Regionals Road Trip

On the road to the 2009 Western Regional Waterski Championships in Windsor, Colorado. My iPhone GPS reads 1,800 miles and 17hrs.

I woke up this morning at 4:45AM at my home in Pacific Beach and arrived at Imperial right at 7:00AM. I took a slalom, trick, and jump set and finished packing up my equipment for the trip.

The 4-wheel drive Morris mobile was loaded with Pat, Connie, Robert, Jaye, and myself. All five of us being three eventers means we packed in 15 events worth of equipment, not to mention clothing, food, books, camping gear, bikes, etc.

It was 117 degrees when we left the lake at noon and five hours later it had dropped to about 112 degrees. Robert drove through Vegas and shortly after we stopped in at an amazing sports grill.

Pat took the helm as we knicked the northwest corner of Arizona and navigated through some rough highway in Utah. Jaye and I tried to get some sleep in the back loft of the van but it was pretty broken.

Colorado. 1AM and my turn to drive. Jaye took shotgun and we cranked some tune as we drove into a lightening storm. The lightening storm kept me entertained but then Jaye fell asleep and so did everyone else. the lightening fadded and there I was all alone on the open road, the Colorado River snaking the highway, and a brilliant crescent moon lighting my way through the canyon.

Prodigal

So… It has been a long while since my last post and my excuses for this are many. I have not been out of waterskiing, I just haven’t been waterskiing. I have continued coaching and following the sport but haven’t made an investment in my own skiing since the summer of last year (2008).

The truth is I do miss it. I miss waking up early and hitting the morning glass, I miss the calluses and sore back, I miss the smell of the boat, and above all I miss my waterski family.

With much debate, I have decided to ski another summer; which means I need to get going because Regionals is only one month away. See you all so soon!

The Eagle. Endangered no more!

Eagle wetsuits is making a comeback in 2009. Big deal right? Well you might appreciate this news story if you skied for the San Diego State Aztecs between the years of 2005-present.

“Eagle wetsuits have staged a comeback of enormous proportion. For years we have seen them floating around: the odd jumpsuit here, or a retro suit from yester-year there. But enter new owner, Chuck Gleason with a passion for OUR sport unrivaled by any wetsuit builder in the industry. With a fresh new ‘09 line on tap the small Houston-based company is charging, looking to knock off the SURF companies’ stranglehold on the slalom market. American owned, American built. Suppport our sport by suppporting those with our best interests in mind. Buy American.”

Collegiate Nationals

The Aztecs took 6th Place at the 2008 Collegiate Nationals. It was a good experience for a very young team with a lot of raw talent. I would like to stay and dedicate myself to coaching the team this spring and into next fall. I think that we could accomplish a lot. Good job qualifying this year team but how about for next year we come ready to ski hard. Great team bonding! You really showed me what a team is all about. Thank you for letting me be a part.

Imperial 08

I write from the couch at the Mission Beach bachelor pad where I will be converting the garage the new SIMR headquarters next week. I’m on my second bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios before Prison Break starts. Wanted to give an update from the Imperial tournament. Last weekend was super fun. It was so great to see everyone in my ski family. The SIMR crew was well represented at the home site for half the team. Some highlights include a 100 miles of bonding pavement out and back with Big Daddy Rush, quality time in the tower talking baseball with the great Phil Adams, and wrestling with Robert on the dock at the night party fully clothed into the freezing cold lake.

My first tournament of the fall, and first tournament since regionals (july), and first time on the water in 75 days, went pretty much as expected. I started the tournament with one round of tricks. Stood up my usual pass scoring 970pts. Next, I elected to do two rounds of jump back to back since I was the only 5.5ft jumper. My furthest jump was 123ft. It’s good to have one in the books for next season. Slalom was an udder mess. I didn’t have a vest, one side of my wing was bent 45 degrees the wrong way. I was actually quite shocked I made it around 5 ball. Well… I wasn’t half as surprised as the boat crew who probably thought I actually knew how to ski.

New Tour Date Added

I haven’t touched my skis since regionals this last summer. In fact I can’t even find my slalom vest. Non-the-less I will be competing in the final 3-event tournament of the year down at my home site of Imperial Lakes. After sitting on the shore at the collegiate regionals this last weekend I am really itching to dust off those jump skis.

Imperial 3 Event
DATES: October 11-12, 2008
LOCATION: Imperial Lakes, El Centro, CA

6 Straight for my Alma Mater!

Those Aztecs hold onto another Nationals bid, qualifying for D2 Nationals for the 6th year in a row. The large Regional Tournament took place this last weekend in Bakersfield, CA where the Aztecs placed 4th out of close to 16 regional waterski programs.

My cousin, Connor Fagent (pronounced Fay Jent), is now skiing for State. He has some natural athletic ability and comes from a very water active family. He should be slashing buoys in no time. We will be traveling to Arizona in two weeks for the NCWSA National Championships hosted by Arizona State University. Congrats State!

My Absence

My neglect of CCLARKSKI.com is not intentional. I love this site because it allows me to go back and recall good time, evaluate my skiing progress, and keeps my family in the know. I have been busy recently with my new action sports business ventures. I started a surfboard company (that is expanding into more of a lifestyle company) and I have been pursuing my photography, multimedia, and marketing interests as well. Not to mention traveling constantly. I haven’t even had a home for over a year now. Off my most recent return from Central America I am planning on putting in a good three to four months here in San Diego.

I will be making custom surfboards, photographing action water sports, coaching waterskiing, and personally training myself into great physical shape.

AWSA Regionals Wrap (Orting, WA.)

A good time was had by all. We got stuck in traffic on the way up to Washington and missed the junior banquet awards but made it just in time for cake and the dance party. We saw all of our good friends and made some new ones of course. We did some swimming cause the weather was so warm. We had a killer pillow fight. Stayed up late trading stories around the motor homes. I skied my best and walked away with two medals. We drove from Orting over to Rainier Lake to stay with some friends and spend a couple of more days skiing and postponing goodbyes. Finally it was time to drive back to Medford Oregon to drop off Nic and then make my way back to California. Fantastic ending to a summer of skiing.

Slalom day one

Slalom “day one” out at the pond was amazing. Lots of passes with plenty of rest between. Playing around on the new HO A1 (Yes we have one).

After training with Zero Off all week going back to classic Perfect Pass was amazing. It was so much easier that I got cocky and tried a cold 36/28off off the dock. Haha. I only got 4 buoys but seriously why is the new system that much more difficult. I found my new favorite pass, 34/28off. Wow is that pass fun! I could really feel the boat yet I didn’t feel rushed. That was a great pass to work on stuff.