mnewth

One major pro of the narrower handles = it can't accidentally go over the jumper's helmet! Especially with newer jumpers, I'd make sure that whatever handle they're using can't possibly get wrapped around the neck.

@Bdecker I've had a Tumacs on my 04 Prostar for the past 6 months and haven't had any issues.

@aupatking - Current announcer is Curtis Williams from San Diego State. He's a kiwi that kills it on the mic.

I just moved to the area, and while I live on Spirit Lake outside Winter Haven (4? slalom course), it sounds like the rest of the traffic on the lake makes it pretty rough to ski on once the summer months hit. I've been skiing out at Ski Paradise (Mulberry, FL) and I'm probably going to become a member. skiparadiseflorida.com I'm always looking for people to ski with in the area, if anybody's wanting a driver. Should have a boat in the near future too.

@Klinger Talk to Cole Kalkbrenner - I'm pretty sure he has video of doing one down at Isaiah's... He loads pretty much everything off a single ski though!

@Kelvin Thanks for adding in the post - definitely helps to provide the whole story. My one comment is that as far as I know, there is no 2nd pass unless a full pass of 6 is ran. From the article "A skiers must make 6 full buoys to get a second pass." Those examples even state that they get a "Final" score of 4.5, 3, etc.

@LeonL There should be some other discounts on the back of that insert, right?

@disland 50% of members don't ski tourneys on the AWSA side.

@Horton Fair enough. I absolutely agree that we need to grab the low hanging fruit by working to pull in the collegiate kids. Is there any value in trying to promote overall growth of the sport at the recreational skier level?

Talking to Mike O'Connor, he summed the problem up pretty good to me. The two major things halting growth are Access and Exposure. Access: There aren't nearly as many open ski clubs across the country. It's hard for collegiate kids to find places to ski. We're constantly bringing new people into the sport (we have 1200 collegiate kids in tournaments the past year - compared to 6000 in AWSA) - so we should be seeing growth of people shifting into AWSA each year. Yet... that isn't happening. I'm sure we could all agree that the types of activities happening at AWSA tournaments and NCWSA tournaments does differ slightly... but we could probably be capturing more of those individuals. Exposure: We don't have nearly the impact on in the media as we used to with the televised pro tours. What would it take to get Nationals on cable television? I've heard people talk about the fact that even with a handful of lakes running simultaneously, that a waterski tournament just isn't interesting enough to make it on television. But if we cut up a tournament to just the actual skiing - removed some opening passes, and used editing to build the tension a little... I think it would be more popular than Professional Darts, Drone Racing, and some of the other junk that's currently on. I'm guessing bringing some major $$$ in terms of sponsors might make this a bit more viable too. -- Who's responsibility is it to make all this happen though?

Super Jump bindings. Are you saying get the sides screwed down, and then try to pull it down on the back? I really like the longer screw idea. I got the first one done using zip ties in 2 of the 3 holes to cinch it down tight, and then remove one at a time... so it sounds like I'm on the right track. Thanks @klindy

This is probably the worst part of using rubber bindings... I'm changing wraps on a pair of bindings and was looking for some advice to make the task a bit easier. Is there a video online showing the "proper" way to do it? I searched online, and on BOS and couldn't find anything to help.

@A_B Absolutely. I'm probably going to need help making the list from the ballers as an outsider to the area. Seems like I've already made some good connections to get started with though! Hmm. I guess my starter goal is to beat @OB1 ... 50 seems like a pretty big number to get to though!

I got a job with USA Water Ski - we'll see what I can change from the inside! So I'll be out more in the Winter Haven area. I was fortunate enough to find a place to rent on the side of Lake Spirit (which apparently has a few slalom courses on it), so now I just need to make some friends on that lake (or buy a boat). I think I'm going to try and make a huge list of all the awesome sites in the area though, and see how many I can ski over the course of a year. Has anybody kept track of the # of lakes they've skied on over the course of a year/decade/life?

Thanks for the information! It sounds like joining a club like LaPoint's is the way to go once I get things figured out. Are there any other club style options? Does anybody know somebody who's constantly trying to find a driver? I got into a pretty good swing this past summer of skiing at least a few times during the week and then skiing tournaments nearly every weekend... paying for sets and coaching from some of the higher tiered places mentioned sounds awesome but a little difficult to maintain. Hopefully through work and meeting some people in the ski community will help the process of finding a decent ski setup! It also looks like I'm going to have to get in ski shape a few months earlier than I planned...