Moomba Men's Slalom Final

Things I thought were interesting about today's final round of men's slalom:

• Mapple started at 32' off and then once again opted out of 35' off coming back in at 38' off.
• Parrish got a reride at 39.5' because he hit a bottle at the one ball.  On his reride he made 6 buoys and then equaled the course record of 3@41' which was set by Smith yesterday.
• Asher missed his gates at 39.5' after running (I think) 5@39.5'.
• Thomas Degasperi was on "Dancing with the Stars" in Italy.
• Smith, last skier, missed his opening gates at 35' off.
• They were going to do a run off for 2nd and 3rd (3 way tie between Mapple, Degasperi, and Sedlmajer), but came back and said no on the run off giving Sdelmajer 2nd and Degasperi 3rd.

Moomba Women's Slalom Final

Emma Sheers pulled a Mapple...she too has been out of the sport for 8 years, but you couldn't tell running an impressive 5.50@38' off.  And Whitney McClintock starting at 32' off...I didn't know a female skier could do that.  Where have I been?  Congratulations to Karen Truelove for getting on the podium!

Moomba Day 2

Team In Tow skiers Dane Mechler (Junior Moomba Champion), Tom Brantley, and Nick Parsons were invited to ski in the Moomba Masters.  Tom and Nick were two of the fifteen skiers to advance to round 2, but did not make it to the final round.  Things I thought were interesting about today's 2nd round of slalom:

• Mapple started at 32' off (skiers have to start at this line length) and then came back in at 38' off.
• Asher at one point was out of the race because they said he did not make his gates at 39.5', but after Mapple had skied and before Smith skied, they reversed their decision so Asher will be skiing in the final round.
• Asher has the longest arm span out of all the top skiers.
• Mapple, after making the final round, opted out of skiing in the Big Dawg final round.
• Smith set a course record of 3@41'.

                                                                                        Brenda

I have set up on my website the video link, tweet link, and results link for Moomba.  It might not be as spiffy as other sites, but what I did for today's viewing was to link three tabs to the In Tow website and then I clicked on the three different links (video, tweet, results) within the In Tow website.  It was a nice setup to have all three pieces of information going at once.

Dane Mechler Wins Junior Moomba

Junior Moomba U17 Boys Slalom Results

Junior Moomba Round 1

Got an e-mail from Dane:

Hey Brenda!

I slalomed in the first round of Moomba today and I am in the lead! I have one more round to go and it is combined score. Just thought I would let you know the first round went great. Talk to you soon

Dane

His score in the first round is 3.5@11.25m.

                                                                                        Brenda

Dane sent me a picture so we know he's really there :)

MOOMBA + IN TOW

MOOMBA Invitation List and Rankings

1  Chris                Parrish               USA

2  Will                  Asher                 GBR

3  Nate                 Smith                 USA

4  Thomas            Depaseri             AUS

5  Jonathan           Travers              USA

6  Daniel               Odvarko            CZE

7  Nicholas            Adams               AUS

8  Nicholas          Parsons              USA

9  Corey               Humburg            USA

10 Carlo               Allais                  ITA

11 Aaron              Larkin                NZL

12 Jason               McClintock        CAN

13 Johan               Eferstrom          SWE   

14 Joel                 Howley              AUS

15 Boris               Laval                 FRA

16 Austin             Able                   AUS 

17 Martin             Bartalsky            SVK

18 Tom               Brantley            USA

19 Adam              Sedlmajer          CZE

20 Javier              Julio                   ARG

21 Brooks            Wilson               USA

22 Joel                 Wing                 AUS

23 Dane               Mechler            USA

24 Felipe              Miranda             CHI

25 Jonah              Shaffer              CAN

26 Nick                Purcell               AUS

27 Benjamin         Stadlbaur           SUI

28 Joshua             Briant                AUS 

29 Tayla               Garcia               USA

30 Andy               Mapple              USA

Team IN TOW skiers in bold.

As I have been getting geared up for the Moomba, I remembered IN TOW pulled the Moomba about 13 years ago.  The worlds best slalom skiers and jumpers skiing on my ropes!  Does anyone else find that amazing?  Man was I nervous.  It all happened because of my connection with Jaret and Britta Llewellyn.  

                                                                                          Brenda

Brenda,
 You Rock!

Two Down - Two To Go

An update on my young skier Dane Mechler.  He had a bit of bad luck with weather at Junior Worlds and ended up 12th in Under 17 Boys Slalom.  At the Mastercraft Australian Open, his first pro tournament, he came in 9th.  He's currently skiing with Daniel Odvarko, Joel Wing, Timmy Bradstreet, and Kara MacIntyre doing some training before Moomba.   Dane said, "We are skiing on Myuna Bay near Newcastle, Australia and it is saltwater so it is perfect practice for Moomba".  He's heading to Melbourne tomorrow where he is top seed for the Moomba junior event and 20th seed for the Moomba elite event. 

Learning to Water Ski

As I was preparing to talk with Lucky Lowe for the March issue of my monthly newsletter (the front page of my website), I came across this video Learn to Water Ski with Lucky Lowe.  If this is the year you are going to teach your kids to ski you might want to check this out.

Hopefully by Monday I will have some input from Lucky for my short line skiers!

                                                                                             Brenda

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere!

Just when I thought I was starting to get things under control after a two year stint of health issues and the aftermath of health issues (life does not congratulate you for still being alive, it just says "look at what a mess your life is now"), my son Jordan moved back in with me.  He enjoyed living on his own but came to the conclusion he did not like his restaurant job so much and did not like living on $8.50 an hour.  Yet he was distraught because he did not know what he wanted to do, but now he does. Isn't half the battle figuring out what you want to do?  Jordan is going back to college to work on getting a degree in Actuarial Science.  And so much for being an empty nester, I need to update my profile.

I am boring you with all of this to explain why I have been neglecting you guys.  My theme song for the past two weeks has been It's Five O'Clock Somewhere but it's time to move on....

Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett

I saw Alan Jackson in concert back when I was living in Austin (1989 time frame) when he just had a few hits.  It was a Randy Travis concert with Tammy Wynette and Alan Jackson as the opening acts. Alan slaloms.  In this video it's in jeans and cowboy hat with some footing in cowboy boots. 

  Alan Jackson on the water.

It's eight o'clock - time to go make some ropes for the Western Regional Tournament.

                                                                                     

                                                                                        Brenda