football, some of you might be at a loss for something to do tomorrow evening.
So Marcus Brown is going to be hosting the third in his series of Live Web Chats at 5PM Pacific, 8PM Eastern tomorrow Night, Monday January 18th.
Marcus is going to be heading up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Jamie Beauchesne and Richard Ableson have been snow skiing for the past few weeks.
So it should be a great chat, both for slalom skiers, trick skiers, and just everyone in general. Take some time out of your monday evening to check it out!
Log in to the ChatBox to participate!
2010 Summer Shootout League
I'm excited to announce the latest section of ProSkiCoach.com: The 2010 Summer Shootout League.
Sign up, create a team, and compete with your friends and other skiers from all over the world this summer in an online ski tournament! To be scored, all you have to do is join the league and log your sets in MySkiLog.
Check it out: Online Water Ski League
Talk about it: Water Ski Forum Post
You'll have have a Power User Subscription to participate!
Become a Power User
Last week we rolled out the ability to become a PSC Power User.
I've heard from several skiers that they want to help support the website, which is a real encouragement. A lot of folks are improving and learning from our community, and I'm happy that it's worked out this way. Luckily people realize that it's not free to run the site, and it does take a lot of work. So I really appreciate the requests to help out.
I didn't just want to open things up for donations -- I want to give you something in return. So, You can now subscribe to ProSkiCoach.com for $1 per week. Your subscription will help keep me motivated to improve the site more and more.
I'm also excited to make another announcement in the near future about the first Power-User only feature.
Read More about Becoming a Power User
Introducing USAWSAWB
USAWSAWB (pronounced, "you-saws-aub") is considering the final official name change that they will likely need to undergo before complete self destruction. With atleast 3 executive directors since 2005 and an extremely high office turnover rate, the organization is clearly in distress, and has no clue how to fix their problems.
If USAWSAWB was a football team, it would be up for sale.
Letter by Jim Grew about Changing USA Water Ski To USA Water Ski And Wake Board
I'm just glad to see that absent from this proposal is how it will affect or improve membership satisfaction from the folks like myself that have been giving them $70 per year in order to be able to pay for tournament entry fees.
It's better to do one thing really, really well, instead of trying to do too many things and do them all poorly.
And if we went ahead and surveyed all the wake boarders out there (who already have their own governing bodies) they would say "Why the F is AWSA getting involved?"
