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View Full Version : Skiing going the way of the Dodo bird?



moombabound
09-18-2008, 06:11 PM
Can't get enough of it personally. Late life bloomer; year 4 now. But there are too many other distractions for the younger crowd. Last year, my son (now 14) stated in the spring he wanted to focus on water skiing and get good at it. Right. Exit the old run-about, enter the Outback V, and skiing is almost a distant memory for him. Splits his time between skating, boarding and surfing. Skied only twice all season. His friends at the lake have no interest in skiing whatsoever. Though we're on a quiet lake, seeing another skier is a rare novelty. Nobody my age skis, even if they have prior background, because it's wayyyyy too much work. Add to that, the '09 Outack V appears to have been reshaped to create more wake...well there's proof in the pudding the builders are less concerned about a cross-over boat and focused on bigger wake. Other observations?

PS (Lord, please help the builders find a way to make a true cross-over boat. Ski and surf. Before I'm too old)!

MrsZ
09-18-2008, 07:46 PM
Skiing is alive and well in this family! I still love skiing the most although I will always try (and enjoy) other water sports. Skiing is the the main thing. My son, 11 years old, loves skiing, wakeboarding, kneeboarding and surfing. But he likes skiing the best. He MAY be a little influenced by Zegm and me but it is not really intentional. He likes to try the ski course. He wants to beat me one day...maybe not too very far away. Sorry for rambling but we Still LOVE skiing here! You are not alone! :)

moombadaze
09-18-2008, 08:10 PM
funny in that for the last 1/2 of the summer ive seen more peeps skiing than the last 5yrs or so on our lake, makes me wish i never got rid of my slalom ski.

Waynes345
09-18-2008, 08:21 PM
It's harder to ski these days than it was when I was a kid because there are more boats and most of them are pulling tubes. We ski early and late when the water is best and I think I've seen more skiers this year as well. I'm looking forward to the next few weekends as the lake empties out and we can run sets during the afternoon. My 11 year old daughter and her friend are now diehards as well. I'll winterize the boat in mid October and start tuning the snow skis.

Signed,

A Proud FIB WAT AAS (and a ski)

maxpower220
09-18-2008, 08:48 PM
makes me wish i never got rid of my slalom ski.

They have made more slaloms skis, you should get a new one. A new one is probably even better than your old ski.

Mrs.Daze
09-18-2008, 09:05 PM
A Proud FIB WAT AAS (and a ski)


:lol: I couldn't remember who the other IL members were.


They have made more slaloms skis, you should get a new one. A new one is probably even better than your old ski. Come on Maxpower220, he's gotten enough new toys lately!

BensonWdby
09-18-2008, 10:42 PM
Problem is the younger crowd is a more 'immediate rewards' type. With computers and video games and the internet, things are easy... Wakeboarding is easy to learn , two skis is not that much harder, but slalom takes some persistence. I have a lot of stories over the last 37 years of skiing (actually 41, but I only count slalom years) and introducing people to it.

I never find it boring, and always am working at improving. I think I have actually gotten better over the last 5 years. It helps keep me young. Problem is finding others my age to go with, so I enlist anyone, at least to spot if nothing else. We actually convinced the neighbors landscape crew to ride with us last summer during their break so I could have a spotter.

My son is a serious video gamer and he fell for the big air show of wake boarding. Until he realized that the big air came with a lot of big splashes. That plus the fact that I did not get on board and we were frequently struggling with the logistics of filling and emptying the fat sacks so he could board and I could ski. Just did not work out. He is now a skier - sort of - but his life style currently keeps him away from the lake .

wolfeman131
09-18-2008, 10:49 PM
Last week we saw more slalom skiers than anything else! During one run with the girls on their skis, we passed 3 slalom skiers AND a boat pulling double slalom skiers. We saw a Supra with surfers and a MC with a wakeboarder.

My girls want to learn to slalom next year (oh, Mrs. Z - I'm gonna need some help!) and a wakeboard for XMas. It will be interesting to see if either one gets more use than the other. Either way, I hope they forget about the tube!

maxpower220
09-18-2008, 10:56 PM
What is even more disappointing is: younger people in my boat don't even know what a barefoot boom is. Most boarders have seen people ski, board, surf, skate, but I am surprised at how many have never seen a barefooter.

At least with less skiers, slalom courses aren't crowded.

Sled491
09-18-2008, 11:01 PM
On my lake (and I've counted) there are 26 tournament ski boats and only 2 real wakeboard boats. There a couple of IO wanna bees but that's the count. There are a few good skiers, and no good wakeboarders. My 8 year old has been on his slalom 2 yrs now complete with high wrap binding and consistent deep water starts. The kid just soaks up all the coaching the Mrs and I hand out. He has tried surfing, is mildly interested in knee boarding, and almost no interest in wakeboarding.

This may change I understand, but for now the kid sucks up all the ski time that he can. I have great hopes for him.

We all ski, and as you may have noticed from other posts on this Skiing board I am a die hard as well. We're not going anywhere soon, count on it!

moombabound
09-18-2008, 11:43 PM
Wow! So glad to hear hypothesis = false in many parts.

I almost forgot about the O'Brien Junior Celebrity combo set in the back of the basement. It was under the Xmas tree when the older son was 8. Barely used, because he was onto a slalom ski in no time. Had such potential...until that damn Moomba showed up (joking)! Anyhow, the younger son (11) has no interest in skiing either. Hasn't even tried it. All wakeboard and kneeboard (and [gulp] fishing). Despite seeing both his folks ski regularly. But we'll keep offering...

kaneboats
09-19-2008, 10:38 AM
My oldest girl learned to ski but hadn't slalomed when she put on the wakeboard for the first time. She never picked up the skis again. The second one started right on the wakeboard and has never skied. The twin boys haven't done the wakeboard but asked to try the skis. They have both been up on skis and are really excited about it. I try to do both. I grew up a skier but I find the wakeboard ride much easier on my knees, even with a little jumping and some tricks. I would like all of the kids to ski, wakeboard and surf. Why limit yourself? Everybody has a favorite ride, but it's all fun. Plus, with all this equipment you can easily "forget" to bring the tube.

Hodag
09-19-2008, 01:06 PM
Slalom is still king for us - we still wakboard and tube as well, but only after a few slalom runs, or if the lake is to choppy for a good pull.

Mikey
09-20-2008, 10:44 PM
I ski first most with kids doing a little bit of everything.I/we have taught our kids to learn to read the water and we ski when water is the best first and before other boat chop etc builds other toys come out ie wakeboards kneeboards /tube.We try to judge the conditions and use the appropreate Toys.This way we try to get the best conditions for everyone wanting to do or try and all have fun. We are not hard core wakeboarders so this might be different priorities than others but this way we get the kids to be/become a little more well rounded in there activities. Also Dad owns the boat and always wants to get a ski in where possible.LOL

FearTheElf
09-22-2008, 05:07 PM
100% of my decision to buy an Outback was to slalom. I have a wakeboard and a tower on my boat, but I barely use it. Don't get me wrong I enjoy fiddling with the wakeboard (especially when I'm out of energy from skiing, or when the lake isn't as smooth); I'm just not very good at it. I'd rather work on improving my slalom sets. We were just at Lake Norris in TN for four days, and we skied about 85% of the time we were there. A few runs on the wakeboard, but that didn't last long.

I'm 30 years old, so you could put me in between "old school" and the younger generation that seems to be boarding/skating/surfing and less interested in skiing. I owe by bias to my Dad, who was a slalom junkie when he was younger. I guess my point is: it depends on what you are exposed to. So keep the kids interested in the sport!

By the way, my pops is 64 years old and was just up on a slalom the other day!

deerfield
09-22-2008, 09:17 PM
If I'm behind the boat, it's on one ski. If I'm driving the boat, I don't care what I'm pullin' as long as people are having fun.

kaneboats
09-23-2008, 09:27 AM
I was like Deerfield for a long time till I got older and heavier. Now I appreciate getting a run in when I can but also doing some boarding and other stuff so I don't end up sitting in the boat all day. It is much easier to wakeboard and I have enjoyed it more as I have improved.

zegm
09-23-2008, 09:14 PM
Our only problem is finding storage for:
2kneeboards
2wakeboards
1pairs skis
3 different slalom skis
and a surf board

best part of this is:
no room for a tube!!!! :D


Man that almost sounds like a lyric, maybe I could write inboard boat song, a country music song!!!!
Naw, somehow I would have to find a way to include a woman in there???

helix_rider
09-24-2008, 12:06 PM
I 'found' skiing after wakeboarding, but my LSV is not set up for a novice skiier...I have eaten it so hard a couple of times (flying across the water in a full cartwheel type maneuver). To ski, (which I find much more exhausting...but one of the reasons I like it, it gives me a better workout...I can ride a wakeboard for 1 hour straight...but only ski hard for like 20 minutes max), I use my jetski. Getting up slalom is a little work, but I usually get it 1st or 2nd try...you should see the looks I get on the lake, flying 34 mph behind the jetski...pulling it all over the place when I am in a turn...I love it. But if you asked me to give up a sport, that ski would be on eBay before you could say 'Moomba rocks'.

kaneboats
09-24-2008, 01:30 PM
Naw, somehow I would have to find a way to include a woman in there???

When I load her up she's loaded ...
Got three skis in her arms,
A tube wraped round her neck,
And a surfboard on her chest.
A cooler under her feet
And still Lord she's the best.

I'll always love her dearly,
If I'm a castle she's my moat
But' I'd sure love her more
If only she could still drive the boat!

Cuz, when I load her up she's loaded;
Yea, when I load her up she's loaded!

ian ashton
09-24-2008, 05:36 PM
Great topic!


I actually just tried slaloming a few weeks back for the first time. I've ridden all summer (3-7 days a week) on the wakeboard, and for some reason as our season started to wind down I got the itch to give the ski a try. I'm by no means good, I can get up and kind of cut, but its fun.

I've gotten in the habbit now of doing a set on the wakeboard, driving/spotting, doing a set on the ski, driving/spotting, then getting pulled back to the marina on the wakeboard (where I used to just do 3 wakeboard sets.)

Its fun, but I can see where it would get frustrating, its definately a lot harder to get out of the water than the wakeboard, and staying up (at least for me) is still a challenge.


There are a few skiers on our lake, but not nearly as many as wakeboarders.

kaneboats
09-24-2008, 11:40 PM
Ian, glad to hear you're taking it up. You'll notice that you use lots of different muscles and really get more in tune with the pull and the water as opposed to the wake only. It can be very satisfying. Plus, you can get some great coaching on here (not from me though).

ian ashton
09-25-2008, 11:12 AM
I took a pretty big spill crossing the wake last night, lol. As soon as my head popped out of the water both the driver (my dad) and our spotter had jumped up with concern yelling "Are you OK?? Are you OK?" My response; "I'm fine, take this f-ing popsicle stick and throw me my wakeboard"

I thought it would hurt a lot more this morning, but I'm still feeling good. Somewhere around the cutting into the wake I lost all control, head over heels face plant into the water, lol. The ski was a good 15 feet behind me, it was a dousey.

I'll probably continue my skiing adventures tonight.

BensonWdby
09-25-2008, 07:35 PM
Ian
Falling is an important part of learning. If you learn from it. Take some video....
Remember when you fall, always raise a hand (or both clasped together) over your head to signal you are OK. If the spotter does not see that, they should notify the dirver immediately who should then get back to you quicker than normal and someone should be putting on a life vest...

As far as crashes on slalom goes. check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HdgvL_vuwU

Sled491
09-25-2008, 08:31 PM
I repeat "If it were easy they'd call it Wakeboarding" :)

kaneboats
09-25-2008, 10:43 PM
Yup, I think I saw the EP orange in there a couple of times. Also, I think I resemble some of those graceful exits from the end of the rope.

moombabound
09-25-2008, 11:02 PM
...As far as crashes on slalom goes. check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HdgvL_vuwU

Yikes. At the 1:!2 mark, somebody does a sort of spinarama and looks to get wrapped in the rope and accelerate head first along the water. Both the throttle and video were cut. Hope they were still in one piece.

True story...friend with a Response LX came out to sample the wake on my OBV. Last cut, he swung way to the side aggressively and let go, sort of trying to accelerate parallel to the boat if you get the picture. But he misjudged the whip, did a major ass-over-tea-kettle, buggering his knee to the extent of minor surgery. But the punch line is that on the drive home he hit a deer! Man, when your luck's down...

BensonWdby
09-25-2008, 11:32 PM
Not sure about the EP - mostly Connelly's. The yellow bottom is a Jobe.

No one got wrapped up in rope - but thanks for the concern. All crashes were totally unencumbered by rope - Just freewheeling ....

If you liked the YouTube version, the version on our home page is higher quality:
http://home.comcast.net/~BensonWdby/Crash_Burn_vs_extended.wmv
but it is a big file so may take a while to download.

I have learned a lot in the last few years that has made my skiing more enjoyable (not that it wasn't already). Mostly I learned that I knew a lot less about skiing than I thought...

Glad you liked the video....
If you liked mine, take a look at the link under my Youtube video - it is for Rip 'n Six - major wipeouts...
Dave

deerfield
09-26-2008, 11:10 AM
BensonWdby - Enjoyed the ski crash video. Yup, sometimes it hurts, sometimes not. Thanks for posting the link. - Deerfield

yearround
09-26-2008, 02:10 PM
finally had butter this am. i just free ride, no course. i was skiing at about 31 mph and 55 or 60' rope, the wake was about the best i have ever skied. very impressed for the Vdrive.

had a friend kid ski also, he sid that he was liking it more than wakeboarding. of course when he was wakeboarding today he took his worst fall ever.

forever skiing!

moombabound
09-26-2008, 07:18 PM
...the wake was about the best i have ever skied. very impressed for the Vdrive.

Not so quick there yearround: What do you attribute the good wake to this time out? Anything different about the setup (# people in boat, low of gas, etc.)? And behind which V-drive?

OldeBoy
09-26-2008, 10:35 PM
So are manufacturers giving up on the skiers? I have a Boomerang... What am I going to replace it with???....... Fortunately I only have 165hrs on it. 70 of them are mine the past 1.5 seasons. by the time I need a replacement the smallest boat will weigh 8000 lbs....

yearround
09-27-2008, 12:56 AM
Not so quick there yearround: What do you attribute the good wake to this time out? Anything different about the setup (# people in boat, low of gas, etc.)? And behind which V-drive?

moombabound,
most of my skiing has been behind I/O's. I have been behind a real ski boat a time or two, not much more. so my rating of good wake is not based on very many good wakes.

todays setup, about 1/2 tank gas/ ballast empty after wakeboarding, surfing. about 550# of people.

the Vdrive, 08 LSV, i was just happy to have as good of water as we did. it hasn't happened very often.

would love to go for a ride with some of the real skiers/boat on here. would love to learn
skiing is not dead here

moombabound
09-27-2008, 01:17 AM
So are manufacturers giving up on the skiers? I have a Boomerang... What am I going to replace it with???...

There is evidence of that. Most glaring example is two years ago Malibu killed the Response, now this year I understand they killed the Response LX. Base ski boat is the LXI, which not long ago was a pretty big ski boat. Now they've got the FXI (wow, what a cross-over boat...whoops wrong forum).

I got involved in this sport post-boomerang. However, I've seen a couple of ads for those and wow, what a good looking boat that looks like it would be awesome for skiing. So if skiing's your thing, wouldn't be too tempted to rid of it. However, if you get into wake surfing, well, you'd need to set a Volkswagen on the transom to do the job. In a perfect world, I'd have a big V, plus a Boomerang set aside for skiing.

ian ashton
09-27-2008, 10:02 AM
Moomba, MasterCraft and Nautique still make real ski boats, and I'm sure will for a long time to come.

BensonWdby
09-27-2008, 10:08 AM
Ed - that is not too surprising considering the newness of the sport. Most of what can be said about slalom has been said in many places many times.

Personally I have tried wakeboarding - at a very amature level - and it just does not have the same level of excitment. I suppose if I pursued it and got good that might change. But that would cut into my swerve time, which is already shrinking - mainly due to injuries and priorities of my skiing buddies.

Jumping the wake on a slalom ski is way more exciting than on a wakeboard, much higher risk..

The only problem I have with wakeboarding is that it draws crowds. You get a boat load of boarders, and due to the nature of the sport, each rider can take a very long run. They can screw up the water for hours. The guys on our lake are pretty good about working in sets if you ask - which is nice.

As far as wakesurfing goes - I see the appeal and when I was younger I always thought something like that would be pretty cool. However, as a lakeshore owner on a small lake - I will never pull a wakesurfer. The shoreline impact is just too much for me to do it. I am not saying wakesurfing is bad, just leaving it for the serious guys so there is less of if, which is none on our lake.

sar
10-02-2008, 02:26 PM
Problem is the younger crowd is a more 'immediate rewards' type. With computers and video games and the internet, things are easy... Wakeboarding is easy to learn

We noticed something in our club the other week - most of the people that everybody thinks of as skiers know how to wakeboard quite well (including grabs, air 180s/switch, etc) - but most of the people who are considered wakeboarders do nothing but wakeboard -- and do about the same tricks. Our 'skiers' are more likely to try tricking, jumping, and barefooting and have some fun knee boarding as well.

I don't think that skiing is going extinct though. There is still a pretty good following and parents keep teaching the children. Our college conference has actually grown over the last 3 years.

Mikey
10-02-2008, 07:25 PM
As a skier first and foremost I thought Wakesurfing was for old/older guys Sorry ED,and something you do when the water is too choppy to do other sports. Waterskiing is something that took many yrs and many wipeouts to get to whatever skill level and i feel its still the way to go.Gave up kneeboarding due to knees and ankles but as long as i can ski ,its still the only real sport for me.My .02 worth.

Double D
10-03-2008, 01:33 PM
We are the last of the Jedi. Ski hard or go home.

Sled491
10-03-2008, 01:46 PM
I agree with SAR. Most good skiers can be good wakeboards and are good wakeboarders, but not many who bypassed skiing to start wakeboarding are good skiers. Apperently skiing isn't very exciting. Problem isn't exciting, because pulling accross a wake a 60 + MPH requires all you got. No problem is it requires a lot more skill and discipline to be good and with so much ADD going around they give up.

BensonWdby
10-04-2008, 09:35 AM
My son wanted to wakeboard. I told him I would get him one but he had to learn to slalom first. The day he kicked off a ski he made two aggressive cuts and said - "Now get me a wakeboard." He pursued that for a few years, but kept his slalom (sort of), until he finally dumped the wakeboard and is now pretty much a skier. I am guessing a lot of guys who never learned to ski and went straight to wakeboard will probably just stay off the lake if they ever give up the wake..

Sled491
10-04-2008, 04:39 PM
While that is sad, it just means less people to deal with for those of us who make water sports our passion.

BensonWdby
10-04-2008, 05:17 PM
What is really sad is I forgot about tubing - the last bastion of the unskilled...

Mikey
10-05-2008, 07:02 PM
Jet skiers are a whole different story. In my eyes they are way down the food chain even from tubers. they tend to be the scourge of most lakes i've been to and or go to.They are a huge reason why boat licencing has come about up here in Canada and i'm sure down in the states as well.At one time it was a lame way to babysit your kids or lack there of. Very few are respectful and or have any water sence. Enough said.