World’s best professional & junior skiers to compete for over $64,000 during the water ski competition and summer festival at Veterans Park Milwaukee, August 19-20, 2016.

The Malibu Open Waterski Championship and Summer Festival is returning to Milwaukee’s lakefront Veteran’s Park Lagoon for the sixth consecutive year on August 19th and 20th. Waterskiing’s top professional and junior athletes will compete in traditional slalom and long-distance jumping for more than $64,000 in prize money. Free-style jumping, barefoot skiing, show skiing, picnic areas, food trucks and outdoor activity vendors round out the exciting two day event, which is open and free to the public.

The Milwaukee Parks and Recreation is estimating 10,000 spectators will come to observe the extreme water sports competition and interact with the athletes during the Friday and Saturday event.

For the seventh year in a row, the Malibu Open Festival is attracting athletes and spectators from across the globe to the lakefront lagoon set against the backdrop of the busy city of Milwaukee.

“Athletes from 28 countries around the world will be in Milwaukee competing during the festival for cash prizes and elite world ranking points,” event organizer and competing athlete, April Coble Eller said. “Fans will have an opportunity to interact, take photos, ask questions and get autographs with the skiers while enjoying festival activities, food and music. Former Malibu Open Champion Will Asher of England, two time World Champion Thomas Degasperi of Italy and World Slalom Record holder Regina Jaquess of the USA, will be just a few of the top athletes making a splash in Veterans’ Park Lagoon.”

In slalom skiing, athletes carve around a six-buoy course while the boat travels at a constant speed of 36 mph with an initial 43-foot line. After completion of each pass, the rope is shortened by a specified length to increase difficulty. Whichever athlete rounds the most buoys at the shortest line length, wins. In the long-distance jumping event, skiers race toward a 6-foot high ramp reaching speeds of 70 mph and fly distances over 200 feet. The athletes get three approaches at the ramp. Whoever goes the furthest, wins.

The Malibu Open is a free event for family, friends and all to enjoy. The event is produced by the Pro Ski Tour and sponsored by Malibu Boats. Concessions and parking will be organized by the Milwaukee County Parks Department.

Visit www.malibuopenfestival.com for more information.

About Pro Ski Tour
Pro Ski Tour’s goal is to bring water skiing back to the national spotlight giving our spectacular athletes a stage to perform on. The Pro Ski Tour, recreated the Pro Water Ski Tour for the 2008 season which became an immediate success. Through its passion and enthusiasm for water skiing Pro Ski Tour, LLC., continues to bring the amazing talent of these athletes to fans across the country and around the world today and for many years to come. www.malibuopenfestival.com

About Malibu Boats:
Malibu Boats is the world’s largest manufacturer of watersports towboats, with a worldwide market share of more than 50 percent. Malibu sells the Wakesetter and Response models—as well as the Axis Wake Research brand—through a global dealer network. With some 450 employees and three manufacturing facilities, in California, Tennessee, and Australia, Malibu builds boats to help you live a #lifewithoutlimits on the water. www.malibuboats.com

@malibuboats | #malibuopen

REGISTRATION CURRENTLY ONLINE AT WWW.USAWATERSKI.ORG

MOOMBA MASTERS DRAMA AS RECORDS EXCEEDED SIX TIMES AND THOUSANDS ENJOY THE THRILLING DOWNTOWN SPECTACLE ON MELBOURNE’S YARRA RIVER.

Every Labour Day holiday weekend, always the second one of March, the Moomba Festival in Melbourne Australia attracts over one million visitors during the four day programme. The highlight for many is the Moomba Masters Waterski and Wakeboard competition. Held on the Yarra River against the backdrop of towering skyscrapers and manicured parklands, this was a vintage year with Course Records exceeded a total of six times !

The programme included Slalom, Tricks, Jump and Wakeboard. Competitors took part from Belarus, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Peru, Russia and USA. Nautique provided all the competition boats and support staff and the City of Melbourne ensured that the facilities were just perfect !

Taking first place in Women’s Slalom, the defending Moomba Masters champion, Canadian Whitney McClintock, equalled the Course Record of 2 buoys on the 10.75m line in Round 1. She also set a new Course Record in the Semi Finals of 5 buoys on this line. Taking second place, Manon Costard FRA was also superb. She equalled the old Course Record twice. Canada’s Breanne Dodd took third place with one buoy on the 11.25m line.

 

The Men’s Slalom Finals were drama loaded ! Three past and present World Champions took part. Five international stars dominated throughout – Corey Vaughn USA, Freddy Winter GBR, Thomas Degasperi ITA, Will Asher GBR and Nate Smith USA. Freddy Winter topped Round 1. World Champion and World Record holder Nate Smith topped the Semi Finals. Nobody anticipated the drama of the Finals ! Winter and Degasperi set the pace with 5 buoys on the 10.75m line. Third last off the dock, Will Asher brought a roar from the huge crowd with 1 buoy on the shorter 10.25m line – just two short of the Course Record. Vaughn came next but unfortunately missed his opening gates on the 10.75m line. That left Nate Smith to take the title but in just equalling Asher’s score, a Run-Off was called by Chief Judge Jeff Smith USA. Asher was then first out. He quickly scored 4.5 buoys on the 10.75m line. Smith rose to the occasion. He gave a gold medal victory wave to the cheering Melbourne spectators as he passed Asher’s limit. At this stage, a very disappointed Will Asher was already leaving the area but he then heard the commentators announce that on video review, Nate Smith had actually missed his opening gates. The 2016 Moomba Masters Slalom title was to be his after all. What a dramatic conclusion to a fantastic event with Asher, Smith and Degasperi taking the podium places.

 
In Women’s Tricks, the 9,470 points Course Record was exceeded no less than four times by the three youngest competitors. In Round 1, Erika Lang USA scored 9,570 points but 16 year-old World Champion Anna Gay USA pushed that further to 9,700 points. In the Semi-Finals, Gay did even better with 9,920 points and equalled that yet again in the Finals to take the title. Fourteen year-old Neilly Ross clocked up 9,290 points in Round 1 and took the bronze medal in the Finals behind Gay and Lang.

 

 

 

In Men’s Tricks, four athletes exceeded 10,000 points. One exceeded 11,000. Although the Course Record holder Alaiksei Zharnasek BLR did not beat his own Course Record of 11,870, his score of 11,570 was close and good enough to take the title. Having watched his 16 year-old daughter Anna take the Women’s Tricks title, Russell Gay took the silver medal with a solid score of 10,890 ahead of Franck Desboyaux with 10,780 points. This was just 40 points ahead of Australia’s U21 Tricks Champion Joshua Briant.

 

At 15.45hrs, Women’s Jump event began with the thousands of spectators waiting to see if their own World Champion, Jacinta Carroll, could take the Moomba title against very tough international competition. The Course Record was 53.8m. It was exceed twice on the Nautique Jump Ramp this time around. Lauren Morgan USA was the first to break the 50m distance with a great 50.1m score – enough for a bronze medal. Alex Lauretano USA responded with 51.7m to take the silver medal. To the crowd’s delight, Jacinta Carroll was in a league of her own with a distance of 54.2m to take the title, having already set a new Course Record in Round 1 of 54.3m.

 

In Men’s Jump, all eyes were on the newly crowned World Jump Champion, Ryan Dodd CAN. Adam Sedlmajer was first on the water. His 62.2m was a great start. Rodrigo Miranda CHI raised this to 65.3m before Igor Morozov RUS pushed it further to 66.3m. The last three on the water included past Moomba champion Damien Sharman GBR, Bojan Schipner GER and Ryan Dodd CAN. Sharman immediately took the lead with 66.6m. Schipner brought a roar from the huge crowd with 70.2m – and that added almost a meter to Course Record. Now it was all down to the World Champion Ryan Dodd to respond. He had a very impressive set with 64.5m, 66.9m and 67.5m but Schipner had just taken the biggest title of his career to date. Dodd took Silver and Sharman Bronze.

 

Before the enormous Fireworks Display, the Waterski Overall Champions were announced and the star studded Wakeboard finals again brought the best to the top. In Waterski Overall, Adam Sedlmajer CZE and Clementine Lucine FRA took Gold, Josh Briant AUS and Whitney McClintock CAN took Silver and Luke Outram GBR and Abbi Gratwohl USA took Bronze. In Wakeboard, it was the Big Three who did the business. Mike Dowdy landed a solid Double Back-Roll, Cory Teunissen landed a 1080, but as ever it was Harley Clifford who came out on top throwing down almost a perfect run. Harley Clifford AUS took Gold, Cory Teunissen AUS Silver and Mike Dowdy USA Bronze.

 

MOOMBA MASTERS RESULTS : http://www.iwwfed-ea.org/classic/16AUS326

MOOMBA MASTERS WEBSITE : http://www.moombamasters.com.au/index.html

NAUTIQUE WEBSITE : http://www.nautique.com

#MoombaMasters
#Nautique
#Moomba Festival

IWWF CONTACT : Des Burke-Kennedy, Media Chairman, International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation

We at HO Sports are proud to introduce the Syndicate Demo Program, offering skiers the opportunity to try the revolutionary new Syndicate V-TYPE R for themselves at their own lake with no obligation! Rip around on the V-TYPE R for 2 weeks, then decide if its right for you! Click HERE to learn more & get started or call us at (800)938-4646!

When you are the undisputed best skier in the world the last thing you are thinking about is switching skis. Nate Smith wins virtually every tournament he enters. He is the current World Record Holder and reigning World Champion. He has run 41-off more times in his career than all other skiers in the history of slalom skiing… combined. So, one must assume he is extremely confident in his current ski. Why would Nate want, or even consider a new ski? This was the challenge for the D3 design team. Make the best skier in the world even better.

Advanced Rocker and Concave is a completely new design philosophy for D3. Design legend Denny Kidder said, “The ARC is a whole new direction for us. The result has been nothing short of phenomenal”.

Design engineer Will Bush and his test team have been shaping, cutting and sanding skis for close to two years. Will said, “With the new ARC, we knew it was time to take a fresh new perspective and approach. We began on the whiteboard setting design and performance criteria. We looked at every component of slalom ski design and left nothing off the table. At every point, we held ourselves accountable for each benchmark. The finished product speaks for itself.”

The ARC has been rigorously tested by skiers of all abilities. The key to success was to utilize, arguably one of the best slalom skiers in history, Nate Smith. Nate had this to say, “I am excited! With the new ARC, more buoys at 43 off are now possible. Everyone who has tried it loves it”.

New D3 team member and Pro skier Nick Parsons had this to say about the new ski, “I jumped in at the end of the ARC design phase, but I could not be happier with the result. Skiers everywhere should try this new ski. The ARC is working really well for me and I look forward to a great season”.

Starting March 18th you can try the most inspired design in Kidder history. Click here to access the D3 Factory Direct Demo Program. Try the new ARC at your pace, on your own lake for three weeks. If your skiing does not improve, if the ARC doesn’t meet or exceed your every expectation, just return it with the pre-printed return label in the box. It’s that easy!!!!

SCORCHING SUNSHINE FOR MELBOURNE’S MOOMBA MASTERS NEXT WEEK AS ATHLETES FROM 14 COUNTRIES HEAD FOR THE DOWNTOWN YARRA RIVER ONCE AGAIN.

With temperatures exceeding 30C / 86Fh, this is going to be a real scorcher ! The earlier high quality Entry List is virtually intact, the NAUTIQUE Jump Ramp is in the water, the tented village is well under way – and next week huge crowds will certainly pack this stunning city centre arena for Moomba Masters 2016.

In Waterski, the latest news is that superstars Freddy Krueger and Karen Truelove will not be able to join us this time around and we will miss their very special talents. However, with close to 120 Men and Women Skiers from 14 countries plus some of the best Wakeboard Riders in the world, the Official Timetable is packed from dawn till very late night every day. You can see all the ENTRIES and details here : http://www.moombamasters.com

Make sure you pass this Link to all your friends – and If you can’t join us here in Melbourne for the 2016 Moomba Masters, you can still enjoy every moment of the fun LIVE on ProSkiers.com or on USTREAM – http://www.ustream.tv/channel/AWMBE9BmtZh

Darren Robertson, Fran Hynes, Wayne Briant and all the team are working flat out right now on the finishing touches. David Kidd may be on crutches but that never stopped him from doing what has to be done on the water. In the commentary box we will have Jarrod Faoro, Des Burke-Kennedy, Rob Wing, Dave Ryan and more to keep Moomba alive all day ! Good luck to all the Skiers, Riders, Officials and Organisers – and the City of Melbourne !

By – Des Burke-Kennedy

Rockledge, FL (March 4, 2016) SeaDek Marine Products would like to welcome World Champion water skier Ryan Dodd to their Pro-Staff team. Ryan is a world-renowned waterskiing champion with more than 20 Professional event wins under his belt. Having achieved three Pan-American Games and Championship titles, two Moomba Masters, and three US Masters titles, Ryan Dodd has proven himself to be one of the top competitors in waterskiing. Recently, Ryan and his wife Breanne, signed with an elite team of athletes – Team Nautique. Ryan will be unstoppable this season, as he has now added another weapon to his arsenal – the Ski Nautique 200.

SeaDek has been working closely with Ryan on some very exciting new product development ideas. Having revolutionized the marine flooring industry with a line of UV-resistant, closed-cell EVA products that are not only durable and comfortable, but also aesthetically pleasing; they are moving into other areas of specific product development in a number of niche market segments, such as waterskiing, wake surfing, kayak fishing and more. SeaDek’s ongoing commitment to quality manufacturing, exceptional service, and innovation mirror Ryan’s strong work ethic and dedication, making him an ideal ambassador for the company. Ryan will be representing SeaDek at all of the professional waterskiing events this year, including the US Masters, of which SeaDek is a returning sponsor.

Ryan Dodd Personal Stats
Hometown: Palm Bay, Florida
Coaches: Mike Ferraro and Breanne Dodd
Current World Jump Champion, Ranked #1 in the World, Waterski Magazine Jumper of the Year, Waterski Canada Male Athlete of the year, Best Jump of 242 ft.

“SeaDek is innovating and growing at an incredible rate, and it’s exciting to be on board as the first Waterski Athlete signed to the team. SeaDek is also a supporter of many of the pro waterski events, and are working hard to develop products to improve our quality of time spent on the lake. I am looking forward to another best year ever.” – Ryan Dodd

About SeaDek Marine Products

SeaDek Marine Products is the leading manufacturer of a range of EVA non-skid products for marine and sports use. A viable alternative to carpet and molded-in nonskid products, SeaDek’s line of products are targeted for OEM boat builders, resellers and end-users. The company was originally formed to produce cutting-edge surf products and nonskid traction pads, including X-Trak® surf traction and K-Grip®, a line of pads designed for world champion surfer Kelly Slater. The company later expanded its product offerings to the boating industry thanks to its innovation with marine-grade EVA materials. SeaDek can be tailored to fit a wide variety of applications on most boats. Learn more at www.seadek.com.
Thanks for your interest in SeaDek.

Sincerely,

The SeaDek Team
www.seadek.com
1.888.964.6860

“It’s obvious that Nautique is highly dedicated to supporting three-event skiing with the most prestigious events, and the most elite athletes. No other company is as dedicated to Jump and three-event skiing as a whole. I look forward to the future of the sport and a partnership with a company that shares my vision of progression. Nautique is committed to developing the world’s best boats, and I’m committed to being the world’s best Jump athlete so we found it to make perfect sense. To a great season being pulled by the Nautique 200!” – Ryan Dodd

[athlete athlete_name=”ryan-dodd”] [athlete athlete_name=”breanne-dodd”]

Not only is the annual Moomba Masters the first major Waterski & Wakeboard international event of the year, it is also by far the biggest spectacle. One year ago, an estimated 200,000 spectators enjoyed the Waterski and Wakeboard programme. Dating back to 1955, the entire Moomba Festival set a record of 1.7 million in attendance in 1996. By any standards, this is a very special event for all involved. With sunny 28C / 82Fh conditions forecasted, this promises to be a vintage year for Australia’s Labor Day celebrations.

The competitors from 16 countries will include no less than six newly crowned World Champions. Clearly, each will be under enormous pressure to prove themselves on the Yarra River in the shadow of the Rod Laver Arena in downtown Melbourne. The river itself is an enormous challenge for the athletes with varying currents, tidal impact and occasional debris. With it’s 242kms length it is surprisingly clean for a city waterway and is reputed to now have 15 species of native fish – a great credit to the City of Melbourne.

Nate Smith USA, World Waterski Slalom champion and World Record holder, is also the defending Moomba Masters champion. He is more than likely to score again on the very short 10.25m line as he did here last year, making him the hot favorite. In Men’s Jump, drama is guaranteed. Canadian Ryan Dodd’s dream came true in Chapala, Mexico, last November when he was crowned World Champion for the first time. However, the defending Moomba champion, Freddy Krueger, with seven World Record’s already in the bag, will push Dodd to the absolute limit. Women’s Jump will also get the 200,000 spectators on their feet as Jacinta Carroll AUS, two time World Jump champion, will also be defending her Moomba Masters title. She may well exceed a distance of 55m if her recent arm injury is not a factor. In Tricks, everybody will want to see for themselves the talent of young Anna Gay USA. At just 15 years old, she stunned all last November by taking the World Champion Tricks title with a personal best score of 10,010 points. Her 14 year-old friend and World Championships silver medalist Neilly Ross CAN will join defending Moomba champion Natallia Berdnikava BLR in this Tricks battle. One to watch closely also is Adam Sedlmajer CZE. Crowned World Overall champion last November, he will take on Felipe Miranda CHI and Joel Wing AUS in his attempt to add the title of Moomba Masters 2016 Overall champion to his collection.

In Wakeboard, with recently crowned World Champion Massi Piffaretti ITA not attending, there will be a thrilling duel between the super stars Harley Clifford AUS, Phil Soven USA and World Cup Mandurah champion Cory Teunissen AUS. All are at the peak of their skills right now. However, Shota Tezuka JPN and Tony Iacconi AUS who could create surprises. In Women’s Wakeboard, World Champion Meagan Ethell USA, as with all the other recently crowned World Champions, will have high hopes of adding Moomba Masters 2016 titles to her achievements.

Just weeks ago, Correct Craft signed a major global agreement with the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation to provide Nautique competition boats for the next ten years for the range of Waterski World Championships events. By special arrangement with the Victorian Waterski Association, Correct Craft will also provide Nautique boats and support services for the upcoming 2016 Moomba Masters.

Moomba Masters 2016 Website : http://www.moombamasters.com
Moomba Masters 2016 Results : www.iwwfed-ea.org/classic/16AUS326
Moomba 2016 Webcast : ProSkiers.com or on USTREAM – http://www.ustream.tv/channel/AWMBE9BmtZh

By – Des Burke-Kennedy