It was a pretty amazing 2009. 

Starting off with the opportunity in March to finally compete in the Moomba Masters in Melbourne, Australia.  Sadly I didn’t perform quite as well as I would have like to.  I did make it to the semi-finals however I finished 12th out of 12 there and wasn’t able to move on to the finals.  Still an amazing experience competing on the Yarra in the middle of downtown Melbourne.  Hope to go back.

In April I jumped 178’(5.5’ ramp at 35mph) to set the National record in the newly created Masters Men division.  It was a ¾ cut. 

Later in June I traveled to Covington, Louisiana for the first of 2 Big Dawg Qualifiers.  What a beautiful site this was and the hospitality was wonderful.  Didn’t ski well enough on Saturday to make the head to head portion on Sunday.  Two scores of 2 @ 39.5 off was enough to finish 18th but only the top 16 make the finals.  Dave Miller ended up winning this event with a very impressive score of 4 @ 41 off.

In July the 2nd of the Big Dawg Qualifiers was hosted by Jeff & Patti Smith at their lake in Gaines, Michigan.  A score of 2 @ 39 then a nearly disastrous second round score of 5.5 @ 38 was just enough to make the cut as the 16th seed.  When the pairings were announced I learned that the number 1 seed and my first round competitor would be Big Dawg Ben Favret.  I decided my best course of action to prepare…..start talking trash to Ben, immediately.  Well…..it didn’t work.  In the head to head I went out first.  After running my 38 off pass I watched Ben run his, there was a glimmer of hope when I  saw what I thought was a stumble by Ben.  No such luck.  Ben ran his 38 off.  I came back and ran 2  at 39 then watched as Ben ran 39 to beat me.  Ben ended up making the final 4 but the victory went to Scott Larson.

Didn’t think a 2.5 average at 39.5 would be enough but it ended up being perfect.  Made the cut as the 15th seed.  In the first round against #2 seed David Miller, David went first as is his tradition.  We both ran 32 then David ran 35 however there was a 10 minute (or so) discussion among the judges as to whether he missed his entrance gates or not.  Turned out that the judges agreed that he did miss them meaning I only need ½ a buoy to win my round.  Ran 35 and went in. 

The Elite 8 was run on the trick lake under the spot lights with lit buoys.  It was a wicked site as they went down the lake lighting them up.  In my round against Kris LaPoint, the judges gave me choice of going first or second which is normally a decision reserved for the higher seed in the bracket.  The only reason I can come up with is that I got choice because I had beaten the #2 seed.  No real reason but I opted to go first against Kris.  Probably should have fallen around 5 @ 38.  I believe the fact that I held on, completed the pass and I was the 15th seed (as well as a short 3 eventer) had the crowd on my side from that point forward.  As Kris came into run his 38 it was noticed that a gate ball had popped off.  They stopped him to fix it which ended up taking about 10 minutes or so.  I was actually wondering during the waiting if I was getting screwed.  Kris ran his 38.  I knew I had been sitting for a few minutes so I needed to be aggressive at 39.  Had a decent 1, didn’t get a great 2.  Could have stood up for the 3 but I wasn’t having it, said I’m getting past it or going down here, ended up with 2.5.  As I swam into shore the crowd was so loud and I was amazed at how many were there.  As I was walking to the announcers stand I looked back to see Kris fall around 3 meaning we tied and tie goes to the skier that went first. 

I couldn’t believe it, I was now in the Final 4.