Bennett Night Jam LA Night Jam 2009 at Bennett’s: Extreme Sports Meet Family Fun
By Amy Bing, Bennett’s Boat & Ski
On June 6, the LA Night Jam will make a return to the Baton Rouge area. This event combines the thrill of extreme sports competition with the fun of a family festival.
Set under a stadium lit lake, local vendors, musicians, athletes and fans will gather as the best waterski jumpers in the world qualify for their chance to compete in the LA Night Jam finals.
This adrenaline-pumping show will demonstrate athletes hitting the ramp at around 70mph, before flying through the darkness to reach unbelievable distances.
Returning this year is the United States’ own Freddy Krueger, night jump record holder with a leap of 230 feet. Local favorites like Damien Sharman and Stephen Critchley will also be competing.
In addition, last year’s female champion, June Fladborg of Denmark, will battle it out with Bennett’s own Danyelle Bennett.
“I’m really excited to be hosting this event in my own backyard. It will be a great opportunity for the community to experience our sport while having an entertaining night out,” Bennett said.
Spectator Sport
How does someone make waterskiing a spectator sport? This is what three essential waterski industry gurus sat down to ponder one evening. Jay Bennett of Bennett’s Waterski and Wakeboard School, Aarne Clow of Mastercraft Boats and Chris Sullivan of Radar Skis sat down and asked, “How can we make this better?”
While having professional waterski jumpers fly up a 6’ ramp at 70mph and soar through the air over 200’ in distance sounded fairly exciting, they wanted to add a little something extra. Finally they realized the answer was simple: Turn out the lights.
Since then the LA Night Jam began to develop. Only a handful of ski sites around the word have attempted such a setting due to the dangerous possibilities of skiing at night.
Bennett and professional extreme distance jumper Freddy Kruger fixed the lighting and tried, tested and strategically locked down everything into their prime position many times over. After months of blood, sweat and tears, the 2008 LA Night Jam came to be.
Not only did the event draw 4,000 spectators, it became the most successful stop on the MasterCraft Professional Waterski tour in 2008.
The 2009 LA Night Jam will open at 5 p.m. on June 6 and the finals will begin at 8 p.m. General admission tickets cost $5 and VIP tickets cost $25. For more information, contact Amy Bing at 654-9406 or amy@skibennetts.com . To purchase tickets, visit www.lanightjam.com .