BrennanKMN

Maybe I am the crazy one but there is no way I am going to chain it to my truck, unhitch, fold the tongue, remove the pin and lock it. Might as well just remove the whole coupler/actuator at that point. Just throw a lock on and go to sleep. Any trailer coupler can be locked to a ball easily. Leave it attached and throw a cheap lock on. I'm with @Orlando76 I pick my parking spots for security, not a lock. The lock just removes the opportunity crime aspect.

Either a regular 1/4" lock or a 9/32" or 1/4" long shaft trailer coupler lock I'd guess.

Forget turning and do some wake crossing drills like @BraceMaker mentioned. If you can't cross the wake in a good, strong, confident position turning doesn't matter. Just cut back and forth concentrating on initiating the turn with your hips and letting your ski come under you. Once you get it right you'll rocket across the wake and feel crazy fast and out of control, but in reality you're much more stable and in control. Do that until it is second nature. Then you can start connecting the cuts.

I know next to nothing about a slalom course in the current, but couldn't you just use some trigonometry and run a line from the turn ball back up river and secure it to the mainline? Brown lines in my awful drawing.

I'm no pro, but I see a few things. 1. Get wider/higher on the boat for the gate. You're drifting back a good amount by the time you cut in. 2. Be sure to focus on looking down course when crossing the wake, almost looks like you're looking at the next ball. This causes you to let up earlier rather than continue working thru the wake. You're almost hitting the wake on a flat ski some of the times. 3. To me it looks like you're not letting the ski finish the turn before loading the line. This is causing you to have a shallower angle and break at the waist. Ski back to the handle after the turn and let your body get into a stronger position. You have a bias to have your COM a bit back too. If I were you I'd try and get my 28's to the point where you are waiting on the balls, you kept getting later and later in that pass. That stuff will catch up with you fast at 28 and shorter.

I am a big fan of slowing the boat down and just getting a feel for new line lengths. That has helped me immensely. I'll usually jump down a whole notch. Sometimes 2 as I ski both 34 and 36. What brought 32 together for me was not skiing as hard. I would run 28, shorten and then mentally I would work twice as hard and screw myself. Ski 32 like it's 28 effort wise, just a little wider on the gate. In any event, post some video!!

I have a few that I am not using. Let me see if I can find them and they're yours if you pay shipping.

We need public access to grow. Hosting a grass roots tournament will hep, but that isn't going to do much for general exposure to new eyes. I don't think skiers complaining about access to private water is going to get us anywhere either. If you're not willing to throw a portable in and ski on the weekends if other options are not available I think you're part of the problem personally. Harsh, but I stand by it. Some people have the drive and the desire to make it happen and some want easy access.

Storms don't matter. It's a boat - they can get wet. Plus if you are driving on the highway most of the rain goes over the boat anyway. If you are dead set on covering it just get it shrink wrapped and be done with it.

I drove my boat home 1200 miles from Texas without a cover.

Or just tow with the cover off. Why risk it? What do you gain that 30 min with some spray cleaner and a towel can't solve?

My vote is for a 206. A few pop up each year. You're not getting one with ZO unless you want to wait for awhile though.

This thread is going two directions. Do we want to grow the sport to bring in new course skiers or do we want to let all those that ski courses already get access to private water? They are two different things as far as I am concerned. You don't grow the sport by having access to private water, that is how you make people already in the sport better. You grow the sport by getting lots of exposure. You get exposure on public water...

The issue isn't private water. The issue is there are very view active courses on public water that can be easily used and observed by the general public. Private water will always be private and exclusive, that's the whole point. We need to make course skiing available to the public. An aspiring skier isn't going to search out their local club and go for pulls, heck they probably don't even know that course skiing exists. They need to see a course in action on their local lake and are going to want to try too.

I run a course on public water. Nothing makes me happier than to see another boat out there with a skier either using the course or trying to learn the course. Heck, I even gave a pull to a guy the other week who didn't have a course capable driver. The more people that use the course and enjoy it the better for me. Then I have a group of people that will stand by my side and support the course should something happen with the permit. Then there are the downsides. There are more people using my course! That means more people knocking off balls replacing them incorrectly or not at all. More people trying to ski after work when the wind is right. More attention on the course from the fisherman because it is like a mini 'race track' compared to the rest of the lake. I love having people to share the course experience with, but I start to get a little frustrated when I spend an hour loading up the boat and driving to the lake to find 2 other skiers out there skiing. I (and many others) have a very limited window of time I am able to ski and going from having basically a private course (outside of the other lake goers making waves) to having to share with more and more people is difficult. It is hard to share when the resources are limited. More courses means we can spread out the skiers. Few courses means more stacked up skiers causing people who are able to run to a private site. My two cents is we need to have some serious representation from USA Water Ski or similar to help push to make getting courses on public water easier. I am lucky to live in a county that has lots of course permits, but many are not so lucky.

@Brewski That to me is like saying car manufactures cannot offer seatbelts because that would say something is wrong with their car. I understand Russels point, just unfortunate how that works. Lawsuits > innovation and safety.

I wish MasterLine would offer some type of a handle guard as a easy add-on option. Something more than just the little cross bars I've seen in the past. Personally I think that is one of the easiest safety improvements we as skiers can make to our gear.

I didn't realize it was that bad that people were getting injured enough to be hospitalized.

I towed my boat 1100 miles to get it home. I tow 40 miles round trip 3-5 times a week for 5-6 months which is over 3000 miles a year. Trailers are designed for towing, short and long distances.

If you're getting one from Commercial Sewing they're in the $1200 range. I believe they make the factory covers for Malibu as well. Great cover, but hard to swallow the cost. Rankin also makes customs covers for Malibu - probably more affordable as well. They're very nice as well. I called up Skip and got Tumacs cover for around $400 for my current boat. Not nearly a nice and flashy, but does the job for the 1-2 times a year I actually tow with the cover or park outside. I had a cover made for my first boat (Rankin), decided against it for the second. Just not worth the cost as towing with a cover is generally a no-no for me.

Get new head bolts. They are quite often torque to yield (TTY) bolts meaning they are toast after you've used them once. People do re-use them, but am a torque freak.

I categorize skis by their optimum speed - course or otherwise doesn't matter. A Radar Vapor Pro Build (for example) will perform better at 34/36MPH than it will at 30MPH. Same can be said for a Radar Lyric (for example). It will perform better at 30MPH than it would at 36MPH. Ask how fast they ski and stick them on the ski that matches that. I don't think I have ever meet a 36MPH freeskier. Most are in the 32-34 range if they are 'aggressive' as you describe. 'Higher performance' skis are designed to ski at faster speeds. Generally speaking those that ski the faster speeds can utilize a 'higher performance' ski. Additionally, most course skis are marketed as 'high performance' skis because they often designed to be run at tournament level speeds 34/36MPH. I have yet to see a ski designed purely for the course that was designed to be a 30/32MPH ski. If one did exist I think that would be a great course starter ski for many people. Just like most things in life, you can put a screw in a wall with a Black and Decker drill or a Hilti drill. Both get the job done. Each have their arenas in which they excel.

Congrats! It is a whole different beast at 36MPH!

Road trip and get it. I drove to TX and back from MN for my boat. Throw some tools in the truck and head on down. Ski it, fill out some paperwork and head on home.

I have yet to see a free skier try and run the course and get more than a few balls their first set. I have yet to see a course skier not be able to free ski. Coincidence?