wavechaser Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 No not boards, full length rapid-gates. I got to train with GMVS here at Sugarbush the last week in skier slalom courses...what a blast! It's probably the ex (WAAYYY EX) ski racer in me, but I love regular length gates for slalom. The courses were on a nice steep icy trail with rollers and pitches and were set with a couple of flushes and hairpins, some good across the hill crankers and were about twice as long as your average USASA course - breathing HARD at the end of each run. It's just SO much fun to smack, smack, smack and get the rhythm changes a real slalom course gives you. I really wish we could run slalom like this instead of with the snowboard gates. In GS we obviously need the tri-panels and stubbies because we get so far over and would get taken out by double, tall, GS gates - but in slalom we are more upright and with the right protection it is really no problem to run the tall sticks. It's just more of a challenge to have the flushes and hairpins thrown in there instead of the usual back and forth, back and forth SL courses we get in most SB races. It was really a kick to watch the GMVS kids run too - man are they good. A little intimidating to have a bunch of european coaches standing halfway down watching every move but they were very cool about having me there and I am very thankful they let me do this as there is no other training to be had around here early in the year. The kids weren't sure what to make of me but didn't do much beside give some strange looks! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeW Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 Did you get to meet a deaf gal named Kelley? Also, now you mentioned it, Im remembering the old days with peter bauer with face guard and slalom with those regular ski poles. i really thoguht it was cool! and still do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted December 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 Hi Lee - no, didn't see her yesterday, but I'm pretty sure I know who you are talking about. I work with Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports and the name sounds familiar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeW Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 yeah, i just talked to her today. she said she saw a guy hittin' slalom sticks yesterday. i assume that was you? :) EDIT: p.s. are you certified aasi/psia -adaptive- instructor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted December 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 Small world here on BOL - it had to be me...no other boarders on the course. Heck, not too many (if any) other local riders who do alpine here - certainly not that race. I'm not certified, just a former instructor of many different sports that has always wanted to get into the adaptive side of things. I'm a competitive sailor and kayaker too, and VASS has programs in both in the summer on Lake Champlain...so it seemed a natural thing to do. I have been talking to the directors here about getting some adaptive snowboarders into competition - it's just an idea in embyonic stage right now though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kipstar Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 Good to hear the story Wavechaser; out of interest what boat do you race? WOuld have thought it is getting a bit cold for sailing over in USA at the moment....we are in a cold snap here too, and I am thinking that it is too cold for sailing this weekend as it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted December 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 This is cool - a thread that includes slalom and adaptive sports and sailboat racing all in one! I currently race mostly Etchells as a tactician (middle crew), but do some PHRF on a J-29 as well as a jib trimmer. I don't own my own boat anymore. Grew up racing dinghys, then 110's (a blast in a blow), then sailboards (triangle racing mostly) in the 1980's. Also spent time on J-24's and the now defunct MORC class boats (Lindenbergh 22). Prior to the last few years I crewed and/or skippered on Shields and Rhodes 19's. There are a couple of big 12-metre regattas in New England in the summer now, and I dream of getting on one of those for at least one race someday...preferably on Intrepid (12/US-22), probably my favorite boat of all time. The last regatta I had a chance at (but didn't get on board) the boats included Freedom, Courageous, Kiwi Magic (KZ-7), Intrepid, Weatherly, Colubia and Nefertiti. Funny story, I was on the dock after the boats came in one day and getting a close up look at Freedom tied up. This pretty portly guy comes up next to me - I didn't look at him - and I said, "she's looking pretty fine huh"...when he said "sure is" I recognized the voice immediately...it was Dennis Conner! As far as sailing weather goes - it has been fairly cold here in VT, but the weather overall has been more suitable for sailing than snowboarding so far this winter! :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil sunday Posted December 25, 2006 Report Share Posted December 25, 2006 WC- you are a brave man running the "tall boys" again... it's been 10 years since i was in a race w/ breakaways. i remember how expensive it was to hold a snowboard race back then, as we would shear off the tall boy right at the hinge... i also remember how they would wrap around you when you snugged up on the line. nice post though- brings back a ton of memories. i like the stubbies (and keeping my front teeth!) -Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted December 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2006 WC-you are a brave man running the "tall boys" again... it's been 10 years since i was in a race w/ breakaways. i remember how expensive it was to hold a snowboard race back then, as we would shear off the tall boy right at the hinge... i also remember how they would wrap around you when you snugged up on the line. nice post though- brings back a ton of memories. i like the stubbies (and keeping my front teeth!) -Neil :lol: ...I think the sticks may have gotten stronger since then? Probably not though. I've sheared skier gates in GS for sure, and been slapped in the back of the head/shoulder by the second stick on GS courses by the wraparound! Never get that problem in SL with the long sticks though. I had a chin guard aon my helmet that day so I still have my teeth. :D Beside slamming the sticks though, like I said I love the flushes and rhythm changes that seem to be gone from alpine slalom snowboard racing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 27, 2006 Report Share Posted December 27, 2006 ...and sailboat racing all in one! Cool! We have to ride together sometimes and talk sailing. Or sail together and talk carving :D I also did fair deal of sailing, the highlights being Finn Gold Cup 2002 in Athens, for South African team, and sailing my 30' Miura from Cape Town to Vancouver when I mouved here. I race Lasers now on semi-recreational level and cruise my Miura. As I moved from South Africa, they came up with Americas Cup team, Shosholoza, and quite a few of my Finn/Laser buddies are on now (Ian Ainsley, Mark Seddler, Manuel Mendez...). It makes me wander what if I've stayed... Bummer. Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
todd Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Being an ex-collegiate slalom and gs ski racer, I agree that much of that seems to be gone. I was just telling a friend the other day how our coach would set a 25-30 gate flush, just for training. It was so much fun to see how far you could get before you simply exploded. As we would hike back up to try again, there was slways some great laughs watching teammates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinecure Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 I raced a skier GS course last weekend. It was a blast. I got to run first because I was the only boarder in my class. It was smooth and super-carvy. I did a race clinic the day before with the same gates and hit a few really hard. It hurts my forearm right through the hard padded jacket I wear. SL gates are brutal. Especially flushes if they aren't super close together. I'll sometimes wear a full-face helmet and they are loud when they smack you in the helmet if you don't get your forearm out far enough to block. Skiers get a kick out of seeing a boarder bash gates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kipstar Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 sailing rocks. My dad raced finns for a while, and coached sailing after that (as well as designing boats); then prior to him passing away he used to race radio control boats against all the same crew again as they were all in their 60s/70s; Geoff Smale, Helmer Petterson and so on. All well known sailors down in NZ. Right now I am doing sport boats, on a shaw 6.5; nice ride, pretty quick, this weekend forecast is for 20 knots+ so we should be able to push the boat to close on 20 knots I expect; a bit different from 12s :-) Man, you are lucky to get a ride on one of those. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Cheef Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Last year, Some friends and I were up on the hill training with our high school team and we went over to the skier start and asked them if we could run their slalom training course. They said yes and we quick tore our shinguards off our legs and put them on our forearms! It was a blast! Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted January 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Quote from the TWS story about Stacia Hookum retiring - alpine snowboard contest organizers - ARE YOU LISTENING?? http://www.transworldsnowboarding.com/snow/news/article/0,26719,1580980,00.html "Q: How has snowboarding evolved from when you were named to the first ever U.S. Snowboard Team in '94? Hookom: Snowboarding has changed so much it is baffling and I am not sure even where to begin. For me, the most difficult change was when breakaway poles were replaced with stubbies in slalom. My favorite event was slalom and the poles gave me my timing and rhythm in the event. So, when we lost the poles the event just was not the same. Later, two run GS was eliminated and parallel GS became the Olympic event. That was heart breaking to most of my teammates at the time. But, it didn't bother me so much because my heart was broken when the changed slalom." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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