Get the Kids out on the water.

Got a boom and boy did we have fun!


While he had fun, mom was trying to make sure the baby is safe ;-)


Next time we have good water, I'll try this footing thing...

Proud Mom and Dad!
Way to go Gabriel   

MechGaT wrote: Got my son (age 8) up on the ski skimmer behind our boat the first time this weekend. He went over a few boat wakes and up in the air, He was so excited when he got back in the boat. He had a blast.

Awesome!

It's always nice when they are excited about it. My kids were a bit apprehensive at first, but love getting behind the boat now. We've just been using the saucer I made, but I'm casually trying to persuade my daughter to try the trainer skis behind the boat. I managed to get her up in the pool a couple of weeks ago, so it's only a matter of time before she decides to give it a shot.

Ages 1 & 3:


And the best part:

Morfoot wrote: 1 & 3......Dude that's Awesome!

Thanks, Morfoot. I had to keep the tradition alive, here's me in 1982 with my old man. Not sure if this was off of our '74 or '80 Nautique:

That is pretty awesome Brian.

have any more pics of your saucer? I think the dad and little one duo at same time might be a good approach especially for the apprehensive ones.

Orlando76 wrote: That is pretty awesome Brian. have any more pics of your saucer? I think the dad and little one duo at same time might be a good approach especially for the apprehensive ones.

Unfortunately none of the saucer itself. I made it on a day off from work out of some cheap 1/2" plywood, but the next one I make will be 5/8" since this one is a little flexy for my liking. I just traced out a 40" circle with some string and a pencil, cut it out with a jigsaw, and routed the edges with a roundover bit. A little sanding and paint and we were in business. I plan on making a few different sizes, this one is a little big for solo use. Plenty of real estate with the kids, though.

My back wasn't too happy with me after this one:

quinner wrote: Great job and great pics. Hopefully your pops is still around, how awesome if you could get a ride and pic on the saucer with you, your son and your pops all together.

Oh, he's around, but he's strictly fishing and 12oz curls these days. He messed up his neck pretty bad in a jump crash back in the 80's which eventually led to his retirement from skiing. I don't know if I could convince him to get out there, I don't think he's ridden a saucer in 25 years. Maybe when I make a second one I'll try and persuade him.

When I was a kid, a guy in our ski club made a saucer out of an interstate road sign they found somewhere, it must have been 6 or 7 feet in diameter and weighed a ton. It still had the reflective surface too. We definitely could have the whole family on that one!

You look like a clone of your dad, that's really awesome to see how similar the 2 pictures are even though they are 33 years apart.

I made a disk many years ago, out of 3/4 ply and full 48" diameter, maybe a bit heavier than needed. Same as you, just cut the circle and quarter rounded the edges with the router. Haven't used it in years, think I'll get it out next weekend. If your back hurt you just need to put a chair on the disk and the kids in your lap!

Larry, maybe at your advanced age that is about the limit of what you should be doing on the water. Only change I'd recommend is a chair with a cup holder.

I haven't been on mine in many moons. I did the stepladder thing back then, old rickety wooden ladder with metal pieces sticking out, I was pretty banged up by the time we were done but it worked.

Fully geared up and seems rather happy about it. BKH

MechGaT.

Progress can be very quick, if your child wants to do it.

By 4 my daughter was very comfortable on doubles, zipping over the wakes, and constantly asking to go faster. I thought we'd be on a single at 5.

At Five, she refused to get in the water. Still don't know why, but that lasted two years.

At Seven, she decided to ski again. In six weeks she went from kids doubles, to Junior doubles, to skiing single on the wide junior combo ski with an easy up rope, to skiing on a competition style slalom with a standard rope.    

Two factors - 1) she finally decided that she wanted to do it, and 2) we found a friend about her age that was also into skiing and got them out together as often as we could.

Regards,

BKH

Here's a few from this weekend. My daughter decided she wanted to try the new trainers out on the beach, I was more than happy to act as "tow boat".


Of course, after watching his big sister do it, my son had to give it a try. We still had to hold him up a bit, but he was having a blast.


This is what my son does whenever someone is skiing behind the boat. Pure concentration.

spiralhelix wrote: I have not heard of saucers before. That's pretty sweet. So it seems they are 36-48" in diameter 1/2-3/4" thick? Generally a dock start or deep water? Deep water. You can get up on it like a kneeboard and move to a standing position, or just use the water pressure to keep it under your feet and do a regular deepwater start. You can make them any size you want, but generally 36-40 inches for this purpose. I used 1/2" and made mine 40" but will go 5/8" next time since it's a little flexy. I think I'm going to cut mine down and make a smaller one that I can cut harder on after I find some cheap (free) 5/8" board. Right now I only need a little over 10mph with my daughter and I on it. When I was a kid my grandparents had a ton of them that my dad and uncles made in the 60's at their summer house, ranging in size from 22" to probably 40". The small one was really tough, took a lot of boat speed and it would slide right out from under you in a hurry. The big ones are good for multiple people or putting a barstool or chair on them that you can stand on. Seems easy enough to construct one.

Just measure to find the center, put a nail or screw in it with some string and pencil, trace the circle, cut with a jigsaw, and route the edges. Sand, paint, ski! Here's an old Popular Science article on how to build and ride one:

http://www.popsci.com/archive-viewer?id=KCoDAAAAMBAJ&pg=165&query=Water%20Ski%20Flying%20Saucer

Milestones made in the Morfoot household yesterday as I finally got Tamara up on Long Line Slalom. I'm not sure who was more excited.......Tamara or her Dad!    Took 16+ years but I never gave up hope that one of the girls would do it. Only took four attempts with the deep V handle but she finally got it. She was all smiles for the long run she had and started cutting just a lil' bit. Asked her how she felt about slalom skiing when she got back to the platform and her response was " Wow Dad.....That was FUN!" Now I just gotta work on her sister so I can get that coveted family on a Slalom pic.



.


She reached another milestone in that she finally got wake to wake on the kneeboard. Tamara sure has come along way when she started kneeboarding 10 years ago. She loves terrorizing her friends when they ride duals when she jumps the wake and lands right beside them. You've come along way baby girl!







Got the BF who has never done watersports of any kind on combos off the boom and the kneeboard.




Great day on the water yesterday! Get them out there guys, no matter how old they are!

Got my two youngest, my 6 year daughter and 7 year old son, deepwater start on slalom over Father's day weekend. They had huge smiles on there faces...