Another A/S Story.......

[RonT]

Yesterday I got a call from a customer that had an '83? American SKier that I serviced during the eighties. He has since sold the boat & is now looking for another Skier so he can go back in time like the rest of us. He remembered getting the boat through me as a "demo" boat that was used by some skier, then used at the US Nationals & then he took delivery. I vaguely remembered the deal & asked if the skiers name was Cory Pickos, he replied thats it. Well for all the A/S history buffs, Cory Pickos was the premier sponsored skier for American Skier in the Eighties, he set numerous National and World trick skiing records behind our boats and was the first to break 10,000 points, again behind one of our boats. I haven't seen Cory in over 20 years.

This morning I took David my 19yr old to the Collegiate 3-event Nationals taking place at Bennets Ski School just north of Baton Rouge LA. I wanted to show him the world of 3-event skiing (dad didn't mind the scores of college girls in bikinis either) On the right side we watched mens slalom Division II (the beginners) even saw a guy carve up the course on a wakeboard, scored 9 bouys. David saw what real slalom skiing is all about. On the left lake we watched mens trick skiing (none of this wakeboard crap) Then I watched a young guy with frizzy hair from Northeast Louisiana U. just smoke the competition, I said to myself man, that could have been Cory 25 years ago. Then the announcer said "well there's another fine run from Adam Pickos...could it be?? I went down to the NLU tent & couldn't believe it there were his parents Cory & Rose Pickos, we talked for hours before I had to leave. And yes Cory remembered that '83 Burgandy Skier, and remembers working on the first flip behind that boat. David was wearing his A/S Reunion tee shirt, Cory noticed it & couldn't believe how many of our old boats were still running & pulling skiers. I told him that my guess is that 90% are still in the game, over 10% have found the forum in just 2 years. Now I need to work on getting him to one of our reunions!   

[Joel]

Yes you do!!!  Preferably the NEXT one...   

What a great story!   Isnt it great to run into someone you knew years ago so unexpectedly!   Looks like trick skiing runs in the family     I wish I would have taken up skiing when I was a kid, but no $$ and parents with no $$ & no boat was a consistent issue...  Of course all the boats I was on afterwards were a bit on the BIG side, painted white with stripes on the hull, and operated primarily in salt water   

[phil]

That's awesome. I checked out Cory's site. Yep, that guy sure did make a name for himself.

[MIskier]

Ron,

Dont know if you noticed the boat, but there was a blue and red pro skier that was parked at Bennetts during nationals. The boat needed some tlc and at some point had been bottom painted.

Took some pics of the hull and showed them to one of the professors and he though that it may be possible to model the hydrodynamic forces even with that complicated hull form.

[RonT]

I did see the boat & looked at it, don't know who it belonged to but agree that it was in need of some TLC, obviously rode hard & hung up wet often. If you want to study the TBX bottom I have a hull and deck sitting in my boat junk yard. 

[MIskier]

That would be very cool! Thank you for the offer.

[Joe M]

I had a 85 burgandy skier that was Cory Pickos,s trick boat, i picked it up from him through the Ocoee  plant, it was his promo boat,this skier had a tricked out ford engine that ken and Jack Chamberlain put together, it had some extra goodies,very fast,It was used in Windermere Fl. from 85 to 89 sold it in 1989 and went to Conn. sure would like to know if any records were broke behind this skier,and if she is still being used, i bought a 1989 skier that was on the cover brochure for 1989 advertising, teal and black with 60 hours on it Terry Tate was the promo owner it has a  jet pac 350-4 engine Chevy i still own it with less than 400 hrs on it and is still new in condition.What a great boat.

[RonT]

Most likely did have records set behind it as Cory was re-setting the trick-skiing records regularly from 1982-89. When I moved to Ocoee I kept a journal of all records set behind our boats, there were several jump & slalom records set as well. There were not as many record capability tournaments then as there are now, for the most part it was the Regionals & Nationals & Masters. When Ken Sold A/S to WESMAR they received all my notes & records, when I bought the A/S assets in '96 WESMAR had lost all these records. (WESMAR moved the company 3 times in 5 years)