UCanSki2 event--I ended up speechless. |
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seacamper
Platinum Member Joined: June-24-2010 Location: Florida Status: Offline Points: 1056 |
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Posted: March-27-2014 at 11:45am |
Will the Correct Craft magic of Winter Haven never cease? So I move here to live the water-sports lifestyle, and I still can not believe all the current and ex champions of one of the "disciplines" I bump into. Wellll.....I end up volunteering to go to a "local event" that was to help Wounded Warriors learn to ski. I was blown away.
The organization is called "UCanSki2" UCanSki2 And is run by a spark plug named Ann O'Brine-Satterfield Ann O'brine-Satterfield As you can see, UCanSki2 is not limited to Wounded Warriors, It is for anyone who is physically challenged,and who would like to pursue what we seem to live for--the watersports lifestyle. When you read Ann's profile on the website, you will find the heart of the champion that she is. Ann's boat of choice is a 1988 Ski Nautique. She sees no reason to go to a newer model because of the reliability of the 351 powered PCM. Ann has her back to you in the photo below. [/IMG] [/IMG] The event was held at Ann's beautiful house on Lake Jessie in Winter Haven, which is perfectly set up for the course. It is also pretty close to a sea plane base, so the whole time, sea planes were taking off and landing in the back ground! The event was sponsored by USSOCOM which is the Special Operations Command, (A joint command of the Army,Air Force,Navy and Marines Special Forces) through their Wounded Warrior Athletic Reconditioning Program. The individual "Warriors" were, as expected, true athletes. There was a real spirit of camaraderie, and their focus on mastering this new skill set was intense and fun at the same time--exactly the way Ann has set up the program. [/IMG] The volunteers are extremely hard working individuals who are trained in accordance with Ann's program, and sanctioned by USA Waterski standards. Here is a taste of the course: Guidelines My son's and I were given our first training session by Barb,(Who's titles in Wakeboarding and Jumping I can not even keep up with)who was very patient with me while I tried to remember what two ski's felt like, not to mention how hard 74" x 8 1/2" show skis are when you are just bobbing in the water and focusing on someone in the specialized framework and large surface of the oversized ski produced by Liquid Access out of Melbourne Fl. This is the general idea of the ski: [/IMG] It went fairly well,but I will defiantly need a few more sessions before I feel comfortable with the important skills needed to perform this worthy task! Hint, be prepared for the un pinning! The volunteers were from all walks of life and organizations, with the key players coming from the Cypress Gardens Ski Team, and the Lakeland Water Ski Club. It was a bit chillier on the second day, but the warriors had no problem egging each other on, and the athletic ability that made these guys Special Ops in the first place, was very evident in their progress over two days. I somehow lost a bunch of the progress pictures! I will try and retrieve them and post them later. Here is a picture of some of the guys with Ann in front: [/IMG] [/IMG] I am writing this just to pass on some of the emotion I felt during the event, and really how it seems to dovetail with the spirit of this CCfan website. I want to draw your attention to the big "Donate Now" button on this page if you feel moved to give: Donate Now P. S. If you like Banana George trivia, he has a history with UCanSki2 and I posted it here: Banana UCanSki2 I will try and post more pics soon. Tom |
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1980 Ski Nautique Boat Bar
1988 Mastercraft Tristar Open Bow 1988 Mastercraft Tristar Closed Bow 1969 Seacamper Houseboat 1986 Harris Pontoon 2004 Seadoo GTX SC + Flydive Xboard 1999 Adventurecraft |
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skutsch
Grand Poobah Joined: June-19-2008 Location: Racine, WI Status: Offline Points: 2874 |
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What a cool opportunity and a great way to give these guys some of their life back! I know Ryan (SN206)does a lot of work with wounded warriors and getting them out on the water, but this group seems pretty cool too. Great post - Thanks for sharing!!!
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phatsat67
Grand Poobah Joined: March-13-2006 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 6149 |
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Cool event there Tom! Who wouldn't want to learn behind a 2001 anyhow!
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Kristof
Grand Poobah Joined: October-08-2007 Location: Bree, Belgium Status: Offline Points: 3391 |
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Would you believe that within the Belgian federation, we also have a UCanSki2 organisation?
These people (with the support of various clubs) help disabled people to get on the water. These people are simply amazing! I have a friend who has a steel company and fell of a construction years ago, hurt his back and is paralised from the hips down. He's in a wheel chair and managed to be pretty handy with that thing. He goes skiing on snow twice a year in a special chair... So I prorposed to him to try it on the water. I contacted the guys from UCanSki2 and they came with all the necessary gear. Needless to say he had a blast! And I had a blast pulling him behind my boat!! |
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- Gun control means: using BOTH hands!
- Money doesn't make one happy, but when it rains cats and dogs, it's still better to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle... |
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NCH20SKIER
Grand Poobah Joined: December-16-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2207 |
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Ann and her team are nothing short of fantastic.
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'05 206 Limited
'88 BFN |
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bkhallpass
Grand Poobah Joined: March-29-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4723 |
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Great cause. Very active adaptive skier programs on the mountain we frequent. What can be accomplished by those with severe obstacles is amazing.
BKH |
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Livin' the Dream
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