ESPNSkier

Awesome shot! Could have been ugly if that goose was a bit faster and they had an encounter out by 2 ball. Is the goose part of some new top secret timing or aerial camera system?

As I exited the course the other day I passed a jet ski coming in from the opposite direction and running the buoys. She spun around and ran the course coming back at us. We tried to wave her down for a quick chat about slalom course safety but she smiled and waved as she blew past us....totally clueless and really dangerous!

@303Skier I'd stay away from the areas just south (South OBT) and east (Paramore/Pine Hills) of Orlando.

@Orlando76 PM me next time you are out this way. We have some great short line skiers out here (Whitney lives on our lake)....I'm just not one of them as I am struggling to run 28 off consistently. I maintain the north/south course on the east shore across from Magnolia Island. This is the only course out of the four here that has not been surveyed recently.

I live on John's Lake west of Orlando between Winter Garden and Clermont. 2,500 acre public lake with 4 permanent courses. Can be very busy on weekends but usually good skiing mornings and evenings. Don't know of any current rentals on the lake but they do pop up occasionally.

Good info, thanks @MS!

I have read about skiers putting water in turn balls for "safety" (I just can't remember which thread). Is this a good idea and how does it help? My turn balls are connected to sub-buoys with a short piece of latex tubing but I only put air in them.

Been sking off and on for 40 years and started to get into it again this spring after another long layoff. Hit a new practice PB and ran my first ever 28 off last month at age 60.

I was told that the 2016 Vapors are out of production and virtually sold out and that the 2017 Vapors would be available in September. Fortunately I was able to buy the last pair of size 12 demo Vapors that Performance had in stock last month.

I have a much older boat with similar hours (1993 MC ProStar) but had a very similar issue that turned out to be a simple fix. These boats typically have an anti-siphon valve located inside the fuel hose connection nipple at the top of the fuel tank (I assume the newer boats still have this). I pulled this nipple off and took it apart to find that it was partially clogged with debris. Blew it out, put it back together and runs like a charm!

Vapors! I have a fairly wide size 12 foot and the Vapors seemed really narrow and tight when I tried them on. After heat molding they felt better but still a bit tight, however, after 5 or 6 sets they feel great and are much more comfortable than my old Animals. Took a few sets to make the adjustment to closed-toe boots but love them now.

Thanks, all good advice! I'll have to look into the Regenexx procedure.

Thanks for the advice! I just returned from another round of PT and plan to back off for a bit to see if the PT will work for me. Good luck to you too @jipster43

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you and I can't say enough about the 67" HO CX Superlite. Still fairly new ski for me but I am loving it at 32 mph!

Thanks, sounds like good advice. I stopped bench press and other pushing exercises at the gym last month as that seemed to aggravate it the most but pulling movements like in skiing did not seem to bother me....until now. Going back for more PT today and trying to avoid surgery.

Any advice for skiing with a partially torn rotator cuff? I had to take a month off due to business travel and during that time my shoulder seemed to get worse (hard to do PT in a hotel room). I skied today for the first time in a month and felt pain (manageable but noticeable) in that shoulder for the first time while skiing. Stop while I'm ahead or is skiing at 15 to 28 off not likely to make it worse as long as I don't take any big hits? BTW: 60 years old and currently skiing at 32 mph.

Bonjour all, Rob Bee here! I'm a Safety Director with ESPN and I am writing this from my hotel room in Paris where I'm working the French Open Tennis Tournament and EUROS soccer tournament. Currently we are trying to build our EUROS Host Set at the Port des Champs Elysees but the Seine River is currently 5.2 m above flood stage (and still rising) and we have 5' of water in our TV compound! I'm 60 years old and have been slaloming since I first got up on a Cypress Gardens El Diablo behind my grandfather's MFG with a 40 hp Johnson at age 14. The first time I saw a slalom course was in college when a ski buddy and I signed up for a tournament in Covington, LA....we both ran 1.5 buoys that first time and were hooked. We spent the next few years skiing on the bayous of SE Louisiana and I bought a 1972 Nautique (orange and black) in 1980 and skied a handful of tournaments in the early 80s. My tournament PB back then was 1 @ 22 off/36 mph and I broke two EPs in half on that brutal 22 off wake over a couple of years. Injuries slowed me down and I pretty much quit skiing for a long time. My wonderful wife of 39 years and I have skied off and on over the years and our kids are married and raising kids of their own (I can't wait until the grandkids are old enough to get behind the boat). We currently live on John's Lake near Winter Garden, FL and maintain one of the 4 courses there. Unfortunately, my job keeps me on the road too much but when I am home my wife and I will typically jump in the boat after work and each ski a run or two before opening a bottle of wine and playing backgammon on the engine cover of our 1993 MC ProStar 205....did I mention that she is an exceptional and patient driver! Over the past few years I have been happy to kick around at 15 off on an old HO, however, I discovered BOS last fall and it helped get me hooked again and I decided to take another stab at shortening the rope. I recently bought a 67" HO Superlite CX and am still skiing it at 32 mph while I adapt but I have already cleared 28 off a couple of times (not pretty) and set a new PB at 1 @ 32 off. Can't wait to get home and hit the water again!!!

Thanks, will look at both. I have always found skier-to-skier to be quick and the products are good. Have never tried Wallyskier.

Where do most people get slalom course supplies? I normally order from Skier-to-Skier here in Florida but their site seems to be down?

No binding system is completely safe and I broke an ankle a few years ago on Animals in a fall exactly as @gregy describes above. I recently switched to Vapor boots and I feel that they are safer as I am able to crank down the lower boa system but leave the upper laces fairly loose. I haven't taken a hard fall on these boots yet but I can release fairly easily on the swim platform. Also, much more comfortable than rubber.

Skiing is how my wife and I find balance. I travel a lot for work so when I am not traveling we go out on the lake every evening and ski the course (if the wind and jet skiis cooperate) or free ski. We each run a set or two and then play a game of backgammon on the engine cover and share a glass of wine while we watch the sun go down.

I wear a size 12 shoe and when I first tried on the size 12 Vapor boot it felt way too tight in both width and length. So, I demoed the size 13/14 Vapor boot and my foot was sliding around even with the boa cranked down as tight as it would go. Back to the shop and heat molded a size 12 boot which still felt a bit snug in the shop but after three sets in the boot it now feels great!

@LeonL is absolutely correct about documenting your current fin settings before you make any changes. When I rode a demo CX I absolutely loved it and I bought one from Performance which was set to factory specs. When I rode it for the first time it just did not ski nearly as well as the demo. Performance measured the settings on the demo for me and when I reset my fin to match the demo it made a huge difference in the way the ski felt for me.

Glad to see some other "Old Fart" skiers like myself having success! I rode an older 69" HO for the last few years and was basically stuck at 32 mph 15 off. Last month I tried a 67" HO Superlite CX and loved it from the first cut. This ski is so much faster and requires far less effort than my old ski. I ran a PB on my second set and am now getting deep into 28 off. Next step is to get back to 34 mph.

Thanks, I'll give it more time and see where I end up. These boots are certainly more comfortable.