Coolest trick run ever

Horton

liquid d

I need to put a ramp in my lake....

andjules

Love the rapid set up for the Toe O.
And if you've never tried it before, a two-ski wake line back is one of the toughest tricks going. There are folks throwing flips who would be very surprised by it; way harder than one ski stepovers

MrJones

That is soooo cool....

Jody_Seal

Tricky Ricky?

Bruce_Butterfield

I'm gonna bet Ken White.

Horton

@Bruce_Butterfield the best guess I have heard is Alan Kempton but IDK.

I think I have a Ken White run also but there is not ramp front flip in it.

Mateo_Vargas

So cool. If that was taken at the same time as the other video then it's from the '69 Nationals. You can see it on the ramp.

Horton

@Mateo_Vargas yes

dchristman

Alan Kempton. From USAWS FB page:

Celebrating 75 years of competitive water skiing, one photo at a time... Alan Kempton developed the arm sling for jumping out of necessity becasue of an injured shoulder. He developed and was the first to do a ramp flip in tricks competition out of necessity too. He had some very stiff competition in the Men's tricks division, guys like Ricky McCormick and Al Tyll. His first flip in competition was at a tournament in Mexico in the winter of 1965-66, doing the flip "Texas style" (the boat passing on the left side of the ramp). Read more about Alan's Hall of Fame skiing career (inducted 1998) here: http://www.waterskihalloffame.com

dchristman

Here's a video of his competition, Al Tyll, from the 1965 Eastern Regionals -

Cooper_Trelawney

Great stuff! I love all the waterski history. I think the athletes were amazing to do what they did with the equipment they had available!

dchristman

... and Ricky

kc

@dchristman Thanks for posting the article on Alan’s career. I skied on the University of Tampa ski team with Alan’s younger brother Robbie, also a fantastic three event skier. Alan skied for Tampa, but graduated before I arrived. Water skiing was a varsity sport at Tampa back then, and the Kemptons attended on skiing scholarships.

klindy

Ricky’s video looks like Calloway Gardens.

fu_man

@andjules ....which is why some of the trick point values should be re-evaluated.

Horton

Don't get me started on the current trick points...

fu_man

Moffattra

LOVE all of this! The history, the talent, people taking the time to resurrect this stuff, so awesome! But mostly I want those shorts from the first clip!

fu_man

The other thing I noticed is how much air he gets on all of his wake turns. Wonder if he could have been quicker with less air. Makes it easy on the judges I suppose. No video review in those days!

I suppose I should clarify.....I was not at Nationals in '69. I wasn't born until 5 years later. I was looking for cool waterski patches on ebay and found it. Haven't decided what I'm going to put it on yet.

Here is another I found. Sorry I know this is getting off topic.

Chef23

That is an awesome video. Amazing home much tricks have changed.