Penticton (BC), Canada – Water ramping is a crucial aspect of freestyle ski training. Whether they compete in aerials, moguls, halfpipe or slopestyle, athletes must practice and qualify inverted tricks on a water ramp or air bag before they can perform them in competition on snow. Freestyle ski team members spend a good portion of their summer training on water ramps.

But it’s extremely costly to develop a ramping facility complete with ramps, kickers and a pool to land in.

In British Columbia, Canada, there is only one water ramp, located at the base of Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler. This poses a challenge, particularly for club athletes who want to qualify jumps but may not have the time or resources to make repeated trips to Whistler.

Kenni Kuroda, head coach of the Apex Freestyle Club knew his club didn’t have enough money to acquire land and build a permanent ramp site, but he was committed to giving Okanagan athletes the opportunity to ramp all summer long. And this former World Cup competitor and one-time professional freestyle skier was determined that logistics wouldn’t quash his dreams. So, he came up with the ingenious idea to create a floating water ramp that could be housed on a barge and would be portable by trailer.

“As far as we know there are no other floating water ramps in the world,” said Canadian Freestyle Ski Association COO Bruce Robinson. Nevertheless, Kuroda’s dream seemed to make sense and garnered significant support from various quarters.

Trademark Industries generously agreed to provide one of their barges for the project – a former military landing craft and troop carrier. Numerous people including Kuroda’s club parents came forward with donations of time and money.

As a bonus, the barge has twin diesel engines and can travel at 12 knots, which means the ramp can be transported easily from location to location in the water.

By mid-August Kuroda’s ramp was ready to set sail.

The first trial jumps surpassed even Kuroda’s dreams and he quickly earned CFSA sanctioning for his invention.

“We’re really excited about what we’ve created,” said Kuroda of the ramp that has virtually identical specifications to one of the Whistler kickers. “We have a single jump and a dock that secures to the barge with a coaching platform. And we have even planned for compressors if we determine down the line that we will need bubbles to break the surface tension of the water – but so far, because there are always a few ripples on the water, hard landings haven’t been an issue.”

Kuroda believes that his invention has applications far beyond his Okanagan enclave and he said that down the road he might consider selling the plans for the floating ramp. But for now he’s just looking forward to seeing his own club members reach their potentials and the podium thanks to their water training.

For his part, Robinson said that Kuroda’s floating ramp will make freestyle skiing more accessible to a greater number of skiers. “It’s going to be great for the sport, and facilities like this are going to become more and more important as we see the tidal wave of interest from young kids in our new Olympic disciplines, ski slopestyle and ski halfpipe.”

The Apex Freestyle Club officially opens its new ramp at 9 a.m. this Saturday at Hobo (Esplanade) Beach on Okanagan Lake, in Penticton. Canadian World Cup Aerial superstar Steve Omischl and National Mogul Team darling Kristi Richards will be on hand for the opening ceremonies.

Anyone with a valid CFSA membership is eligible to jump. Membership is  available at www.freestyleski.com. One-and-a-half hour ramping sessions cost C$10 per person and are available on Saturday and Sunday.