Red River Spooktacular

[Bakes5]

Well...spooktacular might be a litte bit of a stretch but it was fun anyways

My 7 y/o definitely skis better in his iron man outfit

[jbort]

GREAT PICS!!!

[Kimber]

Bakes5 - always good to see the kids out there. Where did you find a slalom to fit the young ones? My 5 yr old wants to try it next year, but I don't know where to find one.

[Bakes5]

I can't remember which exact ski they are using...PM me and I'll look it up at home. It is the slalom ski from a kid sized shaped ski combo set. I had a nice slalom for them but it floated weirdly and they were too small to keep it aligned during the deepwater starts so I swapped the double boot from the higher end ski onto the beginner ski and it works great. My son has been slaloming skiing since he was 5

My tips for getting little kids (5 yrs old) up on slalom are as follows

1) Get a boom. Once they have 15-20 minutes of rope time on the boom they are ready for behind the boat.
2) Get them running on kneeboards first. They need to be completely comfortable behind the boat falling and getting splashed in the face. If you have to jump in and coax them and keep them upright they are probably not ready for the slalom
3) Double boots on a wide shaped ski
4) Bribes for number of attempts (i.e. Icee for 15 attempts)
5) Stop bringing the tube. Get a pair of kneeboards. I get 3 year olds up on kneeboards all the time.
6) Throw away the 2nd ski in the combo sets. 2 skis doesn't prep them for 1. They will have a lot more fun on a kneeboard or on a wakeskate or slalom on the boom. 2 skis is a waste of time IMO.

[jake's02-22i]

I learned by dropping one ski after I got up with two skis. After you have to go pick up the other ski a couple of time you want to learn to just get up on one like dad. That and going to lake Arrowhead where they dont let you drop a ski.

[Kimber]

I have already spoken with the guys at Barefoot International and have all the part numbers written down - will be ordered at the first of the year. I have a combo kis set of skis, but it doesn't have a back boot to slalom.