They were going to need a bigger boat. And a custom docking system, while they were at it.
When five Midwest ski teams came together for "Big Pull 2013," very little about the occasion was typical. The group of water skiers, which included several area competitors from Badgerland Ski Team in Waukesha and the Water Bugs in Muskego, had already successfully built human waterskiing pyramids of 38, 44, 48 and 54 people. The latter, taking place in 2012, resulted in a National Show Ski Association record, but that didn't mean it met the expectations of the most noteworthy aggregator of feats, the Guinness Book of World Records.
"Their requirements (at NSSA) for a record are much less than Guinness," said Eric Gran, who serves as Educational Technology Director at Whitnall High School in Greenfield and directed the Big Pull operation. "We thought that was acceptable, but it got rejected by Guinness. It's timing (for the NSSA record); all you have to do is have some stopwatches and do (the pyramid) for 15 seconds, so that's what we were doing.
"Guinness is a measurement of distance, and not time. It was very specific."
It meant a state-certified surveyor had to visit the site of the event, using tape to measure out 50-meter increments down the lake. Buoys were installed to mark 200-meter distances, and Gran had calculated that his team would need to be upright for 23 seconds, which hadn't been done.
And that was just the measurement part. The team included an architect with engineering sensibilities who created the platforms necessary, a custom-made boat was put to use for the occasion and cameras documented the process. With all that in place, 60 talented skiers gathered at Lake Wazeecha in Wisconsin Rapids on Sept. 14 and tried to make history once again.
True to platform
Mike Bongers, a Badgerland skier who lives in the Fox Valley now, had seen a 60-person attempt fail in Ohio, but the attempt there gave him an idea.
"The pull was all in one straight line, and it was just too much force for the boat to pull," he said. "At that point, I came up with the idea of staggering the floaters, to keep those motors moving. It took years of talking people on the team into allowing me to try this. Most people didn't think it was going to work."
Instead of a standard dock ("There's no dock that I know of in the world wide enough of strong enough to hold all that," Gran said), the floating platforms are essentially small, stripped-down pontoon boats, with flat carpeted decks at roughly 30 feet in length. Staggered by eight feet, Bongers moved one back and placed the other two forward. The torque on the boat would thus come in waves.
"The force to get them up skiing is great, but once they're up, the force is reduced," Bongers said. "That allows us to pull the other group, a little less than half (the skiers)."
Bongers, who himself has been skiing since age 6, said once the team was able to elevate 54 skiers, it was a demonstration that the concept worked.
"Even after the 54 was complete, people still doubted that my idea was correct and had thoughts on how to improve it," he said. "I think I proved it was right when we pulled the 60 again next year."
Best of the best
Delafield resident Mike Thompson, who at 53 was one of the oldest members of the 60-person pull, is one of the co-directors at Badgerland.
"Our team prides itself on building big pyramids," he said. "It's a little extreme, and it's massive. Badgerland loves to do stuff like this. We look at it as a challenge, and we like to do things people have never done before."
Thompson said the hardest part was selecting the "best of the best," per instructions from Gran, which limited the number of skiers from Badgerland to 12.
"There are lots of people excited about this, and it's kind of emotional (to make the choices)."
Badgerland show skiers practice constantly, with safety a huge necessity considering the various skills demonstrated, such as barefoot skiing and ski jumping, not to mention pyramids.
"It's great exercise and keeps me focused at my age," Thompson said. "You have to be in good physical condition, and I love the people on the team."
Big rig
Badgerland was the team that first investigated the possibility of a specialized boat for the big pull occasions, which took place roughly every-other-year and gradually increased in size. The design, manufactured by Dyna-Ski out of Crivitz, featured a longer boat and a wider back end that permitted the integration of three Evinrude engines.
"It allowed us to be maneuverable; it's a small boat that you'd recognize on any lake in Wisconsin," Gran said.
On the day of the event, the team featured skiers from teams in Burlington, Beaver Dam and Rock Island, Ill. in addition to the Waukesha and Muskego squads. They made their attempt in an ideal setting, on a lake that had been cleared of competing boat traffic with more than 15 feet of water throughout.
There have been a number of misfires along the way. Even on the day of the Big Pull 2013, the first attempt went south and the second attempt kept 58 of the 60 skiers upright. The third time was the charm.
The pyramid navigated 350 meters, upright for more than three times its normal duration of 10 to 12 seconds.
"We think we can do 72," said Gran, who has been a show skier for both Muskego and Badgerland teams. "We're going to try for 72 next year on the same exact boat. We did try 70 twice and weren't even close, but we looked at the the high-definition cameras that showed us stuff we could analyze frame-by-frame."
Added Bongers, "There's no doubt in my mind we can pull 70 in the future."
Pyramid People
Contributors to the 60-person pull included skiers from a number of area communities:
Delafied: Michael Thompson (co-director at Badgerland)*
Hartland: Brian Weber, Kim Logiudice*
Merton: Michelle Reinders (co-director at Badgerland)*, Stephanie Curry*, Linzy Reinders*, Brittany Curry*, Emily Sodolski, Karen Curry (support staff)
Muskego: Jessica Gartzke*, Noelle Gartzke*, Cory Krivitz*, Jon Nelson*, Peter Pawinski*, Sherry Krueger (spotter)
Oconomowoc: Amanda Norris*, Robert Norris*
Sussex: Nicholas Findlay*
Waukesha: Rachel Reinders
Wauwatosa: Steve Sievers*, Michelle Pliml
*Part of 60-person pyramid
See video of the 60-person pull at LivingLakeCountry.com.