My Water Ski Journal

Spring is Here - Or at Least it Feels that Way

noreply@blogger.com (ThorrenKoopmans) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:45:00 +0000

It's warm here today. Unseasonably so. We're dealing with temperatures in March that just aren't normal here. That's right it's a balmy 12 degrees Celsius. I know what you're thinking, how can you possibly deal with that kind of heat.

Truth is, I'm going out of my mind. I don't know what to do with this kind of heat. True, it's not really warm, but it is giving me a false sense of hope that we might be water skiing early this year. I should know better, understand that there is probably a big freeze still around the corner. After all it's only the end of March, can winter actually be over?

I really do hope that this thaw sticks and we could be out in 7 or 8 degree water by mid April. I have a new ski I'm dying to get out on.

Keep the faith, I know I am. Ice free water might be closer than you think.

Weekend Update

noreply@blogger.com (ThorrenKoopmans) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:02:00 +0000

Spent the weekend out at the lake, the weather was fantastic. On saturday the thermometer was reading 34 Celsius in the shade and there was very little wind to speak of. Made for some good skiing.

Saturday was the only day that we got out on the lake though, as an overnight thunderstorm brought with it some wind that lingered through the day on Sunday. It wasn't terrible, but enough to make the skiing less than desirable.

We managed to get the boat out of the water with very little difficulty and packed up all the gear to head to Spirit Lake, ID next weekend. Really looking forward to that.

A beautiful calm evening

noreply@blogger.com (ThorrenKoopmans) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:19:00 +0000

Last night was the second night this week that I managed to get a ski in. Actually 2 skis and a couple of barefoot runs. It felt great.

Admittedly, I'm a little sore this morning, although I think it may have more to do with cranking up the lift than actually skiing. I've been doing some yoga excersizes to stretch after each session, which seems to be helping me to maintain a less sore existence.

The weekend is looking great and I'm hoping to ski tonight, tomorrow and Sunday before pulling the boat out for holidays.

If I accomplish that, 5 days in a row of skiing, I think it might be a new record for non-holiday, consecutive ski days.

Tarp Update

noreply@blogger.com (ThorrenKoopmans) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:21:00 +0000

I have received my tarp from Rankin Covers and it is awesome.

The speed with which they finished it was a little less than desirable, but it worked out alright. Because we didn't have the boat in the water till after purchasing a boat lift, I didn't need the tarp as soon.

Ended up having to use my old tarp for one week out on the water, but the Rankin Cover came in and we got it on the boat. It fits like a glove - works great for the water and wind. The tower measurements are slightly off, but it works fine. I also need to still work out a way to attach two of the rear straps to the swim platform without mounting any huge hook or anything, but I don't see that being a problem.

I would highly recommend the taps, everything seems to be very well constructed and the fit is excellent. I'm very pleased.

Catching Up

noreply@blogger.com (ThorrenKoopmans) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:05:00 +0000

This is supposed to be a journal and when I created it, my intent was to keep track of my skiing and water sports activities. Here we are, at least half way through the Alberta summer and I haven't tracked anything I've done. So here we go, in an effort to remember and track all of my water sports activities.

I'm going to work backwards, as I think it will likely be easier to do that.

Last night, July 22, I skied two good sets, even though the water wasn't ideal, it was still good to go out. I've been working on my turns in particular and trying to really hold my angle through the wakes. I feel like it is going well and the articles in the new WaterSki magazine on turns and wakes were really helpful.

We were out last weekend as well and I got three good sets in on Saturday. It was calm all day, so we went out as much as we could. I was hoping to get my first Barefoot session in on the weekend too, but ended up sticking to the skiing instead.

Other ski sessions we've had were:

Friday July 10th - 2 sets
July 4-5 weekend - 2 sets
At some point (I can't recall the dates) we went out 3 other times and I skied 1-2 sets each time.

I've only been out on the wakeboard once, just really into the skiing these days and feel like I'd much rather do that then ride the board. As mentioned, I haven't been out footing either.

We got a late start on the season because we couldn't get our boat in the water. We ended up buying a boat lift, which has alleviated the launch problem, but now I have to figure out how to get it out of the water this weekend to get it cleaned up and ready for holidays starting August 1.

It's been a good summer and although we haven't skied as much as we would like, it looks like a good weekend ahead. We'll also get lots of time in on holidays as always. 2 weeks in Spirit Lake is great for the water sports.

Tarps Coming

noreply@blogger.com (ThorrenKoopmans) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:17:00 +0000

Ordered a new tarp from Rankin Covers about 2 months ago. Should be here soon, can't wait to see how it fits the boat. Also can't wait to get my boat home.

Planning to head to the lake this weekend, but won't be doing any boating yet. Unfortunately, still too cold. Hopefully May long weekend will be nice and allow us to get the first ski of the year in.

Winter Reflections

noreply@blogger.com (ThorrenKoopmans) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:39:00 +0000

It is about a year ago that I started looking for a boat online. I had searched here and there previous to that, but about a year ago I started REALLY looking to see what was out there. The dollar was good and the price of a boat out of the US (with the dollar at Par) was at least 20% less than the cost of the same boat here. I figured, why not go ahead, if I decided not to keep the boat, I could sell it for more than I paid anyway.

When I look at where our economy is today, the dollar is sitting around $0.80 again (20% lower than last Christmas) and I have to say I'm glad that I made that more or less spur of the moment decision last Christmas. We used the boat all summer and it was fantastic, not without a couple of minor repairs, but that's to be expected in a boat that's 7-8 years old.

Our boat is a 2001 Malibu Sportster LX, and at this moment (much like the economy) it's cold. Parked out at a friend's farm in this -30C weather, just thinking about summer skiing. It's enough to warm me up. Can't wait till summer!

Kettlebell for Off Season Conditioning

noreply@blogger.com (ThorrenKoopmans) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:34:00 +0000

I'm not a gym guy. I have a hard time motivating myself to get out to a gym for an hour several times a week for a few reasons:

Where do I find the time?
Is it really worth the effort?
How do I know which exercises I should focus on anyway?

Last summer, on holidays with my family in Idaho, we happened to run into one of my wife's college roommates and her family camping at the same resort. They happened to be water skiers and were enjoying the beautiful water and weather of Spirit Lake, overlapping one week with our holiday.

During the trip, I took a hard crash and hurt my neck. It so happens that Keith and April (my wife's roommate) are both physiotherapists, they operate a fantastic business in Red Deer, AB. Keith offered to give me a treatment right there at the Cabin, which improved my condition dramatically. It was also there that I was first introduced to kettlebells.

Me being the "not going to the gym" guy, I really liked the idea of the kettlebell. There are several things in particular that are great:

Minimal equipment required
You don't need a lot of time to get a good workout in
Exercises are not overly targeted

Equipment
For those who have not seen a kettlebell (and didn't click the link above) it basically looks like a large steel ball (picture a cannonball) with a handle on top. Apparently they've been around for many years as a training tool. Speaking from about 1 year of experience, I can tell you that they definitely work.

To get started, all you really need is one. For men, 16 or 20 kg is a good starting point, while a recommended starting weight for women is typically 8 or 12 kg. As you progress, and depending on your goals, you may choose to increase the weight, even if only for certain exercises.

As an added bonus, because you only need one piece of equipment, your exercise routine can become quite portable. You can take it out to the cabin with you for the weekend, or even just to the backyard if the weather's nice and you feel like doing your workout in the sunshine.

Establishing a Routine
I got started with routines from a DVD that was put together by Keith Weber. Unfortunately, the last time I checked, the only place to buy it was through Keith's clinic in Red Deer, which may make it inaccessible for many. That said, I know there are other videos out there.

For me, the DVD serves two purposes. First it means I don't have to remember a string of exercises to put together, second and more importantly, Keith is a certified instructor and so by watching how he is doing the exercises, I can be sure that I am following proper technique. This is important as you can imagine that swinging a 35 pound weight around has the potential to cause some serious damage to your body (or your house) if you aren't careful.

For me a typical exercise set includes running through 2 routines (there are 6 different ones on this particular DVD - varying in length from 6:30 to a little over 10 minutes) followed by about 20 minutes of Yoga to cool down and stretch the muscles out. That means all in all, I'm through a full workout in about 45 minutes (and I'm tired!).

An example of a routine (1 of 2 during a full exercise set) that I do includes:

10 Windmills per side
10 Clean and presses per side
20 Two hand curls
10 Rows per side
10 Push ups per side (1 hand on kettlebell)
20 Upright rows
20 Hot potatoes

Complete Body Workout
One of the things I like most about the kettlebell exercises is that they are very dynamic. Most work a lot of different muscles and and as a result, you get a nice rounded workout of your whole body, rather than doing individual exercises that target specific areas. I have found that for me, this means a greater overall core strength in particular.

By stringing together all of the exercises, the workout also has a good propensity to get your heart rate going and provides a good cardio workout as well as the strength training component. I find the way that I feel after a good routine to be quite similar to the feeling following a hard set on my slalom ski.

Overall Benefits
For me, the telling sign that the kettlebell worked for me last winter was the fact that my first ski of this year (back in May) didn't even seem to tire me out. This was a big change from previous seasons, where the first ski of the year usually meant a lot of pain killers afterwards due to the strain on my body.

Through the use of the kettlebell, in combination with Yoga, my overall strength is much more balanced than when I had spent time in the gym. I'm more flexible and my skiing has actually improved significantly (likely just from starting the season ready to go).

I will close by saying that I am not always the most diligent about getting my exercise in (usually 2-3 times per week) and could probably benefit a lot more from additional frequency. That said, I feel better now then I ever did going to the gym 3 days a week for 1.5 hours and I find I enjoy it more.

I suggest you give it a try.

WaterSki Magazine as a Learning Tool

noreply@blogger.com (ThorrenKoopmans) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:19:00 +0000

I've just renewed my subscription to WaterSki Magazine for another year. For anyone who is a recreational water skier and interested in improving, this is a great resource.

This was the first summer that I had a subscription to the magazine and between that and having the new boat, this was by far the year that I've seen the most improvement in my skiing ability.

For me, water skiing is recreation and about having fun. While I would love to go to a camp some time and get some real training, I have not yet had that opportunity and for me, I continue to learn through watching others (YouTube is a great option) and reading.

I highly recommend this magazine as a great source of tips and tricks, you can also learn a lot just from the attitude of pro skiers, as conveyed through the pages of WaterSki.

I Got the Boom

noreply@blogger.com (ThorrenKoopmans) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:40:00 +0000

I'm pretty excited, I've officially got a boom for next summer. That means much easier barefooting, not just for, me, but also for anyone else who might want to give it a go.

The boom is a Barefoot International quad contour design to go around the tower and make sure that it clears everything. I haven't actually had it on the boat yet, but after looking at it I'm confident that it's going to fit.

Should be a really great boom, it is solid aluminum. Will fantastic for barefooting as well as teaching people to ski and wakeboard when they've never done it.

Can't wait till summer.

Goodbye Till Next Year (to Skiing that is)

noreply@blogger.com (ThorrenKoopmans) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:57:00 +0000

Alas, fall is here fully. The leaves of my newly planted trees have all fallen save a precious few hangers on. I haven't been out in my boat since our Summer holiday to Spirit Lake Idaho (we got back to Alberta the 24th of August).
Yes, sadly my last ski of the year was nearly two months ago and there isn't any chance of anything coming soon. The boat is winterized and put away, finally out of my garage where it served as a cruel reminder of the good times I could be having if I lived in a warmer climate.

My boat, which I purchased earlier this year is a 2001 Malibu Sportster LX. It's been a fantastic boat and I can't say enough how nice it is to be skiing behind an inboard after learning behind an outboard and the last few years behind a stern drive. For anyone looking to take the plunge, I highly recommend a tournament style ski boat.

This is my first post on this site, but won't be my last. Over time, I hope to be able to share my on the water experience with whoever out there may care to read it. If you have questions about water skiing, boating or want to see me write about something in particular, please leave comments and I'll be sure to include them for the future.