Mike and Heather Young, owners of Sweetwater Lake where we've been staying, entered us into the Vail, CO 4th of July Parade. Mike mentioned he wanted to do this and of course we were in. Heading 48 miles east on I-70 Friday morning, we didn't quite know what to expect. We were a little uneasy about sporting Pete up there for maneuvering purposes, but just went for it.
We had Wednesday off to chill out and hang with family. All three of us slayed some buoys in the morning and we cleaned up Pete after a brutally long road trip. We went our separate ways after that. Marcus and I headed out with my dad, Jeff, to go do the family thing and get a break from the lake and rig.
We have had some long days with Pete so far this summer, but Alabama to Colorado has surpassed them all. In two days we traveled over 1500 miles in 26 hours....
It's been awhile since Pete has given us much trouble, so we were bound to have something sooner or later. We showed up to Lay Lake, Alabama to find out that the fuse for the hydraulics was done. Joe Sullivan came to the rescue though with a fuse box replacement...followed by a cooler of beer.
Friday:
Kick off day for a weekend of slayin bouys and big jumps. Women's slalom started the day at 8am with 13 women competitors for the first round. Followed by men's slalom with 29 athletes and finally 19 men's jumpers. The athletes said the water felt good and scores reflected that.
Filming under the lights last night was crazy. Several people from the day clinic skied and then we got to film Marcus and Terry tearin up the course Some sweet footage: huge spray, crazy spills and...tree branches.
Coming into Hamilton, OH last night, we had an insane sky to look at. The entire thing was lighting up with bolt after bolt - it looked like it was on fire! Again we got slammed by a rain shower, no tornado this time though! We arrived at Lake Lottawatta with Greg Lanich there to clear a path for Pete with his home-made tree trimmer. Once again, the size of Pete blows everyone away!
The finals of the Michigan Pro was a little bit of surprise for men and women, but well deserved on both sides. The women all skied strong, but ended with Emma Sheers and Karina Nowlan going head to head for the title. Emma lead off with a strong 2.5 at 39. But young Karnia came back at her with 3 for her first win in the pro circuit.
Today started out a little sketchy waking up to pouring rain and a black sky. By 7am, starting time, the skies cleared. Sarah Green was the first girl into 38 off with 1.5. Whitney McClintock upped that to 4 and no one until the top 5 seeds broke into 39. Emma Sheers is leading at 3.5, Karina Nowlan close behind with 2.5 and Nicole Arthur and April Coble-Eller sharing 2.
