Welcome to FlagSlalom

Competition Slalom Skiing – Anywhere!

In a nut-shell the advantages and benefits of FlagSlalom are;

• It can be done anywhere – FlagSlalom can be done on any stretch of water you can ski on
• It’s easy – Whether you have just learned to get up on skis today – or whether you are a tournament skier already, you can enjoy FlagSlalom
• It’s low tech – Nothing to maintain, nothing to break down, nothing to install
• It turns a great hobby into a great sport
• It can be a great training aid for tournament skiers

FlagSlalom gives skiers an easy method of competing against each other, without the need for any sort of slalom course.

In fact you don’t need anything at all in the water, so you could do this in the mid Atlantic, if the whim took you.

At the heart of the system is a template I made to measure the correct angles and where to place the flags on the boat deck.

Using the template to locate the flags….the flags are placed so that the rope touches when the skier has reached the same angle where the buoy would be.

This template can be downloaded here.

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The skier’s pass starts when they cross the wake…and is completed when they touch 6 flags and back to the wake within a pre-determined time (the boat observer / judge operates the stopwatch and counts the score). For example to simulate a 24mph / kph pass – the skier must touch 6 flags within 24 seconds..and at the other end of the scale a 36 mph / 58 kph pass is simulated by touching 6 flags in 16 seconds. Rope shortenings are simulated by moving the flags further forward on the boat’s deck using the template – making the angle wider and therefore the skier’s job harder (cutting to the the same measured angle they would do if they were on a short line in the course).

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The actual boat speed is not crucial – it can be whatever boat speed agreed by the skier / driver / judge. It is the time taken to touch all 6 flags that matters.

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Also its great for beginners…..on anything…combos…kneeboards…whatever….at any boat speed. For example a fun game for kids and beginners could be….how many flags can you touch at 18 mph in 60 seconds??

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The flags in the photos are just made from wooden dowl and held to the deck of this particular model of boat (1998 MasterCraft) with suction cups. In my current boat I have a very simple but very reliable method of attaching to the handrail with jubilee clips – I will post a photo soon)….its all non marking and leaves nothing permanent on the boat.