Even though the temperature just
dropped from 33 degrees celcius to around 10 degrees here, with a water temperature that I don't even want to know, I want to continue skiing like I was. Staying true to our tradition, the season was opened on Kingsday, which is the 27th of April. This was quite soon after I got back, so I wasn't necessarily prepared for the freezing cold water and especially not the icey wind on my face. Normally to open the season everyone gets to ski a quick round for free. This is really just one up and down, and since I started skiing here, I do always value my sets here. Thus, I took my tour up and down the lake. I had decided to go on my trick ski, because along with the lovely temperatures there was also a really strong wind, so the waves on the lake were pretty high. Going away from the starting dock I had the wind in my back, therefore this wasn't nearly as cold as going back with the wind blowing in your face. Even better was that the wind blew extra water in my face, so despite my best efforts to not get wet by starting from the dock and not falling, I still got my face wet and cold.
Today, 3 days after opening the season, we also had our first kids training. I am not home in any of the weekends before I leave for university, except this one, so I wanted to go and see everyone. I was on the lake for most of my day, and even though it wasn't a sunny day at a clear blue lake without wind, I still think lake days are the best days. Being in the boat, behind the boat, in the water, on the water, skiing and helping others ski, are still some of the best things I can think of to be doing. The lake was extremely windy and at the starting dock the waves reached almost to my knees. Luckily, on the far side of the lake there was a couple of meters sheltered by the trees, so that's enough space to go skiing. I decided to go out on my jumpers first for some drills, because I wouldn't have to go in the water for this. It was cold, because my jump suit only covers half of my legs, but I didn't plan on going into the water, so it was oke. I did a dock start, did my drills and landed on the dock again. Luckily this didn't get me very cold, so I could prepare for my trick set. This time, I couldn't do a dock start, though I was going to fall in the water at some point any way. I started my set from the boat at the far side of the lake, because the water before that was insane. I tried to keep my hair as dry as possible at the start, and I could benefit from this a couple of minutes. That was until I started practising my 540 wake turns and I dove head first into a wake eventually. After this I realized that it wasn't in fact that cold if you just don't focus on it, so I had a really good set. I'm very happy I skied, because when I saw the water around the dock, I was really discouraged. I was told that I would be happy I skied after my set, and happy I was. Hopefully the wind will die down the following week so that I can also get some slalom sets in.
To finish off my day at the lake, I was
able to go into the water with my puppy and get him to swim. Afterwards it was time for him to get used to the boat, because he'll be around it a lot ;). He did great in the boat, so I guess the next step is to take him on my ski's!
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Monday, April 24, 2017
Bye for now
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On Saturday, there were 2 rounds of slalom for the competition, on Sunday there would be 2 more. The 2 days were listed as separate tournaments though, so a score on both days could count in the ranking. This means that in stead of one good score out of the 4 rounds, it would help my ranking if I skied well on both days. On Saturday I was so set on finally running 14. This meant that I could not fall on my first pass, which is 16, no matter what. Due to this mind-set, I skied really bad, I barely turned my ski to get angle, so I didn't go too fast. I barely moved my body in the turns and therefore I only just went around the bouys and got later and later throughout the course. Eventually that of course resulted in a fall at 16... I was very upset, but I did know exactly why I fell, which meant I could do something about it in the next round. In the following round, the wind was a little better than before and I knew exactly what not to do. I cleared my first pass without a problem and was ready to finally run that 14. I pulled out for my gate, and knew that I just had to go for it at 1 with lots of angle and speed, because I wasn't going to get through the pass playing it safe. When I was going through the gate, I thought I had missed it. I had a really good first bouy, but I thought that was because I went in front of the right gate bouy. I was a little distracted, but figured I should keep skiing just in case I didn't miss the gate. Still, with the lack of focus after that, I went around 5 and thought I finally had a shot at going around 6 as well, since I was past the point where I usually fall. However, after cutting to 6, I saw that it was still too far away, I just couldn't reach it. It was a new pb of 5@14, but I can't say I'm genuinely happy with that score, I really just want all 6. The 2 rounds on Sunday were cancled due to a heavy rainstorm that just wouldn't stop...
This afternoon I will be flying back home. I'm really sad to go and I know everything will feel like a roller coaster when I get back. My weeks are completely packed and before I know it, I'll have to get back to school...
Saturday, April 15, 2017
4 states this week
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On Monday Tycho and I arrived at Stillwater lakes eager to be coached by Breanne and Ryan, since we had such positive experiences last times. The day we arrived the water didn't look very promising, luckily on the side of the lake that we couldn't see, the conditions were actually surprisingly good. I was happy with my slalom set, especially because Breanne helped me ski some of my easiest passes ever, although this still has to translate to some of my best passes ever, I'm happy with the improvements in my technique. Sadly, we could only stay for 2 days, but I will take the tips I got and work on them back home in order to really improve my technique.
Due to the limited time, I decided it would be best to dedicate 2 sets per day to jumping, because there is probably a reason that Ryan is world jump champion. Due to the wind, all 4 sets were spent on drills and not actually jumping. Of course I would've liked to actually go over the ramp, but at this point, getting comfortable on my new skis and improving my technique is most important. The fun thing about the drills is that I can actually feel a difference in my balance and stability from the beginning to the end of a set. I'm glad I spent some time on the basics and hope if I continue these drills back home too, that I will be adding some meters to my jumps soon. The focus of these training days was not really on tricks, but I did get some very useful pointers regarding my 540 wake turns.
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Sunday, April 9, 2017
First 2017 competition
This week was all about preparing for the competition that took place Saturday (08/04). The conditions were quite rough, there was a lot of wind at our lake, so slalom skiing was reserved for very early in the morning, or just before dark at night. This wasn't ideal of course, but sometimes those are the same conditions as at the competition, so you have to learn how to ski in them too.
In order to be as prepared as possible we went to ski at Jack Travers waterski school the 2 days
before the competition. This is based at sunset lakes, which is also where the tournament took place. Even this slice of paradise was not safe from the wind. The conditions on Thursday and Friday were not too good, at times there were white-caps on the wakes. To make up for the rough conditions I was tricking in, a wind gust blew the water so far out of its direction that it completely showered the boat driver 😄. In my preparation, I struggled a little with my trick runs. I didn't want to keep the same run as last year, because there's no room for me to put down a better score than last year with that run. Therefore I wanted to incorporate some of the new tricks I've been working on, but they need just a bit more practise. Eventually I decided to try to do two wake 540 turns at the end of my hands run, in this way if I fall there is no problem, because they're the last tricks. My goal for this season is to start off that run with a WLO -which is a 360 over the wake where you step over the line-, but since this has to be the first trick, I felt like this was too big of a risk. My toe hold run I would keep the same as normal, but I would try to do my wrap in, wrap out, 360s at the end. The start of my hands run went great, I did what I wanted to. Then I got the 540s, I was able to land them both, which is already an upgrade from the many face plants I used to do. I did feel that they were not really in the air, so they wouldn't be given credit. Getting them off the wake and in the air is the main concern in training now, but this will take some time. After I did both of my 540s and was still standing, I felt like I still had a lot of time (in hindsight this was not true), so I did a WLB, which eventually I want to do with the WLO in the beginning. This turned out to be out of time and also wouldn't have been credit, because I didn't pop it off the wake... It felt like a total mess during my run, but I was actually quite happy with it, especially because I didn't expect to have it so stable already, even though I didn't get the points for it yet. Then it was time for my trick run. I didn't change anything, so it was still hard wired into my body. I did everything and earned credit for all my tricks, then tried the wrap in, but fell, so no extra points compared to last year's toe hold run. With just a bit more practise, I'll be able to change this run too and break the 3000 point barrier.
On the competition day, the wind was a lot less than all week, so conditions were very good. In slalom, I also changed something, because I was going to start at the 16 meter line for the first time in a competition. It shouldn't be a problem, because I've been running those passes very consistently and I had been starting on 16 in training for a while. In the competition, I did what I had to do and ran my first pass, which was now 16 meters. I was already quite excited that I did this, so I wasn't fully focussed going in to my next pass. I was skiing really well in my 14 meter pass, which I desperately want to run in a tournament, because I've ran in so many times in practise. At 4 ball I was still going so well that I started thinking about skiing my first 13 meter pass at a tournament. Famous last thoughts of course... I should've stayed focussed and made sure I actually finished the pass, but in stead, I fell at 5, giving me a score of 4.5 at 14, which ties my PB. It was my own mistake, but it does give me confidence that I'll run it next tournament.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkygweeTEgNYKs_q4IQI7WBLCgK9F9qdeQvGvKviUwz4beVBty8YxwmTtNNbD1TH6vAt3nxj5eDpOG0a9NZYJgfWMEqY1iyVbHcDxHLQb-o9UObZRVsjoKXo1tyGi5fCNna1-tejyswFY/s320/sping+3.png)
Finally later that day it was time to jump. I decided to jump two rounds, because I want to gain confidence in my new jumpers. I also just wanted to do two rounds, because I like jumping, and I'll get my shot at slalom in two weeks. My first jump, the boat went too fast, thus my score didn't count. After that I jumped my farthest jump out of all 6 remaining jumps, which was 23.7 meters. It's not a PB, but it's not too far off and I'm happy with that score, because I still need to get used to my new skis a bit. This will definitely happen next week, as we'll be training with Ryan Dodd.
All in all great first tournament, which brings me back to last years first tournament, where I set 2 PBs to start the season. Even though I didn't do that here, I still had a lot of fun and I'm content with my results!
before the competition. This is based at sunset lakes, which is also where the tournament took place. Even this slice of paradise was not safe from the wind. The conditions on Thursday and Friday were not too good, at times there were white-caps on the wakes. To make up for the rough conditions I was tricking in, a wind gust blew the water so far out of its direction that it completely showered the boat driver 😄. In my preparation, I struggled a little with my trick runs. I didn't want to keep the same run as last year, because there's no room for me to put down a better score than last year with that run. Therefore I wanted to incorporate some of the new tricks I've been working on, but they need just a bit more practise. Eventually I decided to try to do two wake 540 turns at the end of my hands run, in this way if I fall there is no problem, because they're the last tricks. My goal for this season is to start off that run with a WLO -which is a 360 over the wake where you step over the line-, but since this has to be the first trick, I felt like this was too big of a risk. My toe hold run I would keep the same as normal, but I would try to do my wrap in, wrap out, 360s at the end. The start of my hands run went great, I did what I wanted to. Then I got the 540s, I was able to land them both, which is already an upgrade from the many face plants I used to do. I did feel that they were not really in the air, so they wouldn't be given credit. Getting them off the wake and in the air is the main concern in training now, but this will take some time. After I did both of my 540s and was still standing, I felt like I still had a lot of time (in hindsight this was not true), so I did a WLB, which eventually I want to do with the WLO in the beginning. This turned out to be out of time and also wouldn't have been credit, because I didn't pop it off the wake... It felt like a total mess during my run, but I was actually quite happy with it, especially because I didn't expect to have it so stable already, even though I didn't get the points for it yet. Then it was time for my trick run. I didn't change anything, so it was still hard wired into my body. I did everything and earned credit for all my tricks, then tried the wrap in, but fell, so no extra points compared to last year's toe hold run. With just a bit more practise, I'll be able to change this run too and break the 3000 point barrier.
On the competition day, the wind was a lot less than all week, so conditions were very good. In slalom, I also changed something, because I was going to start at the 16 meter line for the first time in a competition. It shouldn't be a problem, because I've been running those passes very consistently and I had been starting on 16 in training for a while. In the competition, I did what I had to do and ran my first pass, which was now 16 meters. I was already quite excited that I did this, so I wasn't fully focussed going in to my next pass. I was skiing really well in my 14 meter pass, which I desperately want to run in a tournament, because I've ran in so many times in practise. At 4 ball I was still going so well that I started thinking about skiing my first 13 meter pass at a tournament. Famous last thoughts of course... I should've stayed focussed and made sure I actually finished the pass, but in stead, I fell at 5, giving me a score of 4.5 at 14, which ties my PB. It was my own mistake, but it does give me confidence that I'll run it next tournament.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkygweeTEgNYKs_q4IQI7WBLCgK9F9qdeQvGvKviUwz4beVBty8YxwmTtNNbD1TH6vAt3nxj5eDpOG0a9NZYJgfWMEqY1iyVbHcDxHLQb-o9UObZRVsjoKXo1tyGi5fCNna1-tejyswFY/s320/sping+3.png)
Finally later that day it was time to jump. I decided to jump two rounds, because I want to gain confidence in my new jumpers. I also just wanted to do two rounds, because I like jumping, and I'll get my shot at slalom in two weeks. My first jump, the boat went too fast, thus my score didn't count. After that I jumped my farthest jump out of all 6 remaining jumps, which was 23.7 meters. It's not a PB, but it's not too far off and I'm happy with that score, because I still need to get used to my new skis a bit. This will definitely happen next week, as we'll be training with Ryan Dodd.
All in all great first tournament, which brings me back to last years first tournament, where I set 2 PBs to start the season. Even though I didn't do that here, I still had a lot of fun and I'm content with my results!
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Never leaving
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Tricking in my new suit |
opportunity to be here yet again for the sole purpose of skiing. The weather this past week has been absolutely fantastic, with temperatures around 30 degrees (C) and water temperature almost equally as high. Of course I can only enjoy that, and I love that it's always possible to ski in just my bikini. However, I did just buy a new suit that I would like to wear, but it's just too hot (I love that these are the problems I'm having 😂. The past week, there was 1 day on which the wind was so bad that we were forced to take a break. The wind came from just the wrong direction and caused white-capping wakes on all parts of the lake. Maybe, after 2 weeks of almost non-stop skiing, this wasn't such a bad idea though. Due to the conditions, I took 2 days off skiing, which is good for my body to recover, but hard to do since the environment to ski in is just so perfect. Whilst I was at it, I thought I might also take a massage and fully treat my body to some well deserved rest. Now, I just woke up and looked outside, the water is a mirror, not one wave to be found, so it's time to get back at it again. Coming week, I will be training with a coach again, so that this weekend I can do a competition. It's a bit early on and I'm not at the point I would like to be, so I'm not expecting to break any PBs. I do think that it's a good opportunity to see how competitions work here and meet new people, so I'll put the focus on enjoying the ride.
As for this week, I really just enjoyed everything. I can really appreciate walking around bare foot all the time, because it's not too cold outside, and you're at the lake side anyway. I will always stop and feel the gush of warm air when you step out of a slightly air-conditioned house into the afternoon sun. I will never get used to being done getting ready with just a bikini and a life-jacket. And of course being able to go out on the water and ski until I'm done rather than when my time is up.
It'll be hard to leave, not only Florida, but the lifestyle of skiing everyday and enjoying everything.
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