Ski Log - Winding down 2008 - 9/7/2008
I know, I know- there are two good months left in the ski season. However, there are a few things that are just about over with in 2008: Early morning and late evening light, 75-80 degree mornings, 80 degree water, wally boaters, and 3x per week skiing. From now on, the water will get increasingly colder, until mid-October when we'll be in drysuit-only mode. The picture above is from this April, but it will be a common sight soon enough. I'm already sporting a hoodie and a 1.5mm top during these 55 degree mornings. Sunrise will be at 6:24 AM tomorrow, so my morning weekday sets are just about over with. In other words, if it's about to be winter where you live, take a moment to stop and smell the roses- it's almost over. The air is even starting to smell like Autumn.
On the plus side, we now have the public waters back to ourselves, free from tubers and just about everyone else. This weekend, the first weekend past Labor Day, we were the only boat moving on the water until we pulled out at 10 AM. I won't be able to ski mornings during the week but I might be able to get away with late afternoons. There's also no need to wake up at 6AM to prep the boat on weekend mornings- we can drop in at 9 and still get hours of good public water.
Skiing-wise I've taken two thoughts with me every time I get into the course: tight line and counter-rotate. It's worked well. I've had a few bad sets but overall I'm skiing better than ever. My goal was to have 34mph down by this fall, but at least 32mph is fairly consistent and feels comfortable. Earlier in the season, 32 felt very difficult so progress has definitely been made.
We've signed up for ski school next spring break, as usual, and we'll be bringing some friends from this site with us this time. This will be our 5th trip to ski school for spring break. Beth is a teacher so it's really the only time we can go on vacation for the first quarter of the year. Because of this, we will be returning to a a ski school closer to the equator because of the warmer weather during that last week of March. It's just as much of a family vacation as it is a ski school trip for us, so 80 degree weather and a familiar campus and accommodations are big pluses for us during that chilly time of year. We'll be returning to Coble's at some point, and we will eventually get to H2Oz as well, but for spring break we're hedging our bets on tropical weather.
How has your season gone so far? Fill us in using the comments form below. If you haven't started a ski log in the "Ski Log" section of our forums, you should think about it for next year. I found it really easy to keep up with and it was interesting to actually see how many times I got out this year.
Comments:
ScarletArrow, 9/12/2008: Where's your platform?jhughes, 9/12/2008: I just hadn't put it on yet. It's got to come off to fit in the garage.
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