Hey Skiers Far and Wide!
I landed in Australia on their first day of Autumn (March 1).
You know what that means? It's about to be Spring in the USA! It both feels like we've waited so long and that time has gone in a flash! Ready or not, waterski season officially starts in Virginia on March 30th! Come join us Opening Weekend: March 30-31 and kickoff the best ski season yet. Go ahead and make your first booking right MEOW!
Follow the action at the Moomba Masters by clicking the image above. PLW Team Skier, Solie Stenger hits the water tomorrow (Girls Slalom and Jump) and I will be joining her on Saturday! (Australian dates - we are 16 hours ahead.)
So what's new in Bumpass for 2024?
I'm excited to welcome Bradley Gibbons from Calgary, Canada! Bradley is an up and coming Pro Skier. He coaches the Alberta Junior Team and has been working at Predator Bay Waterski Club in Calgary. He comes highly endorsed by Chelsea Mills, who trained with him for the last two season and by Andrew Bergman, whose opinion I could not value more. Brad is an accomplished 3-eventer, slalom specialist and passionate coach. I'm stoked that he will be with us, I only wish it could be for the full season. Brad will head home at the end of June to train his Canadian Juniors, but I'm hoping we can lure him back for the latter portion of the season!
farewell to Kuz. Mike (or Kuz) has become part of the fabric in Bumpass and in Virginia and Eastern Region waterskiing. His coaching passion and expertise made him invaluable for the last three seasons. A number of life changes have set Kuz on a new course. Mike started 2024 with the loss of his father, with whom he was very close. Mike's body and doctor also told him that it's time to replace his hip (next week). That news meant a season off of skiing. Combine that with an opportunity to work in the boating industry and it all added up to a compelling reason to change. So join me in wishing Kuz the very best of luck in this next chapter. We will miss you and we hope you come and visit. You've got a lot of friends and a lot of love coming from your PLW community.
3. BUOYFEST is the new Buskey!
Come out June 8th and be part of the "funnest" fun tournament anywhere. This year we are partnering with Cooling Pond Brewery of Lake Anna to help us have a great time and to grow the event.
Your favorite parts of the event will all be the same - Each skier gets 6 passes to compete for prizes in the 5 categories: Smoothest Pass, Scrappiest Pass, Best Crash, Best Dressed (costume) and Best Performance. Chris Bailey will rock the upper deck and the campfire but we've also added The Loya Brothers for a full live show! We've booked the best food truck that we've had yet and of course, we have Lake of the Woods Adaptive Watersports on board.
We'll also host a 2 round Class C tournament - Buoyfest Afterglow on Sunday June 9th. You can go ahead and register for both right now. We need you there to make this years event the best one yet! Use the links below to register.
Goodbye Offseason When I say ready or not, ski season is here; I'm definitely talking to myself. I've got the biggest tournament in the world (by crowd size) in two days. That - I feel ready for. Opening ski school two weeks after I come home - that sounds scary. I love the warm weather, the long days, all of you wonderful people but the schedule, travel and pace always seems to get relentless. Please know that I'm going to do my very best to balance the many activities of summer. I ask for some grace in advance for the sure fact that I will be overwhelmed some days. I'm going to try to remember that what really restores me is to switch off "waterski mode" for a little while and just be a husband and Dad. I am thankful that this offseason gave me many opportunities to just be in family mode. We are all looking forward to seeing our big waterski family again! Ski you soon!
PLW,
Corey
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