INT Makes It Rain

I was sitting in class last week when I received a text from Jason Mendes telling me to get my butt to Bakersfield, CA immediately because the INT nationals were going off. As soon as I finished class, I got on the road for what should have been about a two hour drive from my house. L.A. traffic had other plans though. You know those guys on motorcycles that constantly split the six inch gap between you and the other cars on the freeway? Yeah, well one of those geniuses went down turning my two hour drive into a nearly four hour one. Thanks. Now I had never been to an INT contest before so I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived at the Ski West compound. Much to my surprise, INT nationals also included slalom skiing and kneeboarding. I was told there were over four hundred competitors and about nine hundred people there total.

It was pretty cool to be able to watch some of the best waterskiers one lake over from some of the best wakeboarders. Emily Copeland-Durham, Erik Ruck, and Andrew Adkison made the journey all the way out from Orlando to be a part of the weekend. When competitors were not riding their heats, they were able to practice and demo all of the new gear on one of the three lakes at Ski West. After the riding on Friday, everybody headed into Bakersfield for the official afterparty at Chuey’s Grill. While we were there, we found out that the collegiate waterskiing regionals were going on about a mile away. I felt it was my duty as a college student to make my way over there and have a little after-afterparty with them. I’m trying to think of an appropriate way to describe the events that followed, but nothing is coming to mind, so if you want to know the details you can call me and I will be more than happy to fill you in.

Okay, back to the contest. Saturday was the final day of competition, so it was sure to be a good one. Apparently, things on the water started to heat up so much, Mother Nature decided to cool things off with a little bit of rain. It felt good to get away from the hundred degree temperatures we had been facing all week. By the end of the day, champions were crowned from all over the county. I am definitely looking forward to heading back to another INT contest in the future.

P.S. – To the girl named Jackie I met at the college tournament, there were some really funny pictures taken on your camera. If you could email me those pictures at devans812@hotmail.com , that would be awesome. Thanks.