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Hi Skiers: We met a guest this summer at our Oregon club (nr Portland) who is moving back to St. Louis. Does anyone have a club where she could participate (and possibly join) near that city? Any help would be great. Thanks, Dan

I got it now @Than_Bogan. Sorry I missed the couple of words, "tournament rules". That I asked is not relevant because you cleared it all up.

I am an ambassador. Live in Pacific NW. This summer, I got two lady skiers who really go for it,and another very skilled kiteboarder. They picked up skiing really fast. The less experienced female skier has started making the course, and showing so many signs she can figure it out, and her athleticism shines in the most difficult parts of her skiing. It can take a long time, unless you are unusually gifted, to get slalom working like clockwork. She may get there sooner. It has been awesome. Also our kiteboarder, no matter what he tries (Tricks/Slalom) he is good at it. Share your gear too, Ambassadors. They won't know what good gear is or can do for you. I brought gloves and they borrow handles from time to time. It is an investment, so educating them on what to pick up really helps. They don't want to make bad purchases and most everyone on this thread knows difference between Hard Shell/High Wraps/What diameter handle/how to adjust a fin and move bindings ... all of it. That in addition to getting them ski rides really makes a difference. I also like the guy who said pay for student gas. I am halfway there. Drove the more experienced lady (a college student) to and from the site. She was really skilled already but learned a lot in a month and a half. KEEP THIS PROGRAM GOING, HORTON!

I would say having a course that's too wide (by 1 foot/2 ft/whatever) would be way more detrimental than having a course that was too short, buoy to buoy. It is an interesting discussion though. @Than_Bogan, does your comment above mean that it is unfair to train on a course that is laid out to make it harder? That is serious control over what skiers can do, if that is the case! What would you call the 3-foot extender section ... could be viewed as making 28 off easier or making you ski 25 off so you could run a super 22 off. Some great comments on how ZO or PP do assess/measure a course. Learned something right there, thanks Ed!

I am a copy of @kylegansel. Same setup ... red 41 Tail Gloves, 1.062" handle. I don't think there is a perfect glove. Like @than_bogan, I liked some very ancient HO gloves - and now they stopped making them too. I don't even know what they were but basically had kevlar palms and two sets of velcro straps; Never cared for clinchers. Thx for this interesting thread, Than.

There is a lot of good advice in here. If I would offer something specific, it would just repeat anything said above. It's all there what is written ... body position, imagine where to be before a buoy, and how to handle the wakes. An unwritten thing is how to swing with the boat. A longline skier won't feel it so much but that's a good time to get them thinking about making a turn that allows them to connect and exert more effort right behind the boat. Also tell them something for a different section of the whole thing. On the pull out for the gates, sit in the trough outside the Port Side wake (Drivers side). Look downcourse and figure out what you are goign to do. I saw someone start from middle of the wakes directly behind the boat and told her to try it. Anyway, the excitement if they make it is so great, whatever you know, help them do it!

I started doing the both-feet-in start about a year ago. I agree with @Stevie Boy that you don't always have time to basically put your rear foot in after you get up. I used to kick it forward (trying to get into the RTP) all the way til just about the pull-out for the course, which was kind of unsettling. It was a lot harder at first when I started with both feet in. But I changed how I get up and it's no big deal now. It helps to not keep the ski straight up when you are just finding your start position. It needs to be somewhat across your body (point the tip about 30 degrees toward the side for your front foot). That keeps you from falling over when you are getting dragged. Once the pullup starts, you will straighten out naturally (no effort ... it just happens). I also try to put the handle about on top of my front boot. Basically don't separate the pulling point (handle) from the fulcrum or lift point, which is your feet. That helps keep you from getting pulled around any direction (sideways, over the front, etc.). I also built my own heel strap, so now I can keep my rear foot in pretty much the same position all the time. That helped me and it might be mental but it feels more secure/consistent that way.

It is about 45 degrees in Pacific NW. One could ski right now and thereby get the ski bug started. We live where the hot water shower accessory is not an option ... it's the best thing you have plus the seat heater. It will start soon. @horton and his lack of wetsuits are no match for a good drysuit up here. @dcrhristman shows what a skier is made of ... snow won't stop him. Everyone have a killer season!

What size of binding you got there?

Wow that dog is incredibly agile. I think he somewhat ran on the water - on his way out after he got spooked. He could waterski if he wanted to. Great video, thank you SkiJay.

For your blower problem, you can disconnect it altogether, try to turn the key on, and see what happens. Then short the terminals to the blower switch ... touch them together. Also use a voltmeter to see what's going on with the terminals to the blower switch - check to see if you have voltage at one of the terminals (disconnected) when you turn on the ignition. If you short-circuit the blower switch it should be on all the time once you turn the ignition on. There may be an over-ride when you turn on the ignition, which starts the blower no matter what position that switch is in. The latest Malibus turn on the blower when you turn on the ignition. This can be over-ridden from the "Switch" screen and you can turn it off like you want (immediately ... without even starting the engine). But for a 20 year old Malibu this system might not be integrated where you can control it like we can on the 2015 Malibu we have. Good luck!

I will put in a vote here on this Geographical Survey for Oregon. We have a pretty active ski community. I have to say, it's too cold to encourage 3-event type of dedication. We have a lot of slalom skiers. Any tourney will have mostly slalom, and an occasional jumper, and almost no trick skiers. But it can be beautiful for about three months of the year. The ski lakes are very natural and if anyone wants to see a venue which has trees and also controlled conditions, come here. Not the place to max out if you want to be the best skier ever but it's fun.

Hey Bonyhead69: I have a Quest and a Quest45. I'm 6'2" and 170 lbs. Kind of similar to you. Mine is a 66" ski. Now could go for 67 (and I have skied on a 67 D3 Nomad ... not a whole lot different in terms of how fast it felt or how much lift it gave). I like the Quest 45. I don't think it is limiting me for progressing in slalom. Most of the problems come from being out of position or not keeping the handle under control between the wakes and the slalom buoy. All that being said, the Quest45 seems to turn a little more fluidly, and faster. The Quest is probably a bit more stable in the cut portion of the path. But, if you have a scrappy turn, then no ski will really save you and re-establish great leverage in the cut. I skied half the season on the white Quest, and since about mid-July, have been on the Quest45. One thing to check is not only your fin, but make sure your bindings are in the right place front-to-back of the ski. My front boot was about 3/4 inch too far forward. I moved it back, and now the Quest45 is much more controlled in the corners, though still fast. If I ski with the right fundamentals, it is a great ski. I guess for less than elite skiers, there is always a search for some ski that will more effectively rescue you when you fall out of position. I know the older Quest was less likely to throw me out of the game when I messed up. But when you are starting to get better form, the new Quest was better. Then there is how you adjust the fin to further change its characteristics. I don't know enough to do much of that, and generally stick to "stock" settings and see what I can get out of a ski when I am skiing right. Not saying this is the only way to go, just how I try to develop my own technique. Hope this helps. D3 is the only ski I have had for <10 years, so I can't comment on Radar/Denali/Syndicate/Goode/any other mfgr.

For SunValleyLaw: Great open discussion about what you experienced skiing in the slalom ski course. It can be exhilarating or it can make you feel like you have some giant flaws, and humble you. I would suggest getting someone who knows fundamental technique to watch you consistently. Video footage is great, but it will be unlikely that you can do analysis in the middle of a ski set and try to work on anything identified from this footage from one pass to the next. That has been effective for me. Also try to get someone to prioritize what you are trying to do. If you have something like 5 things you are developing at once, that probably could be too many unless you are massively trainable. I like to try to do one thing on the entry to the course (the pull-out, glide, or roll-in phase) and one thing in the course. Or maybe just try to modify one thing and make sure you concentrate on it. Also, at times your ability to concentrate and focus on form development will be worse. That does not have much to do with your skiing limits. But it can screw you up. So if you have one of those sets where your head isn't in it and you seem unable to change from "Bad" to "Better" on any one thing, it might just be some other factors outside of skiing (tiredness/stressed out/no time to relax and warm up) that caused it. Don't take that into account, and forget it when you try the next time under better circumstances. High level camps are fantastic at taking all the form deficiencies for any skier and identifying the top priorities. There are other things they are good at, like explaining what you need to do in terms you can work with (not just something like "Hey look at how Will Asher does his hips ... try that" that is out of our league). Good luck and relax and be able to focus on a few things while practicing it will help.

Was that the smaller Malibu? If so I wish I would have known. That is a great boat.

Great topic. I got a handle guard this year, after I crashed and saw the handle drag away right in front of my face just before I went into the water headfirst. That was enough to convince me the guard was a good idea. My ski partner bought me one. We both have them and work on keeping them on the handle. The type we have is made by Fluid Motion. A couple of things needed attention: (1) Attaching it to the two ropes that form the "V". We use zip ties, and some are stronger than others. I think I bought a can of them at Home Depot for $8 which has an assortment of sizes. For a handle with side plastic on the ropes, don't cinch down the zip-ties totally tight. They were breaking on my buddy's handles. So we tried it again with just almost tight. Nothing has failed for a bunch of sets now. (2) Keeping the guard down in the "V". It tended to climb up. I put a cord around the hole at the base of the guard and then wove that into the bridle. Works great. You could use nicer cord than I did (this is like nylon camping line, lightweight, what I used). Just get a threading tool (something like a knitting needle, and cut it shorter) to help you weave the rope into your bridle. (3) How to attach the top of the guard to the middle of the handle. I used a large zip tie with heat shrink tubing covering it. Seems to be fine and this one is also not super tight. It took us a little while to adapt the guard to the handle, but we have it now. We visited Masterline when we were in FL. They showed us also how you could tie down the guard into the bridle for a handle that has a rubber tube over the bridle. Just push the tube down, and then work the cord into the bridle, and then use some soap on it, and push the tube back up over the whole thing. We will do that soon on my buddy's handle. Picture is above for mine. I like these guards and haven't found it interfered with grabbing back onto the handle after you do a one-handed turn.

Hey J.H.: This is a good topic because I haven't seen any real discussion on it. But, how your handle and gloves are working for you definitely seems like a big deal for any slalom skier. I just experimented, and since I started skiing more, got to notice that my handle hurt my hands pretty often. At that point I went from something less than 1.00" to a 1.062". It helped a lot. First one was Proline, second (larger) one was 13 x 1.062 Masterline. I don't have a reason for doing it (just got the idea from someone else), but like you, I use the lab-glove fabric liners when it's hot. Recently had to do that in Florida where I was for a week. In Pacific NW, I have another remedy, where I wear latex gloves under Kevlar ski gloves. That provides a cushion layer which seems to prevent calluses from ripping off. However this failed in Hotter/More Humid Florida weather. One more input: Maybe the handle diameter would depend on your hand size. My hands are XL (gloves anyway) so larger handle works for me but maybe there is a size match depending on the length of your fingers, etc? At ski camp they told me to wrap your fingers around the handle instead of seating it in your palm if it starts to hurt. Well I don't know if it helped ... but at that point there was much soreness at the end of a week of nonstop skiing, so it might have been beyond any solution other than resting.

When you see this proposition, it seems like a riddle but that is a normal kind or reaction. I will ask what is the idea as she has. I do understand that J. Leachman has a vast amount of commitment and a career in this sport so sometimes that means, you are an inventor which involves some protection of one's ideas. I get that so I think it's best to just inquire before passing judgment on how the proposal might come across at first impression. The sport could use a boost and if one of its highest level sportswoman is trying to make it happen, it's probably a good idea. As someone else said, what you donate probably won't change your lifestyle so it could be worth it to throw some money in this fund.

What the heck seems fine to me. What if you can run the course at 38 mph? That might be the next step (or is that 61 Kph?). I'm for it. I doubt it would change the outcomes much. Most advanced skiers are really used to their conditions. Changing speed for anyone won't be a give-me type of thing that just cranks his/her score up.

To John H.: This site is fantastic. Waterskiing is a sport which does not have a massive media following to publish information about it, where one could read and get second-hand analysis of his sport. That is ow it is for a sport like ours, unlike basketball/football/baseball/soccer - where there are hundreds of armchair analysts figuring out who made the most yards/goals/hits. In waterskiing the accomplishments happen without much fanfare. It is a sport for independent, driven people who don't need fame or recognition but just love to do it. This is the place where on the web you can get new ideas and share things with other skiers. You have done a lot to advance the sport beyond the invisible status where it was just people going out conquering buoys and trying to advance without too much publicity. Not that you are trying to make waterskiing a mainstream commercial sport ... we are all just sharing. It has been great to know there are others who will give you input and it includes all levels of skiing. That alone, the democratic spirit of this site, is notable. Keep it going and I have to say, your effort has gained momentum from a grass-roots following and it seems to be growing. Thank you.

We ski in the NW USA. I have same thoughts as above about the hands. I wear latex gloves under my ski gloves. It seems to defeat the hand-destruction (like calluses being ripped off) for me. For fitness, there isn't a "magic recipe" I would say. Just have confidence you have done your workouts however they are, and that you have had time to get that done, before you head down there. I don't think skiing itself allows enough conditioning time to be its own workout. I can tell you an account from an F-15 pilot I met. I was talking with him about waterskiing. How intense it is while you are doing it, but also, what to do to get ready for it. He told me that while he was a pilot, in his free time he was either running or lifting weights to get ready for the endurance or short-term maximum-exertion aspects of flying a very advanced airplane. He seemed to understand waterskiing. I also will be going to Florida in early summer, 2017. This winter I may try a different workout scheme (like Crossfit) instead of the normal gym. I plan to bring the best assortment of food I can and get as much sleep as possible while there.

I was wondering about this ... how do you decide where to put the wing? It can be significantly higher (closer to bottom of the ski) or lower, even at the same angle relative to the tangent line to bottom of the ski under the fin block. I don't know what it does to have it higher or lower, and I'm not sure if there are specifications about that setting (though there are somewhat standard recommendations for fin angle). Also, you could mount the fin upside down (wing on bottom) or the other way (wing on top of the clamping part). I have no idea and don't do much with it because I don't know what it does. Any help .... thanks.

Great discussions on this topic. I have a couple of thoughts. First, if a person had limitless time (which may be more valuable than limitless money, when it comes down to it), it would be a lot easier to participate in ski tournaments. One difficulty is the ratio of the time you get to spend doing the sport/performance, versus the time spent on the whole thing. I would guess it could approach 1:100. That is just kind of difficult to justify if you have other things ... anything like a family or some tasks that need to get done on the weekend or etc. But one could say, "what are your priorities". That kind of rationale can be used but it can cause conflict. Anyway the time aspect is probably the most significant barrier for me. I also found, I can ski better at tournaments, but that is because they are held at the best lakes around where I live (Pacific NW), and the driving is top-notch, and the atmosphere is fairly calm and focused. That is (I can ski better) if (and that is a big if) I can relax and not get too hyped up and avoid thinking, "This is a tournament it has to happen!" Getting into that zone where you are confidently going for it in a tourney is somewhat unpredictable, but it can happen and has happened for me and it's a blast. One more thing: Getting a great performance at a Tourney definitely makes one feel like something was accomplished, because it is truly sanctioned, and you are doing it on the terms of the competition schedule, against other skiers, and you don't run double passes at same line length to perfect your form before moving up to the next line length. You just have to "have it" to a greater degree to accomplish the same things at a tournament vs. practice. That makes it harder to pull it off. But the feeling you get if you make a new PB or do a great run has so many great emotions, I think it is worth going to a Tourney to try to reach that situation.

Hey there give me a call if you are able to take a 20 mile trip from Portland to a ski lake. We can host guests and it is a private site with a course and club boat. Dan 971-237-3153.

I think I can offer some input on this problem. I am sorry for what our friend has experienced. I have suffered a heel fracture (the bone is called the calcaneus) when I was 20 years old. I am now 52. It was a very bad fracture, wherein the bone was crushed and actually called a compound fracture (broken out skin, due to hydrostatic pressure). All of that is kind of unsettling so I won't get into too much more. I had ORIF which is internal fixation by surgery, to rebuild my heel. It took at least a half year until I could walk again. Now this kind of timeframe is mentally very difficult. I think the human mind will not accept that kind of recovery pace, and sometimes one will become despondent and think it will never get better. That is a very hard situation. It will help to have someone like you who cares about her, and is providing realistic encouragement. It's not a matter of pumping up expectations, but making the person feel okay that they are not fully recovered or recovered to some degree right away. Vigorous young people don't always get that and want to be 100% or know they will be. There will probably be some uncertainty. I have seen some of the greatest Orthopedic Surgeons specialized in calcaneal fractures, and they have to deal with the same uncertainty. I have had operations with non-guaranteed outcomes. It is scary but they helped. I am able to waterski and walk without pain now. Running worked for a little while, but I eventually gave that up since my flexibility and achilles tendon are not the same as someone without this injury. I don't know what kind of fracture classification your friend has. It could be that she may have limited eversion/inversion of the foot. That won't kill waterskiing (think of the hard shell boots ... that doesn't matter like the old neoprene style). Anyway, if you want to talk let me know and we can trade a few emails. I have a lot of sympathy for anyone in that situation. I wish her the best. Sincerely, Dan