It’s fair to say that the legend of Moomba being the toughest pro water ski event lives on!!!
Moomba threw up all kinds of nasty conditions, and then some. With thunderstorms on Saturday afternoon throwing down golf ball sized hailstones, which closed down the river and stopped the tournament for the rest of the afternoon. With the enormous amounts of all the extra storm water, the river was bearing its sharp teeth in monumental fashion.
After learning about the women’s slalom final results, where most of the girls couldn't run 32 off, it was evident that it was going to be another tough day at the office.
And the men's slalom final proved to be no different........
As I tightened the laces of my Strada bindings on my new 67” Strada stick and took a deep breath, Parson's 1.5@38 was the score to beat.
I ran 32 down current with little trouble, but not taking for granted that this was going to be the easy part of the day.........
35 up current was some of the hardest conditions I have skied in a very long time. It was here that the drama started to unfold. As I approached one ball there was a beer bottle roughly 3-4 feet on the turning side. As you can imagine this completely took my focus away as I tried to avoid hitting it and consequently I fell at two ball.
From the water I immediately protested to the tower judges, but communication was made pretty tough as the commentators and crowd were making so much noise! After what seemed to be an age the boat came back and picked me up with the news that I had been given a re-ride.
It wasn't until later that I learned that it wasn't the bottle that I had got me the re-ride, in fact there was a 5 foot branch caught on the beer bottle which amazingly one of the tower judges had taken a photo of!!!
The next challenge before readdressing the slalom course was to get warm and re-gather my focus. Luckily I managed to take full advantage of my luck and just get through 35 and returning at 38 to get 2.5 with a good crash to take the lead.
When Marcus ran 3@35 I was pretty happy with a podium finish. It wasn't until Will fell with 1.5@35 I started to get the jitters. Parrish customarily ran 35 and made the rest of us look ridiculous, it was at this point I started to get changed as in my mind it was over. To my amazement with Parrish only needing to stand up at 3 ball, it proved to be too difficult for him and he fell with a score of 2.5@38. So for the 3rd time in my career, I was now in a sudden death runoff with C.P.............
I was out first at 35 and ran it down current with very little trouble, as I am very quickly learning, this is happening on all of my passes on the new Strada. My thoughts quickly moved to the next pass of 38 off, knowing that if I could get to 3 ball it would put some real pressure on the world record holder. I laid everything on the line at 1 ball trying to give myself as much time to deal with what 2 ball was putting out. Unfortunately it didn't pay off, I couldn't get outside 2, and immediately my reaction was that I had just handed it to C.P on a plate.
By the time C.P turned 3 ball at 35 he was in a bit of trouble, but nothing he couldn't handle......... I thought.
As he appeared from behind the jump on his way from 5 to 6 it took me 4-5 seconds to register that he wasn't making any attempt to get back to the gates and therefore had gone inside 6! It was at this point that apparently I leapt 3-4 feet in the air and took stock of what had just happened.
After 6 finals in 8 Moomba tournaments, I was finally the Moomba Masters Slalom Champion!!!
A massive thanks to all the people that have supported and believed in me over the years.
This is the year of the Strada!!!!
Moomba threw up all kinds of nasty conditions, and then some. With thunderstorms on Saturday afternoon throwing down golf ball sized hailstones, which closed down the river and stopped the tournament for the rest of the afternoon. With the enormous amounts of all the extra storm water, the river was bearing its sharp teeth in monumental fashion.
After learning about the women’s slalom final results, where most of the girls couldn't run 32 off, it was evident that it was going to be another tough day at the office.
And the men's slalom final proved to be no different........
As I tightened the laces of my Strada bindings on my new 67” Strada stick and took a deep breath, Parson's 1.5@38 was the score to beat.
I ran 32 down current with little trouble, but not taking for granted that this was going to be the easy part of the day.........
35 up current was some of the hardest conditions I have skied in a very long time. It was here that the drama started to unfold. As I approached one ball there was a beer bottle roughly 3-4 feet on the turning side. As you can imagine this completely took my focus away as I tried to avoid hitting it and consequently I fell at two ball.
From the water I immediately protested to the tower judges, but communication was made pretty tough as the commentators and crowd were making so much noise! After what seemed to be an age the boat came back and picked me up with the news that I had been given a re-ride.
It wasn't until later that I learned that it wasn't the bottle that I had got me the re-ride, in fact there was a 5 foot branch caught on the beer bottle which amazingly one of the tower judges had taken a photo of!!!
The next challenge before readdressing the slalom course was to get warm and re-gather my focus. Luckily I managed to take full advantage of my luck and just get through 35 and returning at 38 to get 2.5 with a good crash to take the lead.
When Marcus ran 3@35 I was pretty happy with a podium finish. It wasn't until Will fell with 1.5@35 I started to get the jitters. Parrish customarily ran 35 and made the rest of us look ridiculous, it was at this point I started to get changed as in my mind it was over. To my amazement with Parrish only needing to stand up at 3 ball, it proved to be too difficult for him and he fell with a score of 2.5@38. So for the 3rd time in my career, I was now in a sudden death runoff with C.P.............
I was out first at 35 and ran it down current with very little trouble, as I am very quickly learning, this is happening on all of my passes on the new Strada. My thoughts quickly moved to the next pass of 38 off, knowing that if I could get to 3 ball it would put some real pressure on the world record holder. I laid everything on the line at 1 ball trying to give myself as much time to deal with what 2 ball was putting out. Unfortunately it didn't pay off, I couldn't get outside 2, and immediately my reaction was that I had just handed it to C.P on a plate.
By the time C.P turned 3 ball at 35 he was in a bit of trouble, but nothing he couldn't handle......... I thought.
As he appeared from behind the jump on his way from 5 to 6 it took me 4-5 seconds to register that he wasn't making any attempt to get back to the gates and therefore had gone inside 6! It was at this point that apparently I leapt 3-4 feet in the air and took stock of what had just happened.
After 6 finals in 8 Moomba tournaments, I was finally the Moomba Masters Slalom Champion!!!
A massive thanks to all the people that have supported and believed in me over the years.
This is the year of the Strada!!!!
