What's the history with starting at 15 off?

[hemlock]

Sorry if this been discussed before. I've searched but couldn't find any info.

Since I first started skiing, it's always been 15' off as the rope length.

And you started at a certain speed.

But was there ever a time, where tournaments used the full 75' foot length in the course?

And when/why did they decide to chop off the last 15' feet?

Just curious. :smile:

[eleeski]

I'm old enough to have skied long line. You had to make maximum speed to earn a shortening. And the boat didn't stop, it spun until the top speed was run.

 

15 off was thought to be easier. A rule change allowed the choice of 15 off as an optional sta speed in the late 70s or early 80s.

 

Optional set downs were a later rule change. Prima donnas that always set down suffered back then in tournaments.

 

The rope cuts have been in place since the 70s at least (with adjustment to convert to metric in the 70s or 80s) but earlier line cuts were different. There were multiple cuts other than just 15 off.

 

@Edbrazil probably knows more as well as the rationales behind these rules.

 

Eric

[MISkier]

I believe in the 60s the cuts were something like -12, -18, -24, -30, -36.

[BraceMaker]

3 and 6 foot by the yard cuts would be sensible.

[Edbrazil]

MISkier has the old-time loops correct. For a while, the AWSA even had 33 off, as it was recognized the step from 30 off to 36 off was a big one. And, in the Back When, you couldn't opt up, but had to start at the base speed/line. When Warren Witherell scored about a zillion points at the 1960 Bay State Open, starting probably at 24 mph with 75 foot line. Think that he ran something like 14 complete passes, plus a few more buoys. Although, that wouldn't have been all at one time; as you ran 4 complete passes, you came in, and then went out later to compete against the others who had run all 4. More differences, of course, such as foot-dimensioned course, likely not surveyed. 8 points per pass, as the gates counted for a point. Long endgates at the same spacing as the buoy-to-buoy space, which was 135 feet at the time (45 yards). And top speed for Men was 34, not 36. The current metric dimensions with AWSA would have started about 1975. I believe that the World Rules always had metric, and did not have the 23m longline. One of the big differences then, along with not allowing left-hand jumping.