Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060060
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
They are members of the Claytor Lake Ski Club, an organization that goes all the way back to the 1950s.
Club members regularly gather at Conrad's Marina on Sunday and Wednesday evenings starting in April, "as soon as the ice breaks, basically," said Mike Ratcliff, a member who works at the marina. They often continue through October.
Club members come from as far away as Marion, Roanoke and Mount Airy, N.C., to ski at the lake.
On one recent Wednesday, 16-year-old Graham Fizer, a Pulaski County High School and Governor's School student, practiced trick ski flips and jumps.
Meanwhile Dean Jackson, another marina worker, drove a boat pulling Keith Stafford through the club's slalom course.
Ratcliff and Susan Burchett, a physical therapist with the Floyd County school system, held onto a bar alongside another boat to ski barefoot after squeezing into padded safety suits. Together with Stanley Frost, the club's senior member, they formed a skiing triangle as Burchett climbed onto the shoulders of the two men.
It was hard to get into this club in 1957, Frost remembers. "I had to play with those fellows for about two years before they'd let me join," he said.
A lot has changed since then - from boats to bathing suit fashions. The club's changed, too. Now it's after all the members it can get.
Participants work on keeping the lake clean and have social activities all year long.
"The more people we have, the more things we can do ... the more educational events we can have, the more contributions we can make to the community and the lake itself," said Tim Farley, the club's president.
Farley, a Virginia Tech graduate who came to work for Xaloy Inc. in Pulaski, became interested in water skiing through a co-worker. "There's no one too big, too small, too young, too old to enjoy water sports," he declared.
Fizer started skiing only four years ago, and is gearing up for national trick ski competition next year. Ratcliff said he's been skiing for 36 years. Stafford, the assistant in Pulaski's town economic development office, got the bug as a college sophomore.
Burchett is the club's treasurer, "only because I used to work in a bank," she said.
"We want to make the community more aware that the club's here so they can take advantage of it," Farley said recently.
Membership fees cover joining the American Water Ski Association, which provides a monthly magazine, insurance and other club benefits. Fees also include ski lessons, safety courses, a discount on merchandise in Conrad's Ski Shop, and access to the club's ski boat and its facilities.
"We've got tournament facilities, such as a ski course and a ski ramp," Farley said. The club built the ramp last summer.
Further information is available by writing to the club at Route 2, Box 164-C, Pulaski, Va. 24301, or by calling 980-1575 or 994-2270. Individual memberships are $35 a year, or $25 for high school and college students. Family memberships are $40. The club is offering a $10 discount to members who sign up between now and October.
by CNB