ricski39

It seems that I can't copy .JPG files here from my computer. Am I missing something?

All three of the fins a present and accounted for. I'm trying to upload some pictures now.

@Horton The botom of the boat doesn't look any different when I gave it the eye test. But that's the only thing that I could think of that would cause the slipping in the back end. As if the back end of the boat is getting lift now and slides out. Maybe a giant spoiler on the back end would do the trick. I could be a trend setter.

I have a 1999 Malibu Response which had a pretty substantial leak last season. By substantial I mean that the bilge was in constant operation. When I looked under the boat for the source of the leak I saw that there were some sizable cracks around the rudder. So I asked around the area for a reputable boat fiberglass repair shop and dropped the boat off. I picked the boat up about a week later and everything looked great. However...I dropped the boat in my pond last weekend for a couple of sets with my girlfriend and noticed that the boat, when operating at 34-36 mph tends to "slide". As I'm driving down the course the back end will slip out, I'll over steer to correct, and it will slip out again. This will happen about three times during the length of the course. It drives fine at trick speeds but it keeps you on your toes when driving slalom. I'm hoping that someone has experienced something like this before because I really don't want to turn into a dedicated tricker. When I pulled the boat out I checked the rudder hoping that it was loose and it would be an easy fix. No such luck. My new theory, as I sit here at work, is that when I get up to slalom speed the new glass is putting air to the prop and the cup of the prop is pulling it one direction. However I'm not totally sure if I remember it only sliding in one direction. I had a constant "oh shit" look on my face all the way down the course. Any remedies, theories, or black magic would be greatly appreciated.

I just ordered an entire slalom course worth of buoys from wallyskier.com. They arrived yesterday which was much sooner than I anticipated.

@spartanskier10 if you decide to go with the Radar Vector boots, be sure to get the aluminum plate. Radar also offers the Vectors on what they call a Feather Frame. Depending on what ski you're on these will not fit. They are only going to fit on 2011 or newer Radar skis. The aluminum plate from Radar will fit onto any companies hole pattern.

I guess it would average out to 2-3 years. With the exception of my boat, all of my various ski equipment (slalom/trick/jump) stays pretty new. Especially my boardies, heaven forbid I show up to a tournament with the same pair I wore last year. :#

*Useless Comment Alert* When I was younger and skied with an RTP I noticed that I lifted my back heel in consistently in my turns. After I moved to double high wraps this obviously stopped. I’ve skied with some guys that have used things to raise the heel of their rear binding. (This can obviously be dangerous when employing good ole fashioned redneck engineering) Just one more thing that I can tinker with on my ski setup I guess.

I've always thought red to be a bit abrasive, no one wants to come home to an angry door.

I guess it helps that my girlfriend is a good three event skier and driver, so we can just pull each other.

I was on Stradas for a couple years and loved them, mostly for the comfort level of using liners as opposed to the Animals that I had been using my whole ski "career". Two seasons ago I had a weird crash in a tournament on my opener. I got pitched forward and partially released from my Stradas. I ended up with a small fracture on my knee and missed the entire summer, which is why I ended up making the switch to Reflex. There is a small learning curve going from rubber bindings to hard shells but in my opinion it isn't too serious. If you decide to go the Reflex route I recommend taking a few sets just making some turns and not chasing any buoys.

Me and two other guys lease a pond from this very nice, sort of redneck lady in South Carolina. We write her a check for $300 in the spring and ski through December. The only downside is with only three of us sometimes it's hard to find a driver.

Apply more weight to you back foot in the turn.

If you can fit it into your 2 hour window then I say you absolutely go ski. It should only take about 10 minutes to put your tux on. (Unless you're getting your hair or nails done) Do you ski on a pond? Even if your boat breaks down you can use one of those $1,200 ski paddles to get shore and get out of there. If your buddy is offering up a ski and flee, you'll be in and out.

....it's the only thing I know how to do...

I agree with @ozski above. You can get a Radar Senate that's used for relatively cheap and you'll be able to use is for years to come before you start to outperform the ski.

@nam1975 I'm a left foot forward skier also. I found that pivoting my rear binding about an 1/8 inch to the left helped my offside (2-4) turn. It may seem a little backwards, but for me it helped my counter rotation on my offside.

I always ship my ski wherever I go rather than fly with it. In my experience UPS/FedEx are gentler with packages than airlines are; and you get tracking numbers so you can follow it all the way. If you order a ski from a retailer they send it to you in a box through UPS/FedEx and that's the same way that it gets to them from the manufacturer. I buy a new ski every other year or so and they always arrive at my house just fine in a cardboard box with some bubble wrap. If you want to go the extra mile, stuff the box full of newspaper so that the ski doesn't jostle around in transit.

I agree with @Colebrah, I've got 3 passes that I know I can run before the wheels fall off on my harder ones.

My initial thought on this was, "Wow, the future is here!" My very next thought was, "I hope your driver isn't prone to hitting any buoys..."

@DefectiveDave Trophy Lakes sells Radar, Razor, and HO skis. They won't have any D3 or Goode skis available. You can demo skis at either Tophy Lakes or over with Seth. Since he's a D3 guy he can get any size and model D3 for you to try if you give him the heads up. And since both Trophy and Seth are on the same island, you can go ski with Seth during the week and hit up Trophy on the weekend. I agree with @15boi in addition to the skiing there's way too much good food to pass up. It's a great place to spend some time.

@DefectiveDave the entire 2013 line of Radar skis (with the exception of the Lyric I believe) is based on the shape of the Strada, just wider versions. So when you ride that Senate you're not just riding a wider ski. It's very performance based and is very capable of skiing through 38'. Everyone skis a little differently, so not every ski works the same for everyone. I've run 35' on my A3 but have never run a 28' on any year Strada. That doesn't mean it isn't a good ski, because I know people that absolutely rip on theirs. If that Senate works for you then stick with it! As far as your bindings, I would stick with your current Reflex setup. Radar does make extremely comfortable bindings, but in my opinion Reflex is one of the safest and most dependable binding setups around.

North Augusta, South Carolina Humidity, Palmetto bugs, and rednecks!

The only difference between the white cuff and black cuff Reflex shells is the nylon webbing, or flection brake on the rear of the shell. If you look inside the black cuff Reflex boot where your achilles would be there is a small black plastic "tab" there that rises up from the heel. This was removed from the white cuff boot to give it the skier more forward mobility. The nylon webbing was added as a flection brake to give you a sort of stopping point. Reflex used to sell an aluminum "slide" that could be added to the rear of the black cuff boot that could be used as a flection brake, however I haven't seen them on their website for a few years now. I would imagine to encourage the sale of more white cuff boots to slalom skiers.