• Paul Seatons Ski School (UK) to close

    From T Chante@21:1/5 to John Chapple on Sat Mar 6 13:04:03 2021
    On Sunday, 13 September 1998 at 08:00:00 UTC+1, John Chapple wrote:
    After skiing there regularly for some tens of years, I haven't skiied
    now for over a year for various reasons. However I understand that the
    school will not exist after this year. This may have already been
    discussed in this group, I don't take this group.
    Paul Seaton has (apparently) been unable to renegociate a satisfactory
    lease with the owners.
    Paul Seaton's site is well known amongst British skiers since its
    opening in 1975 at the world championship, which co-incidentally
    signalled the end of Pauls professional career as a waterskier in a
    tragic accident.
    I have enjoyed many years skiing there myself, and have watched such UK skiers as Sarah Gatty Saunt (with her abnoxious brother(s) <g>) start
    there. (Not that Sarah herself was abnoxious!). For many years, this was
    the home site for Karen Morse & Phillipa Roberts. In particular, I
    remember Tom Williams. Mike Munn was Ski Manager there for many years.
    He now has his own site in the States.
    I remember the ski show that was held to entertain the visitors to
    Thorpe Park. This was a fairly casual affair with regular members with a
    few of the available professional skiers called on to perform!
    More recently, Paul took over the running of the Cable Tow from the Park
    & this has seen an increase in activity, partly because (I presume) of
    the increased interest here in Wake Boarding but also (I believe)
    because of the enthusiasm of the Cable Manager, Dan.
    Within the last few years, Paul has a ski school within a ski school in
    the shape of Shawn Bronson's Ski School. Run by Shawn of course!
    Overcoming great difficulties, Shawn has provided independent
    waterskiing coaching with his own facilities.
    Up till quite recently, Paul Seatons School also was the UK site for
    Correct Craft Boats.
    From the competitive point of view, perhaps the most memorable
    competition (of all?) at Thorpe was the Seaton Classic. Held at a time
    when even British Skiiers were thinking it was about the time of year to stop! Sometimes the weather was balmy, but sometimes it was not! I well remember shivering on some meter tower or trying to watch for the buoy
    timing in the boat as the rain pelted down. Such was the general pace of
    the competition that if you were a competitor and fell in the course on
    the wrong side of the lake, unless you were a very strong swimmer, it
    wasn't worth the risk of being run down by the next boat trying to make
    it back across the course! The rules of the competition were based on a handicap system. This had to be changed over the years: I well remember
    one eventual winner of the slalom competition waving to the crowd in the middle of casually completing his third winning pass!
    Paul Seaton himself has always remained a bit of an enigma to me. I
    always found I knew more about the instructors than I ever knew about
    Paul! however, I always thought (personally) that the school lost
    something when he moved with his family to primarily reside in Canada.
    The school is still open I believe for skiing, but how long it will
    remain so I don't know.
    John Chapple
    'There are too many bright lights going out'
    Dave Powers
    I worked there one season (87) before moving on the live in Cornwall. Paul was one of the most decent men I've ever met. That alone probably makes him an enigma.

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