Category Archives: trips

Oct 6 –1st Tournament Day in Liuzhou–we got to the site at 8:30 for a 9:30 show, with still no practice allowed yet. However “change of plans”, practice was allowed for both teams. The jump ramp side curtains grabbed the jumpers’ ropes and the jump was hardly waxed, so our boyz really were brave for attempting jumps. Then the Chinese practiced and “crashed and burned” jumping too, so than they decided the ramp needed attention. Upon our suggestion they went out and got candles and the waxing began (notice how many Chinese are in the pix of the jump being waxed….)

Putting some wax on the jump

We completed 2 shows (approx. 11 am and 3:30 pm) and they went well. The Chinese is winning by 15 points at the close of the day, on their point system.

Our blond teens are getting to know the younger Chinese girls a bit. They sat together at lunch!

Lunch time

Hannah was interviewed for tv. (pix) They kept asking her “how do you feel about…..” When they asked about the jumping she candidly said “I feel that the Chinese jump is sticky and needs wax”. That quote may lay on the cutting room floor.

Hannah being interviewed for TV

Today, Oct 7, we have Opening Ceremonies (yes OPENING) and then 1 show, then bustle to the hotel, pack and go to the final banquet, then jump on a domestic flight to Shanghai.

We are nearing the end of our fantastic China adventure.

Oct 7 (2nd Update) — Our “Wonder-City Team” (new nick-name) took 2nd Place — by a close margin.

Wavy conditions and moving jump ramp, and we skied like Champs!

Gabbie Taschwer got MVP girl of tournament. She is honored, but said it should have gone to Laura for sure. So together they will share it.

Gabbie & Laura

Attached are pix of the final ceremony.

Ski Strong – Live Strong.

October 2nd

Mad-City Boyz made it safe and sound to Shanghai yesterday afternoon. A total 36 hour trip for them before they saw a bed, because directly after they landed in Shanghai we all took a domestic flight to the city of Guiluin.

Today we sight-see in Guiluin, after 2 days in Shanghai. The pictures attached are Shanghai.

Shanghai is an amazing city, 25 million people! The last 20 year’s growth super-sized it to the world’s largest city, they are finishing the 2nd tallest building in the world soon. We went to the top of the 3rd tallest building and looked out over the city and it was immense. Pollution clouds hung above the incredible infrastructure, as a stark reality check. We walked the Bund area in Shanghai, the French/European post WWII settlement area. It holds FABULOUS Euro mansions. When we rested on an open pavillion area, so many Chinese crowded around the blonds and wanted pictures, we eventually had to move on. They were treated like famous movie stars!

So we moved from Central China to Southern China now. The landscape and amenities changed a lot. We are sticking close to our bottled water!

The Chinese word for beer and butt are really similar, so we taught the newly arrived Mad-City boyz the word for butt, and told them it is for beer — then we will let them try and order that at the next dinner!!

Ski Strong – Live Strong!

Pictures from this update:

The skiers names in Chinese

October 3rd – Second Update

We are in Southern China, the city of Guilin which is one of China’s most picturesque cities because of the Peaks. (Peaks are like massive tall pointy hills, pix attached)

In the morning we toured the Jingjiang Prince Palace, which is located at the foot of Duxiu Peak, in the center of the city, and it was the official residence of Prince Jingjiang of Ming dynasty. Attached is a picture of the whole group at the gate.

Then we bused 2 hours through beautiful country-side to a small city with a huge market in the middle of a circle of Peaks. Great market– most of us ran around like maniacs trying to buy “copies” of Northface, Designer purses and Sunglasses etc. The exchange is best managed by dividing by 6. So when have a 100 Yuan it is worth $16–but never show them how much you have! Carol and Carly McGowan thrive on dealing with the market traders–knowing when they get them mad, they got their lowest price. Another strategy is buy a few items at a time for the lowest price. We ALL scored with some great buy or another. After intense shopping, Tony Wang found a Budweiser and enjoyed it.

The traffic is horrendous, because we are in the middle of their National Day and holiday week. Plus, people drive aggressive and use their horns ALOT. There are always 100s of mo-peds zigzagging in and out of the cars like bees. (carrying at least 2 people). We got stuck in an intersection near the market for some time and we agreed it would have been faster to walk, however we all would have likely been run over, so we stayed put.

我们把我们的爱 — We send our love from China.

The Peaks outside of the city of Guilin in southern China

The team in front of the Jingjiang Prince Palace

Gabbie & Carly and the Chinese Toilets

All meals are traditional Chinese food. We are trying to be respectful of the beautiful food, but really do miss our familiar favorites.

October 4th & 5th

We arrived in Liuzhou where we will ski yesterday Oct 4.

We were dropped off at the wrong hotel and walked 3 blocks in the crazy traffic to the correct hotel. Pix attached.

The ski site is a huge area, posters of Mad-City 2010 Liuzhou Team are all over. Pix attached.

We tried to get a practice arranged today Oct 5, but they just dropped the jump in an hour before dusk and the starting dock was still being assembled when we finally left at dark.

We will ski big tomorrow, 2 shows with no practice, at a brand new site with different boats — Law Park and Liuzhou China…where champions are made!

Bye Bye. (how Chinese say good-bye)

Navigating the traffic with their luggage

They have lots of luggage (aka water ski gear)

World Peace starts with sharing your Mad-City Can Cooley in China!

Site-Seeing in Guilin

Don sent back some more pictures they’ve taken while site seeing. It looks like they’ve made it to a big city, but I don’t have any more details other than the pictures shown below.

A brief update on the competition they just finished:

We lost the competition by 7 points. Skied really well yesterday, but the jump sunk and without jumping with these guys… John had to reorganize. He has done a GREAT job!. We did a barefoot pyramid with Gabbie on top. So cool.

The good inboard overheated right before our ending pyramid so we had to scale back. We were going to do circles with 2 3 highs converting to 4 high. We still wouldn’t have won

After the competition was over they had a travel & site seeing day. Here’s the short update from Don:

Great day touring a small water village in China. 1000 years old. Now in Souzhou(?) for a day and then on to Shanghai tomorrow night.

The crane boat is how they took the jump out

Here’s some pictures he sent back (sorry they don’t get very big when you click on them, but this is what was sent back):

Sept 27 – hot and partly sunny. We had good practices and skied the opening ceremonies at Jin Xi Lake.

The Chinese had no falls, we had a couple –but all went great.

Dinner for 200+ involved with the event included the local crab delicacy and rice wine. The teen girls almost fell asleep at dinner but got their second wind and enjoyed a deep-fried fruit that “tastes like chicken nuggets” by the end. The Mayor of the City showered attention on Matayla because she reminded him of her daughter. He fed her crab off chop sticks and Matayla was a super sport and ate it.

We are in a first class hotel, can walk to the ideally laid out and beautiful decorated ski site and we are all having a great time.

Fun Facts – China cannot access Facebook or YouTube, the government blocks it. It costs $10K to get your car license and you can only drive on certain assigned days of the week.

Tomorrow brings the 2nd day of competition.

Here are a few more pictures from the banquet on the day they arrived and from the first day of skiing (click on a thumbnail to view a larger version):

Hi from China!

18 of us made it safe into Shanghai. Travel was easy, but long. We “followed the sun” on our flight, and added another day to our life without a night in between.

Upon arriving at the hotel after being up 24+ hours, Peter the interpreter announced we had 20 min. to change into dress up clothes for a banquet in honor of the tournament competition, and warned us…”no time to shower!”…..we looked pretty good considering….

Arriving at the Hotel

Pictures from the banquet:

At the Banquet

Getting Ready for a Toast

Some of the Girls from both Mad-City and the Chinese Team

More pictures from the Banquet

John up at the Podium

Don showing off pictures from the World Water Ski Show Tournament

Here’s a link to more pictures from the banquet.

Our hotel is 5-Star and next to the lake for the tournament, Ji Xin Lake.

Practice went excellent this morning. We are ready!

Practicing on the water

In an hour we will go for the opening ceremony and the first day of competition.

At the Opening Ceremonies

Laura being interviewed by the local press

Here’s a link to more pictures from the opening ceremonies.

We will try to keep updates and pix coming regularly.

Ski Strong – Live Strong!

Mad-City USA Wonder Lake Sini-American Water Ski Competition Team

Sent back by Lori.

The Mad-City team departs from Madison. Front row (L to R) Laura Fick, Lori Taschwer, Matayla De Bruin, Gabbie Taschwer, Carly McGowan, Hannah Zink, Melissa Haak, Back row (L to R) John Ager, Heidi De Bruin, Cindy Zink, Kyle Ager, Don Heilman, Carol McGowan

On Tuesday, September 25, 2012, members of the Mad-City Ski Team boarded a bus in Madison at 6am to embark on the team’s 4th trip to China. Due to the trip being nearly two weeks long, some members are only going for a single week when others will show up to take their place on the team.

Team members include:

• Don Heilman (week 1) & Tony Wang (week 2)
• John Ager (week 1) & Dan Wang (week 2)
• Erik Petterson (week 1) & Mike Nowicki (week 2)
• Jayson Rishling (week 1) & Jeff Taschwer (week 2)
• Dan Hansen (week 1) & Scott Solberg (week 2)
• Jarret Graff
• Arik Lebda
• Kyle Ager
• Lori Taschwer
• Gabbie Taschwer
• Melissa Haak
• Hannah Zink
• Laura Fick
• Matayla De Bruin
• Carly McGowan

Also traveling with the team are three parents, Heidi De Bruin, Carol McGowan and Cindy Zink.

We hope to provide updates from the team over the course of their trip. To follow along on the trip, keep an eye on the website or just click on this link to see just the updates from the trip.