MillerTime38

I like the idea, it adds ability based competition to the elite level and should allow for more average joes to make podium in the age divisions. I know some younger age groups get pushed to OM/OW but looking at how many overall competitors in OM and OW last two years, OM 3 one year 1 the other OW 1 one year and 3 the other, seems like we need more competitors in those groups and it gives them a chance to compete on a bigger stage.

Give current members some incentive to get new members signed up, maybe a small credit that could be used toward the skiers membership or toward entry fees on a tournament, For example, if I get two new members to sign up I get a $20 credit for each skier so I can use $40 toward my membership or a tournament.

i like the idea, it should add more competition for some divisions, mainly M3-5 and W2-3.

@rico don't you mean if you run 5@35 you will get 101 buoys, sorry I could not resist As a M2 skier no real impact but next year is old man speed so I am curious to see some results.

I hate to see it but I don't blame you @jdarwin, best tournaments that I ever attended hands down. Cant wait for this years tournaments

Agree with @drago and @Dirt

@MISkier not contradictory, as the rope shortens you have to adjust your driving and change how and when you counter. Every once in a while a skier gets in deep and requires more input, skiers get late and that requires different input. I don't change my driving because of who is skiing is my point. It's the same treatment for everyone. As a driver it is not my job to make sure every skier gets the perfect pull for their skiing style, it is my job to make sure every skier gets a fair pull. Once you start adjusting your driving because you are "familiar" with someone you lose a little of that fairness

I started doing my deep water starts with both hands palm down on deep water starts and I have never had issues since. I believe I learned that trick on here several years ago.

@MISkier I guess I don't think that much while I drive. When the boat goes through the boat guides I listen for the skier to just about finish his/her turn and then counter left or right as needed. I drive the same for every skier I pull obviously sometimes you need to counter more or less but that's it. There is nothing more frustrating to me than after I ski a tourney round and the driver comes and tells me "what happened I was with you". Probably "trying" to be in sync with me

@MISkier should you be "trying" to get in sync with the skier or should you just worry about keeping the boat straight and let the skier get in sync with you? What happens if you can't get in sync with the skier? From a skiers perspective I want the driver to be consistent, if you start 2" right of center at the 55 meter buoys I would prefer you stay 2" right if center the rest of the way through the course. Once you start chasing centerline you will be chasing it all the way through the course

so let's say there are 10 skiers and the driver is familiar with 8 of the skiers. So the driver will drive differently for the 8 skiers because he knows what the skiers need and the two skiers the driver is not familiar with get just an average pull because the driver is not familiar with them. So the driver in this situation is giving an advantage to the 8 skiers and is acceptable?? Hmmm Personally I don't care who is driving or how much experience they have. Did you get a 16.08 and are all the boat guides still attached? That's all I ask for.

@Jody_Seal looks like your best score last year was a class C and was 2.5 buoys higher than any other score, so that driver must have been swerving all over the course? I am sure there are other reasons to explain this Phenomenon. Perhaps the skier ski's a lot more class C tourneys than E,L,R. So you would expect there highest scores to be class C. Perhaps these skiers are getting higher scores at class C tournaments is because the driving is not as good. Skiing behind a "soft" driver usually adds a couple buoys to my practice scores. Perhaps the class C tourneys are local tourneys and the drivers are the guys you ski behind every day.... my point is there are a lot of reasons to explain why this could be the case and just flat out saying that everyone is cheating because there is no end course video seems a little extreme, even from a national director Does anyone know when the "Tolerance" was decided to be 8" on each side? Maybe with the advancements in technology, i.e. better tracking and driving boats, this needs to be narrowed. Then it would be harder for the drivers to "manipulate the tolerance"

Christmas Eve at ocean pond. @mjump taking advantage of the conditions

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7T9Qp1xVBozTEJ5UGpEbUNMNjg/view

I love waterskiing and I love beer even more it only seems natural

@Klindy I think a lot of level 8 or 9 skiers would still attend if the tournament was local to them. Who wants to pay $150 and not ski at all. Probably not a lot of people. This just gives skiers who have to take several days to travel an option. Perhaps you could put a mileage limit that would allow skiers outside lets say 200 miles an option to just pay there fees and not attend? Just an idea, but I do think the current rules are causing skiers to not attend nationals that would otherwise if there was an option One year I traveled 7 hours to regionals because I "Had to" and I was the only M2 skier to show up....how much sense does that make. By the way I missed my gates on my opener but the judges must have been napping because they called it 6

@bigtex2011 is skiing lights out I hear, my money is on the Chris Kross

I am with @Horton here, think of one thing per set to focus on and actually work on it. 9 times out of 10 I come back to gate work or controlling the handle off the second wake.

A little behind schedule this year due to a late start but I should be able to make up for lost time over the next couple months now that I am in FL.

@Tdub the fuel filter is located in the black cylinder above your fuel pump. It can be tough to get off but a large pipe wrench should give you the leverage you need to turn it off. Fuel filter can be tough to get out, take out the plug on the bottom of the fuel cell canister and push it out with a small screwdriver.

Yeah where the option for it doesn't?

@david_quail a lot of good advice listed. I will just keep mine simple....Get your hips up behind the boat. Work on getting into that good leverage position behind the boat and holding that position all the way through the second wake. Then you can start working on your turns.

@Than_Bogan are you skiing with your back heel on the ski? I am a RTP guy and I ski with my back heel lifted up. Helps me get the weight off the tail of the ski and more on my front foot

@RazorRoss3 did not mean to offend you but C tournament scores should already have an asterisk by them because the only time you know everything is legit is at a record (Boat path video). Which is why I voted to have ZO for this pull because records should require it Access to water is not going to get any easier so there needs to be other ideas discussed to try and help the sport attract new members and tournament skiers. If it means making class C tournaments more "lax" then that is fine with me but if the sport continues to let the boat manufacturers dictate the rules so they can sell more $70,000 boats and price out the average Joe then we are in big trouble. My last nationals (2015) my dad came and watched and said "Wow waterskiing is becoming a rich mans sport" which is exactly what has happened Next thing someone is going to tell me I cannot ski any more tournaments with my D3 X7 because it is too old and I have to buy a new ski to enter tournaments....