Goode PowerVest First Ride

[Horton]

I took one ride with the PowerVest today.

 

A number of you guys said the deep water starts were super hard – I guess they could be if you are not paying attention. I am happy someone said something so I paid extra attention but it was not an issue. NOT super hard.

 

The adjustment is critical on the strap length so I errored on the long side and shortened the straps every few passes. This may not be the best method but it eliminated surprises. I did not actually get the adjustment short enough by the end of the ride but I learned a lot.

 

I did feel the vest take the load at the wakes but like I said I did not get the adjustment right yet.

 

Bottom line is it was my first ride so I am just getting started.

 

More next week. Definitely interesting

[dchristman]

Where's the video? VID-E-O VID-E-O VID-E-O!

[Horton]

@dchristman think we got some. Was also doing Trace test work today.

[Horton]

I took my second set with the vest today. Sadly no video again. I skied with @ripa38 and my Wakeye does not fit on his 196 (or I am doing something wrong - 50/50 chance)

 

On my first set I had the straps too long. I now have the straps so the vest takes just a bit of load at the wakes if I am stacked. I think they could be a bit shorter to take some more load. It will take a few more rides to work that out.

 

It seems that when I am in a really stacked position the vest does less. So it is telling me if I am separated or not. I like that. It also gives me a surprising amount of speed on my gate pullout. You need to pull out a little earlier with the PowerVest. Ultimately the vest is intended to take load at the wakes so I will shorten up a little for the next ride.

 

Funny thing that I love is when you exit the gates you just relax and breath. Silly but that is were you are reminded that you are doing so little work.

 

The arm straps are a bit of a pain. I skied without a rash guard or wetsuit today and the straps rubbed me a bit and then one of the stainless buckles pinched the underside of my bicep. I have a bruise but nothing to cry about. I will wear a top from now on and move that stainless buckle.

 

Goode strongly recommends wearing a rash guard over the vest for safetry. I have not gotten my head around that yet.

 

At this point I do not see any big down side and a lot of upside to the vest.

 

More to come.

[thager]

It is cheating!!! Brahahahahhhh.....

[Horton]

@thager then I would expect you to have 2. If it was cheating but legal somehow then why does everyone not have one. Is a all carbon ski cheating. No that is silly as are you @thager

[thager]

Sticks and stones @Horton. Just pulling your chain. So easy peasey! Where is the video?

Please take video!!!

[skidawg]

@horton is old and soft!!

[KRoundy]

What do you mean by "pay attention" on the deep water start? Congrats at getting back out there. It's been a long recovery.

[Steven_Haines]

I've used the PV for quite a while. All you need is a rash guard

[mwetskier]

purpose of the sleeves or rash guard over the vest is to prevent the straps from hanging up on something like a vest buckle and causing a fall or injury. so i recommend not using anything over the straps and be sure to video every pass.

[Horton]

@KRoundy it's just a really different deepwater start. I don't really know how to describe it but the pull the boat is just different. It's not a big deal but if you're not expecting it you might fall and then your ski buddies will laugh at you.

[eleeski]

The cheating part of the vest is how little energy you can expend to get up. Sit back a bit and let the straps do all the lifting. It's different but not particularly difficult.

 

My ski buddies already laugh at me - the vest doesn't make a difference.

 

Eric

 

PS It does scratch up the arms. I wonder if the sleeves over the straps cure that?

[Dirt]

@eleeski If you don't wear the sleeves, you risk getting dragged if the handle gets into the straps

[Horton]

I will for sure not use the vest again without a long sleeve rash guard underneath. I spent $30 today on cyclist Lycra sleeves to go over my forearms for the safety issue. Minor Details.

 

Silly me just looked in the box and Goode sent me sleeves so I did not need my own. Not the dumbest thing I have done this week. So I will always wear a long sleeve rash guard or something underneath and the Goode supplied sleeves over the top.

[bojans]

@Horton can you elaborate on the deep water starts? Getting out of the water is the hardest part on my low back (3 back surgeries in now). When I am hurting I use drop skis at each end, thinking a powervest may be less embarrassing.

[Horton]

@bojans I'll try to shoot a video or take some pictures that shows what I'm talking about. The pull of the boat is strong on your shoulders and I can see how it would be easy to roll out the front on your start.

 

The vest may very much help you but I don't know

[ozski]

If the vest is cheating then pro locks are cheating as well right? I use 1 prolock to look after my right elbow but it does not get me around any more buoys... Horton, the vest is buoy count neutral in your opinion? I can't see how it would be anything else.

[Horton]

@ozski I do not know. I have all of 2 rides with it and I am just starting to ski after 10 months off. What I do know is that with the vest you can ski a LOT more passes and that you can hold on to a ton of crap without getting hurt. I also have mixed feelings about the vest for Head to head events where endurance is a real factor. It is a endurance advantage for old men.... sort of like a little blue pill we have all heard about :)

[Deep11]

Sounds great for a weeks ski holiday where you are generally wrecked after day 3

[eleeski]

@Dirt We face many risks when we so anything athletic. The scratching on the arms is real - I'll wear the shirt under the vest. The sleeves over is new. I haven't gotten any notification from Goode (yet) so I wonder if this is more a theoretical worry than an actual risk. I've never come close in my three years of use but I haven't taken any horrible yard sale crashes. It may be a performance issue as well - I know that the rubber bands on my Clincher style gloves make them much more user friendly.

 

@bojans I'm not sure exactly what I do different to get up but there is almost zero load on my back getting up if I am patient, sit back and let the straps and back plate do the work. The lowered load on the starts is one of the best parts of the vest.

 

@ozski I lost a few buoys with the vest. Perhaps the injuries took a toll. Perhaps I'm just getting old. I'm struggling with my focus now so the vest is certainly not to blame for my current LOFT (lack of ... talent). The vest did limit my comfort with my reach which may have cost a couple buoys. I was never able to add any power to feel earlier or get other advantages. One nice thing was the ability to absorb a huge hit without getting hurt - whether this could help my buoy count ...? But I never did well after the big hits.

 

Don't jump with it - it's a weird pull.

 

Eric

[Steven_Haines]

@Horton‌, if you do take any video, please include you trying to get those stupid sleeves on over the straps! I tried but gave up immediately! I've had the PV since 2009 and have never had a problem with the straps hanging up on anything. But...I typically try to throw the handle if I feel like things are getting dicey.

[acmx]

The trick with the sleeves, is to leave them on the straps above your gloves no need to take them off. When your getting ready to ski slide your hands/arms through the sleeves and straps, leave gloves dangling while you put your ski on, then put gloves on. You won't have to keep up with the sleeves that way, because they just stay on the straps above the gloves.

[Steven_Haines]

I like that trick @acmx ! Now tell me how to keep my arms from falling asleep while using the sleeves? Lol

[acmx]

@Steven Haines , I have pretty large forearms and never had a problem with that. I think the sleeves come in different sizes, maybe you need bigger sleeves?

[sailworks]

Hello all. As PV user (and advocate) for several years - I have a few "for whatever its worth" comments about some things that I have learned the hard way and might make life easier for anyone just exploring PV:

1. Molding the back plate makes for a much more comfortable and supportive, (and stylish) fit. Oven at 250, monitor closely, gets very soft very quickly (walk away and you'll wish you hadn't) ... put back in vest and wrap with 6 inch ace til cools.

2. I found deep water ups a real problem at first - Until focused on a couple things - up accompanied by a lot of load on straps, body, boat, and infact kept breaking the back plate. (If that happens, finally found a way to fix and reinforce the plate). Thing that made ups easy for me with PV: make sure straps are long enough to get hands and handle in front of knees as soon as line loads from the boat, use a very firm "up" / acceleration from the boat, and most important - let rear foot heel immediately collapse (fully flexed knee) against rear foot buttock; then ski planes off immediately and all problems and high drag loads go away:)

3. Drag of strap through vest apparatus is the biggest "operational downside" to the vest. This can be greatly diminished by replacing the gizmo that comes with the vest with two small eye bolts with straps through the eyes on the back of the plate, and nut and bolt cut short and padded on the inside. It's also possible to find slipperier straps at hardware store. Also helps to put some packing tape on the margin/edge of the back plate along the axis of the straps to decrease sliding friction and reduce abrasive wear on straps.

4. Strap length: Straps that are too short are dangerous. This has worked for me: with arms at side, extend the wrist and adjust straps til this position just engages tension in the straps - then small adjustments from there. Another check: adjust such that when in "full lean", (try on dry land) straps are tensioned with elbows just a touch shy of full extension - this will allow full stack and really unload unhappy upper extremity joints, and pass load thru the plate to hips.

5. Consider a snap shackle on non dominant end of strap - then can "clip in" to the glove D ring at last moment and unclip at end of set or after crash - much easier in and out of boat, swimming, looking less geeky. The D ring on the glove will rotate 90 degrees - no downside there. By keeping the opening on the snap shackle towards wrist/ forearm - I can't see any way for the rope, handle, or anything else getting tangled in a crash. I have used this for three years .. no issues.

6. With clincher gloves, I do think there is some risk of little finger hanging at junction of handle and rope with conventional handle. I have used radius handle and no problem. Consider sewing or taping glove tip of little finger to the ring finger. Absolutely no downside and will protect little finger. I have not tried without the dowels in the glove, but it seems to me that discarding dowels would remove a lot of the "mechanical advantage" of the whole set up. (But maybe I will try it - as others recommend)

6. I never use the arm bands. Individual user has to decide if that's safe. Never had any incident that even considered "close call". I do ski with shorty. The metal fastener that secures the straps at desired lengths can scratch on wet suit on ups - duck tape prevents.

7. I don't think PV will make anyone ski better, but just a lot longer, while protecting a lot of the things that get wacked as we ski.

8. I have some pics, but still can't quite figure how to post:)

9. Sorry long post. I hope some part of this helps someone exploring PV.

[Steven_Haines]

@acmx, ya you might be right! I must admit, they seem like a pia to me. So far so good without them

[disland]

@sailworks lets see those pictures. @horton can help you just pm him

[rawly]

Ordered my Power Vest last week . Skiing this weekend for the first time in 9 months . A repaired shoulder and chemo ( skin cancer ) has kept me sidelined . Maybe I could try yours @ Horton if mine doesn't show up today ? For what it's worth , I let them know Horton sent me . Oh yeah , I also get to test my new 2016 Radar Vapor !!

[Horton]

@rawly I'm on the East Coast this weekend. If you can wait till next week I could help you get it all adjusted. You probably want the arm straps shorter than you think and Goode recommends that you wear the waist belt looser than you would think.

[rawly]

Thanks John. If back feels Ok , I will ski. If not , I will wait till the vest shows up.

[rawly]

Tried my Power vest today. Thanks for setting it up @Horton. And thanks for testing the vest. The chatter on this sight is why I bought it. Thanks guys. Had an epidural for low back pain last Friday. Putting off surgery as long as I can. Dr told me to consider avoiding waterskiing , the vest told me otherwise. Guess what , the vest was right. Pain level did not go up after skiing. If you have back issues , and want to continue skiing , try one of these out. $600 is nothing compared to the alternative.

[Horton]

@rawly happy to hear it worked out. Sorry I missed you today.

[waterskicorey]

Tore my tricep 13 weeks ago, had surgery to reattach it 11 weeks ago and skied on Friday with power vest, it felt great, I have used the vest in the past getting over injuries, it is a great tool to use to keep on the water as you heal up. I don't use the clincher type gloves, had some normal gloves made up to work with the power vest.

[JAG]

I used mine for the 1st time this past Sunday.

 

I've had on/off lower back problems for years. Sometimes, I'll come around 1 in a bad position and the hit from the boat locks me up and I'm done. So I was looking for some alternative to my often bad form.

 

It took me a few tries to get up, but once on the water I was immediately impressed. Extend the arms to full strap length and the load moves to your legs. It sort of feels like your arms aren't even holding onto anything.

 

I can make a few cuts, then take a breather. Without it, the load is always there, slowly wearing you down.

 

I wore a rash guard mainly to stay a bit warmer (water temp was 60F) but never really felt the straps rubbing on anything.

 

On our lake (open skiing), one full pass around (about three miles) and you're burning. Actually, I'm done 2/3 of the way, but I motioned to go around again, because it felt so effortless. I'm going to ski again tonight, hoping to get more comfortable.

 

I think it's pretty cool. A well thought out piece of equipment. I'm glad I spent the money for sure.

rpg