Cruising In the Wake of Injury

By MEGAN BARRON

Cleaver Guest Writer

HARRISON – With the Olympic Games underway and currently uniting athletes across the world in Paris, the spirit of competition and incredulity of strength, finesse, and power echoes within the hearts of countless viewers. For many retired generations of athletes, the heart and fervor of youthful athleticism re-awakens amidst this overarching and emotive milestone in time.

At 81 years of age, Bill Dixon epitomizes this spirit and passion for sport, and has the patent to prove it. As a long time, summer resident of Long Lake, Dixon began his journey in the state of Michigan after graduating from the University of Florida when he came to work for Ford as an engineer. He worked with Ford for over 30 years and earned two patents with the company relating to their retractable seatbelt systems.

“I’d never seen Michigan before when I came up here to work, so the snow was a new experience for me, and I liked it,” Dixon said. “But I never got the sand out of my shoes.”

Dixon was a competitive water skier in his youth and has remained an avid water skier over the years. It was only recently that he ran into a roadblock participating in the sport he is so passionate about when roughly three years ago he fell down a well pit, injuring his shoulder.

“It took a year or so to heal, and in the meantime, I wasn’t doing any skiing. Slalom is what I like to do best - when I was younger I did it competitively on a novice level, so skiing on one ski is my passion. But there is a lot of force on the shoulders, and I just couldn’t do it. And down on the lake, two years ago, they put in a slalom course. So, man, that was ideal. But trying to do that and favoring my bad shoulder messed up my good shoulder. So, two bad shoulders - I was in a pickle. And I wasn’t about to give up skiing, so I came up with this what I call the ‘Ski Cruise System.’ It allows me to ski just like I normally ski on a slalom, but it puts no load on my shoulders at all. My hands hold on to the rope, but they are not attached to my shoulder anymore because of this invention,” Dixon shared.

The invention utilizes a flexible, curved handle that is attached to a pair of ski gloves that hooks on to the ski tow rope via the grip of the skier.

“As long as you squeeze snugly it won’t let go, but if you relax it will release the tow rope. So that’s the idea of the safety so it does not stay attached to you,” Dixon explains.

This grip strap system then attaches to a belt strap system that curves around the torso of the skier via the life vest jacket. This strap is adjustable via a buckle that allows the skier to customize the length, so it is just shorter than their arm when held straight out. With the gripper attached to the tow rope handle, the strap system redistributes the pull to the person’s torso so that their shoulders are no longer taking the load.

“Especially starting up on slalom there is a lot of pull - really a lot of pull on your shoulders,” Dixon notes. “This takes the pull on the straps instead of your shoulders.”

Dixon has even customized the system with a buckle so that the straps on the life vest keep the rope length in control while making turns so the rope does not get too long, maintaining that relief of force pulling on one’s shoulders.

After designing and building a personal use prototype, Dixon and his family tried out his one-of-a-kind system and found that it worked incredibly well. With his heart and passion invested in its thoughtful design, Dixon worked with a patent attorney down in Florida with the hopes of someday being able to share his invention with others.

“What the system is all about is making water skiing more fun for millions of good skiers,” Dixon said. “That’s the thing, you don’t have to be a bad skier to use it – you can be a good skier and you can get some advantage from this. Making water skiing possible for skiers with some limitations. Minimizing the tug of war and improving endurance.”

Dixon’s invention was awarded a United States patent on August 29, 2023, roughly a year after the initial idea and sketches were drawn up.

“This guy has applied for thousands of patents, and he called me one day and said ‘I told you when you were in the office that the first thing they are going to do is reject the patent, and then I will have to go argue for the thing. This is the first time they didn’t send a rejection and they just patented it,’” Dixon spoke of the remarkable experience with his patent attorney.

Dixon has named his invention The Ski Cruise System.

“They thought I should call it the Water Sport Support System, but I didn’t think that sounded very cool,” Dixon laughed. “I like the Ski Cruise System better because you can be skiing along, working hard skiing, and just relax - let the load off your shoulders, and you can actually rest while you’re skiing around.”

Dixon’s passion for water skiing is woven into his inventive design, and while the initial thought behind the invention was geared toward older generations of skiers, he keenly observes that it holds a great deal of diversity and potential for all water skiers alike in its respect.

“I would like to see the older skiers get inspired to keep skiing because it is fantastic exercise and I just think skiing a lot has helped me get older, better,” Dixon’s heart and vision shone through as he spoke. “But it’s also a great family thing. Together we taught our kids to ski, and our kids are teaching their kids now, and won’t be long before my grandkids are teaching theirs.”

After being awarded his patent, Dixon aspires to work with a manufacturer to build some good prototypes that could eventually be turned into production versions for manufacturing in the United States.

“I’m an engineer. I’m not a salesman,” Dixon chuckled. “So, I really don’t know how to go out and market this. I would like to find a manufacturer who would build some good prototypes, and if they work out good then make production versions. I know the concept works, and whoever has tried it in my family has confirmed that it works, it does what it’s supposed to do. It’s compatible with any competitive ski vest - you could take any competitive ski vest and modify it to use this system. It needs more development to be ready to go into a store and buy a system. So, I need somebody who knows about marketing and manufacturing to run with it, and I just haven’t had time to look into that yet.”

As Dixon begins searching for opportunities to manufacture and market his Ski Cruise System, anyone with manufacturing capabilities and know-how with an interest in his exceptional and exclusive system is welcome to reach out to The Clare County Cleaver’s office at (989)539-7496 and we can connect you with Mr. Dixon.