Malibu Open Moves To Trophy Lakes

Earlier this week, word started to leak out that the Malibu Open, the only real big 3-event tournament, and/or non-show ski tournament held in the mid-west, was cancelled because of an algae bloom in the little lake in downtown milwaukee that it was held.

 This sucks for those of us who really like big time waterski tournaments held in more public locations. If you are one of those who prefer a private location with no public interest, then...well, the rest of this isn't for you.

But, before we get to far, lets take a quick look at the beauty that is the Malibu Open.

Event director and all around powerhouse April Coble Eller getting it done at the #MalibuOpen @cobleski #SeaDek #SeaDeked

A post shared by SeaDek Marine Products (@seadek) on Aug 28, 2015 at 9:49am PDT

Do you see that?  Thats profesional level skiing in a downtown location!  In a major city!

Why is this important??  Why should this matter to all of us???

Because the Malibu Open has been held at Veterans Park in down town Milwaukee for like 8 years, and when done right, rivals the LA Night Jam for sheer beauty of skiing set against a back drop.

"Oh, but, CRB, you should see when people ski at my uncles farm if noonegivesashit, Utah" - idiot person.

Let us retort.

Guess who wasn't watching.

People.

Regular people.

People that don't have an access point to our sport.

People that don't understand what Ryan Dodd just did is incredible.   But NO ONE WAS THERE TO SEE IT!

Now, lets be honest here, most of media consumption nowdays is not in person, its via computers or phones and what not, and that isn't something that should suprise us or make us feel weird.  Thats a big time thing for all sports.  We are never going to go in person and watch a swim meet, but, will watch online.

We will nev....just kidding, we totally will go watch beach volleyball, because under the lights, with beers in hand and hot bodies in sand...well, life isn't so bad bub.

This is what our sport has.  In spades.  Lets be real, have you seen any of the CRB staff in person on the water?  Shoot, you would be trying to get pregnant or receive impregnation if you did*

*note: 1/2 our office is out on maternaty leave.  so, please stop.

Hoping Veital can fly this high someday. #veital #malibuopen #veteranspark #waterski #malibuboats #liveyourbrand

A post shared by Veital Designs (@veital_gram) on Aug 20, 2016 at 8:54am PDT

One of the biggest things we have yakked about on the CRB since its inception in 1992, was getting our sport in front of people, let people see how awesome our people are.  In whatever aspect it is, wakeboarding, cock skiing, show skiing, kneeboarding...Whatever!

Which is why, as much as we love this site, this hurts a little.

Trophy Lakes is awesome and we know people that worked, skied, lived, maybe had sex there??

WHO KNOWS!

Dongs do what dongs do, yo.

But, this isn't in a downtown location, in a big-ish city where people can randomly walk by and watch the best skiers we have to offer.  Its not some sort of death-nell, but, damnit, this is one of those things that really gives us hope for our sport and the future.

A hundred years ago, there was a pro tournament in Altomonte Springs, Florida.  Kinda near a Perfomance ski and surf.  We bought a hat there once.  And a pair of jumpers....broke one of them and lost the other.  You decide which*

*jumpers broke.  hat lost.  probably still at sunset lakes.  damn irish.

Excuse me???

Nothing! Never mind!!

But, that was our first experiance with big time skiing in a big time location!  Serious, we saw Carl Roberge jump like...right around 200 if we remember right, it was mind fucking blowing to see that as a little 8 year old girl* in 1996.

*?? who knows

The important part to us, at least, is getting our sport into a public realm, which is why we liked the Malibu in Milwaukee so much.  There is no perfect site in our sport that melds public availability and design for the skiers that we are aware of.

There is always a percentage of give or take on either side, but, to us, this site seemed to be as close as you could get...at least in the US.

We have never been to the Moomba, so, maybe that is better, but, record setting ski runs on a private lake that you don't hear about until someone puts it on twitter a day latter....ehhh....that doesn't seem to have the same juice.

What a view! #malibuopen

A post shared by Dolphin Wetsuits (@dolphinwetsuits) on Aug 19, 2016 at 2:05pm PDT

Look at that!  That site!!!  That location!!!

This is not meant to be a doom-boner post (trademark: CRB) about the strength of our sport, more a love letter to this particular tournament and the hope that it doesn't leave this location next year.  We are aware of logistical and financial matters that are associated with this tournament, just as we are aware of logistical and financial matters associated with your mom*

*BURN!

Big time skiing done right in front of people who may not even know what it is, is the fresh blood the oxygen mask that helps us out.  It gives people an access point into the sport, maybe they leave not even caring about anything other then, "damn, that was kinda fun and wow my herpes is acting up", but, at least the first part of the sentence was cool.

As we were driving up to the Malibu this week in the chevette, we were discussing which strain of weed is the best for keeping your anxiety at bay and helping your sex drive.

But, wait.  shit.  what?  Wish there was a delete button on the CRBomputer.

Anyways, we were talking about, ways to bring...not even the sport as much, as the personalities behind our sport to the poeple.  Something we have been talking about in that god damn chevette for 15 years.

And it really comes down to, getting our athletes out in front of poeple that have no idea what this is, and, for that matter, out in front of poeple that DO know what this is.

But, we have to give them access to it, and damnit, losing this year in Milwaukee hurts and we hope that they come back next year harder and stronger then before.

Our sport needs it, lets get us out into the people, into the unknowing public and if done right, they will realize how dope our shit is, its not bit sizable like the NFL or MLB, its a event...but, we've been to events that are produced well and water skiing in any form, when done right production wise, can be a draw that we can, right now, only dream about.

I had pretty good time over the last few days! Was happy to be a part of the Malibu Open again this year! Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to organize this contest. #malibuopen @malibuboats

A post shared by Danny Amir (@danotmano) on Aug 31, 2015 at 1:29pm PDT

Hey Man, Whats Up?

yooooooooooooo!!!!!, ive been out here for years.  eating berries and shit.  do you have any idea how long i have been alone?  covering these woods looking for food?

i can barely use capital letters. 

shoot, when i saw you driving down the river...i just got a huge skate boner bro.  

sorry to wreck your chill sesh. 

christ, you should see my pubes.  its like a jewish holiday down there.  

people be hanging lights and what not 

oh, thats not..whatever brah.  you got ta try this dank.  your ass will be low iq for hours.  its amazing.  

oh. my. god, you have cheez its in there?  lemme get a taste...ive been killing and eating wild life for like i dont know, 9 years,  just to get by, its some into the wild type life stuff going on brah

you ever had fried bird.  its rank but gets you feelings brah. 

what?

yeah.  

watch out for that log my dude.  

no, i didn't mean it that way, cmon man, ive been out in the wild for so long, i dont even know

yeah no, just keep driving dude.  

yeah like, another little bit . 

yeah. 

brah

im bout to go eat that deer alive brah, i gots to get that protein. 

bro. 

jeah. 

oh dang, there is my moms...nvm.  im good son.  thanks for the wave.  quit warehousing the beer bro, gimme one of them.  dont be a hater.  

aight, later 

The Masters Recap Vid

Marcus Brown dropped another really good vid, love the stuff he does! This is his Masters recap.

Arriving At Your Moms House Like

Like a glove

The Blender...yay Skurfer

The Best We Have Ever Skiied

After we posted the obnoxiously depressing post about being bad at skiing we were sitting around thinking about the exact opposite, the singular best moment we have ever had skiing.

Is that your mom down there?

The best is not a term that can be ascribed to a specific occasion, or result...it can simply be the best feeling, the best moment, the culmination of work, it can be 69'ing on a saucer.

Its really in the eye of the beholder.

So to speak.

If you were to thinking about it, say an Olympic figure skaters best performance was their gold medal skating routine, but, in their eyes, it could not be.  Maybe the most symbolic, but, not their best.  That could have been in a training round, in practice, etc.

Or think of it from your waterski perspective, you winning a tournament, or setting a record or whatever, its something big, but, is that the best you have skied?

So, we talking about it around the CRB office, and most of us came up with times that no one else had seen, or would even recognize as "the best"

When we were younger, we skied on a show ski team in a state that has a show ski team, and in and area that has boats and green grass and weed.

There were three times that we felt that we were at our best.

Quickly, here are the three times.

1) in a ski show, the boat was turning around, we were prepared to do our act in front of the people at the site, and we remember looking ahead and seeing all the people and realizing that this is awesome, and this is really fun and we (ourselves and the rest of the people with us) were totally in control and confident and ready to really do a good job.

And in truth, it was that good.  But the feeling coming in completely confident in everything was awesome.

2) Same ski show, we practiced the show once at a location, and it was bad.  So, we contacted some friends who had a different site and they said we could ski there for a 1/2 hour, and we were all angry with our performance and wanted to try it again.  And we were able to run through our trick jump act perfectly, it only took one try and it was as if we all got our heads out of our ass and did what needed to be done.

There was no one there to see it, but, the team vibe and the effort put forth was one of the best.

3) Finally, the best individual skiing we have ever done was at a 3-event tournament a 100 years ago, we had a sweet Kidder Redline slalom ski and, while it was a few years old, was still a better ski then we could properly ski.

Until that day, maybe it was the girls that were watching, or just the site or whatever, but, that poor ski couldn't keep up.  The feeling of being 100% in touch with your slalom ski, knowing that each move you do with your body provides a equal result on the water is phenomenal.

No idea what line length we were at when we fell, it wasn't some record breaking thing, maybe 21 off?  28?  Not sure, but, the lake we were on was just about as wide as the slalom course, we ended up skipping out at the three ball and ended up on the beach.

But, the result was irrelevant, it was the best feeling we have ever had on a ski ever, most confident, it was something that someone who doesn't ski or even compete in sports wouldn't know.  That absolute belief in yourself and your ability.  Whatever level that is.

The peak of your perfection may not mean anything to anyone else, but, it does to you and you should always be proud of that.  Thats why we do what we do, aiming to be better.

Sure, the next best moment may not be as great as what we did, or maybe better.  But, its the best that it is NOW!

Live that life!

Remember When You Sucked At Skiing?

We do!

It was 20 years ago, also, 5 hours ago.

We suck at skiing now.  And it blows.

We have real jobs now and can't ski all the time, we have to support the family and it sucks, we have bills to pay and, while that is a self-inflicted wound, it still sucks.

Im Moist baby, hit me. 

Lets take a trip down memory lane, and this doesn't apply to the 1% of people that can make money from skiing and not have to worry, but the rest of us.  The ones that, at one point in our lives, were able to ski for fun, and now...

When we were younger and middle age was some bullshit that other people went through, skiing was simply the means to an end, we skied, we competed, we had fun and that was all there was to it.  There was no end result that we aimed for.

Close your eyes and remember.

You know you do.

Waking up early in the morning, you met your friends for an early morning set.  The water was always calm, it wasn't always warm, but, water was calm.

You could see some people driving to work, probably looking at the lake as they drove by and being jealous of you.

But, you had something to prove.

You shook off the rust from the night before, strapped on your gear, and got ready.

HIT IT.

Off the dock you go, looking back over your shoulder at the jump.  Thinking about what you had to work on, distance?  well, that was part of it, but, you know you needed to move your jump set down a little, would it freak you out?  Maybe!

But this is why you are here.  Get it.

Hit that mother fucker, don't be scared.  Lets do this.

Boat turns around, you ski past the bar thats right there on your left as you go by...first jump, lets take it kinda easy, you ease out on a nice 3/4 cut...

Timing, timing, timing,

You start to go towards the ramp, SHIT WE ARE GOING TO BE LATE, GO GO GO.

RAHHHHH.

early.

God damnit...

PASS.

You idiot, you know this, you are always early.

Shit shit shit, water is cold....sink sink sink sink.

Brrrrrrrrr.

Shit, ok, first one is out of the way.

Your buddy behind the wheel as they get back to you, "what the fuck pussy?"

"yeah, we know shut up"

Boat picks you up, you restart the process, easy dude.  You were early, you can do it, nice and easy, edge into the ramp with acceleration, be aggressive but calm.  Come on, you can do this.

This is us leaving your moms bedroom

Pass the bar, here is the buoy, lets go, nice and easy...

Cut out, easy 3/4 again, lets get our legs under us, calm, calm, deep breath.

Cut, cut, cut harder, ok GET IT NOW,

RAHHHH,

Clack, Thwick, Fly!

Land.

Look behind you.  Gauge your distance.

SHIT!

You bitch, ohhh, now we are pissed.  That was bullshit, you know you can push that down, you were early again, that was horse shit.

Calm your self right now, don't be do aggressive, you got this.  DEEP BREATH.  Rope between your legs...calm.

You got this shit son.  You think your friends are going to let you forget this...cmon, get real, crush that ramp, its yours, you got it.

Ok, boat is turning now, clear your mind, get your mind right, let kill this one.

Pass the bar, coasting in the left curl of the boat wake...

buoy goes buy, hard on left ski out to the right of the boat, accelerate.......swing wide....decelerate, sink, progressive cut, hands down, hard on the right ski....

GO....

RAHHHHH

BOOOOOOOM

Flight!!

There it is, that felt good.

/pats head

Take me back, that was is, that felt good.  Thats something to work on.  Ok, get this wetsuit off, my turn to drive.  We got 45 minutes then got to be at work, SHIT that felt good.  Going to kill that fucker tomorrow.

Back to reality.

Here we are now, with that life in the rear view mirror and how much does that suck!!

You aren't working summer jobs anymore, your at your house being miserable watching the last episode of the fucking blindspot and worrying about your next work day and that your boss isn't going to be mad about your last prospective client report.

The feeling of a free mind and simply getting your buddies together to ski, and then go to work, which you didn't give a shit about, because you always had the boat and your skis as your back up plan.

You were going to be Sammy Duvall, or Carl Roberge, and now you are just trying not to be fucking James Sampson the ass kissing piece of shit from the west side office location.

This is bullshit, but it is the reality.

Every one has this problem in their life, any organized sport, hell, any thing at all always ultimately is a bullshit hassle at the end of the day.  No one who played football has a happy ending unless you are the best of all time, and even then, your best days are behind you at, AT BEST, 40 years old.

40? Shit, I am 18 and have a retirement plant and 4 kids.  Ill be dead in 8 years.

But, waterskiing has to be the most heartbreaking, because if you are any good, you are always this close to being a legend.

But, you won't be.

A number of years ago we skied at Travers Ski School and the dang coaches at the time, the people who just drove our janky ass's around were the upper 5% of all skiers.

Oh, hey! Thanks for helping me get to 100 foot jump buddy, now I am going to drink a beer and watch you crank a 210 footer out there and never hear your name again ever.

Shit it brutal, there are only so many Nate Smiffs, Reginas, Dodds, Freddys, Martins, etc, that are good enough to make dent...

But, here is the truth, while its fun to watch them, they have no bearing on us at all...because, we can/would never be them.  They are the freaks, they are the NFL players, of the waterski world.  We have no chance of ever being in the same discussion with them, so we ignore it.

We have our local tournament to worry about, we heard that this person was able to score ramp time from a local college team and they are in the 120's and Damnit!  We want that trophy!!

Thats the pull of skiing.  The pull of competitive skiing, we aren't aiming for the super bowl, we are aiming for our little slice of the pie, and its fine that any number of people could actually walk in and slice us up.

But in our little moment we are gods, god damnit.

And then we actually ski, and we suck.  Because life is a never ending bastard and we aren't good anymore.  

But, shit, we want to be.  And that simple thing will drive us until we are dead.  We are going to try and be better then you, and better then we were yesterday.