A sunny day to try a new ski

The weather was beautiful for the Radar Demo Day.  A big thanks to Matt Rini, Mike Ferraro, Whitney McClintock and Lou Thomas for coming out.  The crew was busy with anxious skiers trying new skis during their “winter” break. 

The docks were full and the north wind made skiing on the main and turnpike a little more challenging.  Those wanting great conditions were patiently waiting for the east west course. 

The temps cooled down for the night ski so only two skiers were willing to try Noah Velke and Lou Thomas

Gene Daulton #1 night ski fan

had a mini competion but came out a tie.   Gene Daulton, is crowned the biggest night ski fan and gets first class reservation in the boats.  We try to encourage her to ski, but she prefers watching as opposed to jumping into the night water.  She is a tough gal and one day, we will get her to partake. 

John Shealy was indicted into the grill cooking of celebrity cookers.  There is a long list of cookers including, Brad Cox, Linda Zibelli, Patrick, Larjoski (fired) and Krispy (retired).  See photos. 

John Shealy Burger Crusher

Fire Marshall Brad

Chicken Cookin Linda

Shirtless Cooker, Patrick

There were compliments of the decision to buy real meat for burgers and not the Bubba Burger meat substitute.  But there was some confusion of who would actually pat the meat into burger shapes. 

Thanks to everyone for a good day and a good time. 

See more photos in our story book. 

Mike Baldwin won the mens segment and he skied a total of 8 times in one day.  Many others skied almost as much between 4-7 sets in one tournament.  Even though there were only 4 women, it was still exciting because the women did not get a break.  Laurie (moi) and Brenda skied 4 rounds in a row, and I can personally say, I had more energy in the last round than the first.  Good skiing to Trish and Patricia as well.

The plan for the night ski did not work out because most skiers were not up for much skiing after this experience.  Thanks to Charlotte for organizing a nice dinner at Duffys and the back room was full of skiers and friends.

The record tournament the next day was also a success with a lot of good skiing and great conditions.  See you next year!  PHOTOS

US Senior Word Team and Independents

The town of Segrate, Italy near Milan hosted the 35+ Worlds and  the tournament organizers were very welcoming and proud of their water ski site.  From what I understand, it is similar to Okeeheelee because it is part of a Parks and Rec project.  The conditions were a little more difficult than our perfect conditions we ski in 365 days a year. 

The first day was raining and a balmy 69 degrees.  It was difficult coming from 95 degree temperature and entering into the rashguard and black spandex pants for warmth.  I was a little nervous because of the weather, but even more wiggy because I could not run 28 off the day before, but I managed a rodeo and squeeked out 5 at 32 off in the preliminary. 

The atmosphere at the Worlds is different than our usual tournaments we ski at every weekend.  There are usually flags flying, high pitch screaming, and a lot of hugging and encouragement no matter what country you reside.  There is also an emergency espresso stand to boing you back into shape after your trips into Milan. This espresso stand also accomodates you with a cold beer to either celebrate your wins or dive into depression.   

One item you must not forget is the GPS map of Italy.  Leaving the airport in your little car that your 64 inch ski sticks out the back, you will break into a sweat once you get onto the roads.  The standard 5 speed that you cannot get into first gear, will leave you with echos of Italian drivers honking their horns behind you.  When it takes you 3 hours lost to find the ski site, and many round-a-bouts, you want to pull over and cry.  I think I actually witness this with another older man driver that I passed multiple times on the round-a-bout.  After my 5th time passing the same gas station, I found him hanging out his driver door with his head in his hands.

Each evening there is a buffet dinner provided in the hotel where most countries gather.  We had a nice opening ceremony with munchies and champagne, gulp, gulp.  There was a sushi bar at the hotel and I probably ate more sushi than Italian food.  On-site there was a portable food trailer that served fresh salads with feta cheese and I think I ate lasagna every day.

For the finals we had better weather and sunshine, but I could not get my head or strength together and only managed 3.5 at 32 off and spent the next 30 minutes in the pick up boat.  One day, I vant to beat da Russian!

Congratulations to all the USA Team! PHOTOS

You can find out more about our team and the winnings here (compliments of USA Water Ski)

Samantha Dumala of Wellington won the Girls II Slalom national championship at the 68th GOODE Water Ski National Championships. The competition was held Aug. 8-14 in Wilmington, Ill.

Dumala, 13, entered the competition as the No. 5-ranked skier in the country. Her sister, Danielle, is ranked 19th. They train with their father, Mike, at Okeeheelee Park.  See this news in the Palm Beach Post

Women 3

Congratulations to the following ski club members who placed in the Southern Regional Championships at Jack Travers.

Girls 2
2nd place: Samantha Dumala
Women 2
5th place: Karen Moon
Women 3
2nd place: Trish Burt
Women 4
1st place: Laurie Lindsey
5th place: Becky Lathrop
Women 5
4th place: Kelly Dace
Women 6
3rd place: Pat Keeler – Tricks

Women 4

Men 2
1st place: Patrick Rosevear
Men 3
4th place: Jeff Kepchia
Men 4
2nd place: John Shealy
Men 5
3rd place: Mark Boz
4th place: Joe Luzoro – Tricks
Men 6
1st place: Dennis Longo – Tricks, Jump and Overall

Please wish the following skiers good luck on their travels to the US Water Ski Nationals in Chicago. August 8th – 14th
Danielle and Samantha Dumala
Jeff Kepchia
John Shealy
Patrick Rosevear
Lowell Eckstein
Joe Luzoro
George Levein
Mark Boz
Dennis Longo
Chuck Holmes
Trish Burt
Leza Harrison

Men 4

The PB'ers

Kevin Shealy was the “favored” skier of the day and received two (2) re-rides.  One because of weeds and the other for a boat that kicked up some rollers.  We can verify the weeds by the confirmation of this photo.

 

Weed Ride

Patrick Rosevear complained of a sore shoulder, but it was just an excuse as we can see by his great form in this slide show.  There was also talk that he dis-liked hippies.Click to view slideshow.

There was also a really cool computer system we were experimenting with for the gate camera’s. 

Thanks to Charlotte for organzing a dinner at Duffy’s afterwards.  Everyone had a great time.  You can get the scores here on USA Water Ski

Brad Cox scored a PB of 4 buoys at 35 off.  (If you have a PB, post it on our PB

John Shealy on a mission

 section of this site).  Trish Burt just wants just 1/2 more buoy but did a great job getting 4 at 35 off.  Skip Dunlap was happy with his first round tournament and gave credit to the pasta carbo loading at Laurie’s house the night before.  Roger Clark was feeling a bit under the weather and did’nt manage to ski as well as he wanted.  There was a sighting of George Tracy jumping up and down fist in air after his run, so we assume he is happy.   

There were a few new young skiers to compete Andrew Dunlap in B2 and Michael Rub in B3.  Welcome!

A special thanks to Ski-p and Art for providing us with a last minute 2010 Nautique to use.  Thanks to all the officials and skiers for your help. 

Results

Skip

About 20 Cheerleaders who were a big help to us at the 2009 Water Ski Nationals had a great time learning to ski with the Ski Club of the Palm Beaches members and friends. 

There were several who got up on their first try and others who had a fear of the water but still were brave enough to jump in. 

The Ski Club of the Palm Beaches thanks the volunteers for their help and we hope you enjoyed your day.  More Pictures

Don't power the boat back with the hook attached to the car

I know alot of people are curious about my Toyota Tundra going in the water. The 2006 mastercraft I’ve been using belongs to Bill Scotton of Dover Delaware. Bill was here for a week skiing with me and his boat. Bill is very inexperienced in boating. I backed the boat down the ramp and started to get out of the car to release the winch strap, when I noticed the car (trans in Park and emergency brake on), slip back a few inches. Bill had the boat in reverse. I jumped in the car and kept my foot on the brake. I tried to lean out the window to tell bill to get the boat out of reverse. Being rather short I couldn’t get my head out the window and keep pressure in the brake at the same time, so the car slid back another two feet. I applied full pressure on the brake and yelled “go forward”. Bill didn’t understand that and applied mucho reverse and pulled the Toyota in the water. Bill has never used the boat in his limited experience to!
help a car get up the ramp and didn’t know he could go forward.

This story has a happy ending. Instead of a 2003 truck, I am now driving a 2009 Toyota 4-runner with extra air bags that when inflated look suspiciously like a life ring.