Ohio waterskiing championships in VW

VW independent/submitted information

The 2016 Ohio State Water Ski Championship will be held this Saturday and Sunday, July 23-24, at Pleasant Shores in Van Wert. On Friday, July 22, the site will also host the finals for the 2016 season of the Buckeye Buoy Tour (BBT). Both events are open to members of the surrounding community to attend.

The BBT events on Friday include slalom, with the remaining trick and jump events to be completed on Sunday following the state championships. All slalom events for the state championships will be held on Saturday, along with the junior trick and jump events. The remaining trick and jump events will be completed on Sunday.

The BBT Finals are the culmination of five events held over the course of the season at several different water ski facilities all over Ohio. Skiers at these events compete with one another regardless of age or gender because the scores are determined based on the skier’s degree of improvement over their set “handicap” or average from previous events.

As a result, these events can become extremely lively. On several occasions, the competition has boiled down to a head-to-head showdown between a middle-aged skier and an elementary age skier.

The Ohio state championships, on the other hand, are a stricter event that is the stepping stone by which skiers can move on to regional and national events that take place later on in the season. Skiers are placed in divisions based on their age and gender and compete with one another in a straight forward competition to determine who is, in fact, the best skier in each of the three disciplines: slalom, trick, and jump, in that age group.

Pleasant Shores and the McClure family have hosted this event numerous times over the last two decades. This year, several spectator friendly events have been added to the lineup, including a water ski costume contest and ski show for the Van Wert community to take part in. The public is encouraged to attend and find out what competitive water skiing is all about.

Pleasant Shores is located across from the Walmart Supercenter on U.S. 30 (use 875 N. Franklin St., Van Wert for GPS settings). Events start each day at 8 a.m. and will continue until dusk. Like the Pleasant Shores page on Facebook and check out www.PleasantShores.com for more information and updates on future events.