Raffle Tickets Available!
Posted on: June 23, 2009 | By: EVP
Hi everyone,
We have arranged an amazing raffle! For $20, you get a chance at either a brand new Radar Tournament Ski with Hard Shell boots and bindings OR up to $900 in product from Sail and Ski.
Yep, $20 gets you the up to $900. Only 100 tickets are available.
We will be drawing the name on July 18th. So, purchase your tickets before we run out.
You can purchase tickets at a tournament, Meet Up happy hour, call Peter Catalano (512-450-8890), talk to your favorite board member or e-mail your favorite board member.
Fran Crea, member at large board member, created this opportunity with Sail & Ski. It truly is an awesome deal.
Texas native Ryan Fitts, now living in the Dallas area, is available for water ski coaching. Ryan is a pro three event skier with National, Masters, Pro Tour and World Champion titles. He holds the National Men 1 Jump record of 206 feet.
Ryan skied with Austin Nichols on the US team. Austin has this to say about his old sidekick, “He has an unparalleled competitive drive, a natural-born talent, and an infinitely positive attitude. There are great teachers everywhere you go, in any sport or profession. They have the experience and know-how to be very helpful. But very few teachers inspire the way Ryan does.”
Ryan will come to your lake anytime for group or private coaching. You can reach him at 319-348-6599 or ryanfitts@gmail.com.
Central Texas Drought 2009
Posted on: June 12, 2009 | By: Webmaster
We are experiencing the worst drought in years. Many of our ski lakes are in dire situations. Click here to learn more.
The CASS Kickoff tournament went very well considering the severe water shortage we are having this year. We are certainly grateful to Utopia River Ranch for the opportunity to host our tournament there. But, we missed many of our regulars who have been unable to get into get into a water skiing groove this year.
Unfortunately, the drought continues and the next CASS tour stop, Janet's Birthday Bash, has been postponed indefinitely. The good news is that water from the lower lakes at Frame Switch is being pumped "upstairs" to the upper lake. Depending on how that goes there may be a belated Birthday Bash for Janet after all.
Keep your fingers crossed!
Amazing Raffle Thanks to Sail & Ski!
Posted on: May 14, 2009 | By: Peter Catalano, EVP
Hello folks,
The folks at Sail & Ski have generously made available a Radar Annex Tournament Ski with hard shell boots and bindings for raffle!
However, if you are not interested in the ski, Sail & Ski will exchange the ski for up to $900 of products from their store.
This is a great offer. Either a fantastic ski or products from the store! Need parts for your boat? How about new ropes? Maybe a new vest? Dare I say a wakeboard (as a gift of course)?
We are selling raffle tickets at the tournaments and board meetings (all are welcome) for $20 per ticket. Yep - $20 per ticket. Please note, only 100 tickets will be sold. So buy your tickets early before they run out.
We will draw the winner at the Texas State Championships at San Marcos River Ranch on July 18th. You need not be present to win, but you do need to be present to buy the ticket!
The CASS Kickoff Tournament scheduled for Saturday, May 16 will now be held at Utopia River Ranch. Its been several years since we've hosted an event at this beautiful site and we are happy to be returning. Bring the beach toys for the kids!
The opening tournament of the season, The CAWSC CASS Kickoff, will be Saturday May 16th. The event is currently scheduled for the Austin Aquaplex. Unfortunately, Aquaplex is not skiable now due to low water. If the situation doesn't change by Saturday 5/2, the tournament will be moved to Utopia River Ranch.
As a member benefit CAWSC has arranged for discounts of 5% to 15% on insurance from Liberty Mutual. Liberty is the 5th largest property and casualty insurer in the United States and can insure your home, car, boat recreational vehicle and more.
Contact Darrin Glenn for quotes at 512 -258-1267, ext. 56244 or email him at Darrin.Glenn@LibertyMutual.com.
We had an excellent turnout for the General Membership meeting this year at the Brick Oven. And, unlike previous meetings, we had a very diverse group of skiers with everything from national level competitors to recreational skiers including a great group of skiers from the Austin Waterski Meetup (http://www.meetup.com/waterskiaustin/).
Congrats to the winners of our traditional drawing for a free CASS tournament entry: CASS Kickoff @ Aquaplex – Jody Hooten Janet’s Birthday Bash @ Frame Switch – Shayne Brown Steak and Lobster II @ Aquaplex – Theo Freund Texas State @ Aquaplex – Renada Markiewicz San Marcos River Ranch – Nick Williams CASS Finals @ Frame Switch – Valerie Mitchell
Thanks to Austin Aquaplex, Frame Switch Ski Lakes, Austin Ski Club and San Marcos River Ranch for their free entry donations.
General Membership Meeting March 27th
Posted on: March 03, 2009 | By: Mark Zuzanek, President
The Spring General Membership Meeting is a great opportunity to connect with friends new and old and get ready for the new ski season. It will be held 6:30pm Friday March 27, 2009 at the Brick Oven Arboretum 10710 Research Blvd. on the west side of 183 and south of Braker Lane (near HEB closer to Jollyville Rd). Pizza and drinks are compliments of CAWSC to paid up members.
Some agenda items: 2009 Budget and Plan Memberships Ski Events Junior Development Update Tournament Schedule Free CASS Tour tournament entry drawings for paid up members
We'll also have the fabulous CAWSC Tshirts available for sale for $15.
If you can’t make the meeting and want to be eligible for the drawing please print an application and mail it with your dues payments to CAWSC, P.O. Box 8, McNeil, TX 78651.
The CASS Kickoff tournament, our season opener, is scheduled for May 16-17 at the Austin Aquaplex. CASS is like a summer ski league that is ability based. You don't have to be an Ace, you just have to want to ski and have fun! As always, novice skiers are welcome. If you're not familiar with CASS check it out here
CAWSC @ 2009 Austin Boat Show Jan 15-18
Posted on: January 04, 2009 | By: Mark Zuzanek, President
We will again have a 10X10 booth courtesy of the Austin Boat Show.
Please drop by and say hello, renew your membership, pick up a T-shirt and see what's up for 2009. New members welcome!
Water Skier Magazine Notes CAWSC Juniors
Posted on: January 03, 2009 | By: Mark Zuzanek, President
The September 2008 issue of USA Water Ski's "Water Skier" magazine contains a "Go Figure" column that says "28 junior water ski athletes from the Capital Area Water Ski Club of Austin, Texas, that have attended in either a clinic, ski school or tournament in 2008."
We pride ourselves on our work with the juniors and its nice to be recognized. Its also interesting to be noted because it tells us we are doing more with junior skiers than most if not all other USA Water Ski clubs.
CAWSC will again host a number of clinics for juniors in 2009. And, our CASS tournament format continues to encourage juniors and novices alike. Stay tuned for to this website for more information as the season progresses.
The 2008 CASS Finals was great! Conditions were near perfect, we had a great crowd and no serious injuries. Slalom started on time at 8:00a and tricks on the second lake at 8:08a. There were 49 total skiers, many skiing multiple events. All three events were completed before 5:00p. Lots of kids skied the mini-course, novice and class C including the Honey Bees chapter of the McQueeney Ski Bees. Several new Novice slalom skiers came out including Shayne Brown and Brian Broussard.
Two of the day’s highlights belong to novice skier Kevin Long who accomplished three passes in slalom and performed a side slide on 2 trick skis - behind the boat! There was a whole lot of jumpin’ goin on with a 148 foot jump by visiting Colorado skier Norman Wenzel, 144 by Jody Hooten and 136 by Jay Eidem. Big trick scores were put up by Kay Nichols who wowed us again with 5290 and Jon Penner with 4520. Both Kay and Jon did toe 720s and little tricker Kat Warner did some big flips. The slalom gods were smiling as Big Dawgs Mike Hamilton got into 39 off and Marc Austin 38 off. Long-time CAWSC driver Ken ‘Buckwheat’ Buchheit passed his senior driver test - as if there was any doubt!
The only disappointment was the complete lack of collegiate team skiers. No Bobcats and no Longhorns showed even though several Longhorns said they were coming.
It takes the efforts of many people to put on an event like this and I want to thank everyone for their contributions large and small that made this tournament such a success.
Special thanks go non-skiers Chief Judge Kathy Ives aka "The JD Lady", Chief Scorer Susan Leach who spent most of her time judging tricks while keeping tabs on scoring, Karl Nordman who was the first man on site in the morning and judged nearly every trick pass, Emil Crow for his Slalom judging (gotta get him skiing again), Announcer Matt Boddick for keeping us entertained all day, Denise Skinner for making sure we were properly fed and Abby Weidman and Ines Forni for their scoring efforts. Thanks to skiers Chief Driver and Safety Ron Ives, Jon Penner for the video jump setup and execution and Floyd McCreight for his dedication to getting the jump set up. Lastly, thanks to the entire Aquaplex crew for making us feel so welcome.
But wait! You can’t have a tournament without towboats and we had the luxury of skiing behind the finest in the world. So, big thanks go to Ken Buchheit and Sail and Ski for the Ski Nautique, Kevin Brown and Central Texas Water Sports for their Malibu, the Hamiltons for their Longhorn style Malibu and The Mears for their “Darth Vader” Master Craft.
Photographer Phillip Fields took 1054 photos. All are available for viewing and purchase at PhotoReflect.com. Whew! What a day!
Its hard to believe the Capital Area Water Ski Club's CASS Finals is almost here. The last tournament of the Capital Area Summer Series (CASS), this one gives qualifying regular CASS skiers the chance to get a score counted twice toward the end-of-season awards.
CASS Finals will be Saturday September 6th at Austin Aquaplex. Click here for details then click "Print Entry" to print an entry form and release. There will be no fuel surcharge.
This is always a fun event and one of the largest tournaments of the year. A raffle will be held and bidding will begin on silent auction items donated by our sponsors. Spectators are welcome.
Aquaplex will again host a Big Dawg Qualifier tournament on Saturday 8/23. While that's going on, the other lake will host the Dawg Watchers Classic, a 3 round slalom (round 3 is Sunday morning) and 2 round trick class C tourney. Both tournaments are CASS scoring tournaments.
Many folks will be travelling in for the Big Dawg so get your entry in asap. Don't get shut out!
Click here for Dawg Watchers details then click the "Print Entry" to print an entry form and release.
Entries go to: Matt Bodick 10600 Aquaplex Cove Buda, TX 78610 512-243-1815 mbodick@txwinet.com
Ski Bees Steal the Show at SCR Regionals
Posted on: August 09, 2008 | By: Mark Zuzanek, President
Until this year I thought the Ski Bees of Lake McQueeney were a typical water ski club if not a cult of jumpers. We had hosted some of their members over the years at our events, mostly great jumpers like the McFadins, Dwyers and Buchanans. This year they started showing up in swarms.
The littlest Bees, I call them the Honey Bees, have buzzed us at just about every event this season. Nine of them are from three families from 3 years on up that all live on the same cul-de-sac. They slalom, trick and jump like crazy, have a great time and never complain about anything! Then I learned the reason.
They are show skiers! At the 2008 SCR Regionals in Fayettville, Arkansas the Honey Bees, in costume, skied down the lake in a line waving American flags to the tune of the National Anthem.
Now, I've been to Cypress Gardens. I've seen Andy Mapple, Cory Pickos and many other greats water ski. But this totally blew me away. Now I know where these kids get their spirit. Quite simply, the show must go on.
For five decades the Ski Bees have been putting on water ski shows on Lake McQueeney. Their skits range from charming to daring. From the Honey Bees buzzing by waving to the Killer Bees ski jumping off the boathouse. This is one of the best kept secrets in Texas water skiing. Well, maybe not anymore!
Here four of the Honey Bees get ready for their appearance in Fayettville.
Congrats to CAWSC SCR Regionals Winners
Posted on: August 08, 2008 | By: Mark Zuzanek, President
This year's South Central Region Regionals Tournament was held at the Cedar Creek Ski Park near Fayettville, Arkansas. Its a wonderful new venue surrounded by the Ozark foothills. Regionals will again be there in 2009.
Congrats to the CAWSC members who placed for 2008!
One of the things we have been working on this year is to get more people involved with judging, scoring and driving. As our non-skiing spouses already know, this is one way to be involved if you're not a competitive skier.
I want to thank the club members who came out to help put on the Texas State Championships even though they didn't ski. Fran Crea ran an awesome trick dock, read jump meters and the master board. Inez Forni, Denise Skinner and Peter Catalano put in lots of scoring time as did stalwart scoring queen Janet Hooten. If I have missed anyone please speak up!
Our Officials Development Committee Chairperson, Floyd McCreight, has done an awesome job helping folks move through the various requirements to become an official. If this is something you are interested in please contact Floyd or me.
Yesterday was the second water ski meetup of the season at NXNW. We had very friendly group of about 15 people with all types of water ski interests represented. You think you know a lot of water skiers until you find out there's a guy out there who's email address is waterskifreak! Many thanks to Sail and Ski who provided a very nice ski vest and a rope and handle that we gave away in the drawing.
Texas State Championships Saturday July 19th at Frame Switch
Posted on: July 11, 2008 | By: Mark Zuzanek, President
Don't forget the Austin Ski Club's Texas State Championships Saturday July 19th at Frame Switch Ski Lakes. Tourney starts at 8:00a. Registration 7:30a. As always, please get your entry in early, early early as in ASAP. Novice skiers welcome.
Click here for details: Tx State Champs Tourny Info and click the "Print Entry" to print an entry form and release.
Entries go to Ann Hamilton, 12501 Aquaplex Drive, Buda, TX 78610. Please call Ann at 512-243-1774 for questions or late entry alerts. Do not send entries to Rhett.
If you haven't started collecting CASS scores this season its not too late! There are still 3 more local tourneys including this one. That's enough to be eligible to win an end-of-season award. Get your CAWSC membership application here: http://www.waterskiaustin.com/About/Become_a_Member/CAWSCMembApp.doc or see me at the tourney.
Aquaplex Steak & Lobster June 28 & 29
Posted on: June 20, 2008 | By: Mark Zuzanek, President
The Aquaplex Steak and Lobster tournaments are Saturday and Sunday June 28 and 29. These are two separately sanctioned tournaments and the offerings are different for each day. CASS scoring for both. Please mail your entries to Gary Forni ASAP. Send questions to Gary at gkforni@gmail.com.
DETOUR! From 35, take 1327 east to 183, turn right on Hwy 183. Pass the Tollroad, make a right on Margo just before the Performance Collision Billboard, make a right on Old Lockhardt. Aquaplex will be down ~1.3 miles on the right
Steak-n-Lobster #1 June 28th - Two round slalom (class C & novice), if time allows there will be a 3rd round of slalom. C - $50 / Novice $30. Dinner follows (extra cost).
Steak-n-Lobster #2 June 29th - Two round slalom (class C & novice), 2 round trick. C 1-event $50, 2-events $55, Novice $30.
The Guadalupe Ski Plex slalom tournament originally scheduled for July 26th has been changed to Friday July 4th. Please contact Kenny Glorioso for details at 210-823-9292. This will be a CASS scoring event.
Janet's Birthday Bash Saturday June 14th
Posted on: June 04, 2008 | By: Mark Zuzanek, President
Our second CASS tournament of the season is Janet's Birthday Bash at Frame Switch Ski Lakes on Saturday June 14th. As always, we ask that you please send your entry in to Janet as early as possible. This helps us get the tournament started on time and keeps everyone in a good mood!
There's still plenty of time to rack up CASS scores for the end-of-season awards so don't forget to renew your membership at the tourney if you haven't already.
And, don't forget to get your CAWSC 20th Anniversary Tshirt at the tourney for only $15!
Aquaplex's Steak and Lobster Part 2 has added tricks to the schedule. This slalom and trick tourney will be Sunday June 29th and is part of the Capital Area Summer Series (CASS).
Member Benefit at Ski Doc!
Posted on: May 24, 2008 | By: Peter Catalano, VP
The Pro Shop at the Ski Doc offers at 15% discount to all CAWSC members. Stop by and talk to Scott.
Scott is great at finding just about anything you want. So take advantage of this offer as soon as possible.
Introduction to the Buoys June 8th at GSP
Posted on: May 24, 2008 | By: Peter Catalano, VP
On June 8th at Guadalupe Ski Plex we will be introducing skiers to the course. Time is 10AM to 3PM.
This is a great opportunity for people to get the "addiction" to the buoys. Cost is $10 per set to help cover the cost of gas.
Join us to help promote slalom skiing in Central Texas.
CAWSC's JD Clinics will be Saturday 5/31 at Frame Switch Ski Lakes and Saturday 6/21 at Aquaplex. The clinics are opportunities for kids to get one on one water ski instruction on dedicated ski lakes. For details and reservations please call Ron and Kathy Ives at 244-9721 after 7pm.
The first tournament of the year kicks off the Capital Area Summer Series. It's kind of like a travelling water ski league.
This year the Kickoff is at Frame Switch Ski Lakes. Registration is 7:30am and the first slalom round starts at 8:00a sharp! We will also have tricks and jump.
As always, we are happy to host novice skiers, beginners (skiing the mini-course) and kids of all ages up to at least 86 (How old is Elgin anyway?).
Check out the tournament details and get your entry in early early early!
If you're not skiing come out anyway and cheer for your pals or volunteer to help out.
Happy Hour at Hula Hut on May 1st!
Posted on: April 08, 2008 | By: Peter Catalano
Drop by Hula Hut on May 1st starting at 5PM to enjoy some social time with other skiing enthusiasts.
Kevin Brown from Central Texas Water Sports will have a big 16 passenger Malibu to take a cruise on lake Austin around 6:30. Bring a life vest if you want to take a ride!
This is a great opportunity to share your skiing experience. Maybe something you say will cause someone to check out a tournament or get hooked on the buoys.
I've just now come out the pizza coma I went into on March 28th at our General Membership Meeting! As I recall we had a real cool time... 33 people showed up including several brand new members and many of the usual suspects. We ate sixteen large pizzas (yep, count 'em...16) and gave away 7 free CASS tournament entries. The winners were:
CASS Kickoff - Todd Leach Janet's Bday Bash - Gary Forni Steak & Lobster Part 1 - Peter Catalano Steak & Lobster Part 2 - Robin Layton TX State Champs - Mike Hamilton Guadalupe Saturday Slalom - Robert O-Connor CASS Finals - Ann Hamilton
Special thanks go to Frame Switch Ski Lakes, Austin Aquaplex, The Austin Ski Club and Guadalupe Ski Plex for their generous entry donations. And, thanks to everyone who got current on their dues and purchased our awesome CAWSC 20th Anniversay Tshirts. We still have plenty so make sure to get yours at the CASS Kickoff Saturday May 10th. Its only four weeks away!
Some of you know I sometimes refer to WaterSki magazine as SlalomSki magazine. But, our club got a nice mention in the article "10 Best Places to Ski and Live" in the current issue.So, I may have to make nice for awhile. They even covered a couple of trick skiers...;>)
Spring General Membership Meeting Rescheduled
Posted on: March 02, 2008 | By: Mark Zuzanek, President
Due to confusion in our scheduling department the Spring GM Meeting has been rescheduled to Friday March 28th, 6:30p at the Brick Oven.
Spring General Membership Meeting
Posted on: February 27, 2008 | By: Mark Zuzanek, President
The Spring General Membership Meeting is a great opportunity to connect with friends new and old and get ready for the new ski season. It will be held 6:30pm Friday March 21, 2008 at the Brick Oven Arboretum 10710 Research Blvd. on the west side of 183 and south of Braker Lane (near HEB closer to Jollyville Rd). Pizza and drinks are compliments of CAWSC to paid up members.
Some agenda items: 2008 Budget and Plan Memberships Ski Events Junior Development Update Tournament Schedule Free CASS Tour tournament entry drawings for paid up members
We'll also have the fabulous new CAWSC 20th Anniversary Tshirts available for sale for $15.
If you can’t make the meeting and want to be eligible for the drawing please print an application and mail it with your dues payments to CAWSC, P.O. Box 8, McNeil, TX 78651.
CAWSC has been hard at work getting ready for the 2008 ski season. Our newest efforts are:
* Redesigned website (yer lookin' at it!) * 20th Anniversary Tshirt * New offerings for recreational skier members * Officials Development Commitee (ODC)
Our webmaster, Todd Leach, has done an outstanding job reworking our website. Do a little surfing and you'll find lots of new features including latest news on the home page (yer lookin' at it), photos, movies and more.
Kay Nichols lead the anniversary tshirt effort and the result shows her artistic talent and style.
Peter Catalano, Vice President, is driving the recreational skier programs and is passionate about expanding CAWSC membership.
Floyd McCreight, AWSA Judge Emeritus, is helping us grow more officals including judges, drivers, scorers, safety directors, etc. Having more and better officials makes our tournaments run more smoothly and provides another opportunity to become involved in the sport of water skiing.
CAWSC will again administer the Captial Area Summer Series of water ski tournaments now in its 21st season, host two tournaments, junior development and judges clinics, and all the other things we do each year to support our sport.
CAWSC has a rich history in competitive water skiing and our commitment remains. In addition, this season CAWSC is making a concerted effort to attract recreational skier members.
We know that there are lots of folks out there who want to become better skiers. CAWSC can help by providing the community and support to make that happen. And, provide the opportunity to ski behind a tournament class tow boat and ski a real slalom course.
We're planning at least three events on private ski lakes where recreational skiers can experience the real thing. The goal is simply to have a fun water skiing experience. We're also planning some extra social events.
To help everyone stay connected select "Talk Water Skiing" on our new website. Use the message board to find new ski partners, sell used gear or yak about that new ski you just fell in love with! There's also a members only section.
And, you'll meet some real nice folks who love to ski just like you!
2008 marks the 20th Anniversary of CAWSC. To commemorate the occasion we've created a special high quality shirt with outstanding new graphics.
Since Austin is the center of the capital area we've included some familiar icons. If you've ever driven over the 360 bridge and seen people skiing or skied under the bridge and seen people driving you'll know what we're talking about!
Help us celebrate our 20th anniversary and water skiing in central Texas by wearing one of these great shirts. They're available for $15 at our booth at the Austin Boat Show. Ladies and kids styles too!
