New years eve is here, so how about some CRB Sexy to lighten the mood. Oh...you are already in a good mood? Well then how about some sexy just for the sake of sexy?
If there is one thing on our bucket list that is probably not within our technical grasp, would be to restore, from the ground up, a classic Chris Craft...a woody if you will. The process of replacing wood, re-doing the stringers, the motor, the wiring, all that is required to properly restore a classic woody to its original glory.
Additionally, you will probably have to either replace or rebuild the motor, which sounds fun in theory, but, you probably wont have the right tools, you will get confused and some of the bolts are rusty and sometimes you slip and hit your god damn hand on something and it bleeds and hurts and then you throw the socket wrench across the garage and it puts a big hole in the god damn drywall which you have to patch up and your wife is mad and this is bullshit gahhh!!!!
Never the less, it seems that some students at Tennessee Technical Center-Nashville and Nashville State Community College have gone about this project, a total restoration, the right way and with a bitchin huge motor, the 5.6L V8 from an Infinity QX56 Canyonero.
Brockman continued, “Before the future Infiniti lake cruiser can return to the water, we’ve had to tear it down to virtually nothing and start building it back up with fresh wood… Ultimately, it looks like we’ll have to replace nearly 85 percent of the original wood, one piece at a time, due to age and rot.” Brockman adds, “When the 20-foot Chris-Craft Holiday model was introduced in 1962, it was said to be one of the best performing Chris-Craft hulls ever produced. It cornered well, was easy to come on plane and was often used in nationally sanctioned water skiing events for just those reasons. We can’t wait to see how this classic design performs with the new engine.”
When the mahogany speedboat is complete, a custom boat trailer to match a 2012 Infiniti QX56 will also be built.
That sounds pretty awesome, all though, we could have thought of a couple better options for a powerplant then the V8 from an Infinity, like, the supercharged V8 from a Vette ZR1, or maybe a big diesel from a semi, but, thats just picking at some nits, this whole thing seems pretty cool and be interesting to see if they incorporate any of the cool electronic gizmos from the actual donor vehicle into the woody.
Also, the pics in that article show part of the resto process.
hey bro, that is totally not going to float!
A Chris Craft and a massive Infinity QX56, a big boat and a big boat, I bet they handle the same! ZING!
Note to the people behind this project, the CRB would love to be on hand and take a ride when you are done, just give us a call at 311 and let us know when to show up...we will bring the cheeze its and beer.
Oh hello there, nice to see you...I don't think that we have met before, but, my name is Rocko, and I am a Cessna 172 airplane. Often times people confuse me with many different things, it could be something like a Cessna 152 and I am all like "pssh, that only has two seats you fool!", sometimes i get confused with a bass boat, which is real odd because I can barely float!!
Anyways, I just wanted to say hello. It gets a bit lonely up here in the air, and cold, but, you do get some really impressive views.
For example, just the other day I flew over your moms house. haha, thats some airplane humor right there sir.
But, no, what I really wanted to share with you is that...one of the things you learn, is that there are many many lakes that you can see when you are flying around that you can totally ski on.
Like, here, take a look at this.
You may think, yeah, thats nice Rocko, but, that looks like Bennetts ski school and you cant fool me.
HO HO HO, you would be wrong sir, that is in fact a naturally occurring lake in the South Dakota foothills, it is there just as god and nature and witchcraft intended it to be, it is certainly NOT Bennetts ski school in Louisianna...in fact, I cant fly in those hot conditions, my blades get all gunky.
Here, look, this is another picture i took as i circled around.
Yep, that blue water...and the other blue colored water is totally normal, thats how the water in South Dakota is, its various shades of blue, something to do with the clay in the ground or maybe, thats just how my camera works or something, i am really not super tech smart.
I wanted to stay longer and take more pictures, but, it was getting late and i am not certified to fly at night, my instruments may get jammed...at night.
So, what I am saying is that...there are more lakes out there in the world to ski on then you are aware of. You just have to look.
I know that may not help with your impending divorce, but, there are more lakes to ski on, you know, fish in the sea, lakes to ski on. Ha, a little aquatic themed humor.
This is how I drive into the CRB world headquarters every day. The Rowboat Abides gets pissed and shoots his musket at me every time. Good thing he is a shitty shot...
Merry dubstep Christmas to all. Hope Santa brings you all the waterski toys you asked for. We at the CRB asked for world peace...haha, that is false. We asked for DOLLA DOLLA BILLS Y'ALL! We will probably be disappointed.
Albert Dyck Park is in Abbotsford BC, that is British Columbia Canada for the geographically stupid people out there, is in the middle of a tug of war between a long established waterski club and a group looking to put in a cable park that would make the lake unusable for boat towed water skiing.
This is a tough one, the ski club has used the park for many years but it is city owned and the club has no lease on the site. There is nothing that stops the city from finding a group that will pay to use the site or pays more then the club to use the site.
Looking at the picture it seems it would be a sad day to destroy such a place with a bunch of ugly cable towers and D bags running around in Affliction t shirts. It is easy to side with the ski club, not only because we at the CRB are waterskiers and wakeboarders tend to be annoying dip shits, but because they have been using this park for many years, back in 1995 it was one of their club members, Dave Miller, that worked with the city to convert an old gravel pit into the great ski lake that is now there.
So what gives the cable park groups the right to come in and steal this site? Lack of foresight on the park of the ski club is what. They have no lease on this sight, they never locked it up when there were no competitors for the location. I grew up on a ski club that was smart enough to lock up its site with a 99 year lease with the city. The 1 buck a year cost was tough, but worth it in the long run... Towns will sign deals like that when they see no other use for a site, Albert Dyck was a gravel pit before, lock that shit up!!
We are strong supporters of any and all towed watersports, and love the expansion of cable parks around the world. The parks have proven a great way to bring new faces into our sport, and the growth is good in the long run. But in this case we have to side with the skiers, this has been their site for 16 years, they have hosted pro events and smaller tournaments over the years and (as far as we know) have been good stewards of this great site and park. Hopefully Abbotsford's city leaders have some loyalty to the club and let them continue to use this great park. At the same time we hope they help one of the cable park groups find an alternative site somewhere in the area.
This vid is from 2009, but still dope. Clem is a crazy good skier and a CRB girl, and lets be honest here, being a CRB Girl is really all that matters.
This is not like my normal downhill ski vids, what happens to this guy would probably scare many people off from back country skiing for years. Not me, but thats cuz the ODBF is a GD BAD ASS!!
Australia and New Zealand are amazing countries to visit any time of the year, but during the winter in the US it is even better. You get to ski! The water is not frozen! The Aussies and Kiwis have put out many top 3 event skiers and love their speed skiing, but less well known up here but very popular down there is their skills on their bare feet.
Wrong type of Kiwi
Speaking of the land down under, Australia will be hosting its first IWSF World Cup in March.
Show skiing is often viewed as a event that is only practiced in the Midwest. Showskiing actually was started in Portland Oregon or New York City depending on who you believe. It is also popular in New England and in several states in the south. The Carolina Show Ski team from Tega Cay South Carolina is bidding to host the Southern Regional show ski tournament. Big step for a little team...
Is a man made lake a lake or a pool? WTF? Well you would think the answer to that question is pretty evident but Eagle Mountain in Utah is actually debating this question.
In the early years of wakeboarding there were many 3 event skiers that switched over to competitive wakeboarding, but we have now found the next step in that process...Pro wrestling...
While a Utah town debates whether a cable lake is a pool or not the United Kingdom continues to allow more and more cable parks to be built.
People in Michigan are crazy. I have skied when it was snowing before, but that was because of where I went to college and the weather sucking something awful at spring tournaments. These guys chose to ski in the snow for fun...they are stupid.
There is ice on the lake? Hell yea lets go skiing!!
The Indonesian national waterski team recently dominated at the South East Asian games. Nice to see skiing expanding around the world. Has the IWSF world cup actually been working to spread the sport? Don't ask Verno, he will not accept praise for Kuno and the IWSF to go unpunished.
The guys at the University of Wisconsin Madison have made some of the best vids put out by any collegiate team in the country. At least the best that we have found...or that has been sent to us. HINT HINT all the rest of you slackers!
Holy Freaking Hell is this awesome. This vid is on par with the freestyle bike vid we put up back in the warmer months at some point. I would look for it but I am lazy and bossman expects me to actually get work related shit done today. He is a dick.
This would be like Parkour but on skis...or something like that. Starts slow but gets awesome. Very good camera shots and interesting angles.
Girls will argue this one to no end, but it is infact impossible for a guy and girl to be just friends without feelings being involved somewhere. We are guys and guys are like rabbits in that we like to hump.
This phenomena is much more easily seen on ski clubs. Just ski for a college team for a season...you get the picture.
There is a light coating of snow on the ground, that depresses me but it also means snow ski season is almost here. So F yea to that! Lets watch some crazy bad ass skiing.
I love these kind of vids, they just show all the awesome shit we can do. Jumping is really the only part of our sport that fits into the "extreme" sports category. If anyone says that slalom is in that category I will get in the CRB Chevette and drive to wherever you are and bitch slap you.
This happens to LifeJacket all the time, it is why we see him around so rarely. That guy is constantly hiding from his baby mamas. It is also why we are constantly finding small cuts in all of the ropes in the CRB SkiMasterBu.
We have mentioned Austin Able before, he has gotten into 41 off at a few tournaments and has been right on the cut at a couple of the big tournys. We met him at a tourny last summer, this kid is awesome. Saw him sleeping on a picnic table at the Global invite drooling on himself as well, that was also awesome.
Stole this from Johnny Hardcore Harmon's facebook. He commented "if these boys cant make a living doing what they do then waterskiing stands no chance". Not a terrible point, but we just have to change our approach and push events that do have the ability to draw the dollas.
Johnny is one of the best waterski drivers I have ever ridden with, dude has solid skills. I have also drank with him, and again, dude has solid skills! He asked me once why I was not working at bennetts, I did not have an answer at the time. I do now, its because there is no money in ski school coaching, you can make a living owning the school, but if you want to work at those schools you better have no outside expenses or a solid trust fund. I coached for 4 years at another school (if you want to know which one just dig back into my old posts, I talk about it) and I was broke as a joke the whole time. I now sit at a desk and stare at numbers all day long because this is where the money is. There are lots of guys like me in the world, not enough dollas to support ourselves in the ski world so we drift off to the real world. And the real world sucks.
Once we figure out how to make it so those of us that love the sport can make a living in it, then we will have a chance. Until then we will just have to post vids from the sidelines.