WaterSki Magazine

Hickman
2010-03-07 14:01:46 | 416 views | 1 Comments

Pro slalom skier Bill Susi is covering the 2010 Moomba Masters for waterskimag.com. He’ll provide daily updates with results and commentary, so stay tuned to waterskimag.com.

The 50th Moomba Masters kicked off today and instead of the forecasted cold and rain, the great weather held on. The first heat took to the Yarra River with near perfect conditions. The last skier of the first heat was Mike Morgan. In his first pro event in years, he smoked 35′ off putting himself into the semi-final round.

At 2pm the top heat got underway. I was feeling good, but a little nervous because the water was glass. Yep, I said it, I was actually nervous to see glass water because this was the first time in months that I had actually seen it. Also, a little wind always helps settle down the Yarra’s unexpected waters. The round started off with a bang and the first skiers secured their spot in the Semi Final round. Then the water level and current shifted. Unable to read the changing conditions, I went down a couple of buoys short of the cut.

The current kept shifting but the skiing level remained high. Chris Parrish, Will Asher, and Marcus Brown absolutely destroyed 38′ off to earn the top three seeds. CP was actually running 39′ until he ran into some rollers at 5-ball. Of the top three, I would have to say Will looked the best. He didn’t have any bobbles and looked to actually be warming up. Marcus also looked great but missed his gate at 39 trying to study the current (Marcus even told officials that he missed his gate as he came to the shore showing he’s a true sportsman.)

Tomorrow, the crowds will start to pour in when the holiday weekend officially kicks off. Even though this was not my greatest day, and I won’t be skiing in front of the huge crowds on Monday, I found a way to enjoy it. A couple of beers onsite with Nick Parsons and Terry Winter and I’ll be just fine.