Width of boat lane?

[Orlando76]

I'm a noob on the course, this is my first summer on it, please forgive me for stupid question.... Is the boat lane always 7'6" wide? Is wider permitted? I'm putting together a 2nd course. We're currently skiing an older, existing course that I keep forgetting to measure but the lane seems wider than 7'6" as we drive the TSC1 through it.

[Edbrazil]

Here is the diagram from the AWSA Rule Book, attached as a .doc file. Lots of dimensions,

metric and foot, plus tolerances.

[Edbrazil]

 

In the Back When, the boat gate lane was 12 feet wide. And buoys were large, or whatever

you could turn into buoys, like Clorox jugs. Probably before AWSA official buoys. And, there

was only 1 or 2 interior boatgates. And, the endgates were the same distance as the buoy to

buoy gates. But, that was the Back When.

 

If this is a practice course, and your driver(s) can hold a good centerline, gate lane width is not

all that important.

[Horton]

Narrow boat guides have to be better than wider

[eleeski]

The AWSA spec is 7' 6 1/2" +- 9" (2.30m +-.23). Note that the skier gates are wider, 8' 2 1/2" (2.5m).

 

I find metric measurements are much easier to work with in the field and most long tapes have a metric side. AWSA rule book - a free download from the USA waterski site - has all the specs - in both.

 

Always shoot for the center of tolerance. By rule you must! Wider is a really bad idea as you want the best boat path to ski behind. My very first course I set was during a boat weaving scandal. So I set my boat guides at the tighter side of tolerance to make sure that couldn't happen at my lake. I replaced a lot of boat guides on that course.

 

Eric