O N T H E WAT E R
Champions Are Made Here
HOW THE WORLD'S NUMBER-TWO-RANKED WOMAN WATER SKIER CAME TO TRAIN IN ZACHARY, LOUISIANA By Beth D'Addono
T
ravel down Barnett Road, a winding, wooded thoroughfare off Route 64 about seventeen miles north of Baton Rouge, and the scenery is characteristic of rural Louisiana. Ramshackle houses set back from the road, yard dogs standing sentry. A small convenience store that would be called a corner store if it was in the city and was on a corner. Round a bend, and a small sign announces Bennett’s Waterski and Wakeboard School, set back from the road in Zachary, a town of about twenty thousand residents. Down the road the site unfolds into an impressive beehive of activity. Dozens of sleek Master Craft boats are lined up like dominos, along with a bunch of parked cars and a couple of tractors. There’s a smattering of buildings, the owners’ home, a few rental cottages, dormitories for the kids eight and up who cycle through weekly ski camps all summer, and a swimming pool to keep the kids busy. A well-outfitted shop carries all manner of high-tech gear for water skiers and wakeboarders. Straight ahead, there are several open-air covered patio areas facing the three man-made lakes that dominate the view: two 2100 feet long and one 1400 feet long, expanses of water that rarely sit unrippled. It’s these lakes that draw skiers of all stripes, from the beginners to the college teams to the international athletes that flock here every spring like purple Martins coming home to roost. Bennett’s, owned by Jay and Anne Bennett, started up the road on Fausse Lake back in 1976. The newlyweds, who shared a passion for professional water skiing, wound up taking on two more partners and buying an abandoned catfish farm, which
Photo courtesy of Hanna Straltsova
Artistry of Light By Mary T. Wiley
EAT. DANCE. Louisiana’s oldest chartered harvest festival is back this Labor Day Weekend featuring great food, live music, traditional events, and children’s activities for a FREE, five-day extravaganza. Do not miss this event on the Cajun Coast! Get info and make reservations now.
Repeat!
LOUISIANA
SEPT. 1-5 2022
SHRIMP & PETROLEUM F E S T I VA L
( 8 0 0 ) 2 5 6 - 2 9 3 1 | C a j u n C o a s t . c o m /S & P | # c a j u n c o a s t
Taking Beauty to Security Lighting 225-955-7584 • artistryoflight.com • MARY T. WILEY
MORGAN CITY • BERWICK • PATTERSON
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