Friends, Let's start this with the fact that I flew here sitting in seat 13A. When I got to the hotel - 13th floor - go figure? Computer charger is pooched and what else can happen? Well, yesterday, Carlito gave me a blank disk of resultados and today, the jump grid was not set up properly so, after a 2 or 3 hour break figuring it out, we resumed jumping by 6 PM..... In the meantime, I traveled with Georgi Renosto to a new site IN Buenos Aires - fabulous place - accessible by subway, bus and walking. It is a lago built for powerboat races in a stadium that features an F-1 race track and a smaller track for some other kind of racing - small cars - reeeally fast!!! Wow! Okay - let's talk figuras which happened yesterday. The conditions were not great - stiff tailwind with rollers - not many skied back to the dock... In Open - Javier Julio took the conservative route to place 1st in the semi's with Jorge Renosto a close segundo. Rodrigo Miranda is third. Very tight competitions in the 17 and under boys and girls divisions for all medals including the coveted overall title. Results are posted on the IWSF pagina y Tony Lightfoot's page - check them out. Today - Viernes (Friday) was Slalom and the ill fated Salto (Jump). Jump results are NOT complete as we had to go to scramble mode to get as many jumper's scores as possible in a 2 hour span. Feature of the day was Open Men's Slalom where the the Argentine Stud, Javier Julio, STROKED an 11.25 m pass and came back at 10.75 m. He looked like he was actually "waiting" for buoy one, but, he cranked 2 and missed 3 scoring a nuevo record Latino Americana, 2 at 10.75 metros. PS - there is no internet connection on site - only cellular and mine doesn't work there - well actually it does, if I stand on a bench about 100 meters from the beer tent and turn it upside down!!!! Ha ha - Like for shur!! If you could see the Cervesa Chicas in their Latex suits, you might understand the situation..... ja ja ja ja... just kidding..... We are having a great time in the city that never sleeps - and as I found out, this is true.... Guess what? - Manana, Sabado (Saturday), is December 13th - "What up wi dat?" Que lo que hay? I love the Latinos - it is like a blast from the past where people relax and have fun! Not only that, the skiers have progressed so far since my first introduction in Bogota, 1992, it is amazing!!! All the sites here are absolutely perfecto..... Let's hope the 13th becomes lucky for a change... VernO PS: Computer died and charger is broken. That is why this report is late! It is 10 PM and we just got back from the site. Am sending the results first - photos and other reports possibly later after I grab some grub ----------------------------------------------------- My computer died in the middle of making my last report so, I took it to the lake and have found a way to make the power supply work in a bit of a crippled fashion (Mexican Extension cord style and an exacto knife and tinfoil). Day 4 and we completing the jump event semi-finals after running out of light last nite. Conditions were dead calm yesterday and today is a bit of a stiff head-wind. Let's just say, we are having some problemas! Technically Challenged! Yesterday, since we only have two cameras for the Boetscher Jump system, we had to keep moving the cameras from tower to tower. Well, seems as though they got the grids mixed up! 2 hours later, that was fixed! Then my computer pooched, now, today, camera problemas again, the boat quit, the magnets sunk, the video jump box is flakey, ane the gas line filter was absolutely plugged with dirt..... One boat has died and the other has a steering cable that is dying quickly... But we are surviving, ;and most importantly, having a lot of fun! While, as I write this, we are nearing the end of the trick finals, we still have not finished the jump eliminations due to a very strong head wind!!! I watched as mi amigo, Martin Lopez, on his first jump, cut later than everyone, and took a peek out the front door. Skis dropped and caught the wind and he was in a bit of trouble. But, the old pro of stack city, at the last second, rolled forward doing a complete 360 landing in a much better position than he did in Salta, Argentina 6 years ago! Much to the delight of the crowd, he came up waving!! His next two jumps were mas mejor... During the Trick Finals, the Olympic Committee President of Argentina and Vice President of PASO, Antonio Rodriguez and his lovely wife Sylvia, graced us with their presence. I sat with them explaining the rules and what some of the skiers were doing. Sylvia is the President of the Figure Skating Federation of Argentina so was very interested in a sport similar to hers but on water skis. Water conditions were not good, stiff tail wind and quite bumpy as you moved down-course but a number of skiers showed their balance and skills in these difficult conditions. I will write up the trick finals later as I want to get the result out ahora. It is 10 pm and need to get some grub and a cervesa. VernO ---------------------------------------------------------- The Open Trick Event, witnessed by Col. Antonio Rodriguez, was held in less than perfect conditions so, it was a turkey shoot. No one knew who the winner would be... As the seeded list came down, Arturo Torres of Mexico tricked a flawless run and looked to be in contention for a medal. However, Rodrigo Miranda eclipsed his mark in the choppy waters of Giloema Laguna at Malibu Resorts. Then came Georgi Renosto. He tricked to perfection and looked unbeatable. It was an awesome performance starting (in a tailwind) with a SL5F and ending with a mobe BBBT. His toe pass against the wind showed that he had done this before in Argentina. Next out, Javier Julio - 3rd Overall placement at the Swiss Worlds in Orlando with an incredible line-up of difficult maneuvers. His TWLBB was the best I have ever seen but he missed a trick at the end - but from where I was sitting - eh!!?. Coming back, he knew he had to fly....to beat Georgi... And, what a performance ending with a Mobe 5 front - if it is in time - he wins.... Not today - OOC!!! - Georgi Renosto - Latin American Trick Champion!! Next up, Open Women in a field that was interesting - Lorena Botana-Renosto against Mariaca Linares for the covetted prize. Lorena started out steady but fell late in the run in the choppy waters. On her return pass, at the rough end of the course, a mishap caused her to fall. Mariaca could have backed off and ran her "B" run but this is not mentality of this Colombian Skier. Never letting the conditions phase her, she ran 5240 pts in the process and, later in the Sub-21 event, scored over 6500 points to win that one as well! When I asked her how it felt to be the Latin American Open Women's Trick Champion, she looked at me and said, "Pretty good" with a huge smile!!! Just so you know, the day before, Maria Camila Linares (Mariaca) spent most of it in the Ambulance trying to recover from an influenza bout!!! As for the rest of the results, they are posted. Noted upsets! The Huevon from Guadalajara, Francisco (Pancho) Angel, overcame a huge deficit to win over Larry Gisler of Chile in a tough battle. Mr. Consistent, 63 Year old Edgardo Martin, added 1800 plus points to his prelim score to overtake Jose Visconte. Before I fade off into sleep, you must come and visit this country! It is full of excitement and, because the Peso has fallen so dramatically, it is so inexpensive! Bottled water - 1.3 pesos, cab ride to the site (45 minute ride - 50 Pesos), hotels - cheap, 0.5 kg steak (1 pound) - almost the best beef in the world behind Alberta Canada, 11 pesos, beer - 2 pesos. It is the beginning of summer and they have some of the best water ski instructors in the world including Georgi Renosto, Javier Julio and Edgardo Martin at 3 sites within 40 minutos of Buenos Aires ($50 Peso Taxi). Divide the Pesos by 3 to get US Dollars... Later - got to get up in a few horas for the last dia of the tourneo! VernO ----------------------------------------------------------------- As usual we ran until nite, then cleared the site and got back to the hotel at 10PM. Found that someone dropped my computer and it is toast. So, tried to upload onto the hotel internet computer and it was locked up so, gave up and went to the awards bankquet.. Go figure!! Weīll the steering cable finally broke and the other boatīs pylon was loose. To take the cable out of the other boat in this boat would have taken a hour at least so, we rigged it up latino style and continued. However, we were in a torrential downpour and strong gusty winds, lightning and hellfire!!! But, in Argentina, if you donīt like the weather, wait 20 minutos... We had 24 slalom skiers to go and less than 2 hours to finish before dark (8 pm). And, at 6 PM, the sun glare getīs really bad but, the skiers wanted to finish and basically carried on. We almost made it until Senior Menīs A slalom where Larry Gisler (CHI) and Carlos Giordano (ARG) tied at 2 @ 11.25 meters for first place. Re-run time.... A bit of tail wind was no on us so, it was getting tricky. Carlos went out first and powered his way thru the 12 meter line and grabbed 2 at 11. Larry under extreme pressure, scrambled the 12 and came back, way out of shape, and made it back to score 2 on a split decision. Another tie. Remember, they are looking into a glaring sun on the 12 meter pass.... Carlito came in, a bit too quick buried it around 1. Larry, looking real shaky, cautiously made his way around the buoy and almost didnīt make it but, took the SR. Menīs A division as well as jump and the Overall title... Not too many surprises in the other divisions. Earlier, there was some excitement in the Jump event where Toti Miranda, nicked the far corner of the ramp on a pass, lost control and headed for shore. He fell on the backs of this skis, stood up when he hit the shore narrowly missing a jump meter stand and skidded up the bank about 20 meters, in between some trees and almost into the skiers tent. Got pics but, as they are in my computer, will have to send them later. Also have a video but it is in PAL and we are working on getting it translated to MPG format. Javier Julio broke two Latino Jump records - Once in the eliminations, and again later in the finals moving the mark to 63.4 meters and I think a PB. Anyways, youīll have to wait until I get back on Wednesday... Will try a bit more today to download some pics from my camera but that battery is almost dead and I need to finalize the disk to make it readible. All in all, it was great tournament despite the problems. We didnīt finish the Menīs Open Slalom and I am not sure if Carlos Cid corrected the results properly but, they, the competitors basically agreed to end it with a handshake leaving Javier Julio in first, Nicholas Falduer (BRA) in Second and Rodrigo Miranda (CHI) in 3rd. See you later for a wrap-up and more pics. VernO