wtrskr

Agree with Todd L that the same ski can remain viable for longer than you'd expect. I've had 3 kids transition from 2 to 1 and progress up in speeds as they aged. Their first ski they each used was a real old one we own that is short but with decent surface area. That seemed to work well for them just learning to get up on one. Not too long after they each moved to a 63" TRA. I want to say that my oldest used that ski from around age 9 until finally reaching the top end of growing out of it this past year at age 14 (now at 34 mph when he free skis). My 8 year old daughter who is very small for her age was even able to use the same '63 TRA. It is probably bigger than it should be for her size, but she seems to control it just fine.

I'm very interested in these comments too. I'm 175 lbs and am currently on an older 68' Obrien Mapple. For Christmas Santa plans to somehow get a 66' inch graphite Vapor down the chimney that will be shared by my 14 year old son an I. I'm worried that it will be too small for me, though will probably still fit him long term. I'm thinking I'd get by if I was still skiing at 36mph. At 34 mph I'm thinking I might be pushing it too far. I can always stay on my Mapple until I get my own 67 - either Vapor, Senate or some other brand.

Question I may have missed on this. Can you start/stop the paintball shooting at any time? What if a person falls or misses a ball? If the costs are reasonable, to me this type of solution is pretty great for a lot of early morning open water skiers. The review from Horton was that this isn't for the '35 off and better type of skier. This could, however, be great for those that could get the that level if they had more course time. I've personally made it into '32 off, but only get access to a course probably 3 or 4 days a year, on average. If I could even fairly closely replicate the width and timing that is needed, that could be huge for my performance for the times that I actually see the true course. To me, the splashes wouldn't even need to be dead accurate, just pretty close. For us open water skiers, skiing "well" means that we are skiing in a manner that mimics what would work on a course. That can be hard to do if you don't have any sort of target for accountability. If I had little splashes to chase when I open water skied, I am pretty sure my course performance would improve by a significant degree.

I had a similar situation. Guy sold a boat out from under me after we had agreed that he would sell it to me for a specific price, assuming no major issues became apparent after being looked at by a mechanic. The guy sold it before we were able to get the boat to a service shop to be looked at. A lawyer told me at the time that a verbal agreement is binding by law. The problem is trying to prove in the court of law what was agreed upon. In my case, I had an e-mail exchange with the seller that I was able to dig up to prove that he didn't hold up his end of the bargain. I sent him a message and it must have scared the crap out of him. To make up for it, the seller ended up sending me a check for difference between dollar amount we had agreed upon and the extra amount (small) that the second guy purchased the boat for. I had made the suggestion that doing so would be fair recourse. My friends joked afterwards that I was able to get a guy to pay me money for not buying his boat. Worked out in the end that I got a slightly newer and better boat and I'm very happy that I did. Second time I gave the seller a small down payment to cement the deal until he was able to deliver the boat and I was able to get him cash.

Glad I checked to see that the event was cancelled. Pretty lame. I might go jump in the lagoon after work tomorrow just to prove that the algae won't kill you. Depending on the fee, I might know a few guys (including me) that would be interested in having some watch their skiing and provide top-level advice. Neosho would work. There has to be other spots too, even if it has to be a portable course. I always thought that the fox river in downtown Waukesha would be a good site to host a tourney. It is a suburb of Milwaukee, is out toward "lake country", and is close to the interstate that heads to Madison. A show team performs at the site with outboards, but I've heard the problem is that the water is very shallow for an inboard. Supposedly they might dredge it at some point.

IMO it is important that the sport grow just to the point that is viewed as a legitimate sport Those at the highest level should be able to make a decent career out of it, which would make it worthwhile for youth to aspire to become a pro someday. Kindly, I like your comments about water advocacy from AWSA and supporting permits for slalom courses. As an example, I would love to set up a small slalom ski club in my community at a location that currently hosts a show team (a jump is at the location all summer). Based on conversations with the city and attempts to work with the show team, I don't think it is likely happen unless there was some sort of assistance. In general, it shouldn't need to be nearly as hard as it is to be able to throw in a permanent slalom course. There is a "not in my backyard" attitude by seemingly everyone nowadays. Communities will support show teams because they are entertainment focused rather than competition focused. A third-party working on the aspiring skiers' behalf potentially could make a big difference (sharing knowledge, success stories, helping organize, etc.) in organizing and getting clubs (in public locations) started.

This is coming from a person that was a AWSA member back in college but is not anymore. The reason I'm not a member is because I don't ski tourneys, thus don't need a membership. I would probably ski in a tourney here or there if 1.) I could get deeper into the course or 2.) If tourneys were cheaper (if the cost wasn't way higher than skiing with my buds with a portable course on public water). To me the key to growing the membership is the first one, increasing the number of high-level skiers and those that grew up competing in the sport. In order to do that, you have to get people hooked while they are young, well before college age. I used to be of the if-you-build-it-they-will-come attitude. More courses in public places = more skiers. I've changed my tune a bit as I think about it. My local community just built a big outdoor hockey rink, for example, and I'm finding that me and my kids are pretty much the only ones that use it. I believe the skiing community could benefit from following the recent trends of other sports in the US (select soccer, AAU Basketball, etc.). Parents tend to be very busy and are willing to spend a decent amount of money to send their kids to someone else to get coached. And they seem to be doing so at younger and younger ages. In other words, I think there needs to be more youth-oriented waterski programs that are marketed to anyone that wants to join. At least in my area, I am aware of similar opportunities for show skiing but not three event. Send the kids to "practice" a couple of times a week and to competitions here and there. Ski behind mommy and daddy's boat on the weekends. If there are enough of these programs around the country, and they are run well and marketed well, the sport will grow and AWSA membership will grow.

I do have a little bit of video. It's not real high quality because one of my kids took. The adults were busy on a time constraint. I haven't loaded it to the computer yet. Permanent course and a ramp would make the drive more worthwhile and productive. Don't know that is in the cards, and I'm not the owner of the land. Pretty nice setup though. Well protected from the wind and cattails all over the place to break up the waves.

Bumping this thread to share that I successfully launched the boat without a ramp. Used a small tractor. It was a little hairy for a moment. The wheels dropped down at the lake's edge and the frame was hitting the sod. Ended up just plowing through because the soil was wet and the frame only had a little way to go to be clear. The way out was actually pretty easy because we put some big rocks at the lake's edge. Lake is a little over 1800 feet. Threw in a portable slalom course and quickly ran a couple of sets before having to take it out. Awesome. Thx all for the tips.

Last year it was cloudy and cool in the Milwaukee area the day of the Malibu open. Instead of taking the opportunity to see the pros, I decided to take the family to the public lake we go to knowing that the weather conditions would provide the opportunity to get good water (I was right btw, it was glass). Admittedly, part of not heading to downtown for the event was questioning how good of a spectator sport skiing really is (and I had been to the event a couple of times before). This year I went to the Malibu open with the kids and was pleasantly reminded how cool it is to see the pros in person. The kids really liked it too, though their attention span was pretty short. I agree on some of the recent comments. I do think to really be successful there needs to be more to the event than fans just going to watch the pros ski. In my opinion it would be more successful if they could get more people interested in it being a social gathering of the skiing community in the area (including the good and the not-so-good, and the private-lake and public-lake skiers). It's Wisconsin, so lots of beer in the evening would probably really go over well. I realize there is only much water time available at that site, but if there was time available for some of the locals to compete, or even just get some quick instruction from experts, I think it would add to the allure of making the drive. Just an idea, but what if the day before (or after) there were portable slalom courses installed in multiple locations in the area and some of the pros were sent to those various locations to mingle with the local skiers and give some instruction? Try some new equipment maybe. It'd be sort of a callout to all the area skiers to get some time on the water that weekend and to come see the event. I'd think you'd want to also appeal to begginers (or potential beginners). I'd chip in with some volunteering and organizing if that was needed. I'm not sure how many total waterskiers there are in the area (including show skiers), but it has to be a pretty big number that are within a 2 or 3 hour drive of the event. The key is to give them a reason to convene. I do also agree that it makes sense to leverage other events in the downtown area and get the average Joe to take a look at what is going on when they walk by.

Another question as I read your article - do you start them on the course with a 75 foot rope or a 60 foot rope? I assume that slalom ropes start at 60 feet in length instead of 75 because that extra 15 feet doesn't make the course any easier.

Huh, I'll have to try that with the 7yo. I didn't know that it was realistic for a kid on two skis to be able to make it across the course in time. I did try the older one out on a ladies fat ski behind a Prostar 197. It didn't go so well first try as he was intimidated by the size of the wake. The little one is bigger for his age so their foot size isn't too different. It would be nice if we could have one ski for the both of them. Are most people using adjustable bindings for kids or swapping out the bindings every couple of years as the kid grows into the ski?

Thx WBLskier, I'll send a PM to get some info. When I say he's currently on real old ski, I mean he's on the same one I was on at his age. It works to hang out behind the boat on, however I'm sure something newer would work significantly better form him as his skills progress. I'm not opposed to getting a ski that is a few years old. In my view, sometimes it is better to get a product that had been top of the line when it was new than a product that is new but not top of the line. I'm not sure if that is true with kids skis though.

I know this topic has been brought up recently but I have a few specific questions to my circumstance. I have a 9 year old boy that has been skiing the last two years on a real old ski and I'm looking to get him an upgrade prior to next season. I also have a 7 year old boy that will hopefully transition from two to one ski very soon. Our group mostly free skis but we do have periodic access to a course. -What size ski would you go with, 63 or 62 I assume? Is 64 or 65 too big? -Is there a decent adjustable boot system that they could both get away with using (toe plate in back)? One is Left Foot Forward and the other will be Right Foot Forward. -I know that the Total Radar Awesomeness is an option if I buy new, but what are some skis I should look at if I go used? Ski-it-again, for example, currently has reasonably priced listings for and older Goode, an Allegiance, HO Slash and D3 Nomad. I don't keep up on ski technology much, and am not sure how much the ski differences matter for little guys? -While I'm throwing out questions, what speed would you recommend starting a kid on course?

I wouldn't jump to the replacing the engine option just yet. The fact that water made it to the oil is more concerning than if it just made it to the cylinders but I'm not sure that completely rules out that it could be something relatively minor. Are the flaps still there on the back of your exhaust pipes looking at the back of your boat? I just want to rule out the possibility that you have stopped quickly and water has been forced the wrong direction up through your exhaust manifold and to your cylinders. The flaps prevent that. So at this point you just have the exhaust manifolds off? I'd still do a compression test, and without putting the manifold back on. First pull the fuse for the fuel pump so you aren't kicking gas into the chambers as you crank. Make sure the battery is charged when you do the test, maybe even connect the battery to a charger during. Before digging into things it would be nice to know if one or more cylinders have low compression. If you decide to take off the intake manifold and head, it might be helpful to fist turn the engine by hand to get the #1 piston at top dead center of the compression stroke. There is a mark on the harmonic balancer for TDC. After that, don't turn the engine over at all until the end. Mark where the distributor is lined up at present. Carefully keep track of where every part came from as you disassemble. Dig in and see what you find out. Oh, and you can use JB weld or something similar to patch the hole in the silent master muffler.