We woke early on Thursday and headed to Milwaukee.  We had a long day ahead of us.  It was set up day.  It was also the end of the Slug-Bug game.  I was comfortably in the lead with around 40 pts, but Andre and Brendan were battling down to the last mile and were going back and forth and we in the upper 20s. Brendan was down by 4 with about a mile to go and called a Mustang.
Click Here to watch the video of the finish

My biggest headache over the next 24 hours would be getting the live broadcast working.  We had hoped that the cellular signals around the lake had improved from the previous year, but that wouldn't be the case.  We could only manage to get one or two bars and the signal would jump from one carrier to another as we walked around the lake.  Seems AT&T has the worst coverage in Milwaukee, and you guessed it, all of our air cards were AT&T.  I spent the next 24 hours going from one cell company to the next signing up for their service (with each promising they had the best coverage) only to find out that the lake is situated in the worst spot in Milwaukee for cell coverage.  Hard line or satellite wasn't an option that late in the game, so we just had to keep trying cellular.  It took us until Friday afternoon to figure it out, but with the help of Kelvin Kelm, who had flown up from Houston to help out, we were able to get the live feed working.  BTW, Verizon and Sprint give the best coverage.  The folks at Sprint were extremely helpful and made the process of returns the easiest.

Chuck working out the bugs.

Kelvin Kelm working the camera.

Friday was a day of qualifying for the slalom skiers and jumpers competing in the Malibu Open.  We had large crowds throughout the day and beautiful weather.  We did 4 separate Freestyle Barefoot exhibitions on Friday.  A fun day overall. Oh yah! Did I mention that Friday was my birthday.  I made a point not to tell anyone, but my wife Michele and business partner Joe Isaac got together and sent me a singing telegram.  To say it was a bit uncomfortable is an understatement.  Everyone had a good laugh. Click Here to watch Video

The Singing Telegram

Karan Reed, Krista Rogers & Regina Jaquess & Kathryn look on.

Friday evening, Malibu Boats hosted a dinner for skiers and sponsors there at the lake.  They served up 16 oz steaks, baked potatoes, and all the trimmings for everyone.  I had a great time hanging out with many of the skiers on the Eagle Factory Team.  Thomas Degasperi is having a great year and it was nice to catch up with him.  Eagle tope Masters Men skier and driver Chad Scott was in attendance as well as top skiers like Chris Parrish, Regina Jaquess, Seth Stisher, Zack Warden, and Jodi Fisher.  I got a chance to meet Krista Rogers for the first time.  She and I had spoken on the phone several times but this was the first time we met in person.  You may know Krista from the Radar boot ads (click here). Krista was a great help all weekend and has become a great representative for Eagle new women's jump suit. 

Saturday was the day the event expected the largest crowds.  The Milwaukee Air Show was going on at the same time so the traffic headed down to the lakefront would be thick.  One cool experience was in the Starbucks at the hotel that morning before going over to the sight.  A couple of the Thunderbird jet pilots were suited up and in line with us.  We chatted with them a bit about their plans for the day and they with us.  We told them to make sure to buzz us a few times, and they didn't disappoint.  In retrospect, we should have purchased some ear plugs.  It's quite loud when an F-16 flies over at only a few hundred feet. Click Here to watch video.

The event on Saturday was great.  We got a chance to see a lot of skiers throughout the day and the action on the water was fun to watch.  We had brought a bunch of Dr Pepper blow up chairs to sit in as we watched the event, and they were a great hit.  We ended up putting them up on stage for the announcers and later sold several of them.  The cash we collected went towards the prize pot.  The crowds were treating to an array of waterski activities, skier autograph sessions, Rock Aqua Jay Showski acts, and air shows all on a beautiful sunny 80 degree day.

Click Here to watch video of Autograph Session    

 

Athletes signing autographs	Karan Reed, Krista Rogers & Regina Jaquess & Kathryn look on.

Click Here to watch video Friday Freestyle Exhibitions

Freestyle Barefoot was and exhibition on Friday, but Saturday was a different story.  Andre De Villiers, Nolan Lough, Jamie Kumlien, and Brendan Paige would compete against each other for the first time at a Pro Waterski Event.  We had put together a format that we thought would be easy to judge, and easy for the spectators to follow.  This is how it would work:

We'd have 2 judges on shore with the announcers.  They'd be seeing things from the crowds point of view.  We'd also have 3 judges in the boat.  They'd get to see the runs up close.  Each judge had a ring binder of cards that read 5 thru 10.  5 would be the lowest score to give a skier and 10 the highest.  We had 3 time slots to fill throughout the day.  The plan would be to have 2 preliminary rounds, each consisting of 2 skiers.  The prelims would allow each skier 3 passes.  Each pass would be scored independently and the lowest scoring pass would be thrown out.   We had a radio in the boat to send the scores back to the announcer and they would keep the totals.  The 2 skiers with the highest scores of the day would advance to the finals.  Before going to the water we got all the judges together and walked through some of the tricks they would most likely be seeing and explained that they should judge the entire run including the starts, run itself, and the way the skier ends his run with either a cool butt slide or jump back into the boat. Our 5 judges consisted of Dan Baumgartner & Scott Stouffer on shore and Lani Farmer, Krista Rogers, and Taylor Woosley in the boat.  Dan and Scott were our expert judges while Lani, Krista and Taylor were seeing things for the first time. 
Prelim Heat #1 would see Brendan Paige vs Nolan Lough - Nolan came out of the heat with the highest score. Prelim Heat #2 would be Jamie Kumlien vs Andre De Villiers - Jamie would go first and then Andre.

Jamie's 1st pass was going well, but he caught a toe and fell halfway through, so scores were 6s and 7s.  In pass #2, Jamie wanted to try going over the ski jump on J-Skis like Brendan did at the LA Night Jam.  We advised him to put on a pair of padded shorts and a cup.  He was wearing a brand new Eagle Ghost Rider suit, so that with the added short padding would give him the protection he needed.  Brendan has never been able to land that trick and at the end of the run, neither had Jamie.  It was a good attempt that looked awesome, but the fall resulted in 7s and 8s.  Jamie would need nearly a perfect score in his third pass to advance, and we all knew he had it in him.  His run started out great with a few turns.  He did his gunnel front flip right in front of the crowd but had to tumble out of it eating up a lot of time.  When he got back to his feet he immediately started doing ADVs over the boat.  Jamie's last trick was a ADV that he landed just as the boat was to turn at the end of the run.  Jamie slid away on his butt and he looked as though he was doing a sandman where the skier rolls from his butt to his stomach as he spins a complete 360 on the water.  As we turned away I heard Andre screaming to Jamie to stop.  Jamie was heading directly for a boat that was moored next to the starting dock waiting for the next event to begin.  The boat's nose was pointing out.  As Jamie completed the sandman (meaning as his head came to the front, he was on his chest), he was right on the boat.  Jamie saw the boat in time to get his hands up as he careened off the left side of the boat's nose.  Andre, thinking the worst, was already in the water swimming towards him as he hit.  Jamie initially came up waiving he was OK, then we heard the scream.  He was in a lot of pain.  When his head and chest hit the side of the boat, his upper hip (lower abdomen) caught the eye hook on the nose of the boat.  The hook tore through his suit and punctured his lower abdomen and chipped his hip bone.  Of course we didn't know what had happened at the time.  We just knew there was a lot of blood and Jamie was in a lot of pain.  The medical rescue teams were on Jamie is seconds.  Within about 5 minutes, they had him on a stretcher and heading to the ambulance. 

Click Here to watch video of Jamie's Freestyle Run (minus the collision)

The spectators down the lake didn't know what happened.  The starting dock was not in view of the mass crowd, and that's where Jamie's parents were at.  We zipped back down the lake in the boat to find his parents and to inform the announcers that Andre would not be skiing.  We needed to re-group and make sure Jamie was OK before all else.  The Freestyle finals were scheduled for that evening right before the Jump finals.  So we had several hours to decide.  The Pro Tour organizers left the choice up to us.

The next few hours were a blur.  We were getting reports from the hospital that Jamie was in surgery.  Luckily, no internal organs were damaged and he came out of surgery ok, but due to the fact that the wound had punctured his internal body cavity, they needed to make sure they cleaned it properly.  He'd be in the hospital a few days to make sure he didn't get a staff infection and the would was healing properly.

After discussing the situation with the remaining 3 skiers, we decided to continue the competition and that it would only be fair to take all 3 skiers to the finals and that each skier would get 2 passes instead of 3.  The judges were in agreement, so the final round would be around 7pm.

The Finals round was hard fought.  Nolan posted a high score, then Brendan Paige came out dressed like Justin Bieber and posted a perfect 10 in his second pass.  Andre's first of two passes was only slightly better than Brendan's 1st pass.  Andre would have to post a perfect 10 in his last and final pass to win the competition.  Click Here to watch video Barefoot Freestyle Finals

Freestyle Final Heat
		Pass #1	Pass #2
Brendan Paige	Judge1	8	8
	Judge2	9	9
	Judge3	10	7
	Judge4	10	7
	Judge5	10	8
	Total	47	39	86
		Pass #1	Pass #2
Nolan Lough	Judge1	7	8
	Judge2	6	8
	Judge3	6	9
	Judge4	6	9
	Judge5	6	9
	Total	31	43	74
		Pass #1	Pass #2
Andre De Villiers	Judge1	9	10
	Judge2	8	10
	Judge3	8	10
	Judge4	8	10
	Judge5	9	10
	Total	42	50	92

I can't thank the Pro Waterski Tour, Malibu Boats and the skiers enough for making our trip to the Malibu Open an enjoyable one.   We've really enjoyed being a part of the event and hope to see you all again next year.  It's because of the fun we've had at the Malibu Open that we decided to host a 3rd Pro Tour stop at our home site in Katy, Texas.  We're looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Update:  Jamie Kumlien, a.k.a. The Wolverine, has heeled at warp speed.  Only 4 weeks after the accident, he was back out on the water skiing.  On a much sadder note, Jamie's dad Jim Kumlien, who was at the Malibu Open, passed away on Aug 23.  Jim was battling skin cancer for the last year.  We've been fortunate enough to get to spend time with Jim and his family the last couple years and we'll sincerely miss him.  We pass our condolences on to the entire Kumlien family. 

Natalia Berdnikova Women's Jump Winner	Zack Warden - Men's Jump Winner
Whitney McClintock - Women's Slalom Winner with Regina Jaquess 2nd Place	Will Asher - Men's Slalom Winner
Andre De Villiers - Freestyle Barefoot Winner with Brendan Paige 2nd Place	Click Here To see more PICTURES from Malibu Open

The trek back to Texas began Sunday morning.  We woke early and spent the morning at the event site tearing down tents, picking up garbage, and helping event coordinator Dana Reed collect banners around the lake.  We finished up around 11am.  We thanked Dana for a great time and set our sites South.  But before leaving Milwaukee, we needed to stop by the hospital to check on Jamie and wish him well.  We found him in bed and angry.  He informed us that the doctor told him it would be 6-8 weeks before he could ski again.  He was mad about that and was determined to be up and skiing in 3-4 weeks or less.  We encouraged him to take it easy and do what the doctor says.  We knew he wouldn't listen, but ya have to try.  BTW, Jamie was back on the water in 4 weeks.

Click Here to watch video of our visit with Jamie in the Hospital

On our way back home, we stopped on the south side of Chicago to check out the Waterski Nationals.  They started that Sunday.  We were able to catch up with several of Eagle's key dealers and review plans for next season.  We stayed a few hours and then jumped back in the trucks and got back on the road.  It would take us another 23 hours to get back home.