HighAltitude

You got to have serious stones just to get in the water at Mavericks. The swells they are getting this year are sick!

Built an Efoil during the Covid lockdown. Super fun way to spend time when it's either too rough on the course, no driver or just skied too much that day.

 

Also turned a wakesurf board into a hydrofoil board. Can use it behind my SN with zero ballast at about 5-8 mph, longline.

@Horton I'll try and look things over when I have time, but just looking at what you have here, I'd say there isn't much more to analyze. Yes, we could show there is a statistically significant difference between sites and we might be able to use some sort of confidence interval to show how unlikely something is, but....I think it will become clear that some sites ski better than others. The real question is why. Are some playing "loose and fast" with the rules or is it consistently better conditions?

 

I think one boat manufacturer currently has more world records behind it than the others (I haven't seen those ads lately, so I'm not sure if its true anymore). Does that mean that boat is better? Could that be the difference? I don't believe that but it goes to show how many variables there still are despite an attempt to minimize them.

 

BTW... pro golf has world rankings as well.

In a former life, I taught probability and stats at the Air Force Academy and then used that knowledge to do test and eval and space systems. This looks like a perfect area to apply some more rigorous statistical analysis. With that said, I don't think it takes any serious stats skills to say that this sport can be "site" specific. The real question is what makes a specific site better than another? Thus, breaking down the data by country doesn't do the analysis any justice. You would have to look at all sorts of crazy data to see if this is truly site specific or if it is boat specific, driver specific, weather specific (temp, winds, etc), time of year specific, country specific or a multitude of any other factors.

It's an important question to answer if you are a world record holder but that's about it.

The most important thing is that everybody competes at the same site in a tournament. Golf is a perfect example. All the different courses are rated by slope and difficulty to make sure the handicap system works for people playing any course, but people also understand that some courses play hard or play easy. Relative performance is the only thing that determines a winner on any given day.

 

My wife didn't feel any difference between our 99 SN and our 200. She skis at 26 mph. I thought I noticed a difference at 28 mph but after a few months realized I didn't. I now ski at 32 and 34 mph and really don't notice a wake on any boat I ski behind. I've heard newer Prostar's are great and have skied a Carbon Pro but I think the chase for the "best slow speed wake" is a fool's errand. The 99 SN is an amazing boat and any difference at 28 mph will be negligible. Buy a new boat for a lot of reasons but I bet you will be disappointed if you are buying it primarily for an improvement in a slow speed wake. With that said, I love my '14 200 over my 99 SN.

Compressed a nerve in the L5. Taking a month off for PT. This is the first time I have ever stopped skiing for any length of time during the season. It sucks...but I'm also running the Pikes Peak Ascent in 3 weeks and need a healthy back to do that.

Numerous threads on this topic if you search. I don't think I have seen anything that wasn't positive. The only thing I have read that was "negative" was that you wanted to use the ski for what it was intended for. Basically 30-34 mph, up to around 28 or 32 off. Faster or shorter you probably need to step up to the next level.

Very cute. Then one day you wake up and she is in college studying Arabic and says she wants to go special ops in the military. Damn...those days go so quick.

I presume a carbon ski like the Omni Syndicate is honeycomb?

Does the JB Weld at the bottom of the insert make the setup essentially waterproof. I thought maybe some of these waterski specific inserts would have a metal bottom.

...can I get a pull? I can't look at any boat on a body of water and not wish I was on it. I'm happy to ski, surf, drink beer, whatever it takes!

Well at least it's not another Mastercraft versus Nautique thread so it's got that going for it.

Thanks all for the comments. Lots of things for me to think about. First of all there has been about a 10 degree shift in water temp since I was making pretty much every pass. I never thought about that. (about a month ago, I set my new PR of 3 @34/15) Second, I made a lot of changes with my setup thinking I could get a wee bit more performance and while it's pretty close to what I had before, I probably need to break out the calipers again. Lastly, several of the "root" causes I am guilty of and need to fix.

 

Upside is I went to my Chiro and my back feels pretty decent compared to the pain I was in yesterday. I was pretty worried and frankly totally discouraged that the rest of the season was going to be a wash. Today I'm back to being optimistic. Thanks a lot!

I was skiing pretty good up to this point but suddenly for the last 8 sets I have been breaking at the waist. I made some (what I thought were) minor fin/binding adjustments before that and have since tried go back to the original setting but to no avail. I hurt my low back yesterday after breaking at the waist and trying to hold on. I expect to have to wait a solid week before getting on the water again to let my back heal. I'm hoping that does the trick as I'm definitely in some pain today.

 

After I get back on the water... any advice? I was reading Fin Whispering today and it says tip engagement is mostly affected by LE and binding location. I am skiing at 32 -34 MPH 15 off on an HO Syndicate Omni with a Denali fin. I have also been running wingless. I am considering adding a wing with about 6 degrees but moving my bindings back .250. I could also move the leading edge back about .10 but I will lose some FA because I'm pretty much against the upper back metal on the fin is hitting the rear of the fin block.

I second the Omni suggestion. Great ski.

@DaveD - no my driver (who is my son) got plenty of pow this winter! The snow skis are hung up and we are trying to thaw out after a long winter. Luckily, we will hit the 90's this week but it's been tough. If it wasn't cold, it was windy. Now the thunderstorms have started. Lightning came out of nowhere yesterday and was so close we heard the buzz of the lightning before the thunder. We hightailed it from the boathouse and waited 30 minutes for the second set. Luckily I live on my ski lake so I'm able to work around the lousy weather. Just finished my 20th set yesterday.

Still plenty of snow in the mountains for anyone inclined!

45 degree air temp when I woke up to complete glass this morning in Colorado Definitely can't get rid of the drysuit. Too bad my driver had to take off unexpectedly.

 

WTF - who cancelled summer?

@AdamCord thanks for the reply! I moved my bindings back to their original position as well as my fin. I'm going to take a set in that position to reset my baseline and then begin again. I'll try moving my bindings back an 1/8th of an inch while reducing the depth of the fin by .010. I'll try that and then another set at .020 and compare the feel.

 

I cannot overemphasize how far I've already improved by switching skis and adding your fin. The fin really changed my off side and has allowed me to get into a much better position for the pull. Last year at this time I hadn't made a 34 mph set. Just three days ago I got 3 at 22/34. Totally stoked for an old dude.

 

The only problem is the 45 degree air temp in Colo this morning. Did somebody cancel summer?

I've got a Sydicate Omni I'm try to dial in just a tiny bit to help me run my 34/15's more consistently. I just moved the bindings back about 3/16 of an inch but found my turns were not finishing quite like before. How would I adjust my Denali fin to get a little more tip engagement at the finish of the turn? I might go back to my original setting but though I would ask to see if I can do it with the fin instead.

Masterline Ergo.

29.5, 7.1, 2.50, .45 for my Omni with Denali fin.

 

The binding measurement is somewhat sketchy as my boots are fairly strange and there is a slope on the trailing edge of the Omni which makes it hard to measure from.

I've been adjusting my fin/binding placement by feel but I'll take some measurements tonight. No wing.

My 18 Syndicate Omni really works well with the Denali Fin. The turns feels incredibly symmetric and smooth. I'm right where you are are in terms of skiing ability. I finished last year with a PR of 4 back-to-back passes at 34/15. Haven't skied too much this year but got 2 back-to-back passes already this year.

Thanks for the replies. Seems normal based on the responses.

White rope with a black Ergo handle.