Dano

@vtmecheng agreed, would be helpful if manufacturers would list which binding was used for their measurements. I get it it, it's only meant to be a starting point and we can adjust from there. But not all of us are pros at setting up skis. I've moved my binding around enough to know that 1/4" has a huge impact. So that leaves a guy wondering if the binding i'm measuring puts my foot in the the same spot as what the factory measured. Maybe it's not as important as a I think but if I knew for certain my foot was located in the right spot i could just go ski it right out of the box with no worry.

As a former lifeguard I will tell you that getting in the water as a rescuer is a last resort. @dave2ball sums it up well. Take some training. Stay calm. assess the situation, Establish the basics ABC's and then decide your next move. If help is likely to arrive you have done enough to keep them face up and breathing. If help is not arriving and you are alone you will have to decide how to proceed while limiting further injury. As for getting a body out of the water as a single rescuer. You should have a plan specific to your boat. My boat has a low transom then the swim platform, I'm very confident I could pull a body into my boat. Spinal injury will make that plan less attractive.

Stokes has impressed me. I was skeptical i'd like mine when I bought it, It seemed a little bulkier and than my previous vests. Having worn it all season i can honestly say i'm really enjoying it. Fits well, is comfortable, seems durable, has not stretched out at all, does not inhibit movement in any way. It has significantly more flotation than my old slasher vest, which is a nice feature on public water. It does what its suppose to do and it does it well.

I can’t decide if the actions of the parties involved here actually happened or if this thread is designed for pure comedy? I can’t imagine trying to win over customers in this fashion.

Being in Canada demo skis are hard to come by. So I buy the ski that I think will be most interesting or contrast my previous ski's characteristics. As has been said, all of the top skis are great skis. Especially when skier has good technique to go with it. I find every ski teaches me to be better skier by exposing my weaknesses. I have set PB's on nearly every ski i've owned. So i conclude that one can ski well on any of the current top skis if they are using good technique. My last ski was a Denali C-65 which was vastly different than anything I have ever been on before. It was fun to learn how I had to adjust my style to work with that ski and I learned a lot about my own skiing in the process. This year i'm on a D3 NRG R2, again huge adjustment coming off the Denali. Took a few sets but i'm back up to my usual ball count and enjoying the process again.

After spending some more time on the ski and with guidance from Terry Winter, I've moved boot and fin back to D3 numbers and I'm really liking the ski more and more with every ride. I had my doubts the first 5 or 6 sets I had on it, it was such a departure from my previous ski. Now I'm just excited to see where this ski will take me.

I have pp stargazer zbox on a 351w carbed. In my experience the issue is not PP or the carbureted motor. It was difficult to get a solid pull with my original prop. I installed an 0J 310 cnc prop. The prop was such a huge improvement and now PP gets solid ball times and behaves about as good as can be expected. Very very close to to a DBW setup. I’ve been playing around with Kx+ And ++. You can certainly tell the difference between the two, I think kx++ is closest to DBW but I don’t have a lot of time behind a DBW to reference. I’m very happy with the set up, Perfect Pass and OJ props had the best customer service I could imagine, and they delivered on their promises with a product that has performed as advertised. I have not messed with the background settings at all. The only change I’ve made was I lowered all my baseline rpm’s a little so that PP would lock onto and settle into set speed a little faster without overshooting the desired speed.

@BigGerald3 I left mine at recommended. I'm using radar carbitex front measured to the bottom stitch with HRT rear. I don't know what binding D3 was measuring but that seems to work for me. I did try a little forward and a little back, ended up back at stock.

@BigGerald3 I'm on a 66 @34. not sure if it will translate to your setup but pushing the fin forward has shown good results for me. Try moving .020" but don't be afraid to add .040" either. I settled at .025" forward of factory DFT. At factory settings i found the ski to be a little more work thru the wakes than I like which is what prompted me to push the fin forward. The ski turns great always but it does finish the onside turn a little better with the fin forward.

I'm on the NRG R2. Previous ski was a C65. Havn't had course to run yet but will this weekend. From the free skiing i've done the R2 is a very stable predictable ski. It is not slow, It may seem slow because of how stable it is but I don't think it gives up anything in this department. Ski turns with confidence on both sides with no hint of tip rise. Compared to my C65 the R2 seems to require less effort.

@Drago is there no skiing on that lake? What is the reason?

@ski6jones agreed. It would be super helpful if they would state what binding is being measured. That way we as skiers we could compare different brands of bindings and measuring points. Example. Radar recommends vapor boots at 29.5". If you know that reflex has to measure 29" to give you the same position it would take the guess work out of it. I remember an old thread where several bindings were measured to see where ankle bone was located in different bindings. If my memory is correct the variance was roughly .25". When I get a new ski i throw bindings on at recommended, if moving i move .25" forward or back. You know right away if it was the right direction or if it was too far.

What @ToddL said. I think there are too many factors to label one measurement the best one for every boot. To top it off we have different brands of boots on skis. So if you have a D3 ski and they are measuring Tfactor binding I would think that measurement changes if you are mounting a radar binding on a D3 ski. Your own technique may prefer the boot forward or back. The binding itself may be stiffer, softer, or limit movement compared to whatever binding factory is referencing. Mount whatever binding you have as close to factory as possible, go ski, adjust to suit.

I always measure to the bottom stitching, But I find i usually end up back by roughly 1/8" from either factory or what others have recommended.

@Horton did your contest lead to any conclusions as to how high on the boat is necessary? At -28 to -35 I hear comments to get higher or wider but it feels awkward to be out beyond the buoy line. I get it, at short lines you basically need to be high on the boat to reach buoy width. At longer lines a guy can get well beyond the ball line but doing so is a different turning point than the rest of the course . It’s a different visual and rhythm.

@MISkier I’m working on those items pretty much word for word. Some things I have found that have helped. 1) turn in for gates, try to square hips to ski in the glide (I am LFF) and initiate turn with your feet (not by moving or leaning with upper body). 2) I think about trying to advance left hip to the handle thru centre line (heading to 1). Really focusing on not letting that handle to get pulled away. If I take too much angle or create too much load Into the wakes things go bad. I can get away with it at longer lines but 35 is humbling.

Hi, probably the dumbest question ever asked here but.... I just bought an NRG R2. I'm using radar carbitex front boot. All of my other skis have inserts that sit flush with the ski allowing the aluminum plate to bolt tight to the ski. The R2's inserts have a head on them that sits above the top sheet. Do we just bolt the binding plate down tight to the inserts? just making sure i'm not missing something here. I think perhaps the padding on the bottom of the binding plate is suppose to take up the bit of space created by the insert heads?

OJ props. I upgraded to a new CNC Eric recommended and it was a huge improvement. Agree with @Mastercrafter he should check those items first. I would suspect ignition parts either worn out or dirty/corroded. Spark plugs are a wear item. If they are old they can be working seemingly ok at idle but providing weak or miss fire at RPM's. If he does a spark test and sees anything other than a crisp blue spark at the spark plug, there is an issue with the ignition.

@MI3Eventer If your boat is running a holley 4bbl carburetor it does help to manually set your baseline RPM's. On my boat after running autocal the boat would run past set speed and took too long to settle back down for my liking. I think Holley carbs do not slam the throttle plates shut or do not idle down as quickly as EFI or 2bbl carbs. I spoke with pefect pass and they advised to try adjusting baseline RPM down 20rpm. Explaining that the baseline is just a target for perfect pass to initiate and once it beeps it uses GPS and sets a temp baseline for every pass. My boat now runs up and locks in almost immediately no matter how hard i hammer the throttle forward. It's still not as fast as my buddies with EFI boats but it's pretty close.

I’m 11 Nike runners and 12 in carbitex. Needed the bigger size to get the length.

@FWinter Do you recommend sizing up or down for skiers that are at the higher/lower end of recommended weight ranges. Does your recommendation change if referring to the Ion or R2? ie: size up for ion and down for R2?

How about doing an episode that highlights how slalom has evolved over the past 20 years. Both in ski design and how the top skiers are adjusting their styles. If a skier understands how todays skis are being designed and intended to perform, it may help them to better understand how they should be attempting to utilize the ski. Maybe give is a little insight to what design elements do what. Like a deep tunnel vs a shallow tunnel. Shorter wider skis like a Denali vs a more conventional shape like a gtr. Or explain why different skis sit higher or lower in the water and how that effects how a skier would choose to ski it, ex: ski a different path, stop and go turns, or carry more speed thru the turns etc....

Sounds like the common theme is default to a larger ski. @ktm300 did you opt for the bigger ski with the softer flex?

I’m on the hunt for a new to me ski. I weigh 170lbs. My last ski was a c65 66” i did really like this ski and it worked well for me. Prior to that was a 2015 vapor 66” that at times I felt was a little on the small side. As I’m looking for skis now I notice my weight is right at the top end of 66” skis and bottom end of 67” skis. I’m running passes -32@34mph. I’ve heard “run the biggest ski you can turn”. But then I also read Fred winter on a 66” ski. Which way would you guys go?

It’s what happens when you don’t use a safety chain in addition to the front winch strap. The front winch or strap either failed or the operator failed to secure the ratcheting device. Had a chain been in place it would still be on the trailer.