The Mad-City 2008 National Recap is Online

I just finished posting Mad-City's National Recap over on the Mad-City website.  Once again, it features a highlight clip.  Here's the link. If you don't want to read the whole recap and just want to see the video, here it is...

Mad-City 2008 National Highlight Video

Time for a Crash Course

For those of you that think that doing these crazy tricks on skis, or your barefeet, or hitting the ramp is easy, just watch this video.  It features skiers from a professional ski show trying out the new stuff in their spare time and this video shows all the crashes these people go through to land that big stunt in the ski show.

Crash [video]

Spread Eagle Night Shows

One thing you just don't see very much is water skiing at night.  It's just not allowed in most places.   Tommy Bartlett's in the Dells would do night ski shows, but in the heart of summer, it just doesn't get very dark until very late, so it usally wasn't done in the full dark very often.

Once in a while the local ski teams around the state of Wisconsin get permission from the local authorities and put on a night show.  It's usually a pretty big deal.

The Badwater Ski-Ters put on a night show this past year.  They are based way up north in Spread Eagle, WI (yes, it's a real place) and ski on the Menominee River.  

Google Map It!

Night show are something you don't get to see very often, but luckily, they put together a little highlight video of their show.  Take 10 minutes and check it out.

Badwater Ski-Ters 2008 Night Show

Mad-City 2008 State Highlight Clip is Online!

I've just posted Mad-City State Highlight Clip online. You have a couple options to view it...

• First option is to go to the team's website where there is a state recap online, with a brief recap of the whole weekend, including the video. Here's the link for that.
  
• Next option to start searching YouTube, but that isn't always easy to find what you want.
• Third option, is to just stay right here, because I've posted the video below.

Mad-City 2008 State Highlight Clip [video]

Another Couple Peeps Doing 7's

Well, it has finally come to pass.  Paul O'Conner of Mad-City is no longer the sole person doing 720's in the show ski world.  We have a couple more people to add to the role call now.

First off, we have someone from the Waterhawks in Waterloo, Iowa doing a 7 of the ramp through some fire.

7 Through the Fire [video]

Next, we have a 16-year old named Nick Wilson, from the Lake City Skiers in Warsaw, Indiana land a 7.  

16 Throws a 7 [video]

Not sure how consistent either of these people are throwing them yet, but much props to them for landing one.  Me, I still spin abot 330 degrees when I throw a heli.  Makes skiing away a bit difficult.

Free Style!!!

Way back in the 90s, there was a little sport called Free Style Jump.  Back then, they did a whole lot more of the ramp than just flips, gainers and helis.  They'd do all of that, then they'd do it on just a single ski, throw in some 1 ski 540's, mobes, back mobes and some other stuff that I'm really not sure what they are and you have some pretty slick free style jumping.

It still exists today to some extent.  Now it's called show ski jump, but just a bit tamer.  They mainly stick to the three staples (helis, flips and gainers), with a handful of people doing a bit more. You see the occasional 720, some one ski helis, and the vary rare mobious, but you just don't see them vary often.  In the show ski world, unless you can stick damn near everytime, it's just not going to make the show.  It's too risky when you're going for a state, regional or national championship.

But here are some people that don't care about scores.  They just care about making you go "what the hell did I just see?" or "wow" or "holy shit!" and occasionaly make you're jaw drop.

Free Style Jumping [video]

Now some ski teams still push the envelope a little bit.  Mad-City has Paul O'Conner who's one of a handfull of people who can through a 720, and probably the only one that lands it consistently.  They also have a stable of jumpers so they can put together double 1-ski gainers, or the more traditional triple gainers.  There's also Jon Debelak who's skied for RAJ & Badgerland that can through the Mobe and gets to pull it out once in a while.

Some other teams will put together some crazy jumps of people flipping over helis and what not, but nothing like old school free style jumping.