INT Tournament

[04196]

Went to an INT event over last weekend and this is what 1/6 ball looked like. There has to be some tolerances in a course and this can't be OK. No one received a re-run nor did anything occur to bring the ball back to a more "straight" position as it was 3' to 4' short or long depending on direction. Several other arms were not straight either but not this bad. Is this actually OK?

 

[Chef23]

That certainly doesn't look correct. I have seen some INT events at sites that don't normally have a course with a temporary installation. That looks like a temporary course with issues. I hope the rollers weren't there when you skied either.

[rfa]

Confusing photo...are the rollers from the boat? they're still at the mini-course buoy and boat already out of the pic. how close are the children to the turn bouy?

But back to your question...I'm assuming it's a floating course. If the turn buoy arm is bent then this is "not ok". Another possible explanation is that the turn buoy and gate are aligned, BUT one of the gate buoys is loose and just floating freely. This is a common symptom when buoy lines are not the same length. Hopefully, for the sake of the skiers, this was the issue and the turn buoy was in the right place.

[The_MS]

River current?

[04196]

Rollers are from the boat during a crew change so boat was outside of the course to the top at this picture headed to the right, think they were running at 28mph at this point. Waves dissipated quickly and were not a factor at all. There was some current in the channel but it was actually going the OTHER way??? Go figure. Portable course in only for the tournament, the gate and boat guide balls looked straight and lined up but this arm in particular seemed quite out of tolerance. I thought the kids were way to close and should not have been allowed in the water, especially at the turn side ball(s), one nasty fall and/or a ski coming off shooting like a rocket and would not have been good, luckily no issues. I also felt this was a possible distraction to the skiers coming in to 1 ball. Just checking opinions as I have not attended an INT tournament before and was amazed no one seemed concerned about the alignment of the ball.

[Horton]

INT does their own thing and it's not always the same as what you expect at a USA water ski tournament.

[packski]

I like courses like those. You guys don't know what you're missing. One buoy comes up on you fast and the next takes way toooo long to get to. Called Ninja Skiing.

[LeonL]

There is a tolerance for every buoy, thus they don't have to be in perfect alignment. Having said that, and this being a temp floating course, I'd say the thing is way off. If the organizers and/or INT find this acceptable they're just not very serious about putting on a tournament.

[Splasheye]

While I don't doubt that that course is off.....I've lost count of how many times as homologator and TC I've had to explain to a judge that a course that LOOKS way off is actually well within tolerance. To illustrate I use pictures like these

The slalom ball is EXACTLY where it should be

One gate ball is maximum length tolerance and the other is minimum length tolerance

 

 

A lot of judges will line up the two gate balls and be shocked by how "out" the slalom ball is (in this view it 'looks' to be about 6 feet out of position when it is perfect)

 

 

 

[BraceMaker]

I think the cheater ball tells some story here however. If that mid ball is on a pvc arm with the turn balls I'd wager that the pvc arm broke outside the boat guide.

[Edbrazil]

If this is a floater course properly installed, the gate buoys should be square to the course centerline, thanks to the "diamond" on the cable. So, you could have a current pushing the PVC arm (even a 1/2 mile current), and/or PVC that just has a curve in it. I can agree that a bit of skew in the gates (bottom-anchored courses) can make the skier buoy look like it is off by FEET. A skew of 2 inches between the gate buoys makes for a perfect skier buoy look like it is about one foot off. I have examples. Not EZ to get the gate buoys in perfect alignment longitudinally. And, there is a HUGE tolerance on that dimension. See the AWSA Rules and the diagram in the back of it: Page 100.

[ToddK]

First I'd like to thank Jac and all her crew for all their hard work last weekend putting on the INT at Crescent Bar Riverfest! From my prospective they worked their butts off to provide the best event possible with challenges they had no control over and produced one heck of a fun time!

 

Here's the deal how I understand it.

 

For events at Crescent Bar the course is setup in a channel that is normally a no wake zone that leads into the back side of the marina. I don't think this area normally gets much boat traffic and the channel has heavy milfoil in several places. I was told my the boat driver it was a challenge to put the course in due to the milfoil. The arms for the balls would get caught up in the milfoil. What seemed to add to the problem was the water level (PUD controlled) was on the low side for practice on Friday and noticeably lower for the event on Saturday. It seemed to me as the water level dropped the milfoil spread out and moved a few balls a bit out of place.

 

 

 

 

[RichardDoane]

There is no TC for an INT event. But if the course was the same for all the skiers then not a big deal. @04196. Join us at any Western WA sanctioned event and you'll get better sites, courses, and driving.

[Deanoski]

All they need is a river coarse.

 

Lots of current in that channel