The 67th Indiana Water Ski Championships were held on Saturday, July 23rd, 2016. Host Club WSI Inc. at Cindonway Shores welcomed skiers with the warmest weather of the summer. Attendance was up over past years with 70 skiers and 140+ "pulls" at the Saturday event. An awards ceremony and banquet were held in the newly constructed Blue Barn complex on the southern shore of the lake. It was heartwarming to see many new skiers and renew friendships with skiers from around the state. The added attraction of "team skiing" on the Sunday after the Championships added a new dimension to Indiana Water Skiing. And what other state can say that one of the participants is the current World Slalom Record holder. Congratulations to the workers, officials, and the Bucher families for a super experience. It is especially rewarding to see some of our IWSA Hall of Fame members attending and participating in tournaments. At the 2016 event, Gene Lamberson attended and skied in his 55th consecutive Indiana State Water Ski Championships. Also recognized was Randy Sharkey who skied in his 50th consecutive Indiana State Water Ski Championships. There were also other Hall of Famers skiing in the event.
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As an added enhancement for the 67th Indiana Water Ski Championships held on July 23rd, 2016, the host club WSI at Cindonway Shores offered 2 rounds of "team skiing" on the Sunday after the state tournament. This is a new concept being promoted by USA Water Ski as a tool to develop more interest in tournament water skiing. The teams were created by the tournament director who used previous scores to make the teams of equal ability. This sounds simple but the composition of the teams came under great scrutiny just prior to the beginning of the event. The three teams each had a captain and 5 skiers. The 3 captains were Nate Smith, Casey Contos, and Kim Contos. Participants questioned and argued who got Nate Smith as their team captain? How did it just seem to happen that all the drivers were on one team? How did one team have all the judges? As you can imagine, there was plenty of "trash talk" and numerous accusations at the starting dock. Team captains were visiting the scoring booth asking for individual skier information/statistics. Team members were on the shore rooting for their teammates. The Nate Smith Team came in second (even though team captain Nate ran 1 @ 43' off!), The Casey Contos Team (also known as the "see you Nater" team) came in first. The Kim Contos team came in third. This 2 round tournament turned out to be one of the most enjoyable events of the weekend. Absolute calm water conditions at the Silent Shores Ten Buck Tournament put smiles on every water skier's face today! A full house of skiers for $10 a round filled up the running order early. Even the trick section had some new entrants! Famous pork burgers for lunch, personal best for Charlie Cross, Grassroots skiers starting their tournament careers, Brian Detty swimming at the far end of the lake unwrapping a ski rope from around the prop, and Gene Lamberson skiing/ practicing for next week at his 55th appearance at the Indiana State Championships. Don Bucher (seen here practicing for the Indiana State Championships) wants everyone to know the tournament entry fee did include one banquet ticket. If more parties are accompanying the entrant, extra tickets need to be purchased. Do let Don and Michele know early this week if you need more tickets so that they can notify the caterer.
Also, be informed that even though most events will be conducted on Saturday, there is a Sunday schedule for "team skiing". Any and all attendees can come back on Sunday and ski in this event which will be 2 rounds for only $10 per round. As of this writing there are only a few entrants. This is a new concept being promoted by USA Water Ski this season. Why not come back for a fun event for only the $10 per session?!?!? The July Slalom Clinic conducted on July 13th, 2016 by Megan Lambert and Neal Clark produced some "PBs" (personal bests) by several of the skiers. Recent Purdue graduate Megan Lambert demonstrated her water skiing expertise to several youngsters from around central Indiana. Thanks to Neal Clark for providing the new Mastercraft promo boat and his fine driving skills. Next event is this weekend at Silent Shores for the "Ten Buck Tournament." Numerous skiers from Indiana and Canada took advantage of the annual July Slalom Clinic put on by Noah Vieke at Emerald Lake. The event was held on July 7th, 8th, and 9th with excellent skiing conditions all 3 days. Pictured are Noah and wife Vanessa, who did nearly all of the driving, giving Chris from Silent Shores some pre-set advice. Welcome home Noah and Vanessa, if only for a few days!
It was a sweatshirt day for July 2nd, 2016 at the Hawthorne tournament. Overcast skies and cool temperatures made for perfect water conditions for the 3 event tournament. The "trickers" were out in force followed by a few brave jumpers in the afternoon. It's not too late to enter the July 9th tournament back at Hawthorne Lake. |
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