Ski Club Welcomes the New Year on Lake Saint Louis

"My face didn't even get wet," Tom Frikovic said as a friend put a towel around his shoulders.

Tom and his son Tim were the first water skiers on Lake Saint Louis in 2012. Frikovic commented that it wasn't bad going east, but "as soon as you turned around, oh baby! You got the splash from the boat and everything."

The Lake Saint Louis Water Ski Club has made an informal tradition of skiing on the first day of each year. This year's event at Windjammer Pointe got off to a delayed start when club members discovered that high winds the last few days had damaged a dock and pushed it over into the boat ramp

A rope secured around the wayward dock quicky pulled it out of the way, and the ski boat was ready for business.

Young skier Jordan, age 9, shivered in a towel and stared out at the whitecaps stirred up by a blustery wind. Although she was on the ski team this past summer, it would be her first New Year's Day attempt.

"She said she wanted to do it," her father said. Later, while both her parents were helping her with her skis, Jordan had a change of heart about braving the icy waters.

But I suspect we'll be seeing her back at Windjammer Pointe on Jan. 1, 2013.