ScottScott

It amazes me the people that think its ok for a structure to be within a potential skier path on a slalom course, and since "everyone knows its there," or "its there for everyone" or "its like that at other places" everything is OK. How many close calls before a serious injury. IF it interfered with Smith making a perfectly legit S turn and making a score of 1 full buoy, then its a problem. However, he should still have just as much right to TRY everything he can to S turn and score that buoy (even if he fails) without worrying about running into a structure at 36mph. Yes, exactly. Maybe that shouldn't be the loook they'll get at worlds. I think its time to re-think the standards here BEFORE there is a serious inury, and Worlds is the perfect place to start. On lakes that are too narrow for the boat path to be on the jump side of the slalom course (locating the jump more outside the slalom course), move it for slalom. That may mean moving it for slalom classes and putting it back for jump in a 3 event. It will be a pain in the butt, but does that mean it shouldn't be done? OR at a site like travers, they have more than 1 lake.....

He almost didn't have a leg to stand on.....

You can tell in the 3rd frame of obrienslalom's post above that the jump is well up course of where a backward turn ball should be. At the location that Smith is throwing the handle, it certainly seems possible he could have made a cut to get in before the boat guides had he not altered his S turn to avoid the ramp. I don't care whether thats the same setup for everyone, or how common this setup is…..a skier shouldn't have to navigate obstacles within a slalom course. This may not have resulted in anyone running into a ramp and getting injured… yet.....does that mean its ok? We're risking injuries and affecting competition....because its convenient for the jump course to share some buoys? Smith should have gotten a re-ride, and this setup needs to be re-considered. I have skied in places with a jump similarly placed, gotten lean locked through my gate at 15 off and gotten a pretty closeup look at a jump ramp….I didn’t really ask any questions about it, but if its that standard, how has no-one gotten injured? Especially with skiers skiing 36mph on longer lines.

I don't think the question should be whether the skier knew the ramp was there or not. The question is whether he was too far down course have possibly made it back to boat guides or not. If he was too far down, then it is what it is. If he could have made it, then the course and jump setup was done poorly and he should have gotten a re ride.

I can't believe you got that far at that line with that gate. You're better than I am, but I would still say there's no point looking any farther until you can get a MUCH better gate.

@EFW Guess I should have clarified to be integrated into ZO

Both. Still a beginer my inconsistancies make it tough in a one shot sistuation like a tournament (as my tournament PB is from a turn n burn.)

I can't imagine that we'd be looking at anything that really functions beyond the 55s. Start up and drops are tied so closely to throttle that it would take a coordination between the 2 systems. I think you're going to have to still try to get lined up coming into the course before the 55s, and we're a long way from something beyond that. We'll see some sort of automated startup throttle control before that, and I'm not sure we've seen much indication that that is on the horizon. Those of us with back issues would love to see that tho.

That 1 ball shouldn't be so surprising. Ragina has a history of a wheelie turn on her offside but stays in the pass, rememeber the video that made its rounds where she ran 39 with similar wheelie turns on all 3 of her offside turns (1, 3, and 5.) I see that some in other women skiers particularly from time to time. Its not what they're trying to accomplish, but its something that happens and can be handled pretty successfully. (there is a split second after the turn before the boat advances where they can reset themselves....)

I see 2 different aspects. 1st is whether a buoy in question is a miss or not and is determined by whether the skier skies outside the buoy (which can graze the outside of the buoy,) or whether the ski is inside or over it. The 2nd, assuming they are outside the buoy, is how far down course they got in skiing position before a fall, that is determined by the front foot. Note: I don't say this as an experienced judge, just my interpretation of the rules we're reading. P.S. Does is say Geeezzzz in the rule book?

Nothing in any of the rules posted say anything about where his feet are. In that 1st pic the ski is clearly riding over that buoy. I don't see any other way to interpret that rule the way its written.

The ski is already impacting the buoy much more than would qualify as a graze.

The carpet thing is a good thought. I could see the gas activating the dyes in the carpet and staining anything touching it.

I'm a little surprised that it stained like that, and the fact that it did is a little conserning regarding the structure.... I spill gas on a lot of things, whether the cheaply painted plastic around the fill cap of a lawn mower or weed eater, or drip some down the side of the car or boat and never see it stain like that. I would even use gas as a cleaner for various stubborn substances that have stained various things with similar finish as a ski.... I know you say you don't know how long it was on the ski...assuming then that it wasn't noticed right away? Still, with as fast as it evaporates its a little surprising. I wonder if there was alread a crack of some sort that alowed it inside the ski?

I'm just happy the coverage was streamed on YouTube. That should be standard for anyone streaming.

Post 2014 prostars won't go more than a couple days before battery is drained enough it won't start. Turn battery off every night. I have the Noco Genius. I generally only use it when I forgot to turn switch off. I keep 2 batteries going also. When I forget to turn off, I swap batteries and charge the dead one.

A side note.... go to 15' off. Rarely does anyone use full length, especially once they're into the mid and upper 20s mph

All of my tournament PBs are on turn and burns, I love 'em. Unless wind, or other direction factors, makes it more advantageous to run the pass you're hoping to get farther down the line one way or the other, starting on last complete pass would usually be best. You're already warmed up and so don't need the earlier passes. If you have decent scores already in round 1, you could go ahead and ski the hardest pass you SHOULD complete, even if you didn't complete it on round 2 (possibly repeating the last pass run.) Remember, if you don't complete that 1st pass you get a score of less than 6, but if earlier rounds had decent scores its not a big deal.

I'm guessing the Obrien ski you have is a little more of a beginner/free-ride type ski. A more advanced/course type ski will grab an edge more, and especially being an older design, will be a little less stable. When you are in calm water skiing straight any lean one way or the other will grab that edge and cause that wobble feel. The wing could contribute, try without. You don't need the wing free skiing.

What @jhughes said. Stop pounding the harder passes. Work on easier passes and get back to the basics, focus on fundamentals.

I thought it was very well done, and was a great recap of the Worlds. But I'm with 6balls and than. The title of the film gave me different expectations. Going into it I thought this would be something I could send to non water ski friends to get them interested in water skiing, but it wasn't what I expected, and don't think it would hold their attention. That being said, I very much enjoyed it and would watch it again.

I'm betting that the waterski "Team" rankings that TWB is doing motivates the ski sponsors to kick in a little extra money. There are more US (or US based) skiers doing the European events this year.

Nothin better for a lefty than a good 4 ball.

There's really just one choice....PTM mirrors

@Horton I aint seen it