ScottScott

Asher and Tgas....   But for how long?

Youtube veiws does make a difference to anyone posting videos on youtube. There are sposorships etc that come through that medium. I can't say how much they are taking advantage of those, but viewer-ship on their channel can very well help them. (I also don't know how this effects that, just pointing that out as a potential.)

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I make every attempt to toss the handle away from me during a fall

i don't know that I agree that is the best practice. In Aidan Willers account of his accident he says he threw the handle in the fall, but had lost track of which direction he was facing. He actually ended up throwing it backwards, away from the boat, and it then got pulled back across him and the handle caught his arm. As much awareness as is possible, I attempt to try to hold the handle untill its pulled out of my hand.

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Arm came thru the open slid and up to the shoulder, then the protection edge cut thru the upper arm when the pull from the boat came, and ripped off the full biceps down.

Hard to guess if that same situation would have turned out any better if there wasn't a guard in place. The results sound similar to Aiden's accident (without a guard.). Then....how many times would an arm potentially gone through but a guard stopped it. Of course the main benefit is resisting a head through the handle which pretty much has one outcome if it happens.

• Brand not terribly significant as far as it goes with a bow rider. A smaller 18ft boat is reasonable to start slalom with. I ran the course at 28 mph behind an 18' sea ray 180 before we got our prostar. Not long ago I skied behind my brothers 22 ft Chaparral and got launched over the wakes. No way I could run the course behind that boat. 

I just went on google maps to look at 5 of the courses I frequent on public lakes near me. Course buoys are within 200 ft of the shoreline on 4 of them. 2 are uninhabited shorelines but the other 2 are 200' within residents’ docks, and this doesn't include drop area and run-in. I believe they are all permitted. How does the wording of this letter effect the existence of these courses? Especially when their existence is fragile as/is (even tho permitted.)

The more I think about it, the more this approach angers me. Certainly, on the part of Mastercraft, and to an extent on the part of Horton for passing their ill-advised message on to us. Why be this vague? You can't tell us what we need to say, and who we need to say it to, and not tell us why we need to say it. Do they really think there's a snowball chance in hell I'm going to copy/ paste their message and send it to who they say to send it to without knowing why? When I know more about what’s going on I will likely contact my representative, but it most likely won’t be their letter as written.

If someone that has skied for 20-30 years more than me skies better than me, does that mean they ski better than me becouse they know more than me, or becouse they've been skiing longer than me (possibly despite some misunderstandings, or focusing on things that don't really matter....)

@lpskier yes to the gator pass.  Includes a little trolling by the Lilly pads at end of course.

Good thing reactions aren't allowed in this thread. There'd be a lot of off topics being thrown around.  Sorry @MitchellM

15 hours ago, lpskier said:

you are significantly more likely to see a gator on a golf course than on your ski lake

SEE a gator.....maybe. Doesn't mean they aren't there. Presume if there's a body of water, there's a gator in it. Its a rare lake that doesn't, and if it doesn't now it may tomorrow (especially in the spring.) In the winter you're more likely to see it laying on the banks, in the summer you can assume they're sleeping on the bottom till dusk (only coming up for air every couple hours.)

Still, a skier has a better chance of getting struck by lightning than an encounter with a gator (which isn't really saying much in central florida.)

@MDB1056. Can't tell if thats a joke or not....  they can stay underwater for hours

40 minutes ago, Cnewbert said:

@ScottScott to say nothing of the snapping turtles and water moccasins. 😂

Yeah, they're all there....but the turtles and moccasins are there no matter what depth there is. Dropping at the end of a course is often closer to shore, pushing limits to the shoreline where you may touch bottom. I almost always wonder if i'm going to drop in on top of a sleeping gator.  Of course closer to the lilly pads you always have a chance of a moccasins slithering out. The turtles are pretty much everywhere. 

For me, 10' is pretty minimum for any slalom course in Fl. If I am replacing buoys, or when I fall, I like the thought that my feet dangling below are at least a couple feet above the gator sleeping on the bottom.

You're calling your girlfriend "average?" Hope she not on BOS or you got bigger problems than teaching her to drive...

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Artical on pinking and a treatment test Boatingmag on pinking 

Seems there is the bacterial, but also a chemical. 

"Chemical pinking arises from a byproduct of certain glues in marine cushions, which change to a pink or red color and then wick to the surface of the material.

It is triggered when another material such as a boat cover is left in contact with the upholstery. The vinyl is then subjected to excessive heat, and the result is chemical pinking, which appears in more geometric patterns than the blotchy nature of bacterial pinking.

To help prevent chemical pinking, don’t let a boat cover rest on the upholstery while the boat is stored. If you cannot avoid this, put a towel between the vinyl and the cover material."

We'll see how January/February goes. Could end up with a couple weeks break. They say its going to be a little cooler than average this winter...? 

There is a Lake Norman Ski club Facebook page. It hasn't been too active, but if you join it then post asking for a pull maybe someone will see it. 

I predict lower scores today.

The screen shot shows Winter Garden....but close enough for similar weather forcast. Showing morning hours but forcasted same all day. 

Hoping to come out today and support Freek School. Likely come out for some over the weekend, at least the finals Sunday. 

Guess he can't ski at Rini's anymore.

@swbca I've been lucky to do some pretty relaxed tournaments. I've missed a couple starts but always given another shot. One world class driver in particular always jumps in and says driver error.

On 9/27/2023 at 3:40 PM, swbca said:

  I can't always keep the tip of the ski in one place as the boat idles forward before I say "GO".   One of my drivers just comes back and says "NEXT SKIER".

I like to idle a little before going, and use a little of the resisitance in the water to help me compress before take off. However, if I wait too long the boat will start moving faster and faster (or the boat has a little faster idle) the ski will start moving around some. Best then to have the driver take out of gear and re-set. Same with the start, I like a slower start but if its too slow the ski in unstable.

"Next skier?"......NEW DRIVER!!!!

I saw a comment about a 3 step start progress, from a driver standpoint.....   I'd rather think of it in 1 step. A smooth acceleration to full (or at least close to it, depending on the setup, of course a turn in or island will be different once the skier is on the water.)  A slower start takes a little longer to move the throttle to full, a fast start moves throttle to full faster. I think some drivers think of a slow start as moving throttle to a 1/4 possition instead of a 1/2 position (or similar?) I like a smooth acceleration. The trick from boat to boat is feeling out any quirks in the throttle. Our '17 prostar has a spot in the low end of throttle that you really need to feather through or it will be too strong of a start. Driver really needs to use all senses to feel that out for a smooth acceleration (feel and sound of the engine.) 

As @MitchellM said, the shorts can make a big difference. I never thought about that till I forgot by swim shorts and tried to ski just in the cargo shorts I was wearing.....holy cow that was no fun. I skied a set, but those start ups wore me out. I missed a couple and wore my back out.... thankfully that was a couple years ago before my back issues were too bad. 

15 minutes ago, buechsr said:

Do you advocate removal of all turn islands?  rip rap?  Docks?  Excess buoys?  Or to widen the shoreline?  Because all of those are hypothetically in the skier's path, too. 

I wouldn’t consider those examples equivalent at all…    Turn Island  certainly wouldn’t come into play while a skier is focused on turning buoys or where they may wipeout in the course…. I would certainly hope there aren’t any docks as close to the skier path through the course as we are considering in this case with the ramp (the observation dock at swiss? Not sure how that compares to the buoy line….should that be considered?....maybe) Some narrow lakes have shoreline potentially in play if a skier wipes out while outbound, but I would much rather do a Freddie Winter slide across the water and end up on a shoreline than run smack into a structure on the ski at full speed. Rip rap should be considered on a narrower lake where the shoreline might come into play as mentioned. And comparing a buoy to a structure?

Another consideration for lake owners and liability. While there have been some close calls, there could be some defense regarding the standard, and the fact that its never happened or even considered it happening. Enough light has been shed resulting from this incident and conversations, that if a lake owner chooses to continue with that ramp location they could likely have a more difficult time defending their position in a liability suit in the event that an accident does happen.