braindamage

With kids who may or may not like skiing I wouldn’t go for a pure ski boat. I have an ‘00 sunsetter lxi and it’s a wonderful family boat and has a better wake than most every MC I’ve skied behind.

If it were me, I’d seriously consider a ‘07-‘15 Malibu VTX. You can ski at your speeds no problem, it has great room for kids, and can surf, which I bet your kids will be more likely to be into. This is the best option for you if you ask me.

The ONLY question we should be asking is...”what does it take to attract millennials to the sport”.

I’ll go out on a limb and say that it’s not by requiring $80-100k for a tournament ski boat that sits idle 90 pct of the time on a private lake. Maybe we should take a page from the Top Golf organization and begin to market private ski lakes as a social spot...kind of like what I’ve seen from posts about Korea.

I applaud @Horton for this big step. First we need to engage in an “evangelism” campaign and meet people where they are.

We used an inflatable trampoline a few years back and had to float about 5 miles. It has a slow leak so time was of the essence. The local marine patrol thought they would “help” and stopped me above the deepest part of the lake: 75’ deep. The exact quote was “I think...this might...be...illegal”. To which we replied “Nah...we do this all the time”. The other cop in the boat thought it was hilarious.

They let us go on our way with the warning that we’d have to pay for recovery should she sink.

My 2nd Dodge Durango hemi. Name is Helga. I can’t even feel my ‘bu behind her. This one is an ‘08 and I got her cheap. Great drivetrain but rusts horribly. She’s a mud fence. I can’t even bring myself to post a pic.

But as a teenager car and tow vehicle she does just fine!!

I’ve taught alot of ppl to slalom for the first time.

1) it sounds stupid, but THE most effective thing: tell the skier to keep about 8” of ski out of the water and in front of them. I know it sounds crazy, but given this simple instruction, the person can focus on ONE thing and can use the body’s innate balance capabilities to get up. When I started adding this ONE thing to the instruction my success rate went to almost 100pct. The only exception is when they are severely lacking in strength or balance.

Other comments:

2) the driver needs to pull them out as fast as possible, but not faster. The more athletic and in shape, generally the faster you can do the hole shot.

3) some like 2 feet in, others drag. If one doesn’t work try the other.

4) I pull them up off the floor a couple times with the rope to get the feeling.

5) after 3 attempts pull them into the boat and try another day. They will be too tired to get up and will just end up more frustrated.

@AbR_Ski_Student that looks like a lot of sharp edges that can scrape. I’d suggest some rubber or foam padding.

The zipties are a nice touch though

Surf: social, easy, any water, any time, no pain when falling

Waterski: isolated, physically demanding, calm water only, early mornings, hurts when falling.

Do the math. I love skiing, but I get why the masses love surfing.

I’m dropping my boat off for some work tomorrow morning. It’s supposed to be 33deg and rain. Definition of “miserable”.

I’m hoping to be on the water before end of April, because come April 28 I go on a 5 week work travel jag.

Irritating.