Spring Break Ski School, 2010 - 4/4/2010
We are safely back home after an awesome trip to Louisiana for spring break. This was our sixth ski school spring break trip and fifth trip to Bennetts. You may have noticed that I kept everyone up-to-date via Twitter rather than by putting posts up every day. I did it that way because: 1) my Internet connection was spotty if not non-existent (enter iPhone + Birdfeed app) 2) I have a 2-yr-old running around 3) I wanted the posts to have more than a 1 or 2 day lifespan on the front page. I took a bunch of pictures which can be seen via the Flickr widget on the left-hand column of the page. I have a lot to write about so I'll break it down by topic:
The Weather
Weather was amazing. Clear, sunny skies and temps in the 70's all week. We had some mild head/tail wind on Monday and Friday, but nothing terrible. The photo above pretty much speaks for itself. We were outside ALL day, EVERY day. If we weren't skiing, we were sitting on the porch or taking the kid to the beach. I didn't spend a lot of time with the camera or with the computer because we were just enjoying ourselves outdoors as much as possible. I have a decent tan to prove it.
The People
We had an interesting mix of people this week. There were about 20 students, and we were the only Americans in the bunch. Our cabin neighbors were a family from Austria, and we typically ate at the same table with them for every meal. There was also a father/son duo from Germany, a kid from England, and something like 9 high school kids from Sweden.
Of course, everyone there spoke English fluently as well as probably a dozen other languages. I think at some point I even heard some Klingon going back and fourth. Luckily my wife teaches Spanish so we get a little street cred there as far as multi-language fluency goes, but 2 languages is a far cry from the skills of most of these Europeans. I think the guy next door spoke 5 languages, and his English was the worst of all of them. Sounded great to me. They even understood slang and idioms that take a very skilled multi-linguist to grasp. Whatever they are doing over there as far as language instruction works. Well. One thing I thought was really interesting is that people of different nationalities would use English as their common language. A coach from Belorussia speaking to someone from Austria using English. That was neat. We're lucky to natively speak English, but this trip was another reminder that it's time to get with the program as far as learning other languages.
Everybody was also very nice in general. Easy to get a long with, sociable, and interesting to talk to. No surprises there. That's what it's like every year. One of the Germans owns a 1980 Correct Craft and has done a lot of resto work on it, so we had plenty to talk about. We talked about how they engineered a timer that timed how long the boat was in gear in order to figure out there by-the-minute club costs, as well was LPG conversions, etc. All sorts of stuff. By the time we left, I felt like I had known most of these guys for longer than one spring break.
Here's another thing about the fellow students at ski school: they generally are very good at skiing— compared to us, anyway. I guess that's not saying much. The young kids are alarmingly good. Year after year I've seen this. Some 10 year old kid will strap on a trick ski and be spinning and flipping around on that thing like he was born with it on. That innocent little kid will totally own you with his or her skiing. Then, the 55-year-old dad will throw down 14.25M slalom passes all day! They all belong to clubs, they all ski constantly. Especially the Europeans, it seems. I gather that most of the skiing over there is club-based, on private water, and is serious. I suppose if you're going to fly half way around the world to go to ski school for multiple weeks then you'd better be pretty serious about the sport, but 6 years of ski school has taught me that if there is a toddler on the dock who speaks 5 languages, they are probably going to throw down 38-off that week. Maybe that will be our kid some day. The Swedes were part of a high school ski team that had its own lake to use AND FUNDED their six-week trip. Incredible! And, it's not like they have some Floridian climate there— we're talking about Sweden here. Sweden. Water ski team. Six-week school trip. Amazing.
Let me ask this, as a side note, if I may be so bold: what is the deal with not bending the visor of your baseball cap these days? A water ski school has got to be one of the few places in the world where you can expect to be taken seriously with a totally flat bill on your cap. If I took a mesh trucker-style hat, flattened the brim in a press, and wore it down low on my head, stickers still on it, cocked to the side, I think just about every friend or family member who saw me would absolutely die laughing. I would not be able to have a serious conversation with anyone that I know. I don't even think an automated gas pump would let me pump gas in a hat like that. Maybe I'm just getting old. If this is water-ski-chic, perhaps I need to get with the program.
So anyway, the people really make the experience. We meet new people there every year and it doesn't take long to realize were all part of one big water ski family. No borders, no barriers. Coming here is a way to really experience cultural diversity without leaving the states. The only thing you don't have in common is your nationality. It's everything you do have in common that makes for quick friendships and great conversation. I'd like to learn a little German for next year. We'll see how it goes.
The Place
I've spoken at length about Bennetts before so I'll be brief: it was awesome. As usual, great accommodations, good food, great lakes/layout. We spent most of our time on the lake 2 dock and on the lake 2 beach. We had a few trick sets in lake 3, which I haven't been on since 2003 (where, by the way, I learned how to barefoot). We stayed in Cabin #3, which is the most prime spot to be based on my experience. Since you are at the end of the building, you get no cross-traffic, and sitting on that deck just never seems to get old. Again, see view in the picture above. Case closed.
On Wednesday we headed down to New Orleans for lunch. This is something we had not done since 2003. From now on, we won't skip this very worthy side-trip. The drive is a very easy 1.5 hours from the Bennett compound, and the trip is generally scenic and goes by very quickly. We found a parking spot just off of Canal St. at the periphery of the French Quarter, and started walking. Within a few blocks of Canal St. we found a nice little restaurant and had lunch on the sidewalk. Then we continued to walk into the main square there. Various street vendors kept the 2-yr-old entertained, namely the "fake statue" guys and the jazz band. A couple bucks went a very long way to entertain the kid in this square. Then we walked down to the riverfront and checked out the Natchez paddle boat and whatever else was going on by the water. A nice walk down Bourbon St. wrapped up the trip, and within 3 hours we were on our way back to Zachary. Nice break/change of pace for the middle of the week, and I highly recommend it.
The Drive
The drive was great. We split the mileage (930 miles) into 2 day trips— approximately 350 and 580 mile halves. Stayed at the Hampton Inn for a single night each on the way down and on the way up. Fabulous. The way back was mega-uneventful, which is good. I'm a bit of a beef jerky connoisseur, so I always try to scope out the jerky section of any gas station we stop at. At one gas station which had a particularly large selection of jerky, I picked a new brand of beef stick that I had not heard of before out of the veritable wall of beef. The mildly obese woman behind the counter said "those there are the best slymm gymms" as she rang up my pick. For whatever reason, her endorsement of my selection was gratifying. Out of that wall of beef sticks and jerky, I picked the best one according to her. That's because I mean business when it comes to preservative-laden meat snacks on road trips.
The Skiing
The skiing was amazing. Right off the dock I started at 30mph and fell promptly at 2-ball. After that, it was full pass after full pass. When I dropped after my first full pass, my instructor (John Sharman, who is a very talented coach) said essentially that there was a HUGE difference in how I looked behind the boat relative to how I've looked in the past. He said I looked like a slalom skier and not like [arms out, butt out, chair position gesture]. This means a lot because John has been coaching me for years at this point. He noticed this immediately, on my first pass! Yeah! This is good.
By Thursday we had bumped the speed up to 32mph (note: first time I've ever been asked if I wanted to increase speed here. Also the first time I've ever skied 32mph here. Big.). Those passes were going down very well on Thursday. This ski, which had troubled me so much last fall, now feels like absolute cash-money. It feels 100% natural and automatic. I'm loving it.
I'm taking a whole new approach to slalom this year which I've come across pretty naturally. I don't even know how this happened, but it did. The approach is tough to describe but rather than thinking tip-by-tip, I'm really just being more aware of what's going on in the course. It's almost like I'm skiing in slow-mo. I can think about what's going on at every step, which has never happened before. We worked on a few fundamental techniques like pulling out ultra-wide and very progressively going through the gate in order to get wide on 1. Getting wide on 1 fixes lots of stuff. Gives me a lot of time to think before 1. Again though, I don't want to emphasize this tip or that tip, because that's not what is doing it for me right now. I just feel like I have a new level of awareness and self-correction now whilst in the course. I could practically feel fore and aft ski pressure modulation in the turns. It was weird. I'm just skiing to have fun and sticking to super-core fundamentals of speed, rhythm, etc. Very hard to describe. It's like zen skiing or something. More on this as I continue explore it.
By Friday, I just had nothing left in the tank. Couldn't ski worth a damn at any speed, and I think it's just because I was so wiped out. That's another thing: I was very easily fatigued this year. I think it has something to do with not working out one bit all winter and not following what you would call a "champion's" diet (unless the champion's diet includes craft beers). I've never felt so wiped out between sets. I also had a severe case of lake-head all week, which made for pretty rotten sleep almost every night.
Trick skiing was not good. On the first set, I was cutting around, side sliding all over the place, feeling good and comfortable on the ski. Within 1 pass down the lake, the coaches immediately noticed that I wasn't standing on the ski right. Not enough weight up front, apparently. This is a concept that my brain cannot grasp. I went through every iteration of weight transfer and stance and could never get the ski riding right in their eyes. I felt like the Karate Kid on heavy drugs doing a plie (that's a ballet term, folks) on the ski by the end of the week. I felt completely weak and worthless on the ski, so that can't be right. I just could not get the position translated from audio to physical. Impossible. So, I don't know what I'm going to do with trick because this was pretty devastating to my trick-ego. I think I'm just going to ride it how I feel comfortable riding it and hope the stance comes naturally. Most of these trick pros were probably doing pre-natal trick training so it's hard for them to understand how hard it is for me to understand what they are saying. "Just stand on the front of the ski, knee over ankle, chest over knee and relax". I could relax if that 350hp boat wasn't pulling on my arms and if that water had less resistance. I just don't get it. When I watch these guys ski trick, they don't look like they are in some ballet stance. They look fairly straight-legged and leaned about 15 degrees away from the boat. Agh, enough talking about the flat stick. I think I was just too wiped from slalom. Hard to be "strong in the upper body and soft with the knees" when I lack the strength to put my pants on in the morning.
Wrap Up
Overall this was the best ski school trip ever. It was great to spend all that time with my family and my slalom skiing has never been better. I'd highly suggest that you pack that car up and hit the road for a week at ski school. The only hard part is trying to explain to your co-workers and friends what you're doing, because it's certainly a unique trip. Where else are you going to get such good family bonding, a nice tan, and multi-national cultural exposure? We certainly love this trip and we can't wait until next year.
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