New extremely portable slalom course

[E_T]

Open water course just got a step up in the world. http://rodicsinnovation.com/products/offcourse/

[DaveD]

Awesome idea. Eliminates injuries from running over bouys too.

 

Can it be programmed to also shoot at wave runners that are bothering you?

[UWSkier]

How do you know where the entry gates and 55s are? If you get drilled by one of these things, does it feel like a bare-skin hit by a paintball?

[keithh2oskier]

I would be scared the @ROBOTs would turn and start firing directly at me. No need to get a nut shot with a paintball.

[skihart]

Love it! When can i try it?

[BraceMaker]

Whats the wind drift like? Id figure needs really calm water to see the strike and avoid error.

 

Neat idea for sure, particularly if the markers are plain normal size balls. Id want to be able to go bulk CO2 if that was going off down the lake.

[ROBOT]

Slalom skiing with an endless course? OffCourse™!

Are you tired of spending more time preparing your slalom course then actually skiing? Then listen up, a new way of the slalom skiing we all love is around the corner. Introducing the OffCourse™, a revolutionizing way to roam the water, creating a slalom course on the fly.

The time of big, heavy and inconvenient slalom courses are over, thanks to Swedish company Rodics Innovation. All you need to do is start your boat, plug in the OffCourse™ and you are all set. The OffCourse™ is a patent-pending device that creates a slalom course by creating water splashes where the buoys usually would be. It’s powered by carbon dioxide cartridges, that continuously fires away projectiles to the water which shows you where to turn.

Rodics Innovation has not held back in the making of the OffCourse™, using aircraft grade aluminum and high-quality Swedish stainless-steel to ensure that the device holds for the impact that comes with skiing like a badass. Also, all the projectiles used are totally biodegradable which keeps the water clean even after all the havoc you’ve caused from riding it. The OffCourse™ is a result of years of work, late nights and countless testing sessions. It’s created by enthusiasts driven by a passion to change the way of water skiing as we know it. Making you able to roam the water like never before with a sense of total freedom, leaving no traces behind. It’s just you and the lake, like it should be.

Find out more about the OffCourse™ at Rodics Innovation’s website or on Facebook 

Pre-orders are already available – and the release date is set at May 2019. 

[One_Ski]

This is the most awesome concept I've seen in a long time. Until virtual reality becomes available, this is the next best thing. I'm interested!

[jhughes]

Really cool.

[Wish]

This is very cool. Folks moved to a lake that will NEVER have a slalom course. So when I'm there, free skiing is the only option. But it does have skiers and ski boats.

 

Would love to see it head down a slalom course at speed and see how close it comes to hitting buoys. Either way, 1000x closer to a slalom course then none allowed in a lot of lakes and getting worse. Sign me up as a test dummy.

[LoopSki]

if they can get the splash to turn red and add gates it will be really cool

[Orlando76]

I’m Almost sold but Again, gates and 55’s? Access to a course no matter who you are, hopefully less and easier/cheaper maintenance. Always glass water. Wifey won’t get tired of going to the same lake because it’s the only one with a course. Realistically priced.

[Sethro]

Very interesting. We don't have 55's anyway so that part I'm not worried about. Can't wait to hear more about this.

[lpskier]

No more concern about keeping the boat in the “middle.”

[Mickski]

Those Swedes have some good ideas. Love my Saab and would seriously consider this for the public lake I live on!

[jhughes]

If you think about it, the 55s and the gate are just timing cues. You could almost have those be a light on the boat (configurable) that blinks when the 55s are X feet from the boat and then again when the gates are at a certain point on the boat. Then the GPS can start firing balls out from there.

[Horton]

You guys are making this too complicated. This is never really going to replace a fixed slalom course but it's a fantastic training tool for people who don't have access to one. My assumption is the first ball is off to the left and that is your zero ball and you go from there. I'm not going to practice my 38 off gate like that but if you are just trying to learn to ski better it's way better than nothing.

[andjules]

When I dreamt of robots with guns, paintball and slalom courses never occurred to me.

This is awesomely creative (and perhaps ridiculously impractical, but hey, here's to innovation).

[Andre]

What is it shoothing exactly ?

 

[liquid d]

I love the idea of having dual paintball machine guns on my boat! So many uses, so little time!

[wilecoyote]

HOLY COW! I started working on something very similar about 3 years ago. I bought the paintball guns, built the control board, and wrote the arduino program, but that's as far as I got. It's been sitting on the back burner ever since. My program relied strictly on timing, no GPS so this one is better. The problem I was chewing over in my head was dealing with wind and side to side boat attitude. I'm assuming these guys have worked that out. As for the 55's, I don't know what they are doing, but my program was written to accommodate a strain gauge on the pylon, when the load goes high on the gate pull out, it fires a "zero ball" to set you up for your gate. The strain gauge also acts as a safety, if there is no load on the line, the guns won't fire. The added benefit was a "skier fall" alert to the driver when there was no load on the line after a short delay.

 

I'm so stoked (and a bit jealous) about this, I doubt my version ever would have made it to market so having this pop up is awesome.

[thager]

Why not use one 55 buoy and one gate buoy (right side only) and begin the timing from there. Throw in 2 more in approximate right place for other direction?

 

[DanE]

"A little sting here and there gettin´the hips up" -Mike Parrish @ 35:42

[ALPJr]

Innovative for sure, however, could this be a nail in the coffin - on top of the public's concerns about high speed, crowded water, and wake damage - that shuts down what's left of access for towed water sports on public waterways? Think I'd much rather free ski.

[ALPJr]

And why we're at it let's set a few of these loose on the lakes, bays and rivers too...

 

[jcamp]

I have 20+ miles of fairly straight river just a couple miles from my house but between state regulations and issues with strong river flow/runoff episodes it's basically impossible to put a course in it. With this bad boy I can just drop in and tell my wife to drive straight. I'm definitely interested.

[MISkier]

@thager, I like the idea of the couple marker buoys, but I’m skeptical about the feasibility. It seems as soon as you float a couple volleyball-sized orbs on the water, the tree huggers and DNR think you’re installing the next Deepwater Horizon.

[thager]

Doesn't have to be a buoy. Wouldn't be permanent . Could be a noodle or fish marker held by small brick. Could get by with just two but approach would be kind of long after first pass.

[Garn]

I love the idea! I'm definitely interested!

[Tom351]

The hard part for dropping in actual gates would be triggering the Offcourse unit at the right point relative to the gate. If Offcourse fires in a "zero" ball as @Horton mentioned (which would make sense) then the driver would have a hard time triggering at the correct point relative to the gate. Or maybe the Offcourse trigger/timing is relative to actual gate location- in which case the driver could trigger the system as he drives past the actual gate buoy(s)....or if skiing without gates the driver would trigger around the time the skier turns in.

 

Although, the website says that the unit holds 24 balls- for 4 passes. So using a zero ball and 7 per pass would not be the best use of the mag capacity.

 

It would be a fun/friendly contest to see who can get the most "buoys" at a given speed/length where 6 is normal, but 8 or 10 or 12 buoys start to get really tough.

[Horton]

I have to say I think this idea makes more sense than any "virtual" solution.

[Drago]

Sweet

[Garn]

So do I! I'm heading down to Mead next week and I wish I had one of these!

[jercrane]

I love the concept here. We are constantly battling with the course on our lake and honestly it just wears you down.

 

I'm not super crazy about a big contraption mounted to the boat that has to come on and off every time I want use it and then cover the boat after.

 

Now imagine a future world where this takes off and gets integrated into a boat design. Now we'd be talking. Shoots out of a hole on either side of the boat at the top of the gunwales. Imagine if it became like Zero off just a standard feature on a 3 event boat. Heck it could make a nice training aid in a course even. You could have a little setting that offsets the shot a certain distance up course from the ball using a properly mapped zero off course. Giving skiers like me a target to ski at to learn how to get early on the ball.

[h2onhk]

@jercrane it would bring back the true definition of the gunwale!

[bigskieridaho]

Cool concept, but wouldn’t $2400 cover a pretty sweet ski lake membership? I know it would for me. I guess if you didn’t have a ski lake near you then this your best bet...

[MNshortliner]

@wilecoyote That’s pretty selfish of you to keep an idea like this from the rest of us. And to think 3 years ago? Did you ever post anything on BOS? And what else are you keeping a secret???

[lundberg]

I'd like to see an option to mount this on a tower. That would be way better from a visibility standpoint. The way they show it right now you can't even have a mirror.

[lundberg]

 

[wilecoyote]

@MNshortliner, just a revolutionary new bottom shape for slalom skis LOL. I don't think I ever posted anything.

[swc5150]

This is awesome! $2,500 seems kind of lofty at first glance, but perhaps there'll be some sort of BOS discount once they become a sponsor (they're insane if they don't market on this site).

 

I think the gate solution is what @Horton says, just shoot one left. Sure it's a wasted shot, but how else would you get into rhythm?

 

My next question is what are the projectiles made of, and how much do they cost?

[LoopSki]

they went this far with it . why not add two more guns to shoot out gates . if they could figure out how to color the balls it would be a hit

[UWSkier]

@LoopSki back in the naval battles of the last century, dyed shells making colored splashes were used by enemy combatants as a range-finding assistant. Not sure if you could fire an 8 inch shell from a windshield mount though. :smile:

[BrennanKMN]

Considering the price of a decent course is $900 to $2000 this isn't unreasonable for a technology that will never be mass produced. Frankly I am surprised how cheap it is.

@bigskieridaho I would wager that the vast majority of people do not have access to a club let alone a $2500 club.

[UWSkier]

Seems like a larger magazine would be helpful. Like a 2 gallon hopper full of these things.

[Wish]

24 shots and I'm guessing easy to refill. Says biodegradable projectiles. I would think keeping the boat dead level would be a huge factor.

[dave2ball]

Great concept. With no boat guides it may create a challenge to stay centered.

 

[DangerBoy]

It looks to me like the technology they developed to accurately lob depth charges at U-Boats during WWII has evolved into its highest peacetime form. ;)

[Orlando76]

@bigskieridaho $2400 would cover most ski lake memberships but me being a family man the ski ditch is just for me and I’m by myself. it’s something I can’t get my family into. With the rocket launching slalom course I can make a family fun day on our many local public lakes and spend just 10 minutes during nap time for dad to ski a set then it’s back to family fun day.

 

Somebody mentioned it before but the more I think of it 55’s and gates are just timing cues. If a green light were to flash you know that’s your 55 then the yellow means you better be center line. This won’t replace a slalom course but would give way more opportunities to ski. Heck, when somebody sees a boat firing paint balls they’ll say WTH and want to come by and check it out and maybe strap a ski on for the first time, or first time in many years.

[Horton]

@dave2ball Who cares is the boat is perfectly straight. I do not think this is for really advanced shortline skiers. This is a tool to get public lake skiers a start so and get addicted.

 

Same goes for all you guys asking where the 55s or gates are. If you want to make it more complicated you might as well get a anchored course. This tool is for the skiers who find a anchored course impractical. I think it is a fantastic idea and really hope it is a smash hit.