A few weeks back I was looking for something fun to do since I was going to miss the “Schiada notta Regatta” in Parker. As I was searching “the net” I stumbled across a water ski event called the California Pro Am at Bell Acqua Lakes, about an hour from my house near Sacramento. Bell Acqua or “Bell’’ as the locals call it is a private membership community with three (the third is being redone currently) man made lakes set up for slalom skiing and ramps for ski jumping…. yes ski jumping!!! Who does that anyways? Nobody I know! (it’s awesome to watch by the way). I had never been to a slalom competition before so I figured why not ? I’m always up for something new! Friday was amateur qualifying, I figured that was a good day to scope out the venue and see what I was getting myself into.
I headed out to Bell on late friday afternoon to see what this place was all about and maybe snap a pic or two. Usually I just take pictures with my phone because there is always a few talented photogs roaming around events and I could always rely on seeing the pics on RDP (shameless plug… haha) ‘’2 weeks” later. No reason to carry around expensive camera equipment that I barely know how to use, and honestly I’d rather be tossing a few back having a good time with everyone else and not having to worry about a camera I might lose or break. This time I chose the camera over the beers. Turned out to be one of my better ideas this time. As I pulled into the compound i noticed “Bell 1”. That would be the first of the two lakes, “Bell 2” is where the comp is being held. As I pulled into Bell I see someone on a ski ripping through the aqua blue water like slot car on a race track. He had to be a pro, I found a spot to park and ran over to watch this guy ski. To my surprise it was a youngster out there! Just a local kid out there having fun chasing buoys, as it turned out his sister and cousin were there as well. I thought it was pretty cool that kids still water ski. Usually kids choose a wakeboard over a water ski these days.