[Paddlewise] FW: Minnesota water skiers?

I'm in L.A. and I paddle a plastic S.O.T., mostly for coastal fishing.
Thus I usually just lurk on this list. But, at risk of exposing myself
to some fiendish joke, I gotta ask about a line out of Chuck Holst's
recent lengthy post:

>The group paddled upriver to the Ford Lock and Dam, and
then back down to the put-in, keeping close to the bank for
the most part because of waterskiers.

Ahem - I believe the rest of the post is devoted to synchilla,
single-digit temperatures, ice-breaking, etc. Tell me more about these
waterskiers!

Regards,
Mark


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It's no joke. The Bald Eagle Lake Water Ski Club goes water skiing every
New Year's Day at the same place where we go kayaking. From what I could
see, all the water skiers were wearing wetsuits or dry suits, though
someone said one of them was barefoot (I didn't see that myself).

FWIW, water skiing was invented at Lake City, Minnesota, at a wide
place in the Mississippi called Lake Pepin, not in Florida.

Meanwhile, over on Lake Minnetonka, a large group of Minnesotans went
for a brief -- very brief -- dip in a large hole chopped in the ice.
All had to duck their heads. They all wore normal swim wear, except for
one ex-California woman who went topless. I noticed in the news
pictures that they went in in pairs, holding hands in case of thermal
shock, I guess, though I didn't hear that anyone suffered ill effects.

The only time I've gone for a dip in a hole chopped in the ice was
right after a sauna. I discovered it's very important to duck your
head if you are going back into the sauna, otherwise your head
overheats before the rest of you is ready to go out again. This was
before I heard about thermal shock and the gasping reflex. Now that I
have been enlightened, I know that if I were to try it again, I would
probably drown.

Chuck Holst  
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