UCanSki2 event--I ended up speechless.

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.
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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.
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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:
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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:


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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

Cool event there Tom! Who wouldn't want to learn behind a 2001 anyhow!

Ann and her team are nothing short of fantastic.