dchristman

I'm more curious about Jake's ski. Is there a revision to the Goode trick?

I am surprised nobody asked yet "Who the heck is Polish?" and how is it possible to score 11429 in tricks?

@Fam-man I knew I had seen this discussed before. Here's an interesting thread /forum#/discussion/11136/leveling-out-binding-height/p1

@adamhcaldwell what are your thoughts on this?

I drilled a couple holes in the sole of my Supershell to verify the thickness. It is indeed 1/4". I considered the @twhisper solution, but that would be more work peeling off and replacing grip tape and getting a new flat pad. It would also require a bigger toe rubber to get my foot in to the same position. I measured the pad on my D3 trick RTP (assuming it's the same material) and it is a little less than 1/4" and although it is firm, it is still a bit compressible. One of the reasons for replacing the foam with grip tape was to have a firmer connection to the ski. I cut out a couple pads for under the plate from 1/8" rubber I had laying around. The rubber is flexible so as not to affect flex but not significantly compressible. Standing on the floor with my boot on and bare rear foot in position, I can feel that without the 1/4" added in the back shoulders come forward to balance and hips go back. With the pads under the rear foot I don't have to try as hard to straighten my back leg or bend my front knee to balance. Leveling the binding has certainly been talked about before, but I always thought "close enough". @Fam-man Thanks for bringing this up. I'm kind of excited about trying this out, I think it's going to make a difference for me. Course goes in Thursday.

There is a correlation of left-handed, left footed https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-asymmetric-brain/202002/5-scientific-facts-about-left-footedness I'd be more curious to know the percentages of left-handedness for each 3-ev discipline compared to the general population. I hypothesize a higher percentage of lefty trickers.

left-handed and RFF

@twhisper so did you shim up the RTP to account for the sole thickness of the front boot?

Clearly @twhisper is level with double Reflex. I am curious as to what @adamhcaldwell and the other optimal slalom boot RTP guys have to say. I recall Adam saying he found himself falling back with a padded RTP and that didn't happen when replaced with grip tape. It seems the Supershell sole is about 1/4" thick. The surface of my carbon front plate is the same height as the grip tape surface on my RTP, so my front foot is higher by that thickness. Personally, I count on toe tricks to keep my back leg 1/4" longer than the front to balance things out ;) .

Yes, the spring is the same. You should check other parts for corrosion. Disassembly/assembly tips and other food for thought in this thread /forum#/discussion/18986/reflex-binding-help

Perhaps Matt could get you connected with Mike for an interview?

Ugly aside, I would suspect you are just moving the stress point to the area where goo coverage ends. Plus there will be extra stress on that area because you are limiting the stretch in the targeted area. I love Shoe Goo, but I don't think it'll help prolong the wrap life. Really you ought to give Reflex a try again. I went back and forth between rubber and Reflex for a bit, but I think it's worth it for the convenience. No soap, no cramping, easy to clip back in in the water. You being a FL guy this benefit may not appeal to you as much as it does to me - I can put my dry boot on easily during the winter and clip into my Spooner for some dry land practice.

@Fastguy888 Pivo Silver is in the impulse buy category at Verizon - $69 with free shipping https://www.verizon.com/products/pivo-pod-silver-fast-auto-tracking-smartphone-interactive-creation-pod/. Would have to come up with some kind of mount behind the pylon. It sure would be nice to mount it on a surface other than the pylon and be able to use a newer phone without OIS interfering... It's in my cart, but I only had one beer so far and I'm not checking out. Somebody else buy one and try it. If it works I'll be happy to pay full price.

How about this - use two stationary cameras and stitch the videos together. https://actionstitch.com/

To get closer to the edge with a stock plate cut the rubber down at the toe side, trim the toe bars down to 2 holes, and move the whole thing forward.

cut and paste from what I said when this question was asked last year: I always remove my boot and I highly recommend you do particularly if you have the carbon plate. One of my ski partners always left hers attached and had a couple pre-release incidents last year. She replaced the spring and still had a problem. I had her let me take a look at it before this season started and we ended up replacing both her boot and the plate with a G10 plate. My theory is that both items had taken a set to them from being attached constantly. The front toe-bar was tight on the plate, but it was angled forward a few degrees. The toe of the boot was flattened out a bit. This combination was non-optimal. The release system is composed of more than just the release mechanism - you need to pay attention to all the parts! If you've had a carbon plate for any length of time take it off the ski and look at it. I bet it's not perfectly flat anymore.

Jeeze now I feel cheated! +5 wasn't really enough. I will send you a video this year for the other 13 I think I deserve :D . Seriously, you guys have already been such a big value-added here and the ski works so well I was going to just send you money after I get through the next pass.

@horton can you reinforce your theory with some pictures of your stock setup?

If that Connelly HC currently on SIA is sized right it's a "decent" trick for $250. It looks to be in real good shape from the pictures. Unfortunately, because there are a lot fewer trick skiers than slalom skiers and trick ski technology (and marketing) hasn't changed drastically year-to-year like slalom skis, most trick skiers don't tend to churn through the skis like slalom skiers and consequently there are far fewer available used. Good luck with your search. We need more trickers!

One might say you are wont to cant.

Here's a good Power Vest thread from a few years ago to keep you entertained: /forum#/discussion/14901/if-you-are-over-40-why-not-use-a-powervest Here's Dave Goode's video explaining it:

@wettek69 Not a catalog, but I found this in the Water Ski magazine March 1989 slalom guide:

@skierjp I thought I read somewhere the 6.0L is ~200 lbs. heavier than the 5.3L and 6.2L. Granted the engine is in the middle, but I would think that would make it run a wee bit deeper on the average. Maybe the centered weight results in an imperceptible difference in the wake? We're trickers not wakeboarders, so it's unlikely we'll be using more than the two 50 pound calibration weights I have primarily for balancing. The specs say maximum factory ballast is 400 lbs, so if we use those balance weights in the back it should give about the same results as 25% factory ballast! :)

Thanks for your feedback guys. It helped to influence the decision and the boat was purchased yesterday. Now the long wait for spring to ski it! It sounds like the lack of ballast system will be a non-issue if the bulk of skiers choose 0% and 25% - the wake shouldn't to be too small that ballast is a necessity to make it enjoyable for practice. The boat is a 6.0L, so I'm guessing the wake may be a bit bigger that the 6.2L in the promos at tournaments.

If you are more than a casual trick skier, how important is the trick ballast system to you in the new Ski Nautique? A friend is looking at a 2019 that doesn't have the ballast system. I was surprised to learn that it isn't a standard feature. It's going on 2022 and I still haven't seen one in person let alone ski behind one. How does a new Ski Nautique trick wake with 0% ballast compare to a 200? Can the ballast option be added after the fact or is it from the factory only?