ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 2, 1997 TAG: 9703040030
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
Time was, if you grew up on the water or your family owned a boat, you became a water-skier.
Now there's a second choice for fast, fun boating action guaranteed to give you a wet rump: personal watercraft.
You get an idea of how popular these midget, madcap machines have become when you tour the Southwest Virginia Boat Show at the Roanoke Civic Center. They can be found in every nook and cranny of the show - the coliseum, the exhibit hall, the mezzanine, outside.
Manufacturers and dealers are trying to outdo one another with features and performance, and come-ons like zero down payment and no interest until September.
Dressed in funky colors and bearing names that ooze action - Jet Ski, Sea-Doo, Tigershark, WaveRunner - they either attract you or repel you. You love them or hate them. They are the hard rock of boating.
And they could be stealing attention from water-skiing.
Mike Ratcliff, of Conrad Brothers Marine on Claytor Lake, believes that's the case.
``I think a lot of people of the younger generation are going to personal watercraft,'' Ratcliff said. ``I think there is a declining interest in skiing.''
That's bad news for Ratcliff. He sells MasterCraft boats, which are designed for serious skiers.
``We are selling the same number of ski boats, but not expanding like I would like to see it,'' he said.
The leveling of interest also has impacted the Claytor Lake Ski Club, where membership and participation have declined, Ratcliff said.
You might expect the Smith Mountain Lake Ski Club to be in the same boat, but Tom Tanner doesn't believe that's the case. If it is, he's out to change it. Tanner is the newly elected president of the club. He helped organize it in 1988, and he has vowed to give it a higher profile this season.
``The first couple of years, we got a lot of PR,'' he said. ``We were getting a lot of stories in the newspaper and we were heavily promoting the club. In the last three or four years, we have kind of laid off and concentrated more on doing stuff rather than promoting the club. We still have 60-some members. We still have a pretty active membership.''
Water-skiing clubs are geared toward people who want to take their skills to the next level, Tanner said. You have to wonder, he said, how many of the people now buzzing about on personal watercraft with no interest in skiing would have been potential skiers in the first place.
``Probably three-quarters of the members of our club have PWCs, but they still enjoy skiing,'' he said.
While the impact PWCs have had on skiing is debatable, ski boats certainly have become a less specialized craft.
``The old closed-bow, teeth-chattering ski boat is gone,'' Ratcliff said. ``People now are looking for a combination of the best ride and the best wake for skiing.''
Look at the MasterCraft line in the boat show and you will see roomy comfort, the kind that invites a large group without anyone feeling cramped. The ride is better, but the handling and soft wake that a competitive skier needs are not unduly sacrificed. The more family-friendly craft often features an open bow and can be used well beyond the slalom course.
Skiing may receive a welcome boost from wakeboarding, one of the fastest growing aspects of the sport, Tanner said. The trend might be compared to the snowboarding craze's impact on snow skiing.
``We may try to tie in some wakeboarding tournaments or wakeboarding lessons,'' Tanner said. ``Wakeboarding can be done behind most any boat. No slalom course is necessary, no high-performance boat is needed.''
PWCs and skiing aren't entirely at odds. Some of the big, three-seat PWCs have the torque and the speed to pull water skiers and wakeboarders out of the hole and keep them on top of the water. This may be an avenue for PWC operators to get their first taste of skiing.
The boat show ends after a 10 a.m.-to-6 p.m. run today.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 linesby CNB