White Lake once again hosts professional ski show

WHITE LAKE – For over 30 years there hasn’t been a water ski show at the White Lake Water Festival. Until this past weekend when the drought ended.

Watching a nasty weather cell that was passing through Bladen County, White Lake Water Festival organizers were holding their collective breath and although it didn’t turn out to be a bright sunny day for the return of professional water skiing on the lake, patches of sun did manage to send a few rays on an otherwise overcast Saturday afternoon.

The Carolina Ski Show Team thrilled crowds that had packed local docks and boats out in the water. The skiers who hadn’t actually seen or been on the lake arrived early and had a few practice run-throughs before the show started at 2 p.m.

According to skiers, the mile-long arena was a bit longer than they were used to and the pier was not as close to the water. The slightly elevated pier did cause some water entry problems, but the skiers adjusted and put on an incredible show.

One of the highlights of the show was a young man from Wisconsin who they simply referred to as “The Bird Man” who did some incredible death-defying flips.

The ski team was made up of professional skiers of all ages including a 12-year-old and 14-year-old who have been skating for quite a few years in spite of their ages. At times, the ski team does feature an 8-year-old and even a 70-year-old skier.

The ski team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, has a home performance base in Tega Cay, South Carolina.

Their motto is, Eat. Sleep. Show. Ski. And according to their website: https://www.carolinashowski.org/ - “The Carolina Show Ski Team is a competitive, entertaining, family-oriented team that performs water ski shows throughout the summer at Windjammer Beach Park in Tega Cay, South Carolina, and other events around the Carolinas. We practice, perform weekly ski shows, compete in regional and national tournaments and give back to our community.”

The idea to bring back skiing to White Lake came from a story that organizers Terri Hawley and Jeane’ Pope brought forth about a former skier who was trying to raise money to make the event come to life again for the festival.

That woman, Cathy Kinlaw and her brother, Tommy Faircloth who both are familiar with skiing at White Lake and both went on to become professional skiers, Kinlaw with Disney’s ski team and Faircloth with Tommy Bartlett’s ski show set off on a quest to bring skiing back to the White Lake Water Festival.

“It was sight unseen,” Kinlaw said. “We sent videos to them and given them a lot of information but they had not seen the lake until they got here. They did an incredible job and it was a wonderful show – and especially satisfying to have skiing back at the White Lake Water Festival.”

The White Lake Ski Heels originated as a group of 10 White Lake skiers that convened to plan a club, according to local White Lake resident, Edwin Herring. The group consisted of Bill Moore, Joe Chandler, Alcy Johnson, Joe Inman, Tony Inman, Richard Herring, Henry Herring, Ed McLean, Mike Whittenton and Kaye Gordon.

According to Herring, this group established the foundation of the club and set into motion an extraordinary group of talented athletes who would receive widespread recognition spanning decades on the lake. The club went from 10 to 120 members within the first year and the club incorporated in 1972.

Among those in the club was local skier Jerry Atkinson who became the first professional water skier from White Lake, beginning his career at Cypress Gardens in Florida.

For the past 30 years, the shows have been nonexistent on one of the most popular and storied lakes in the area.

“We all grew up, and the generation that came along behind us was more interested in wakeboarding than water skiing,” Kinlaw a member of the early Ski Heels said. “And it was a different generation. It was a different type of camaraderie. When we were kids, there were not that many kids on the lake. Now the lake is a very populated lake.”

White Lake during the summer can be a very busy place and the boat traffic can be fierce.

Although boats were not asked to leave the lake during the show, they were asked to remove their boats from the show circle. They formed a lake arena surrounding the circle and the team had alternated going off the left dock at Camp Clearwater and the right dock at Goldston Pier.

“The show circle is a half mile long,” Kinlaw said. “That is a bit long to accommodate more viewers on shore. The water festival committee wanted to get the most visual opportunity.”

“The one that was done at the State Fair grounds was a lot tighter than this,” Faircloth, also a member of the early Ski Heels team said. “That was a small piece of water.”

Faircloth, who skied with the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory ski shows was not only skilled in hang gliding. The Bladen Journal’s first color photograph ever published was a picture of a hang glider piloted by Faircloth May 15, 1980.

The show circle was set apart by poles and buoys and there were eight safety boats stationed around the perimeter and for the most part prevented boats from entering the show circle. One or two drifted in, but the lake marshals quickly ushered them outside the containment area. In addition, there were two wildlife boats on each end of the show circle along with lots of air horns, orange flags and stop signs.

The show lasted approximately one hour.

A lot of alumni skiers came in to see the show and the White Lake Ski Heels were actually the ones who are sponsoring the show.

“They are the ones who contributed in order to have a ski show back on White Lake,” Kinlaw said. “They funded just the ski show and it cost $5,000.”

This was the first year of the rebirth of this event and according to Kinlaw, there were so many logistics that are crucial.

A club that 50 years ago had a vision to bring White Lake to a new and exciting level and then brought that vision to fruition once again brainstormed to bring that same adrenaline to a new generation of fans and spectators.

The White Lake Ski Heels continue their legacy by once again, investing in the White Lake Water Festival and in their community.

More pictures of the team on Page 11.