Bookm_dano

Always try for New Year's Day....January 8th this year. Colder than usual winter in central Texas.

The less I say after 'Thanks, Honey' the better off we are.

Always better if someone other than the spouse provides the critique and coaching.

Never did for years but started wearing it when there's only one person in the boat. Like when I'm pulling my wife or she's pulling me. I agree it would be very unlikely in a tournament style boat.

We ski all winter in central Texas on days with air temp above 50...water gets down to low 50s. 5/3 Camaro suit keeps me toasty warm. Wife wears Thermalution electric heated shirt, Lavacore liner over that..5/4 Billabong chest zip suit over that.

Always thought I was Right eye dominant but the test that @UWSkier posted indicates Left. I always skateboarded and surfed LFF as a kid, so I did the same when I learned to Slalom. Not sure why, but I can shoot fairly straight right handed.

OK...so what's important is that we have terms that everyone understands, even if they aren't intuitively obvious. When I first got some professional coaching from real Slalom skiers, I regressed to my surfer days and referred to front side and backside turns....the coaches looked at me like I was speaking Klingon...toeside and heelside is probably better...

However, my biggest mistake turned out to be referring to my wife's right foot forward stance as 'goofy foot'

Glad to hear anyone's opinion.

Of course, this forum is kind of like asking the other pilots at the airport for aircraft maintenance advice: eventually, someone agrees with you.

 

I would welcome some more insight into this.

@OB1 (and anyone else that wants to chime in) is it a bad thing to put a novice level skier on a Reflex system (as in dangerous, bad for development, some other reason)? Or just a waste of money?

I just don't want her to get hurt.

@BRY Yes, that is my concern. We had to go way under 3 for her to be able to release at all...that was in the house, ski on blocks, me holding the tail down and her cranking forward.

Hey Ballers,

Just got our first Reflex binding for my wife and could use some input on the setup.

She is a 110 pound novice skier and the tension chart doesn't really provide a setting for that weight and ability.

With the tension just below 3 (red indicator just barely visible) she was unable to release from the ski. Had to decrease tension about 2 or 3 turns below that before she could release with her own strength. Just wondering if that is normal.

Sent a message to Reflex but have not heard back yet.

Thanks for any insight.

KLP: "How long have you been holding your hands like that?"

Me: " Uh, I don't know. 40 years I guess."

KLP: "Might be a good time to switch"

He was correct.

I'm interested in this. I chose an OB4 because reflex didn't offer a boot big enough and I was able to mount size 14 Stradas on an OB4 plate.

When OB4 offered the newer hardshells in size 13 last year, was able to switch to those after several liner cooking sessions. (actually one of those with an RTP) @mmosley899 , hope you will still be able to accomodate Bigfoot types.

@shell I wouldn't make fun of you if I hadn't bit myself a few times...but back on subject, I would like to try rope mount again..did it once with some electrical tape, it bounced crazily over the wakes and started sagging to one side pretty soon..made me dizzy to watch...but it's a neat perspective.

Good photos ...but you're holding your tongue wrong....

Second winter of skiing all season....not bad in central Texas...water down to mid 50's..air temps very mild this year...@Horton, so glad you're back on it...hope you have continuing good recovery and great season.

Last boat?...you've got 40 more years of skiing ahead of you.

But still not sure....novice class skier with 40 years on open water and rtp....switched to double boots a year ago...couldn't cut offside for crap...got used to it finally but just switched back to rtp. Feels totally awkward again. Seems like what you've gotten used to will work.

Maybe I should comment on this since I've been skiing on an OB4 system for a year now. I'm pretty much a novice on the slalom course but I learned the hard way that I really should have a releasible binding. I have had several appropriate (and welcome) releases with the system. They are a bit pricey and a bit heavy, but I have no complaints about the performance of the OB4s.

However, I do want to hear people's opinions and concerns about the system and I'm glad we have this forum to air those. Most importantly, I want to hear about any problems with performance or reliability.

I think it's appropriate for the administrators to allow this discussion.

It was $2600 per skier last winter. 6 days of skiing and 7 nights in the villa. My only complaint is that it was too nice for me.

Seriously though, Gordon and Gabriella are the best. Great accomodations and excellent coaching. Whether you're an expert tweaking your form or a total 'I'd like to try the course' novice like me, they can hook you up.

 

Ok....Slalom definitely comes first and I don't want to give up any wake quality to make the boat more versatile. However, it had a tower on it when I bought it and I kinda sorta like it. As others mentioned, it provides some off deck storage; it also mounts a nice Bimini that's high enough to stand under...probably most significant is that my wife likes to have the secure hand holds it provided while climbing in and out of boat, particularly when docked in rough conditions. Next boat will likely have tower also....she gets to help choose the boat...and she gets up at 5:00 am to drive it for me.

Hey @Tevskis what's your PB on that 1 x 6 fence plank?

Slightly different animal, but I suffered a herniated lumbar disc and just waited it out...walked with a limp for about a year; could not sleep on my back; 15 months to be mostly pain free....three years later now and I can't tell I ever had an injury. (continued to ski conservatively during the recovery )

@Londonskier ...Stradas are comfortable. ..designed to release by letting the liner slip out of the hardshell. Requires stretchy bungee laces for the top half of the boot. The lower laces are non stretch so as to keep your foot more attached to the ski. It's possible to tighten the lower laces so much that your foot doesn't want to come out in a fall......I should say that has never happened to me; I injured my ankle with a cheaper lace up boot that stayed on for a bad crash....the only reason I kept my Stradas for the OB4 system is that the OB4 boots weren't big enough and Stradas a re easy to adapt to that system. Mike says you should replace the bungee laces with non stretch to avoid a release of both foot from boots and boot from ski which would put your boot on the bottom of the lake.

Bottom line is Stradas are comfortable and would probably protect in most crashes, but I think OB4 is better. And I would have bought the OB4 boots if I thought they would fit me.

@mmosley899 are these boots available in larger sizes? I'm using size 14 Stradas with the OB4 system but would like to switch to a less bulky boot. I believe you said the previously available boot only went up to a size 12. (my bike shoes are European size 48 and are snug).

I always tow mine with cover off...A not perfect fit cover seems to do more harm at highway speed than the rain and road grit do.