If you’ve attended a slalom tournament in Michigan recently, there is a good chance you’ve seen Gwen and Dan Wamhoff competing. While they may be a familiar presence in the tournament scene and their performances are at the top end of the sport, their path to this point has a story to which many skiers of all levels can relate.
Gwen started skiing in her late 20s at a family cottage on a small lake near Traverse City. A small wooden boat with a 25 HP engine was used and she was up on two skis quickly. After some time skiing and following a fall, she decided to try getting back up on just the one ski. Even with the limited capabilities of the boat, she was successful and moved on to use only one ski from that point forward.
Dan started skiing in his early 30s while vacationing with friends at Lake Margrethe in Grayling. His migration to a single ski was through the more traditional, familiar path for skiers: dropping a ski and working on slalom balance until progressing to deep water starts on one ski. With each having a great love for the water, both Dan and Gwen had developed a strong interest in pursuing water skiing, at least, initially, as a leisure activity.
They bought a 15-foot Starcraft with an 85HP Johnson and began skiing on Wixom Lake and Sanford Lake in the Hope, MI area. They subsequently met some skiers from Sanford Lake, which had a permanent slalom course installed. After trying the course, they were soon captivated by the classic slalom obsession.
Gwen and Dan eventually bought a home on Sanford Lake and enjoyed an active lake life with friends, neighbors, children, and grandchildren. Many summers were spent engaged in various towed watersports: skiing, barefooting, trick skiing. Some of the other memorable activities included Dan and 4 other skiers completing a long barefoot run and a tight loopback over the wakes behind a single boat on Sanford Lake, a skier pyramid, and riding the emerging equipment of the times (such as a Skurfer). In addition to slalom and trick skiing, Gwen also participated in barefooting, including a long line start from a kneeboard. The main focus was on having fun with family and friends while enjoying the water as much as possible. While the traffic on Sanford Lake created a timing challenge for slalom course use, they would ski their sets by spinning the boat (when not shortening the rope) to ski successive passes continuously until tiring beyond another pass. This pattern of practice, paired with long runs of free skiing on the large lake, improved their conditioning and endurance such that they were well-prepared for slalom sets with a skier drop after each pass.
The boat upgrades followed throughout the years. A used 1979 Ski Nautique would be the first tournament inboard, followed by a 1987 Nautique 2001 and, mercifully, the much more refined 1990 Ski Nautique. Currently, Dan and Gwen have a 2011 Ski Nautique 200 at their Michigan home and another 2011 Ski Nautique 200 at their Florida extended-season property.
They participated in their first tournament about 20 years ago at Buddy’s Pond (one of the early West Shore Water Ski Club sites) in Coopersville. Gwen earned an EP rating (i.e., Nationals qualification) as a Women’s 5 skier at that very first outing and Dan skied into 32 off for a solid first-time performance in Men’s 4.
As some of their friends lost interest in slalom, stopped skiing altogether, moved away, or migrated to other disciplines (such as wakeboarding), Dan and Gwen sought to continue their passion for skiing. They began to seek options to extend their season and towed their boat to Kentucky and Tennessee in late September to continue skiing. At one point, they purchased a lot on Norris Lake near Knoxville, Tennessee and would have the lake in near solitude as the locals retreated to post-season pursuits other than watersports. But, the season didn’t last quite long enough there. So, they continued to search further South, until they reached the endless ski seasons of West Palm Beach, Florida and the heart of water skiing, Okeeheelee Park.
The slalom course on Sanford Lake eventually was removed after the permit expired and was not renewed. The new permit obtained by Gwen and Dan had restrictions requiring a daily installation and removal of the buoys, which substantially limited its use. In addition to the challenge and extra work now required to maintain a regular skiing regimen, they were interested in practicing/training under more controlled conditions. In 2004, they joined the ski club at Hidden Lake in Clio and were assigned a morning timeslot. The consistently excellent conditions and some exhilarating slalom sets before work each day were extremely beneficial to their fitness and skills.
In late 2010, they purchased their own lake in the Greater Tri-Cities region of Michigan. Their first summer at the new lake was in 2011. They ultimately built a home on their new lake, moved in 3 years ago, and sold their longtime home on Sanford Lake.
Their list of tournament accomplishments is impressive.
- Dan is the 2018 World Slalom Champion for the 65+ division
- Dan has two National Championships (2012 and 2014) and seven total podium finishes, including two back-to-back second places finishes by ½ buoy
- Gwen has six Nationals podium finishes, including a 2015 first place runoff that resulted in a silver medal, and is the 2018 USA Water Ski National Champion
- Multiple State Championships and podium finishes
- Multiple Regional Championships and podium finishes
Gwen’s personal best tournament score is 5 buoys at 28 off at 30 mph in 2016 at Hidden Lake.
In 2018, Dan set a tournament PB of 1 buoy at 41 off at 32 mph at the Lake Lynette Ski League. Not only is this an excellent score and accomplishment, it’s interesting to note that it was achieved after Dan has been skiing for about 20 years with a shoulder having a torn rotator cuff/supraspinatus.
Each of them hold multiple records and they continue to set them as recently as last year.
Each has a Midwest Regional Tournament record:
- At the 2018 Midwest Regionals Dan set the Midwest Regional Tournament Men’s 7 record of 2 buoys at 39 off at 32 mph, breaking Jerry Hosner’s 13 year old record.
- At the 2016 Midwest Regionals, Gwen set the Midwest Regional Tournament Women’s 8 record of 1 buoy at 28 off at 30 mph.
Dan and Gwen each hold two Michigan State Championship Tournament records:
- In 2018, Dan set the Men’s 7 record of 2 buoys at 39 off at 32 mph
- In 2016, Gwen set the Women’s 8 record of 1.5 at 28 off at 30 mph
- In 2013, Dan set the Men’s 6 record of 2.5 buoys at 38 off at 34 mph
- In 2011, Gwen set the Women’s 7 record of 2 buoys at 28 off at 30 mph
A little known finish for Dan is his second place spot on the podium at the October 2015 Tivoli Cold Water Shootout – an invitational, head-to-head, Class F tournament. The conditions were brutal, with air and water temperatures in the upper 40s and a 20 mph wind. Dan and the other skiers of all ages battled it out and recorded impressive scores not too far from their averages. Equally obscure is Dan’s single tournament Trick score (with some help organizing his run from Sandy Cummings) of 940 points at Lake Lynette in 2014.
2018 was a noteworthy year for Gwen and Dan. Early in the spring, Gwen had been experiencing pain in her lower back. The pain was severe enough that deep water starts were sometimes enough to cause her to end the pass immediately. An MRI showed many serious back problems, including 3 pinched nerve roots. She decided to try physical therapy instead of surgery. With dedicated physical therapy, Gwen was able to return to skiing, complete the season, and win the USA Water Ski National Championship in Women’s 8 Slalom with a score of 2 buoys at 28 off at 30 mph. But her comeback was not the only triumph for the year. In November, Dan competed in the IWSF World Water Ski Championships in Chile and won the 65+ Men’s Slalom with a score of 2 buoys at 39 off at 32 mph.
Gwen still has tournament jitters, which shows that the sport still brings out the excitement now as it always did. Dan admits to some nerves when a placement as top seed in a tournament applies a little more pressure to his round. And, in his recent World Championship win, the competition was very close – as it frequently is.
In addition to their achievements on the water, each contributes to tournament skiing in Michigan as an official. Tournament directors can count on them, since both conscientiously volunteer as slalom judges and Dan serves as a slalom driver. They both know that the tournaments always need help and appreciate that the tournament organizers provide these competitive opportunities each year. Furthermore, their continuing achievements in the sport often serve as an example of the opportunity to continue to enjoy the sport to its fullest, even setting higher benchmarks after an already successful track record. And, in Gwen’s case, her performance each year is an inspiration to women and girls to venture into the sport for the first time, continue to work on further achievements, and just enjoy a healthy lifestyle while challenging themselves.
Their story demonstrates that the sport can be enjoyed and cultivated wherever enthusiasts choose to take to the water and seek out the challenge and thrill of skiing. As 2019 begins, Dan and Gwen are again ready to enjoy the competition, the company of fellow skiers and friends, family time at the lake, and all that life on the water can be.