Just had to share.... Here are two of my three kids waterskiing this summer. The boy is 8 and the girl is 6. I also have a 6 year old boy (fraternal twins) who did not quite get up and decided to maybe wait one more year! They are little now but there's no doubt that a Hydrodyne is going to be required equipment soon... Enjoy p.s. Jim - does this bring back any memories?
Yes, it brings back very good memories. They will grow up loving that boat. Your job will be to keep it going into your old age. My grandson is 6 and he already loves it. He likes to kneeboard too. Did you get the skis that are fastened together? jim
The skis do have the connector, although my dad doesn't like using it. Although the connector helps a child keep the tips together on the initial pull - it seems to prevent them from steering very well once they are up. Anyway, my dad is very old school in some regards when it comes to waterskiing. My dad has been watersking for almost 60 years. At 70 years old he still does deep water slalom starts and is, frankly, a pretty skilled slalom skiier. When I was growing up, spending my summers at the family cabin, waterskiing was almost a religion in my family. You could waterski all day every day or, if you desired, you could waterski all day every day. Usually, we opted to waterski all day every day! To this day, my dad doesn't allow anyone to tube behind any boats at our beach. He always believed that tubing creates unnecessary waves for the waterskiiers and it encourages young people to delay learning to ski. I'm not taking a position on the issue here - merely describing my father's waterski philosophy. (He would not like training booms, either, for that matter). We do have a knee board, but the kids seem to leave that behind once they start waterskiing. (and no, my dad doesn't like the kneeboard, either. <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" border="0" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /> ) I am the youngest of 5 and we were all waterskiing by the time we were 6 years old. We pretty much put on our own waterski show on our lake every day - which is one reason that none of us ever joined the local ski teams. (My older brother joined the team in Manitowish for a short while but opted to quit when he discovered that you do a lot more winding of ropes than waterskiing as a junior member!). Now, almost all 17 grandchildren waterski. We are getting to the point where the family Glastron with the 135 Optimax is on the short end of required power when 4 or 5 of these big teenagers want to ski together. With my brothers and I entering middle age we've got less muscle and more fat so a bit more power on the deep water slalom starts (with the double boot ski) would be nice too. Thus enters the HYDRODYNE for the summer of 2007! We plan to run two boats on the beach to help keep more kids skiing on afternoons when a big bunch of them are up there together. My only concern is that a nephew or brother will manage to find a way to kill himself in the Hydrodyne. I don't know yet how that boat is going to handle with all that motor on the back. I guess we'll see.
GREAT Pictures! Alas, I did learn to ski when I was about 7, but we didn't own a boat. It took until I bought my boat 20 years ago to be able to ski anytime I wanted to. That is the reason I bought a boat and I finally learned to single. Prior to this, once about ever 5 years since learning, was all I got to ski. When we bought our little ol' Elgin the two oldest of my kids were 6 and 2......years later two more followed. Taylor and Erin tried skiing, but didn't have the desire I had when I was a kid. Kneeboards became the thing about two years after we bought the boat, kids played on it a little while Mom learned to do 360's on it....of course a tube followed shortly after. Now fast forward to the wakeboard craze......Well, the kids love it! From age 26 through 12 they are all doing it with the exception of the 12 year old still trying, he will be up by next summer. BUT once again Mom beat them too it.......I wakeboarded getting up on the first try before any of them got it and I am gettin' old! LOL! Hey, a Mom has to grab everything she can to out do the kids to keep them in line right? HeHe Alas, I didn't even get to ski this summer......I no longer have a ski......I have been skiing on an old Connelly wooden ski for years my girlfriend gave me when I bought the Elgin. She had had it since she was 15 and when she bought a boat I returned it to her cuz it was the right thing to do. Now I am without.....and don't know what to buy. I have never been a fancy skier or anything like that, but love it and I do, no matter how much time has passed, get up the first shot out of the hole. I wish there was a ski library you could check out a ski's til you find the one you like..........
Mark, I agree with the ski connector, I thought it might help the child that was having trouble. It helped my grandson. Tubes are dangerous and I don't tow them over 15. It actually says that on my tube. Once a driver gets a feel for the roll in the turns with the 18, they usually take it easy at least until they get used to it. It is not a boat for a novice though. Denise, Check e-bay for a ski. They usually have pictures, you might find one like the one you had. I bought a Dick Pope Jr. combo at a garage sale a couple of years ago. jim
Denise For two-ski waterskiing some of the old, wood waterskis are actually great because, believe it or not, some of them are very light compared to modern skis. If it were me I'd look around for old wood skis. We have an old pair that belonged to my grandfather and they are so light you almost forget you have them on your feet. We have a few trying the wakeboard, too. They aren't doing too much on it yet but I'm sure they will be eventually. We don't have a tower on the boat so I don't know how important that is to wakeboarding. I think I'm too old to learn new tricks. I spend most of my time doing the boat driving, which I've done for years and really enjoy. Can't wait to pull waterskiiers behind a 'Dyne - that is what keeps me motivated on my project!
My 6 year old learned how to waterski this summer too. He really seems to prefer kneeboarding. Oh well, they have kneeboarding nationals too. And yes, I am a paranoid mom who always has him on release! <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" border="0" alt="Smile" title="Smile" />
