WELCOME TO RIVER DAVES PLACE

OFFICIAL World Water Ski Racing Championships!!!

skiracr

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September 7th - 15th in Vichy, France

20190831_000103.jpg


The time has come for Team USA to travel to France to compete in the 2019 World Water Ski Racing Championships!!!

River Dave and Team RDP have been gracious enough to support our team efforts in getting to France to compete at the World level. We will be setting up RDP in the pits for the duration of the competition. This thread will be dedicated to the World Championships with full coverage and everything that goes along with the trip. There will also be a live feed for every race!!! It's going to be an incredible experience that will be shared with all of you along the way.

This Journey for our Team began at the beginning of the season in Parker where the first two of the seven selection races took place. At that time we were all competing against each other for that coveted spot on Team USA. Although we are still competing against each other for an individual World Title, we are now also competing as one unit to bring the Gold home to the USA!

About 6 weeks ago our team boats were loaded into shipping containers and sent on their way. With some fabrication, redneck ingenuity, and historical practices, we were able to stuff 4 boats in two containers. This was for 4 of the 7 boats being shipped. They were loaded up and left Long Beach, Ca for France. They went south, through the Panama Canal, and across the Atlantic. They are now waiting for our arrival. As you can see in the pictures it was no easy feet...every inch counted.

First the crane brings the containers to ground level off the trucks...

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Now the fun begins...the first boat goes in ass first. Special fabricated braces hold the tongue at the ceiling of the container so the next boat can get pushed in...

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FB_IMG_1562641026885.jpg


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Then things got interesting. one of the boats along with the trailer was too wide. Everything had to come off the trailer and brackets were made with casters to get the boat and trailer in.

FB_IMG_1562641334423.jpg


FB_IMG_1562641338528.jpg


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We will be racing on Lac D'Allier which is a fresh water canal. To say the water will be rough is an understatement. 2/3's of the course has sea walls on both sides of the canal and the remaining section has sea wall on one side and rocks on the other.

20190831_000129.jpg


So my wife Julie, our 18 month old son Bodhe, and myself will be leaving LAX tomorrow morning to start this great adventure. Wheels up at 11:55 to Montreal, Canada then hopping on the next flight in to Geneva, Switzerland. Once in Switzerland we will be taking a 4 hour train ride to Vichy, where we will be staying at the Ibis Styles Hotel damn near at the race site. We will have the pleasure of my parents company early next week for the rest of the trip.

Schedule:
Sept. 7th Parade through the City and Opening Ceremonies
8th Race 1
10th Race 2
12th Race 3
14th Race 4
15th Trophies, Closing Ceremony, Party Party Party!!!


I would like to thank Dave along with RDP, and everyone else along the way for the support! For me, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I don't know if I will get another chance to do this. Let's face it, I will probably never go to the Olympics or the X-Games; this is the closest thing I have to that. For an athlete, there is no greater honor than representing your home country in a sport you love, competing against the very best. I will be travelling half way around the world to compete with my fellow team mates for a chance to do something I have only dreamed of. Thank you! :cool: GO TEAM USA!!!

More to follow tomorrow!!!!
 

4Waters

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Make sure you're dry, don't want to fail the quagga inspection, LOL. Good luck, I'll be looking forward to updates
 

old rigger

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Good Luck skiracer!!!
We know 4 different people heading over there with you.
Darrell Weatherford, a observer, who I’ve known since high school.
Carl Johnson, driver and boat owner, our neighbor’s at the river. That looks like him in the dark blue shirt and Levi’s in your pics. I’ve met the guy in the white t shirt a few time at the river with the Johnsons.
Cory Ferguson, driver, went to high school with his wife’s parents.
And a skier, Julia Williams. Her dad owns a taco joint right around the corner from us. He’s also an old Parker strip guy, still has his dad’s original Stevens flat.

That’s a pretty good looking poster too!

Go Team USA!
 

teded

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Who is on team USA?


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old rigger

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Who is on team USA?


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From their website...


Athletes selected to the 2019 U.S. Formula 1 Water Ski Racing Team were: Todd Haig (Redlands, Calif.), Cameron King (Torrance, Calif.) and Brian Samaniego (Fullerton, Calif.).

Athletes selected to the 2019 U.S. Formula 2 Water Ski Racing Team were: CJ Ferguson (San Pedro, Calif.), John Kompaniez (Huntington Beach, Calif.), Erica Leonard (Aliso Viejo, Calif.), Cheryl Ruston (La Palma, Calif.), Amy Threlfall (Palmdale, Calif.) and Martie Wells (Colton, Calif.). Dave Chandler (Henderson, Nev.) and Julia Williams (Long Beach, Calif.) were selected as reserves.

Athletes selected to the 2019 U.S. Junior Water Ski Racing Team were: Jason Davison (Long Beach, Calif.), Matthew Klee (Harbor City, Calif.) and Sophia Rivera (Seal Beach, Calif.).

Jared Cooper (Huntington Beach, Calif.) will serve as the team captain and Terry Cooper (Huntington Beach, Calif.) will be the assistant team captain.
 

Taboma

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From their website...


Athletes selected to the 2019 U.S. Formula 1 Water Ski Racing Team were: Todd Haig (Redlands, Calif.), Cameron King (Torrance, Calif.) and Brian Samaniego (Fullerton, Calif.).

Athletes selected to the 2019 U.S. Formula 2 Water Ski Racing Team were: CJ Ferguson (San Pedro, Calif.), John Kompaniez (Huntington Beach, Calif.), Erica Leonard (Aliso Viejo, Calif.), Cheryl Ruston (La Palma, Calif.), Amy Threlfall (Palmdale, Calif.) and Martie Wells (Colton, Calif.). Dave Chandler (Henderson, Nev.) and Julia Williams (Long Beach, Calif.) were selected as reserves.

Athletes selected to the 2019 U.S. Junior Water Ski Racing Team were: Jason Davison (Long Beach, Calif.), Matthew Klee (Harbor City, Calif.) and Sophia Rivera (Seal Beach, Calif.).

Jared Cooper (Huntington Beach, Calif.) will serve as the team captain and Terry Cooper (Huntington Beach, Calif.) will be the assistant team captain.

Well at least if California were a country, we'd have a great water ski racing team :D GO TEAM USA !!
 

skiracr

Catalina Ski Race, Boat # 222
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From their website...


Athletes selected to the 2019 U.S. Formula 1 Water Ski Racing Team were: Todd Haig (Redlands, Calif.), Cameron King (Torrance, Calif.) and Brian Samaniego (Fullerton, Calif.).

Athletes selected to the 2019 U.S. Formula 2 Water Ski Racing Team were: CJ Ferguson (San Pedro, Calif.), John Kompaniez (Huntington Beach, Calif.), Erica Leonard (Aliso Viejo, Calif.), Cheryl Ruston (La Palma, Calif.), Amy Threlfall (Palmdale, Calif.) and Martie Wells (Colton, Calif.). Dave Chandler (Henderson, Nev.) and Julia Williams (Long Beach, Calif.) were selected as reserves.

Athletes selected to the 2019 U.S. Junior Water Ski Racing Team were: Jason Davison (Long Beach, Calif.), Matthew Klee (Harbor City, Calif.) and Sophia Rivera (Seal Beach, Calif.).

Jared Cooper (Huntington Beach, Calif.) will serve as the team captain and Terry Cooper (Huntington Beach, Calif.) will be the assistant team captain.

One change to the team. Cameron is now our athletes representative. Dave Chandler has answered the call to ski F1 (men's open) along with myself and Todd Haig!!!
 

Taboma

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One change to the team. Cameron is now our athletes representative. Dave Chandler has answered the call to ski F1 (men's open) along with myself and Todd Haig!!!

Is Dave Chandler the Parker guy that Wheeler is always posting pics of ?
 

Wheeler

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Knock 'em dead Brian!
 

milkmoney

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Good luck Brian and to my buddy Chandler, also the whole team. We are back here hoping for safe travels and a great experience...glad I could be a small part of helping the team get there.....[emoji106][emoji202]

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rivrrts429

Arch Stanton...
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Good luck Brian and to my buddy Chandler, also the whole team. We are back here hoping for safe travels and a great experience...glad I could be a small part of helping the team get there.....[emoji106][emoji202]

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


You reach into Jokers PayPal account and share a few duckets?
 

skiracr

Catalina Ski Race, Boat # 222
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Good luck Brian and to my buddy Chandler, also the whole team. We are back here hoping for safe travels and a great experience...glad I could be a small part of helping the team get there.....[emoji106][emoji202]

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Your contribution and support are very much appreciated!
 

skiracr

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At the airport. Apparently traveling with a child in a stroller is the way to go! We are flying air Canada and when we got to security there's a special Lane for wheel chairs and strollers. Made it through security in about 15min including getting pulled over to secondary for search of the diaper bag. They dipped sticks in his milk, water, and open container of formula. Stuck the sticks in a machine and we got the green light. Super easy, almost scary. No body xray scan just walked through like we owned the place.

Just had breakfast with the family!
KIMG0003.JPG


Now we have about 1.5 hours to kill.
Time to chase the little guy around the airport!
 

lbhsbz

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Kick some ass guys...good luck.
 

Wavemaker

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September 7th - 15th in Vichy, France

View attachment 793167

The time has come for Team USA to travel to France to compete in the 2019 World Water Ski Racing Championships!!!

River Dave and Team RDP have been gracious enough to support our team efforts in getting to France to compete at the World level. We will be setting up RDP in the pits for the duration of the competition. This thread will be dedicated to the World Championships with full coverage and everything that goes along with the trip. There will also be a live feed for every race!!! It's going to be an incredible experience that will be shared with all of you along the way.

This Journey for our Team began at the beginning of the season in Parker where the first two of the seven selection races took place. At that time we were all competing against each other for that coveted spot on Team USA. Although we are still competing against each other for an individual World Title, we are now also competing as one unit to bring the Gold home to the USA!

About 6 weeks ago our team boats were loaded into shipping containers and sent on their way. With some fabrication, redneck ingenuity, and historical practices, we were able to stuff 4 boats in two containers. This was for 4 of the 7 boats being shipped. They were loaded up and left Long Beach, Ca for France. They went south, through the Panama Canal, and across the Atlantic. They are now waiting for our arrival. As you can see in the pictures it was no easy feet...every inch counted.

First the crane brings the containers to ground level off the trucks...

View attachment 793169 View attachment 793170

Now the fun begins...the first boat goes in ass first. Special fabricated braces hold the tongue at the ceiling of the container so the next boat can get pushed in...

View attachment 793171

View attachment 793172

View attachment 793173

View attachment 793174

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Then things got interesting. one of the boats along with the trailer was too wide. Everything had to come off the trailer and brackets were made with casters to get the boat and trailer in.

View attachment 793176

View attachment 793177

View attachment 793178


We will be racing on Lac D'Allier which is a fresh water canal. To say the water will be rough is an understatement. 2/3's of the course has sea walls on both sides of the canal and the remaining section has sea wall on one side and rocks on the other.

View attachment 793179

So my wife Julie, our 18 month old son Bodhe, and myself will be leaving LAX tomorrow morning to start this great adventure. Wheels up at 11:55 to Montreal, Canada then hopping on the next flight in to Geneva, Switzerland. Once in Switzerland we will be taking a 4 hour train ride to Vichy, where we will be staying at the Ibis Styles Hotel damn near at the race site. We will have the pleasure of my parents company early next week for the rest of the trip.

Schedule:
Sept. 7th Parade through the City and Opening Ceremonies
8th Race 1
10th Race 2
12th Race 3
14th Race 4
15th Trophies, Closing Ceremony, Party Party Party!!!


I would like to thank Dave along with RDP, and everyone else along the way for the support! For me, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I don't know if I will get another chance to do this. Let's face it, I will probably never go to the Olympics or the X-Games; this is the closest thing I have to that. For an athlete, there is no greater honor than representing your home country in a sport you love, competing against the very best. I will be travelling half way around the world to compete with my fellow team mates for a chance to do something I have only dreamed of. Thank you! :cool: GO TEAM USA!!!

More to follow tomorrow!!!!

Go Team USA! I appreciate your posting of the pictures of all of the hard work involved to prepare the boats, trailers, equipment required, and spares, as well was the physical conditioning involved to accomplish this huge effort representing the USA. Wishing you the very best of skills, and good luck throughout this large endeavor. Enjoy the whole experience and find time to relax with your family and Team mates. Looking forward to your postings when you have time to post.
Bless you and your family for representing the USA.
 

River Runnin

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Guess I'll see ya next year Brian! .... Since you couldn't fit my boat in one of them containers! ....Good luck ALL! ...Bring back the GOLD!
 

AZMIDLYF

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Hulls being loaded...Yellow Nordic, Orange Nordic/?, V7 Velocity....Guessing on the white Hull? o_O
 

Meadsnake

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Here I was about 30 years ago representing the USA in Australia. Honored to be chosen again to ski with such great individuals even as the oldest member. Thanks for everyone who has supported me especially my great team 222. Go USA!
 

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Wheeler

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Here I was about 30 years ago representing the USA in Australia. Honored to be chosen again to ski with such great individuals even as the oldest member. Thanks for everyone who has supported me especially my great team 222. Go USA!

Get 'er done Dave! :)
 

Boat211

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Who is the woman standing behind Debbie Norblad?
 

skiracr

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We have made it safely to Vichy and now getting cleaned up in our hotel room. I was pleasantly surprised with hope the little guy did. He was a trooper!
I love diet Coke, the Canada version was great too!
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Getting situated in our seats. Scooped with the seat choices behind the bulk head. Tons of legroom and room for Bodhe to do his thing.
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****PSA**** Read this part!
My mom told us about this and was well worth it. We went to trader Joe's before we left and bought the large tub of dark chocolate peanut butter things, the tub of chocolate covered express beans, and a few little bags of trail mix. Put in a bag and wrote Crew Snacks. Had Bodhe hand it to the first guy steward we saw. Holy shit Batman. You would have thought we have them a bag of money. The other Crew members came over and said thank you.
This is where it got good. From then on it was the first class treatment all the way!!! One of the girls came up 2 glasses of champagne in actual glass guess.
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That was from the first girl.

Then another comes over with 2 gift bags that had some goodies in them, guessing they're given to the first class peeps. All throughout the flight they came to check on us fed my wife all the wine she wanted. Overall a great experience. This kind gesture that had started to grow some legs worked out pretty good. People were looking at us like how'd we pull all this off. Simple really. We were just talking care of those who were talking care of us.
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Little guy hot the snooze button?
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Great flights with great people.

Next chapter will be the train rides and hotel.

More to come...
 

RiverDave

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That’s a good idea!! Loving the updates Brian!
 

skiracr

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That’s a good idea!! Loving the updates Brian!

The best part was we were in Montreal, not a Trader Joe's in 2500 miles... But they all new what those treats were. My wife and I said that's part of our trip flight program from now on.
 

skiracr

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The train stations. So going in to this I figured it was going to be tough between the massive amount of luggage we had, combined with the language barrier. What a shit show. Lol no luggage carts, no airport personnel around to answer questions, and nonEnglish signage anywhere. We got shit figured out, didn't miss any trains and managed to transport all our luggage around. This is our luggage lineup:
Wife- large checked bag, back pack, diaper bag, with Bodhes small carry on suitcase bungeed on top.
Me- 88" race ski bag, team USA rolling duffle with all my race gear, back pack, my medium size check bag with a garment bag bungeed to the top of that. Wtf. Way too much shit for 2.5 weeks. We took three trains. One from the airport to the main train station in Geneva. Geneva to Lyon part duex. Lyon to Vichy. Some pics from all this.
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I took a quick power nape on two of the trains... Note all our shit lol
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Some great country side along the way. People were out fishing, boating, enjoying the nice day.
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Time for bed! Pick this back up tomorrow
 

SLT Kota

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This is AWESOME! Thank you for taking us along on the journey and representing team USA!

Is anyone selling team merchandise?

GO TEAM USA!!!
 

Taboma

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California you mean the Southbay representing USA!
I dunno, to me anything north of Orange County is a "No-Go" zone :eek: --- is Southbay claiming Redlands now as well ? :rolleyes:
How about Lake Arrowhead ? There's a name or two on there I recognize from 60's Lake Arrowhead :D
Just seemed odd everybody was from So Cal and where da-fuck did all the young bucks go ? Wake Boards ?
 

skiracr

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Our hotel is about a 2 minute walk to the race site, really convenient. We had lunch at Le Bungalow, pretty good, right on the water.
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The wind was blowing pretty good, add 25 boats in the canal with sea walls, it's looking like it's going to be rough water.

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The point coming out in the water had a nice restaurant that we'll try at some point. Also where the judging and officials with be.
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Ragged Edge

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The first lap will be smooth, after that your f#*@&d. :D But you'll have fun anyway.
 

AZMIDLYF

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Yeah, it'll be a washing machine real quick. Amazing to watch that many teams run in there.
 

River Runnin

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Shoot!! That's glass compared to the 3 weekends at the Springs!! ;)
 
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