World Cup - Mandurah

The IWSF World Cup held a event in Mandurah this past weekend. Many non competitors were complaining on the interblags about the conditions at the site, which did look very rough. We here at the CRB are big proponents of running events where the people are and from the video it looks like there was a decent number of spectators along the shore so this event is OK in our view, not great for sure. Yes, the conditions were not ideal but if we want money in this sport then continue to put the skiers in front of the crowd.

Ideal would be a lake specially built for skiing with no wind and the shores lined with spectators...but that is not going to happen so stop your bitching and enjoy the fact that we are getting out in front of crowds and our skiers are making money. For years the private lake events with little or no advertising have been killing our sport, finally we are getting back where we belong. There is a long way to go and we are nowhere near where we should be, but its a start.

I have spoken with several pro skiers who have all said the same thing, 'get us the money, we will ski anywhere'. These guys are trying to make a living on a fringe sport, private lakes are fine for the mens 3 and 4 rating mill events, but they do no good for the pros.

The LA Night Jam is an example of a private lake that does it right, but that is an exception to the rule. They advertise well and are able to bring in the crowds, no other tourny in recent memory has been able to do that.

Now with all of that said, that site looked really rough, I would not have wanted to ski there, but I also am not out to make a living on skiing.  If the site is always this windy and rough then questioning why it was held at this site is a fair question to ask.  I often question what the IWSF is thinking as it seems 90% of their actions are more for the benefit of the IWSF leadership then for the skiers.