Vernon Reeve

I used to love the old arcade games of the 80's. You would never win, the levels just keep getting harder until you eventually lose. Lots of adrenaline as you play. Course skiing is very similar except you get the added bonus of exercise at the same time. Probably why I'm so addicted to it.

It would probably be easy for an electric boat to have a deep water start feature to pick and choose the type of hole shot the skier would like.

Also, I should mention, I typically ski the course at 30 and 32mph. So maybe that's why I notice the wake difference more than others. But your best option is to definitely ski behind the boats. This will tell you if you like the wake, and if the boat has an issues, like vibration or stiff steering.

I have a 2003 Malibu Response LXI and previously had a 99 Sunsetter with the diamond hull. The slalom wake is noticeably better in the Response, but the Sunsetter was actually fine. And surprisingly, the surf wake was better in the Response. We have a suction cup wake shaper that works great for diverting the wake to the side of the surfer. This suction cup wedge shaped thing didn't work on the Sunsetter because the back of the boat has a cutout ledge that didn't allow us to put it at the very back of the boat. So that's the main reason the surfing is better behind the Response. We have 2 600 lb fat sacks that we put in the back and 1 in the side of both boats to do surfing. However, I don't like doing it in the Response since it creates a vibration when we use it. Must be changing the alignment of the shaft? The Sunsetter has a lot more storage and room to move around, which I miss.

I use Proline Tractor Grip Radius and it has lasted a few years now with no wear. I think the tractor grip prevents the hands from sliding across the rubber, so it doesn't wear as fast. I also use non-kevlar gloves, so that's probably part of it. The kevlar gloves were too stiff in really cold water, which made it hard to grip the handle. The tractor grip sure makes it easy to hang on to. No issues with blisters. I only ski about 3 times a week however.

I don't know about greatest athlete, but most athletic would be Michael Jordan. Basketball takes a lot of coordination, accuracy, mental and quickness/jumping/physical skills that are difficult to acquire. He also tried baseball, and did very well at that also, considering his lack of experience. I'm guessing he'd be good at anything he tried.

Here in Montana, we've had lots of issues with our public course. It was on a small lake, away from the shorelines to not affect the fishermen, but they still complained to fish & game. Fish and Game classify it as a Navigation Hazard. They were concerned that someone in a canoe at night might hit one of the buoys and knock the canoe over (ridiculous). So we had to apply for a permit, but in the mean time, to continue using it, we had to buy 800 dollars worth of navigation buoys at either end of the course, with red radar reflecting strips and a blinking light on top to mark the "navigation hazard". Crazy that we had to put something in the water that would actually knock a canoe over, to mark something that would have no affect on a canoe. Government Logic. There is a church camp on that lake also, that would come out and do tubing rides behind their Ski Nautique (which they only used to pull tubers). So we would patiently wait for them to finish before we started skiing again. Eventually, we went and asked them what their schedule was so we could plan accordingly, and even offered free ski lessons to their campers, which they declined. They then called fish and game and complained that we were trying to tell them when they could use their boat. Eventually, because of the church camp and fisherman complaints, the course permit was denied and fish and game pulled the course. One of the complaints was it attracted too many ski boats to that lake. So we tried getting a submersible course approved that only we would use, but that wasn't allowed either. Luckily it was about the same time that the Rosewater private ski lake was completed, so we only lost about a month of course time.

Last time I was looking for a boat, I had a document with short cuts to craigslist with all the search parameters already filled in for each of the major cities within about 800 miles. And a short cut to ski-it-again. Then every morning I clicked on each shortcut until I found the exact model, color, condition I was looking for. It became pretty clear what a good price would be. Some were asking way too much, and those boats just sat there, of course. Took about 3 months before I found one. It's a 2003 Malibu Response LXI, and like it so much I probably won't ever sell it.

I notice the Olympics have started doing backgrounds of the competitors to make it more interesting.

It would be interesting if boats got too light to track properly. Then we could start adding/removing weight until the perfect balance of tracking vs wake size is reached for the 3 events.

Do wakeboarders need these handle guards? Seems like they have bigger handles and would be even more at risk.

I can't seem to find the Fluid Motion guards in stock anywhere, does anyone know where to get one. Or are the MOB ones better?

I've heard that to do 35 off, the path needs to change. After the wake, they head in a straighter line to the buoy so they can catch up to the boat and make the turn. Instead of the wide arching path that most do through 32 off. This is why 35 off is so difficult, because it requires a different strategy. Maybe those two photos are showing the difference in skier paths?

Here's another showing the same thing. This guy is a real trooper jumping in multiple times. Showing without ice picks, with ice picks, and with professional help. I'm watching this thinking, "Nooo, don't jump in again..." However, not much difference than us jumping in to water ski early spring:)

I also agree with @tjs1295. I watched that F1 series, and look forward to the next season. Previously I had no interest in it. But now, I'm way more interested whenever I see anything in the news about one of the drivers, since I feel like I know them better. I do love all the streaming we have available for the pros and feel like I'm getting to know them better, which makes the tournaments a lot more fun. And also really enjoy the behind the scenes videos that some of the pros are doing, showing a typical day in their training life. More of this would be a good thing.

This seems like good advice. Basically, wait for cold shock to pass, kick your feet up behind you, and army crawl back onto the ice while kicking your feet.

Maliblue I have that same boat, and that's what we call it. Our first Malibu Response was purple, then green, now blue:)

I used to have Look bindings back in the 80's. I still feel like they were some of the best bindings with the swivel heel release.

I have a Radar Impact vest that seems to provide good flotation, and a nice flat surface so the cushion itself won't cause rib injuries imho. This older radar vest also has a boa cord that tightens up the bottom of the vest which I really like, but looks like they got rid of this feature. I had previously tried the evo-shield, but took a bad wipe out with a different comp vest, and the bottom of the vest turned inside out (they really need a strap at the bottom), and that hard rib protector flipped up and jammed straight into my ribs causing much more pain than if I hadn't had it at all. I now have a little bump on my sternum that wasn't there previously. I think the best protection would be to do exercises that strengthen the intercostal muscles.

@cacman I had the same issue with a skin tight suit being harder to get up in, but after your comment, I tried making sure the legs were up as far as possible to eliminate the flat trampoline section across the crotch area, and it was definitely better. Glad you pointed that out as a potential cause.

In addition to posting pic of the rope, also post pic of how you connect the rope to the pylon (to prove that it's not too tight).

One day a young girl was having trouble getting up on one ski, so I used two skis and held her between my arms to get her up on one ski. The pull was enormous but we got up. I couldn't even squeeze a stapler after that. Took about two weeks to recover.

I've seen a guy with one foot out push against the ski and plowing lots of water trying to get up. So I had him practice leaning forward while stepping up on a park bench to see how it should feel to step forward up onto the ski. Then back on the water, had him drag his free toes in the water to help keep his balance. Also, I initially had trouble dropping a ski because I couldn't find the rear stirrup. So on dry land, I put a rolled up towel under the rear of the ski to protect the fin, and practiced pushing my toe down to lift the heel out of the ski to be dropped, and then balancing on one foot while finding the rear stirrup. Turned out I was reaching my foot way too far back. Next time out I had no problems.

Would definitely make it more interesting. And the head to heads would go much faster, also making it more interesting.

@Sethro maybe you could try increasing the angle of your front ankle bend, so your front knee is more bent, which should put more weight over the front of your ski. From this picture it looks like your front knee is fairly straight and your back knee is bent. I think @Horton had a video/post about straightening the back leg to get more weight over the front.