I have a semi-private lake in Orlando where I train.  This time of year I may ski 2 or 3 days per week, one maybe two-ski rides day.  Usually this time of year I'm traveling a lot more so by the time I get home and have a rest day or a day to catch up on things then have to turn around and get back on a airplane.  Normally in the winter I try to ski 4 days per week but in October, November and December I  try to take a break and won't ski at all.  In January, February and March I try to ski 4 days per week.

I like to run and I like to ride bikes, but usually when I take that time off, I take time off.  I like to play golf or do things with my family and my kids.  I enjoy being at home but when I start back skiing, I try to get back aerobically in shape and work out in the gym to stay limber.  Skiing builds a lot of it's own strength but in the beginning you get pretty stiff so I use the gym to get in shape.

I don't really have an exact training partner but a friend of mine, Jody Fisher who comes over and ski's in the Tour is probably my main training partner.  I ski with some other skiers like Bruce and Toni Neville but it varies.  Sometimes my wife pulls me, it just varies from day to day.

1-2 sets per day.  One set may be 6 passes and the second set may be only 4 passes. It depends really on what I'm working on.  I do all the design and development for O'Brien skis and if I'm working on their skis or working on a new design then I may ski 6-7 sets per day.  It all just depends on what I'm working on. For my own skiing and working on my on practice, then 2 sets per day.

I start at 28 off or 32 off depending on the wind.

No, I always like to drop.  Sometimes I'll drop and maybe run the same pass again, but I feel that although back to back's might build some endurance, they can also promote some bad habits too.  Then you become more fatigued the second time around and end up skiing buoy to buoy.  I'd rather drop, take a breather and then if I make another pass try to make it as good or better the next time around.

What's your personal best?
ANDY

It was 1 @ 43.

It was down in Miami two years ago.  Actually I ran 1 @ 43 this year but it was in a run-off situation, but in practice I barely ever try 43 or 41.  At my site where I practice, it's not really always conducive to running that short of line length, so I tend to practice more of 38-39 off rope lengths.  That's where most tournaments are won or lost.

I don't know that I really have a favorite site as far as performance.   I enjoy skiing at Princes Water Ski Club in England,  but it's not the most conducive to run the greatest performance.  I don't know, another place I enjoy skiing at is Callaway Gardens at the Masters, it's one of my favorite places to go.  One of the best sites I think for performance is Okeeheelee Park down in West Palm.  I think it an enjoyable place to ski and conducive to performances.  I don't like lakes that are very small, like the very small man made lakes, because I tend to feel claustrophobic on those lakes.  I like man made lakes but I like them where they are a little bigger and have a little more room.

Yea, I like cars and motor sports.  I follow a lot of the racing.

For me personally I like the competitiveness.  I'm a competitive person and I like the way it feels when it's your performance against someone else's.  I like that adrenaline feel and I like to practice to get that adrenaline feel.

It's hard to ignore but when I'm on the water I like to focus on my own game plan.  I go out there and try to do what I feel I can do under those particular conditions so I try to focus more on that, it's more like I'm competing against myself, challenging myself to do what I believe I can do but it's always hard to ignore what someone else has done or is doing.

No, I really don't.  I think we are just scratching the surface with a lot these parabolic skis and I think slalom skis will go to that kind of shape in the future.

I think one of the biggest mistake people make learning is to focus right on the buoy.  If they wait until the buoy to make the turn and if they are going thirty miles per hour, then by the time they've made the turn you've gone way past it.  You have to actually start your turn before you get to the buoy so that the buoy is the point where the turn finishes and not where it begins.

My personal feeling is that it will get there. You hear some people think it will and others who think it won't.  I really don't know and haven't been keeping up with it, but I hope it gets there and I think it will.  I think it will be very hard for them to turn it down having gone this far and from what I understand the vote the IOC has to make is if it's a legitimate sport.  It's already been recognized as a legitimate sport by being in the Pan American games and the World games, but the only way I see that they can turn it down is by saying they don't want any more sports.

I think I'd like to be remembered as the person, rather than just as an athlete, that was there to help others.  I think sometimes when you are an athlete, and win or do something, that people feel you are hard to approach.  I would hope that I'm not like that and that people would feel they can ask for help.  I would do my best to help somebody and want to be that kind of example.