TallSkinnyGuy

I am in Northern California (Sacramento area foothills). I skied this morning and air started at around 60 and was about 70 when we left. Water was also probably around 70. Our skiing is pretty comfortable from April to October, so the 130 rule provides a decently long season.

@Fast351 -- My rule is set closer to 130, but it depends heavily on the sun and wind. If no wind and full sun I can handle much colder air and water temps.

@Howa1500 -- Sorry, I was just trying to be funny. Didn't mean to insult your intelligence. Your question was a valid question and worth the good answers that were given here. I didn't have a good answer, but I figured others would.

I think the ski explodes if it goes over its max speed. I've been too afraid to test my theory, though, so I can't verify that it is true.

@ncskier If you don't find the specific model you want at Robbie's or other ski shop of your choice, SierraTradingPost.com has a pretty big selection of closeout Camaro items right now. I know lots of people on this forum love Camaro (and with good reason -- I have one, too, and love it), but I spent many years surfing and working in the surf industry and know that you can get very good wetsuits from brands like Rip Curl, O'Neill and Xcel. However, those companies make entry level wetsuits as well as high end wetsuits. I recommend getting a high end wetsuit with an entry style you like. Back Zip is usually the easiest entry and exit but there are pros and cons to each type of entry style.

The most important things about a wetsuit is that it fits well and is flexible enough to not be restricting. It needs to fit well so that there are no large air pockets inside that can be filled with cold water. It needs to be flexible for obvious reasons. You can buy a full suit for $100 or for $400 and the full range in between. Buy a cheap one and you will likely get cold because it will let water in through the seams or into those pockets where it is not fitting tightly. The higher end wetsuits usually have watertight seams and use very stretchy material so you can get a snug fit. You can go with thinner (and therefore more flexible) neoprene with a high end wetsuit and be warmer than in a thicker low end wetsuit.

That looks like the site in this Terry Winter video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHRxa9BUF68

I'm a progressing 15-offer (just started back in the course a few months ago after 20-year hiatus) and have found that my biggest challenge with getting into a stacked position consistently is coming out of the turn in an appropriate position where I feel confident enough to pull hard. I think I know what the "stacked position" is but I have trouble getting there. Most everything I've read tells me I'm supposed to concentrate on the stacked position at my level of skiing, but my recent experience is that if I don't have a nice smooth turn I can't get into proper stacked position when the line gets tight at the end of the turn. I have therefore started focusing more on developing proper turn technique (particularly trying to get my shoulders level and keeping hips forward). When I come out of a nicely executed turn I can get into a good stacked position and be confident in my pull (this happens rarely in the course but sometimes when free skiing). I have also read and re-read Than Bogan's article linked above by foxriverat. I have found this and other articles helpful, but Than states in the article that modern skis basically turn themselves. This may be true, but my ski doesn't turn so automatically that I end up in good stacked position coming out of every turn. I've had some pretty painful crashes in the last few months, usually due to trying to pull hard but not being in the best position to do so, resulting in a (relatively) high speed tumble like this one below last week. It may not look like much in the video, but my 46-year-old body doesn't take crashes like this too well. Both of my ankles were slightly sprained (pain and swelling occurred) and my right upper leg had some kind of impact injury that is still causing me to have a sharp pain when I put weight on it in a certain way. https://youtu.be/g4LUBR9wzvo

I always try to keep just a few inches of the tip out of the water and find that I get up the fastest and with the least pressure on my arms and back when I have most of my weight on the ball of my front foot while getting up. If I put pressure on my back foot while getting up I will drag more and get up much slower with much more effort. I did a bunch of experimenting this summer because I was trying to figure out how to give advice to a friend of mine who was struggling with getting up.

I put anti-seize on all my drain plugs except for the knock sensor (which on my engine is one of the drain plugs). I don't use antifreeze but rather just drain the block and hoses, but I live in an area that doesn't have many days that get below 25 degrees or so. I leave my block dry because I figure the boat and engine will die of something else long before the block ever rusts through (and the rust just gets flushed out the exhaust when I run the boat). I think the idea of using antifreeze even if you then drain the block afterward is that the block never gets fully drained. So, if you live in a very cold place you want any pockets of fluid left in your block to be a fluid that won't freeze and cause pressure in the block. Some people leave the antifreeze in to reduce corrosion, which it probably does, and I've heard there may be benefits to having fluid in the rubber hoses to keep them from "drying out" but I'm not sure if I believe that one.

@GOODESkier if I could ski six days in a row I would definitely use the God method and rest on the seventh day, but I only get to use that method for work. However, I appreciate your specific prescription and just need to adapt it to my frequency of skiing (once or twice a week free skiing and once or twice a week in the course). I'm glad the volume method worked well for you -- I suspect it will for me, too, so I appreciate the encouragement.

crashman, thanks for that link. That is a great thread.

Okay, that definitely makes sense to me. Yesterday I kept trying to get my hardest pass and started feeling like I wasn't making progress but rather just constantly struggling to make it to the next ball without the time to think about the technique I am trying to develop. I also had one of my harder falls and started thinking, "this is probably not the best way to go about developing my skills."

I just started skiing a course regularly a couple months ago. I struggled to make -15/28mph at first but now make the majority of my -15/30mph passes. I have successfully run -15/32mph (last week) and yesterday just missed 6 ball by a couple feet a number of times. My question is regarding where I should focus my passes. I feel like when I am trying to run my 32mph passes I am struggling with the pass so much that I have trouble thinking about proper technique. The 30mph passes are easy enough for me that I can really think about technique as I am going through the pass. I am thinking this means I should spend most of my time at 30mph and getting the technique more dialed so that the pass is super easy for me, then maybe try just one 32mph pass each set. Is this a good thing to do?

That is an excellent price for that boat even if you have to pay a couple grand for shipping it. If I were boat shopping right now I would definitely be jumping on that one. Good find!

Stop your research now, pick a mid-range ski and go enjoy it. Start with a mid-range ski that has a PU core (Connelly V, Radar Senate, HO CX/TX) and once you are killing it at 28 off start demoing other skis to see if you like anything better. I tend to over-research and over-think these things, too, but there are significant diminishing returns on your time spent reading about skis and other people's thoughts on skis. If you can't demo then just pick one and go. The top ski companies are doing a great job of producing very good skis that are easy to ride but yet quite high performance.

One of the most difficult aspects of slalom skiing is the limited amount of time each day a person can physically handle being behind the boat actually skiing and thereby developing proper technique. It sure would be nice if some inexpensive device could simulate skiing so it would be easier to improve faster. I can do snow skiing drills to develop technique for a few hours and still be able to just free ski for another few hours. About 30-45 minutes a day behind the boat and then I need a day of recovery before I can do it again.

@Ed_Obermeier Why did you stop doing the color stripes at the ends of the pipes? Did that end up not being as useful as intended?

I bought mine a couple months ago and have been using it about once a week since then. We are on a deep lake, so I had to add a bunch of line on the ends for the anchors, but it still only takes us about 25 minutes to set up and 20 minutes to take down. I'm sure we'd be closer to 20 and 15 if we were in a shallower lake. We usually do it with three but earlier this week my brother and I couldn't find a third so we did the whole thing with just the two of us. Having no third added about 5 minutes to both the setup and take down processes. It's been so much fun getting back into a course after a 20-year hiatus. It adds a whole new, addictive level to the sport.

I just ran across this ad for an EZ-slalom course in Arizona for only $300. I'm not the seller, but this is a fantastic deal for anyone living close by. http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/bpo/5198495602.html

Generally only the top-of-the-line skis have a PVC core and they are usually priced at over $1K. Most modern skis under the top models have a PU core. The Senate Lithium has a PVC core but the other versions have a PU core. I think HO calls them "superlite" versions when they have a PVC core (Radar's "Lithium" is HO's "Superlite").

A "damp" ski is one that absorbs fluctuations in the water surface more. When I switched from my ski with the PU core and carbon/glass laminate (the damp ski) to a ski with a PVC core and nearly 100% carbon laminate I was astounded at how I could feel every ripple in the water with the new ski. I think that is why many people recommend using a more damp ski if you often ski in public water or conditions that are rarely perfect. The damp ski provides a smoother ride, but for shortline ballers who want faster response from their ski they care less about the smoother ride and more about the responsiveness. For most of us that level of responsiveness is unnecessary and a damp ski may provide a more enjoyable riding experience. It all depends on what your goals are and what you care about most.

I was just looking at the Radar brochure and it describes the "Graphite" as 100% carbon composite laminates with the PU core while the Alloy is also a PU core but with Carbon/Glass combo laminates. They describe the Alloy as more forgiving, which I assume means its reaction time is a little slower. Personally, I very much like the forgiving nature of the PU/Carbon/Glass ski I had for a couple years and I also liked that it was relatively damp which made it feel smoother and more stable to me.

I love my Camaro heater shirt and it feels great when skiing with it on. It is a little difficult to get on when dry but very difficult to put on when wet. I haven't yet figured out the best system when skiing multiple sets on cool mornings. If I take the heater shirt off after my first set I can warm up nicely between sets with my fleece hoodie on. But then it is a pain to get the wet heater shirt back on for my second set. If I keep the heater shirt on I get quite cold between sets. I've tried putting a thick fleece hoodie over the wet heater shirt and that hasn't helped. Keeping the wet heater shirt on while riding in the boat between sets just makes me cold. What do you guys do? Any better ideas than what I've tried?

My Connelly Talon bindings have two separate laces on each boot -- one for the top of my foot and one for the ankle area (as many bindings of this type have). The boots were shipped to me (new) with the non-stretchy laces in both the top and bottom sections. First thing I did was take those laces out and replace them with the bungee laces that were also supplied as an alternative for the top section. There were no bungee laces supplied for the bottom section. I have since modified my lacing further by not using the highest lace loops over the bottom section because even with the bungee laces around the ankle cinched loosely I could not get my foot out of the binding with the lower laces cinched snug enough to feel like they were supporting my feet. I can't imagine the heavy impact I would have to take for my feet to come out of these bindings if I used all the lace loops and used non-stretchy laces in both top and bottom. Perhaps Connelly is actually producing bindings that are not designed to allow your feet to release from the ski?