There are few places in water skiing where history feels as alive as it does at Sunset Lakes.
What started as an orange grove more than 50 years ago has become one of the sport’s most iconic destinations. Built by the vision and work ethic of the Travers family, it’s a place where world champions are made, lifelong friendships begin, and generations of skiers discover what this sport is all about.
For Jon Travers, that legacy isn’t something he simply inherits. It’s something he earns.
Growing up at Sunset Lakes, skiing was always part of life. So were the early mornings, long days, and countless hours of work required to keep a world-class ski site running. Today, as a father, competitor, and the next generation of the Travers Ski School, Jon is stepping into a much bigger role. That means far more than chasing personal bests.
He’s learning to build and maintain ski courses, oversee tournaments, master technical control, and help create the kind of experience that skiers from around the world have come to expect at Sunset Lakes. It’s the work most people never see, but without it, the sport simply doesn’t happen.
The best tournaments feel effortless. The water is perfect. The course is straight. Everything runs on time. None of it happens by accident.
Behind every great event are people willing to do the unseen work, solving problems before anyone notices and creating an environment where athletes can perform at their best. Jon is learning that side of the sport while continuing to chase his own dream of becoming one of the world’s best slalom skiers. Balancing competition, family, fatherhood, and the responsibility of carrying forward a name that means so much in water skiing isn’t easy, but that’s exactly what makes his story compelling.
A legacy isn’t preserved by standing still.
It’s built one day, one tournament, one skier, and one generation at a time.
That’s where the Soul of Skiing lives. Not only in the passes we remember, but in the people who quietly dedicate their lives to making those moments possible.
And at Sunset Lakes, that story is still being written.
There are moments in life that only make sense when you look backward
The year was 1987.
The world had 2.7 billion fewer people. The Giants beat John Elway in the Super Bowl. Richard Branson crossed the Atlantic in a hot air balloon. Freddy Krueger was terrorizing movie theaters….and apparently water ski tournaments on the weekend. And somewhere in the middle of all that noise and cultural chaos, Bob LaPoint was quietly doing what he had already been doing for years: redefining the sport of water skiing.
By 1987, Bob LaPoint was already more than a champion. He was becoming something far more rare.
A craftsman
That same year, LaPoint captured his fifth World Slalom Title at Thorpe Park in London, continuing a career that had already reshaped what was possible on a slalom ski. But statistics never fully explain Bob LaPoint. Plenty of athletes win tournaments. Very few leave fingerprints on the soul of a sport.
Born in Castro Valley, California, LaPoint emerged during one of the most transformational period in water skiing history. Alongside his brother Kris, they helped push skiing away from the old world and into the modern era. The LaPoint brothers skied with a level of efficiency, speed, and technical precision that forced the entire sport to evolve around them.
But what makes Bob truly unique is that he never stopped searching.
Long after the trophies were collected and the headlines faded, LaPoint stayed in the workshop. He stayed curious. For more than 50 years he has studied the relationship between ski shape, water flow, balance, speed, and feel with the obsession of an artist refining his life’s work.
That pursuit continues today through Syndicate Works.
Even now, Bob remains an integral part of the Syndicate Works program, collaborating with skiers and designers in the ongoing search for cleaner, simpler, more efficient ski shapes. In a world increasingly driven by noise, Bob still believes in refinement and simplicity. Remove what does not matter. Keep what does. Let the ski disappear beneath the skier: It is a philosophy that sounds simple until you realize how difficult simplicity actually is.
That is what “The Craftsman” is really about.
Not just the titles. Not just the legacy. Not just the skis or the industry.
It is about a man who dedicated his life to understanding something most people will never even notice: the invisible relationship between water, speed, feel and soul.
Because that is how a sport survives – one skier leads the way and inspires countless others. One Shorline becomes another. One kid staring at the impossible eventually grows up and becomes the impossible thing somebody else looks up to.
And somewhere along the way, Bob LaPoint became more than one of the greatest skiers of all time. He quietly shaped not only skis, but generations.
He became one of the great caretakers of the sport itself.
This isn’t a story about a Legend. Its a story about what happens when mastery becomes stewardship. When a life spent shaping fiberglass and bondo somehow ends up shaping people too. The truth is, if you do something long enough, thoughtfully enough, passionately enough… your fingerprints remain on things long after your hands leave them…
They call it Nationals. But if you spent any time lakeside at Imperial Lakes from October 16–18, you quickly realized it was less like a championship and more like the Super Bowl of spray.
College water skiing’s annual pilgrimage landed in the Imperial Valley this year, where the desert sun showed up early, the playlists showed up loud, and the athletes showed up with exactly the right mix of swagger, caffeine, and mild academic neglect.
For three days, Imperial Lakes turned into the Coachella of collegiate water skiing.
The difference being that instead of guitars and flower crowns, the headliners carried skis, wore life jackets, and measured their success in buoys, flips, and the occasional airborne existential crisis off a jump ramp.
And the crowd?
Imagine a student section that runs on Red Bull, cowbells, and the belief that yelling louder will somehow score points for their teammate.
It usually doesn’t.
But they yell anyway.
Teams rolled into El Centro like a traveling circus with better abs.
Vans full of skis, ropes, duffel bags, and the kind of optimism that only exists when you’re 21 and convinced you can set a PB with a hangover, before breakfast.
The heavy hitters were there. UL Monroe & Lafayette, Alabama, Rollins, Florida Southern.
The usual suspects who treat Collegiate Nationals like their own family reunion, except the reunion involves 36 mph boat speeds and the occasional spectacular crash.
And then there were the dark horses.
West Coast teams who looked around the shoreline and thought, “You know what? Maybe this is the year we ruin someone’s dynasty.” College sports thrive on that kind of dangerous optimism.
Slalom is water skiing’s version of chess, except the pieces move at 36 miles per hour and the board occasionally punches you in the ribs.
From the shoreline, it looks simple. Six buoys. One boat. One rope. From the ski, it feels like you’re trying to play Flip Cup while riding a roller coaster.
The best skiers made it look easy.
Engineering majors running shortline passes like it was a study break. Pre-med students running the course for the first time with the calm precision of someone who knows they’ll be dissecting a frog on Monday morning.
Then came tricks, the event where the laws of physics briefly step outside and let college students do whatever they want.
Spin this way. Flip that way. Land sideways. Somehow keep the ski under your feet.
Judges nodded thoughtfully and wrote down numbers. The crowd cheered like someone had just dunked from the free throw line.
Jump is the moment when the entire shoreline goes quiet.
Not because they’re calm. Because everyone is thinking the same thing. “Surely no human needs to go that far.”
But the skier disagrees. They cut for the ramp, as late as the worst student on the first day of class, with the determination of someone who has already decided that gravity is more of a suggestion than a rule.
The boat roars. The spray explodes. The ramp appears.
When they land, the shoreline erupts. And the next jumper quietly starts calculating whether they can go even farther….or if they are willing to die trying.
College logic is undefeated.
Of course, Collegiate Nationals isn’t just about skiing. It’s about college teams being college teams.
Between events the shoreline looked like a cross between a tailgate and a team meeting that got slightly out of hand.
Face paint appeared. Cowbells multiplied. Someone brought a megaphone that probably should have stayed at home.
Because that’s the strange magic of collegiate water skiing. One minute you’re trying to beat someone. The next minute you’re helping them carry their jumpers back to the dock.
By the time the final jumper finished on Saturday evening, the desert sun was settling behind the mountains and the shoreline looked like the aftermath of a three-day master class in equal parts athletic brilliance and college-level enthusiasm. AKA, it looked like a weekend that had gone exactly as planned.
There were champions, of course. Records, maybe. A few performances that will grow taller every time they’re told, a few egos lightly bruised, and more stories than anyone would ever admit to their parents.
But mostly there was the thing that makes collegiate water skiing special. A bunch of students who will ski all day, cheer all night, and somehow still show up to class on Monday pretending they spent the weekend studying.
They didn’t. They were in California, at Imperial Lakes, making memories…. Running buoys. Landing tricks. Flying off ramps. And for three days in October, they turned some quiet lakes in the desert into the loudest, wildest show on water.
Not bad for a sport most people think only happens once a year, behind a rental boat and a cooler full of questionable decisions.
So who’s coming back to Cali for 2026 Nationals? October in Sacramento. Pack your stoke and leave your worries at home.
Follow along with Rob as he travels across Europe and Africa with the team in pursuit of tournament victories, epic sessions, and plenty of good times along the way 🌍🏆
Some people spend their lives trying to fit in. Glen Plake has spent his trying to stand out, and more importantly, to stand true.
You know him before you meet him. The mohawk. The grin that could melt permafrost. The voice that sounds like gravel dragging across courage. He’s the face on a thousand posters, the silhouette on every snow-dusted dream. But what The Edge of Normal reminds us is that behind the legend is a man who still measures his worth by how close he gets to the edge, not of danger, but of authenticity.
Plake was skiing punk before skiing even knew what punk was. While the world was chasing medals, he was chasing meaning. He slept in parking lots, lived out of vans, broke skis, and maybe a few rules, all in pursuit of something deeper, that rare alchemy of gravity, flow, and freedom that happens only when you stop trying to be who you’re “supposed” to be.
“I’ve never been normal,” he says, his laugh echoing across his lake. “And I think that’s my greatest strength.”
In a culture obsessed with polish and performance, Glen’s gift is imperfection. He still wrenches on his own boats and engines. Still sharpens his own edges. Still throws himself into every turn like it might be his last. He lives what most of us only pretend to, a life driven by things with consequences. That’s the heart of this Soul of Skiing story. Not just frozen or liquid spray. It’s about living loud enough to feel it, raw enough to remember it, and brave enough to keep doing it even when the world tells you to tone it down.
Because skiing, whether on snow or on water, has always been a mirror. And when Glen Plake looks into it, he sees something most of us have forgotten: that life’s not about being fearless. It’s about being yourself in the face of fear.
He’s proof that rebellion can be graceful, that consequence can be beautiful, and that maybe, just maybe, the edge of normal is exactly where we’re supposed to stand.
This final 2025 episode of Soul of Skiing from FlowPoint TV and Syndicate, is for those who still believe in the soul behind the turn.
In the heart of Minnesota’s lake country, the days stretch long and the water holds the kind of stillness that can quiet a restless mind. Bemidji isn’t just a dot on the map—it’s a reminder of how lake life was meant to be lived. Here, water skiing wasn’t a sport you scheduled; it was simply part of the rhythm. Boards and skis stacked in the boathouse, meals shared on sun-bleached docks, kids tumbling into the lake until the fireflies came out.
For Episode 6 of FlowPointTV’s “Soul of Skiing”, we wanted to get back to those roots. To trade the precision of tournament buoys for the wide-open canvas of a big lake. We found ourselves surrounded by family, old friends, and the kind of conversations that flow easier after a long day in the sun. The air smelled like pine and charcoal, the evenings hummed with cicadas, and every ski set ended not with scores, but with stories.
Because in the end, this is the soul of skiing—not a finish line or a podium, but a feeling. Lake life, like skiing itself, is a gift of connection—between people, place, and the present moment. It’s the rush of cold water on a summer morning, the laughter that echoes off the shore, and the quiet satisfaction of knowing you’re part of something bigger than yourself. And in Bemidji, you don’t just remember why you fell in love with the sport; you feel it in every turn, every shared laugh, every ripple trailing out into a glassy horizon.
Some stories are born on the water. Others are carved into it — with grit, setbacks, and the unwavering belief that simply being in and around the water is enough.
In “Born to Buoy”, Episode 5 of Soul of Skiing, we dive into the life and legacy of Rob Hazelwood, the latest force in a family lineage that reads like a hall of fame roster. From his earliest turns on the water at Hazelwood’s Ski World in Lincoln, UK, to standing on top of the podium at Lake 38 in 2024, Rob’s path has been anything but ordinary.
A British Legacy Runs Deep
Water skiing greatness runs in Rob’s veins. His uncle, Mike Hazelwood, was a multiple-time world champion. His cousin, Will Asher, also a 2-time World Champion, continues to redefine elite performance on the world stage. And let’s not forget — Rob hails from a British slalom dynasty that includes legends like Andy Mapple, Glen Campbell and Freddie Winter. That’s a heavy heritage to carry — but Rob wears it with quiet pride and an open heart.
From the moment he could stand on skis, Rob’s days were filled with laps around Hazelwood’s, chasing buoys, chasing brothers, and chasing a dream that seemed already written. But as you’ll see in this episode, nothing about Rob’s rise was handed to him.
Hope, Pain, and the Long Way Back
Rob’s journey hasn’t been all sunrises and spray. Injuries have repeatedly tested his resolve. A dislocated hip, though not featured in this story, once put his entire trajectory in question. But it was a torn right bicep — a brutal injury we did get to capture — that nearly closed the chapter for good.
For many, that would’ve been the end. For Rob, it was fuel.
With a quiet fire, he poured himself into rehab, training, coaching, and even filmmaking — building himself back not just physically, but mentally. The water never left his mind. And when he returned, he came back more grounded, more grateful, and somehow… even more dangerous.
🏆 The Breakthrough
In 2024, all the grit paid off. Lake 38 Pro-Am. Rob took his first-ever professional win, and it wasn’t just a victory — it was a statement. To everyone who had watched his slow, steady rise. To those who counted him out. And maybe most of all — to himself.
It was a glimpse of what happens when passion meets perseverance. When you stop trying to be someone else… and just let your weird, wonderful self shine.
⚡️A Legend in the Making (and the Life of the Party)
There’s something contagious about Rob’s energy — like someone bottled up the Energizer Bunny and gave him a slalom ski. He admits it himself: he can be a lot. Too much, sometimes. But that’s the magic.
He’s not trying to be the next Will, or Mike, or Mapple.
He’s trying to be Rob Hazelwood — flawed, fired up, and fully alive.
🎥 Watch Episode 5 Now
This is more than a story about buoys and boats. It’s about a young man who grew up in the shadow of greatness and had the courage to write his own script.
It’s about coming back from the brink and smiling while you do it.
It’s about the Soul of Skiing — and one of the sport’s most electric, resilient characters.
If you’ve ever held a handle in your hands and thought, “What would it feel like to ski like a legend?” — this episode’s for you.
Wade Cox didn’t just ski. He carved holes in the laws of physics. He bent angles. He made spray look like sculpture. And in Soul of Skiing: Episode 4 – Wade’s World, we dive deep into the mind, story, and soul of one of the greatest to ever do it.
Let’s get the stats out of the way — not because they’re the most important thing, but because they’re ridiculous:
47 Professional Slalom Titles
3-time Masters Champion
Back-to-back Pro Tour Champion (1995, 1996)
Water Ski Hall of Fame, Class of 2012
Those numbers don’t just earn you a place on the podium. They earn you your own area code in ski history.
But Wade Cox wasn’t just dominant — he was electric. He skied with attitude. His style was part Arkansas cowboy, part technician, and 100% unrelenting. He had a gear no one else could find. And in the 90’s and 2000’s, when he showed up at a Pro Tour stop, you either had to bring your absolute best… or just enjoy the view of Wade’s rooster tail as it disappeared behind the starting dock.
And then there was The Rivalry.
Wade Cox vs. Andy Mapple.
Just like Ali vs. Frazier…..Federer vs. Nadal.
Except on water. With carbon fiber. And ESPN cameras.
Out of a stretch of 60 pro events, Wade won 22, Andy took 29, and the entire rest of the field combined managed to sneak away with a measly 9.
But this episode isn’t just about stats and medals. It’s about the man. The grit. The losses. The lessons. The transition from being the guy everyone chased… to the guy willing to look back and tell the story. Not the version you see on the back of a trading card — the real one. The one with broken bones, blown turns, and hard-earned wisdom.
Because here’s the truth: Legends don’t just teach us how to win. They show us how to keep going, when the spotlight dims and the work begins.
So, yeah — we called this episode “Wade’s World.”
And no, there’s no guitar solo or Wayne’s basement (though we can’t confirm Wade hasn’t air-guitared with a ski handle before).
But there’s Soul…Lots of it. There’s humility. And there’s the kind of greatness you can’t fake.
Here is 🎥 Episode 4: Wade’s World
Watch it. Learn from it. Then go make your next set count.
Will Asher is not just a name on the leaderboard—he is the standard. A two-time World Champion, multiple-time Masters Champion, and the winningest European water skier in history, Asher has spent over two decades redefining what elite performance looks like in the sport. With a career built on consistency, resilience, and raw technical talent, he’s become a cornerstone of modern water skiing. Asher’s long-standing partnership with HO Skis and his central role in FlowPointTV content have helped elevate both the athlete and the sport into new cultural territory. Now, at 42 years old, he’s still ranked No. 1 on the Water Ski Pro Tour—something almost unheard of in a sport dominated by youth and fast-twitch explosiveness.
Today marks the release of “Beyond the Wins”, the third episode in the Soul of Skiing series by FlowPointTV and HO Skis. It’s not just a highlight reel or a career recap—it’s an honest, introspective look into the hard lessons, sacrifices, and internal battles that have shaped Will’s journey. From the grueling years spent in the ski shed, developing himself as a Master Craftsman and shaper, to the internal challenges of doing what he thought it would take to be the best in the world, Asher opens up like never before. You’ll see the pain behind the podiums and the purpose that still drives him after all these years. In a sport that demands everything and guarantees nothing, Beyond the Wins shows why Will Asher is more than just a competitor—he’s the embodiment of what Soul of Skiing is all about.
SEATTLE, WA — HO Sports and Syndicate are thrilled to announce a groundbreaking partnership with professional water ski legend Terry Winter, bringing an elite, concierge-style service to competition water skiers: Syndicate Direct Support.
As part of this new initiative, Terry Winter — a Pro event winner, industry-renowned coach, and one of the most trusted voices in water skiing — will be available directly by phone or email to offer expert information, tips, feedback, and personalized answers to questions regarding all things Syndicate and HO Skis.
Through the Syndicate Direct Support website, skiers can now tap into the unmatched experience of a man who has ridden nearly every ski on the market. With that unique perspective, Terry brings an honest, unbiased understanding of how Syndicate Skis stack up against the rest — and how to unlock their full potential.
“We wanted to create something personal. Something real,” says Marcus Brown, HO/Syndicate Marketing Manager. “Terry is known not just for his abilities and technique on the water, but for being incredibly honest, humble, and respected. Our goal is simple: give skiers the tools that will enable them to set PB’s, and we believe Terry Winter is an important part of making that happen.”
Terry has dedicated his life to ski design, ski technique, and coaching, making him one of the most well-rounded and respected professionals in the industry. Whether you’re a tournament skier, a weekend warrior or a pro looking for answers, Syndicate Direct Support gives you direct access to one of the sport’s most knowledgeable minds.
