BLANE-O

@dhofert ditto!

This thing is freaking sweet. Took a few runs to get set up right but man once I got it feeling right I fell in love. Hortons review said it best, this thing is just plain easy. By no means am I a great skier but the senate makes up for a lot of my short falls. I ski open water and got to make several runs on pure glass at 34mph, super easy to manage speed coming in to turns and it blew me away how fast it exits. Even when I run short on talent it continued to carry its speed and remain steady and predictable. My offside is where I really noticed how steady this ski is, once I got my boots positioned right and got rid of the skipping I immediately felt more comfortable controlling my offside speed than I ever did on the Connelly. I made a run on choppy water at 30mph and continued to enjoy the ski, absorbs the chop like a champ and never once felt like it wanted to slip out from under me in the middle of a turn. Like I said, by no means am I a guru, but I can't say enough great things about the senate!

Tell my left butt cheek that rear boots don't matter! Last weekend the 14 year old rear boot on my 14 year old Connelly decided to rip crossing the wake... ouch! I'm excited to ski on it, heard a whole lot of good about the senate. Thanks to @perfski for getting it here quick and in perfect shape!

Seriously, I'm worthless now... fed ex just dropped my new stick off at the office and all I can think is work sucks it's time to get to the water! Hopefully the rear boot shows up by tomorrow afternoon.

@gaclaassen2016 Im going to chime in to a little different beat than most. We ski in a situation very similar to yours, open water, large lake, recreational skiiers but that is what we love to do most of the time. I can not recommend a Sanger V215 enough, It is a V-drive boat so no it doesn't have the soft wake of a DD, but it is a very manageable wake for aggressive recreational skiing. With the ballast it is a very capable wake/surf boat as well. I get envious every time I get on this site of all these guys with tournament boats running the course, but for us on our lake that is next to impossible/impractical. It is worth a shot to look into the Sanger, the deeper V hull makes getting around on a rough water day 100x better than a ski hull, the are very well built, and can easily be found in the 40k range. Just my $.02 from a slalom duffer.

@pdub, I am new to this site as well and ask a similar question last week, (except im coming off an '02 Connelly F1X haha) but look for the discussion "time for a new ride, need a little input" I got a lot of really good input from these guys.

@TallSkinnyGuy I just noticed that the Talons are width adjustable as well, does the adjustment make much difference? My feet are size 13 but they are super narrow which makes any kind of binding a pain to fit correct since most that big are extra wide as well

Look at a Sanger v210 or v215, we absolutely love our v215. Can be found in that price range, handles freakin amazing, very very well built, and don't look like some sort of funky spaceship like a lot of the v-drives. Ours skiis well, no tournament wake by any means, but better than 90% of most non dd ski boats IMO. My wife says it throws a good wakeboard wake too with the factory ballast. (I'm terrible on a board so I can't critique that part). The v210 is a little smaller than the v215 so I would assume it's wake will probably be even softer, we just went with the bigger v215 to help survive afternoon chop.

Awesome, thank y'all for all the input. Sounds like I was definitely on the right track. Eases my mind about a thousand dollar purchase!

Probably looking at a closeout 2014 model this winter, maybe used if I find one I like. Definitely new bindings, my current bindings are Connelly strokers that never have fit great. Budget is around $1000. I agree a top notch course ski isn't going to do me any favors. All that being said I really want more aggressive performance than a crossover offers, which really makes me lean toward the Senate just for the little extra width, probably with profile bindings

@Wayne unfortunately no, there is only 1 boat dealership anywhere around that even keeps water skis and last time I was in there all they had was a radar satori and p-6...

Kinda sounds like I'll be pumped with either. We live in windy West Texas so lakes and calm water are hard to come by haha, our closest lake is an hour and a half drive. But I can't complain, my wife has turned into a ski bum too so she is game to be on the water and at the back of the lake ready to dip a ski at the butt crack of dawn, so we still get some good runs in. @Ilivetoski what bindings do you have on your v? I like the idea of the sidewinders with hinges for a tighter fit.

Somehow I didn't know this site existed! I have been missing out! Anyways I am about to swallow my pride and retire my 12 year old Connelly F1X but before I get serious shopping I would like to hear some input about what you guys like/hate about the current options out there. Now here is the hard part. I am 6'0 180 and consider myself an advanced skier, but I have never had a chance to attempt a course (Live in West Texas and our only lake is a mecca for idiots and there is a zero chance of a course surviving) so I only get to ski open water and its behind our Sanger V215 v-drive that has a respectable ski wake for a non-tournament boat, I ski 28-32 off depending on the water at 34mph. All that being said does anybody have some good input into what I should look for? I have loved my Connelly but we bought my wife a Radar Lyric last year which has made me start looking at the Radar Senate or Vapor for myself. Any help is appreciated!