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Know how to Slalom? Want to Learn/Try a Ski Course? The Summer Ski League is just for you!

Click Here to Learn More

Austin-area skiers are encouraged to help with this volunteer event.

The 2013 Austin SWTG camp will be held Tue Jun. 25th through Thu Jun 27th at Lake Marble Falls.

The purpose of Skiin’ with the Galilean is to provide a memorable day for foster children, orphans, and children with special needs. It combines the thrilling sport of water skiing, wakeboarding, and tubing, with a life changing message from the Bible to give them hope in their circumstance.

For more information, see
http://swtgusa.org/austin/camp-details/

CAWSC will offer two $300 coaching/ski school scholarships to Jr members of CAWSC. Applications are due April 30th.
Application: http://www.waterskiaustin.com/Competition/Learning/CAWSC+junior+development+application_2013.doc

You can access the 2013 AWSA Rule Book or the change summary via this link:
http://www.usawaterski.org/default.asp?Display=1598

Save the date! Sunday, March 24th, 2pm

Let's get together and discuss how great the 2013 ski season will be!

Who: All CAWSC Members
What: Info, Food, and Fun
When: March 24th, 2pm - ?
Where: Waterloo Icehouse Patio Southpark Meadows (same location as Year End)
http://goo.gl/maps/l8xkS

Remember to renew your membership at the meeting to get the $5 discount!
$20 Renewed Member
$35 Renewed Family

Stop by booth # 929 and say, "Hi" to the Capital Area Water Ski club. Thursday through Sunday, Jan 17-20.


Click HERE to print out a coupon off admission on any day except Saturday.

This year, we enjoyed the nice fall weather and met at Waterloo Icehouse in Southpark Meadows. Young kids could enjoy the playground and the club had the whole patio to ourselves. Lot's of hardware was handed out! The raffle was drawn and Jim Thompson was the winner. We hope everyone had a fun 2012 Summer Series and is enjoying the mild fall weather this year. Please continue to pray for rain so that we can start of 2013 with full lakes.

Many local and regional skiers from our area competed and placed in the 35+ Worlds water ski competition.

35+ Women's Slalom:
1st Lori Krueger (Gonzales, La.)
2nd Stephanie Stange (Sherman, Texas)

+45 Men's Slalom:
2nd Todd Kuykendall (Enid, Okla.)

+45 Women's Tricks:
1st Tina Lindsey (Martindale, Texas)

+55 Women's Tricks:
1st Kay Nichols (Austin, Texas)

+35 Women's Jump
2nd Lori Krueger (Gonzales, La.)

+45 Men's Jump
3rd Mitch Grau (Carrolton, Texas)

35+ Women's Overall
1st Lori Krueger (Gonzales, La.)

45+ Women's Overall
Tina Lindsey (Martindale, Texas)


For results, see this link:
http://www.iwwfed-ea.org/classic/12IWWF35/

The tournament is ON!

We will start with only 1 Lake. May move to 2 Lakes later in the day.
Tricks start at 8am.
Slalom starts at 10am or later (TBD)
No parking on the Berm. Hang out at Boat Ramp area.

Likely Schedule for the day if we run two lakes with Lk 2 delayed start...
* Lk 1 Trick Rd 1: 8-10:30
* Lk 1 Trick Rd 2: 10:30 - 1p
* Lk 2 Slalom Rd 1: 11-1:30
* Lk 1 Jump: 1:30-4:30p
* Lk 2 Novice/Mini: 1:30-2:30p
* Lk 2 Slalom Rd 2: 2:30-5p

Weather:
Cloudy during the day, High 80s. Storms Sat Night.

Finish off a fun summer of skiing at the CAWSC's CASS Finals.

CAWSC Member Juniors and current college students ski for 50% off. Contact me for details before registering on-line.

Novice & Mini-course Skiers should contact our Registrar for instructions for manual registration.

For more info, click here CAWSC/CASS Finals or see the tournament link in the tournament schedule page of our web site.

It looks like Central Texas was well represented at the 2012 Nationals! Check out these stats:

• 33 Skiers Competed
• 13 skiers in 3EV, 5 skiers in 2EV, 15 skiers in 1 EV
• 64 Tournament sets
• 2 1st Place Champions
• 20 Podium Spots (5th Place or Higher)
• 40 placements in the top half of the field

Come out to Frameswitch Ski Lakes for the Tx State Tournaments. The lakes are full of water and ready for top performances.
AWSA Event Details Page

In addition to the normal USAWS Scoring, SMRR has layered a team fun challenge onto the scoring! Beat your average in any event and score maximum points for your team. Click on the rules link below on to learn more! Don't have a team? No problem, you can be assigned to a team of independents or just simply ski like normal and watch the fun of the others.

Promo Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma30aZ4k-hQ
http://vimeo.com/41095602

Team Rules:
http://skisanmarcosriverranch.wordpress.com/623-tournament-info/

Facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/265327726888057/

June 23rd & 24th - SMRR Team Tribal Takedown Tournament
Entry Fees: 1 Event Premier $55, 2 Events Premier $65, 3 Events Premier $75
Entry Deadline: 6/20/2012
Note: Late Fee = $25
On Line Registration only. No cash accepted on site.

Register Here:
http://www.usawaterski.org/rankings/View-TournamentsHQ.asp?pvar=TourInfo&TourID=12C053&olrds=enabled&rg=1&sl=on&tr=on&ju=on&wb=&ws=&wu=&bf=&kb=&hy=&sExclude=

Jeran Hooten of Frameswitch Ski Lakes was featured in the June 2012 issue of Austin Fit Magazine!




Check it out here:
http://www.austinfitmagazine.com/Fitness/Features/2012/June/jeran-hooten-competing-55-years.html

Find a copy of the magazine:
Local Distribution

A 2 Round, Class C only Slalom tournament has been added to the summer schedule. Austin Aquaplex. June 9th.

For more information, see our schedule page and click on the linked tournament event.

http://www.waterskiaustin.com/Competition/Schedule/index.htm

The CAWSC Kick-off tournament site has been moved to Aquaplex.

We are so thankful to have the problem of now having to choose among the full ski sites for tournaments. The CAWSC Kick-off and Finals tournaments have always been rotated around the local sites. In recent drought conditions, SMRR has been very gracious to repeatedly host our events. We are very grateful for their hospitality!

Register On-Line!

The below article about buoy counts was an joke.

Here is the actual scoring chart that is still currently used:

USAWS/AWSA have released a late rule change for 2012. There will be new slalom buoy scoring. Please see the image here:

The 2012 General Membership meeting was a wonderful time to catch up with our friends and talk about our excitement for the upcoming ski season. Thanks again to the Brick Oven NW for providing a location for our meeting.

This year we did a drawing from all paid 2012 memberships for 1 free non-transferable tournament entry at the specified tournament. The winners for 2012 are:
CAWSC Kick-off - Floyd McCreight
SMRR - Kathryn Ives
TX State - Tommy Howard (new member)
SMRR Hoe Down - Theo Freund
CAWSC Finals - The Weils

Also, I'd like to welcome some more new members to our club: Ryan Huie and Jeff Ziesemer. Ryan is hungry to chase buoys and Jeff is ready to hone his slalom skills, too!

With the recent blessings of rain, all the active lakes are full. We are very excited about skiing the many wonderful sites in the capital area this year!

If you could not make the meeting, you can still mail in your club renewal by 3/31 to take advantage of the discounted fee.
Membership Application

Find us in the main room next to the Central Texas Water Sports area. CAWSC Members are encouraged to hang out at our booth and catch up on news and gossip of the off season. Remember to bring a checkbook and pay your 2012 membership dues to take advantage of the early-season discounts!

This year the CAWSC Year End Awards Banquet went South to McQueeney, Tx to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Ski Bees' Halloween Show. We saw all sorts of characters on the water... and some of them wore costumes, too! It was a wonderful treat to end the year with a water ski show.

Lots of awards were presented. Our younger skiers often overshadowed many adult skiers in the various skill-level based divisions. We had some amazing Most Improved awards to present, too. Tristan Morgan improved by 4+ slalom passes, Mia Morgan improved by over 2000 trick points, and Abbi Grathwohl improved by over 20 feet in jump. Our Volunteer of the Year goes to Steve Miller for countless hours of service at tournaments. 2011 turned out to be a great year!

Again this year, the Capital Area Water Ski Club will offer two $300 scholarships to club member juniors. 2010 CAWSC scholarship winners are not eligible. 2011 SCR JD scholarship winners not eligible. To be eligible you have to be a B1-3 or G1-3 skier in the 2011 skiing season. Applications should include an essay and 1-2 letters of recommendation from an adult other than a parent.

To apply for the scholarship,

• Complete the application (via link below),
  
• Compose a short essay answering the questions from the application.
  
• Have the junior skier ask an adult other than mom or dad to write a short letter of reference. This can be a coach, a ski partner’s parent, a teacher, etc.

Every year there are 10 - $300.00 Ski School Scholarships awarded to junior skiers in the SCR. These Scholarships may be used for coaching through a Ski School such as Bennett's or through an accredited USA Waterski Level 3 Coach or an Elite Skier/Coach. To be eligible you have to be a B1-3 or G1-3 skier in the 2012 skiing season. The SCR Junior Development committee members are accepting applications right now! The Applications are due November 14th (post marked by November 14th). Late Applicants will not be accepted. The Committee members and there address are on the Junior Development page as well as the link for the application. Please have your children send the application and there reference letters to each committee member before the deadline. Download Application in PDF format. If there are any questions you can contact Scott Greenwood.

Congratulations to Melanie Wise, winner of the Sail N Ski Raffle drawing!!! Melanie is very excited about shopping for a new ski!

No one complained and sompeople even danced during the couple of rain delays today at the CAWSC Finals tournament. However, the jump event never really took flight. Round 1 Jump will resume at 9 am Sunday morning.

PLEASE, please, please enter early. Deadline is 9/14, so just go ahead and send in your paperwork and information now and avoid the $10 late fee.

Entry Fees:
Class C 1 Ev $50. 2 EV $55. 3 EV $60.
Novice 1 EV $40. 2 EV $45.
CASS Juniors ages 1-18 $15 1-3 EV.
Collegiate skiers half off.
Discounts - Working Asst Officials -$5. Working Reg & Senior officials -$10.


http://www.usawaterski.org/rankings/View-TournamentsHQ.asp?pvar=TourInfo&TourID=12C024

This is a 3 event tournament, but with a 4 pull limit. Skiers can pick and choose their rounds/events. Skiing starts at 8 am with slalom. Early registration deadline is Tuesday, Aug 23rd.

Registration: bhall1315@gmail.com

Preregistered skiers can see starting orders and approx doc start times posted on Thursday.

For more information:
http://www.usawaterski.org/rankings/View-TournamentsHQ.asp?pvar=TourInfo&TourID=12C019

On Thursday, starting Orders for pre-registered Skiers available at http://www.SanMarcosRiverRanch.com

The CAWSC/CASS Finals tournament in September will likely be relocated to San Marcos River Ranch. Stay tuned for updates.

Registrations should not be sent to Denise. Send entries to:
Todd Leach
3002 Desert Willow Cv
Round Rock, TX 78681
Click on the author line of this message posting for email registration.

The Tx State Champs tournament will be held at the San Marcos River Ranch lakes.

Registration Info:
http://www.usawaterski.org/rankings/View-TournamentsHQ_07032011.asp?pvar=TourInfo&TourID=11C054

If you want to ski at Regionals and if you think you may qualify at a tournament that occurs after registration is due (i.e. TX State Champs), then your best course of action is to register prior to the Regionals Registration Deadline (7/23) and do not pay until you confirm your qualification. If you later fail to qualify, you can retract your registration. This is per David West via Bob Mayhew.

Registration Info:
http://www.usawaterski.org/rankings/View-TournamentsHQ_07032011.asp?pvar=TourInfo&TourID=11C082

Come out and support and cheer on our region's Junior skiers! San Marcos River Ranch in Martindale, Tx will host the SCR Junior Development Clinic and Tournament on July 8-10th.

For more info see:
http://scrjuniordevelopment.com/

The Mike's 50th Birthday Slalom Tournament has been canceled due to low water at the site.

This is a 3 event tournament, but with a 4/5 pull limit. Skiers can pick and choose their rounds/events. Skiing starts at 8 am with slalom. Early registration deadline is Wednesday, June 22nd.

Preregistered skiers can see starting orders and approx doc start times posted on Thursday.

For more information:
http://www.usawaterski.org/rankings/View-TournamentsHQ.asp?pvar=TourInfo&TourID=11C065

More Information:
For clarification....

Fees:
1 event: $55
2 or 3 events: $65
Grassroots: $40
Junior & Collegiate discount: deduct $20
Working 3-event officials: deduct $10


Officials discounts:
Does not matter if the rating is regular or assistant.
1 event officials - no discounts
2 event officials - no discounts


Skier Rounds:
Single Event skier can ski all rounds for that event.

Two event skier (Slalom & Trick) will have to choose to either:
a) ski 3 rounds of slalom and only 1 round of trick, or
b) ski 2 rounds of slalom and 2 rounds of trick

Two event skier (Slalom & Jump) will have to choose to either:
a) ski 3 rounds of slalom and only 1 round of jump, or
b) ski 2 rounds of slalom and 2 rounds of jump

Two event skier (Trick & Jump) will simply ski:
a) ski 2 rounds of trick and 2 rounds of jump (all available rounds)

Three event skier will have to choose to either:
a) ski 3 rounds of slalom and only 1 round of trick, and 1 round of jump, or
b) ski 2 rounds of slalom and only 2 rounds of trick, and 1 round of jump, or
c) ski 2 rounds of slalom and only 1 round of trick, and 2 rounds of jump, or
d) ski 1 round of slalom and only 2 rounds of trick, and 2 rounds of jump.

Three event skier cannot ski two rounds of all three events.

Hi friends,

As you know, the Junior Development tournament at San Marcos River Ranch is the July 8-10th weekend. Plans are well under way for a great event! I'd like to share some details with you, and then of course ask for a little bit of help. The weekend will begin with the clinic on Friday (July 8), followed by the tournament on Saturday and Sunday (July 9 & 10).

We have fun meals and activities planned for the kids for each of the three days and a banquet catered by Rudy's BBQ by the river on Saturday night. We truly appreciate the support by River Ranch property owners and CAWSC and would like to offer up the following ways you might help in this group endeavor.

1) Donation of water or Gatorade: A donation of a case of water or Gatorade will significantly reduce our costs for the event. If you would like to help in this way, please drop off the case to the SMRR cabana storeroom at any time in the next few weeks. For those of you that do not ski at SMRR, please consider bringing an extra case of drinks to the SMRR tournament on June 25.

2) Donation of dessert: We all know how much kids love something sweet with their meals. If you would like to bake (or buy) something sweet for the kids, please let me know in advance and then you may bring your goodie to the event or I'm happy to arrange to pick it up.

3) Serving lunches: If you plan to attend to attend the event, and you will not be judging, driving, or scoring, we would love your help serving lunch on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Saturday's lunch will be a hot dog buffet with all the fun toppings, definitely a place for lighthearted volunteers to serve!

Please let me know if you are able to help with any of these items. This is such a great event that celebrates a great group of kids. Thank you so much for your support!

Sincerely,
Jennifer Parker
Hospitality Committee Chair

Ron Ives told the board of directors at the recent meeting about the wonderful event. Ron's pride in the kids was quite evident as he told stories about the tons of smiles that he received that day. Please see Rhett's message below.

Special "Thanks!" to the Workers/Helpers:
Rhett Stone, Floyd and Linda McCreight, Karen Hoisington, Toni Bondonzi, Jon Penner , Fran Crea, Peter Catalano, Kay Nichols all helped to make this a memorable event of successes for some junior skiers!

Also, please don't forget the SC JD Clinic. This event is full of skiers, but the worker slots have a few more openings. Contact Todd Leach if you are available during the day, Friday, July 8th.


Message from Rhett Stone:
------------------
Hey guys just a note to thank everyone involved in the Junior Development Clinic this last Friday. I believe everyone had a LOT OF FUN, including Floyd and me!

The key to everyone's success was Ron Ives who was the COACH. His ability to work with the kids (and parents) was amazing. In several instances we had kids who were ready to quit after their 1st set, being satisfied with the great progress they had already made. Coach Ron's friendly and supportive approach kept them going to even further success.

Most skiers started on the ski boom with skis tethered together and graduated to a 5' handle with no tether. Some got to long line and no tether. In one instance a skier made it to a single ski on the boom. Then, when the skier popped up on the first try on his single ski and long line we couldn't tell who was more excited, Ron or the skier.

Also thanks to Karen who was one of the main cheerleaders, worked in the water with the kids, and provided a cooler full of water, fruit as well as food for all the workers.

Of course a big thanks to Aquaplex for providing the lake, Bill for the boat, the Fornis for the use of their boom, and Floyd for providing gas. Peter, Kay and Jon pitched in on the driving and Fran as boat crew.


Kids were:
Ella- Dave and Kay's GD
Sara- Jon and Shelly's daughter
Zoe- Peter Catalano's daughter
Bennett and Johnny- David and Karen's boys
Justin and James- friends of Bennett and Johnny
Connor- Toni's daughter
Morghun- Linda's trainer's son
Jonathan - Rhett's nephew
Jack - John's son (got word through CAWSC)

Unfortunately, the Frameswitch Birthday Bash tournament has been cancelled.

The first tournament of the CASS season was a huge success! I've never ever heard of so many Personal Best (PB) performances at a Kick-off tournament.

The next stop of the season is June 4th, again at Aquaplex. Get your registrations in today or tomorrow to avoid late fees!

You can register on-line via the button at this link:
http://www.usawaterski.org/rankings/View-TournamentsHQ.asp?pvar=TourInfo&TourID=11C059

The CAWSC Kick-off Tournament is next weekend at Aquaplex Ski Lakes near Buda, TX. Early Registration deadline is Wednesday, May 18th. You can print out an entry form by clicking on the button located at this page:

http://www.usawaterski.org/rankings/View-TournamentsHQ.asp?pvar=TourInfo&TourID=11C076

Thanks to all who could attend the General Membership meeting. We've got a great year ahead with 9 CASS scoring tournaments. Thank you to Toni and Eric Bondzoni for sharing their home with the club. The food was plentiful and yummy, the weather was warm and comfortable, and good friends and new acquaintances had a wonderful time catching up.

Connor Bondzoni drew winners for free entries to the tournaments:

• Kick-off - a member of the Melnar family
• Aquaplex 3EV: Gordon Hall
• Frameswitch B-day: Jody Hooten
• SMRR Mid-Summer: Jeff Lindsey
• Mike's 50th: Gary Forni
• Tx State Champs: Floyd McCreight
• SMRR Blue Moon: Ron Ives
• Finals: Mark Zuzanek

Save the NEW Date!

This year's General Membership Meeting is scheduled for March 26th, the last Saturday in March.

The meeting will be hosted by one of our Board Members who lives in South Austin. Please check your email for details.

The General Membership Meeting is a time for the Board of Directors to update the club membership on the status of the club and discuss information of interest to members.

Membership dues go back up to full price at the end of March. Come to the meeting and pay early for a discount!

NEW MEMBERS ARE WELCOME! Contact me for details.

The Austin Boat Show begins Thursday January 20th and runs through Sunday January 23rd. CAWSC will again host a booth staffed by loyal club members. We'll be renewing memberships, signing up new members, selling T-shirts and promoting the sport of water skiing here in Central Texas.

Please drop by booth #743 in the back of the Boating Accessories area near the Texas Parks and Wildlife's "Nobody's Waterproof" exhibit and the Hill Country Trams exhibit.

We've got lots of activities planned for this year and the CASS schedule is looking good. CAWSC is hoping to meet anyone who loves water skiing, who wants to meet other Central Texas water skiers, who wants to get more involved, or who wants to improve their skiing skills.
Stop by and chat with members of our club who will be staffing the booth during the show.
Click Here for an Admission Discount Coupon

2010 is in the record books, and 2011 is already underway!

CAWSC is starting off the new year with a new Board of Directors:

• President: Todd Leach
• Executive Vice President: Fran Crea
• Vice President: Melanie Wise
• Treasurer: Ron Ives
• Secretary: Jon Penner
• Member At Large: Tom Weil
• Member At Large: Toni Bondonzi

CASS Finals, originally scheduled for Frame Switch, will instead take place at San Marcos River Ranch. The date is still Saturday 9/18.

Get details here.

San Marcos River Ranch will host the Blue Moon Special Saturday August 21st. This will be the second to last tournament of the 2010 CASS season. Slalom, Trick and Jump for Grass Roots (Novice) and Class C.

Details here.

The Austin Ski Club graciously allowed CAWSC to hold the drawing for this year’s fundraising raffle at the Texas State Championship BBQ after the awards presentation Saturday evening. The board had been selling tickets for weeks and Ron volunteered to handle last-minute sales and coordinate the drawing. After stirring up the contents, one of our junior skiers selected a ticket from the bowl full of stubs held well above his head and read the winner: Ron Ives. A chorus of hoots and howls arose from the crowd of at least 75 people. I was among them. All in fun, I was completely faking my displeasure that one of the board had won (it could have been me) much less the raffle coordinator. I am certain that everyone present was doing the same thing.

But, Ron was taken aback and, apparently, heard some not-so-nice comments about his winning. After a minute or so he decided that he should not accept the prize and insisted another name be drawn. When he announced that, the same people who were feigning their displeasure moments ago began yelling “No, no, no!” And, I was among them.

I was actually delighted that someone who has put so much into this club over the years had won. What a strange and righteous twist of fate. I spoke with Ron on Sunday about the drawing and let him know that I felt he was absolutely entitled to the prize he had won fair and square. He said he had given it more thought and had pretty much come to the same conclusion. He also said he would likely take the option of goods and services over the new Radar. He wants to get more equipment he and Kathy can use in their ski clinics!

If you’ve been under a rock for awhile you may not know that Ron and Kathy frequently give of their time and resources to teach people how to ski or ski better. And, Ron has recently been trying to re-jigger his commitments so he can spend more time at this activity. So, it is completely in character that Ron would consider converting his winnings to benefit his students. It appears the fruits of this raffle will touch many people over the coming years.

So, let there be no doubt. Ron Ives is the winner! And, so are we all.

Special thanks goes out to everyone with Capital Area Water Ski Club for their contribution and support of a very special water event this past week.

Entitled "Skiin with the Galilean", several members of CAWSC brought out their boats, equipment and love to share with foster care and special needs kids for three days! The board of CAWSC generously donated $200 to the event as well. This was money raised in last year's raffle drawing.

The best way to describe the event is to share stories from three days of the event:

On Tuesday:

One 14 year old boy was chomping at the bit to get in a tube and was hoping the driver would whip him around. This young man is wheel chair confined. Bright as they come and yet trapped in a body that is restricting his life. He rode the tube all afternoon!

Today we had a family on the boat I crewed whose 13 year old son had a brain injury 3 years ago. He is now confined to a wheel chair and is not able to speak. His legs are locked outward and he has little to no motor function over the rest of his body. This was the first time he was out on a boat in years. His mother was by his side the whole time. His father was able to take a tube ride with the 2 younger sisters. the whole family had a day on lake Austin they never imagined. I saw him smile. I witnessed him trying to use his voice. I witnessed a boy, who because of a tragic accident in a hot tub at the age of ten, experience some joy even though he is trapped in a body that is not responding.

Wednesday:
Today we had a mom and two of three foster kids. The oldest boy is 7 and rode another boat. As the mom was climbing into the boat, she was holding a 2 year old baby. She tried to set him down, but he was having none of that. Being near mom was first and foremost the priority. (This of course I can relate to as my son Anthony is very tied to mom!) She had a 4 year old girl with us as well.

What shocked me was that she received these three kids into her and her husband's care Tuesday night! She was also a mother of 4 biological children! They are hoping to adopt these three children.

See, CPS was called out to the parents of the foster kids home several times over the past few years, but for some reason could not take action. This time however was different.

The parents thought it was a good idea on Sunday to e-mail photo's to their friends. Photo's of their 7 year boy tied to a tree with his hand and feet duck taped - crying. Luckily, one of the recipients was smart enough to forward to CPS who visited the home Monday with a Sheriff. Upon arrival, a 19 year old girl - who no one is sure why she was there - figured the police were there to see all the photo's, which she gladly shared and even e-mailed to the sheriff.

The parents asked if they could be arrested for this.

The 2 year old boy, after a short while, he even smiled and laughed while I was playing with him on the boat.

The middle girl laughed and played on the tube today.

And the oldest boy? He got up on a ski's and tubed today. At dinner he was laughing, smiling and going for seconds!

Today 90 foster care families got to have some fun playing on Lake Austin knowing they are special and very well loved. I can only hope that the 2 year old I got to meet today sleeps well at night, peaceful in the home of his loving foster parents.

Today we had 24 boats, each with 2 person crews. A kitchen staff of about 25. And a land activities staff of about 15. As volunteer events go, this has to be one of the best I have attended. Again, you all helped make a huge impact and a difference in the lives of children, parents and volunteers.

Thursday:
We had three young men and mom on the boat I crewed Thursday. The older boy, Roger, stated he will not be getting in the water. He did not even walk in the foot of water from shore to the boat! After seeing the two younger one's ride the tube and attempt to wakeboard, he got up and said 'I'm going in!" He rode from Hula Hut to Emma Long Park on the tube.

Regretfully, the boat exhibited problem with oil pressure. Quickly we heard the valves tapping! So, we were towed to the ramp and then we dropped the boat at Sail N Ski. Our boating ended at lunch. Luckily our family was able to hop on other boats for the remainder of the day.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Raffle last year and to the Board for generously donating the $200 to this wonderful event.

If interested in participating next year, let me know and I will make sure you are on the "in the know" list.

In the meantime, please know that your purchase of the raffle ticket helped make literally hundreds of children experience some joy in their lives, if only for one day!

Peter

Hello Everyone,

CAWSC again will be offering a great opportunity to win a new Radar Ski with bindings OR up to $900 of merchandize or services from Sail N Ski.

Tickets are $20 each and available up to the draw date at the Texas State Tournament. You can contact any board member for a ticket or simply purchase at the tournaments.

For more info on Radar's Annex ski, check out this video:
Radar Annex

Right on the heels of S&L comes the San Marcos River Ranch Roundup on June 26. Slalom, Trick and Jump for Grass Roots (Novice) and Class C.

Details here.

The famous Steak and Lobster series tournaments will be at Austin Aquaplex this year. These are two separate tournaments the same weekend. S&L Part 1, slalom and trick, is Saturday June 19.
Details here.

S&L Part 2, slalom only, is Sunday June 20.
Details here.

Both tourneys are CASS scoring.

Janet and Jeran have decided to postpone the Frame Switch Water Celebration Tournament originally scheduled for Saturday June 12th. Thankfully, its not for lack of water! Stay tuned for the new date.

Its Kickoff Time again! This marks the beginning of the Capital Area Summer Series (CASS) ski season. The tournament will be Saturday 5/22 at Austin Aquaplex. Events not completed Saturday will take place Sunday.

Tournament entry rates are:
One Class C event $50, 2 or 3 events $55.
Novice(Grass Roots) $40 one event, $45 2 events. There is no Novice jump event.
CASS Juniors (CAWSC members ages 1-18) $10 1-3 events
Collegiate skiers half off.
Discounts: Asst Officials $5, Reg and Senior Officials $10.

Late fee $10. Your complete entry (including entry form, release form and payment) must be received by 5/14.

Get other tournament details and print entry here.

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 26, 2010 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 non-alcoholic drinks are compliments of CAWSC to paid up members.

Some agenda items:
2010 Budget and Plan
Memberships
Ski Events
Junior Development Update
Tournament Schedule
Free CASS Tour tournament entry drawings for paid up members

If you can’t make the meeting and want to be eligible for the drawing please print an application from the website and mail it with your dues payments to CAWSC, P.O. Box 8, McNeil, TX 78651.

So we may plan accordingly, please let me know if you are coming.

Mark your calendars! All club members are invited to the 2009 end-of-season awards party. It will take place at Austin's Park 'n Pizza on Sunday, November 22nd from 3:00p to 5:00p in room #1. We'll enjoy the buffet and then present awards. If you are interested in amusements you need only pay the difference between the general admission and one of the other rates.

So that we may plan accordingly, please let me know if you will be there.

Do you know which setting is best for you? Take a look at the survey results to see what others think.

Zero Off Slalom Setting Preference Survey

We are experiencing the worst drought in years. Many of our ski lakes are in dire situations. Click here to learn more.

New - Pics from Aquaplex, Frame Switch, Guadalupe Ski Plex

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

Name	Division	Slalom	Trick	Jump	Overall
Ryan Warner	Boys 1	3	3	na	3
Bailey Austin	Girls 1	2
Emma Morgan	Girls 1	3
Casey Friesen	Girls 2	2
Kat Warner	Girls 2	3	3	2
Kay Nichols	Women 5	1
Jennifer Mears	Women 6	1	1
Bill Mears	Men 6	3	2
Jeran Hooten	Men 7	2	2	1	1
Floyd McCreight	Men 8	1	1	1	1
Marc Austin	Men Masters	1

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...;>)

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!

Also, stop by the Austin Waterski Meetup to connect with skiers in the Austin Area.

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!