Who are we?

We are a club sport that is overseen by the UCLA recreation department. We compete in 3-5 tournaments each fall and spring quarter, and spend the rest of the time practicing.

 

Where and when do we ride/ski?

When we go to tournaments, we travel all along the west coast – as far north as Western Washington University and as far south as SDSU. This spring, the team will be heading to tournaments at Davis, Cal Poly, Bakersfield, and SDSU.  For practice, we head to a private ski lake in Arvin, a city just north of the grapevine. One UCLA alumni owns a private tournament lake, Ironwood Ski Ranch, and allows us to use the lake at a highly discounted rate. It’s only a couple football fields long, so only one boat is allowed on the lake at a time.  The water is always chop-free and ski-able. We occasionally head over to Castaic and Buena Vista.

 

Do I need to be experienced to join the team?

NO!!! We don't care how little experience you have, we just want people to come hang out, ski, and have a good time. A lot of people do their first skiing with us; we have very skilled coaches and in-depth training materials that can get anyone skiing. Another thing people ask about is whether or not they have to compete in tournaments. While some members choose to compete in tournaments, we have quite a few who choose not to. However, these tournaments are so much fun that even non-competing team members usually decide to attend them.

 

What type of boat do you have?

The ski team owns a 1998 Malibu that is a tournament level boat. This boat is designed mainly for skiing, so it offers a very smooth ride.  We are currently looking for a promotional boat.  Also, numerous team members own wakeboarding boats located throughout southern and central California.

 

What if I only want to wakeboard and not ski, or vice-versa?

That's fine. When I joined the team, I only wanted to wakeboard and hated skiing. The team let me do that, but over time I grew to love the other events we compete in.

 

What events do you compete in?

Wakeboarding/Trick skiing, Slalom skiing, and Jump. For wakeboarding competitions, each rider has 20 seconds to complete as many tricks as possible. Each trick is given a point amount, and the rider with the most points wins the competition. For slalom, skiers use a single ski to weave through a course consisting of six sets of buoys.  Their score is determined by the number of buoys they manage to ski around, the length of rope they choose, and the pre-determined boat speed.  If you successfully complete the course, then you do it again at a speed 2 mph faster. This goes on until you miss a buoy. For Jump, skiers get wear double skis and glide off of a 5-foot tall ramp at 28 mph – whoever goes the farthest wins.