Cnewbert

If it doesn't matter then why is there so much concern about it? Seems I've read all kinds of talk of it on various threads, how much the tower adds and whether the tower is advisable because of the added weight alone, certain boats being pigs because of their weight and so forth, comparisons of boat weights one brand/model to the next, whether the new Nautique 200 weighs more than the older Ski Nautique 200 and how they compare to the new Ski Nautique etc. I'm not saying I think that it matters so much, but it seems to generate a fair amount of discussion and even criticism of certain boats. So it appears it matters a lot to some. I was just suggesting an easy and accurate way for those who may care to put the issue of how much a boat actually weighs to rest if the manufacturers' specs are not to be believed.

I've read a lot of questions about the comparative weights of certain boats, i.e. the new Ski Nautique, the Nautique 200 and so forth in various discussion threads, as well as doubt or skepticism expressed in some instances concerning the accuracy of manufacturers' claims. Isn't this easily resolved if a few helpful owners/group members of these boats trailer them to any truck weigh station and weigh their rig with the boat and then again without the boat on the trailer to determine their actual boat's weight and report the results? For accuracy the amount of gas in the boat should be noted and any difference the truck's fuel level between weighings should be accounted for. It only costs a few bucks but would eliminate a lot of speculation and would be appreciated by many. I've read where modern digital truck scales will read accurately to +/- 5 pounds even for smaller loads. It goes without saying the boat should be emptied of all personal equipment and gear that didn't come with the boat.

Just go to nautique.com and you can find a video showing the tuners. Look for 2019 Ski Nautique Walk Through.

Re: wind, even a fairly light wind can trash a slalom course in no time. But remember, SSG223 said he's an open water guy who doesn't care much about a course, so he wouldn't be tied to any fixed location on a lake. There will always be a lee shore with smooth, skiable water somewhere around a lake of any size, length and width. There are thousands of lakes in Florida. I've only skied on 8. But of those 8, each one you can ski right up against the shoreline weeds unless there are docks in the way of course. My point is to SSG223, here there are no rocks to worry about in shallow water, in my experience. So you'll be able to tuck yourself close to shore and find flat water pretty much any time for free skiing.

I think one of those new Whisper fins would be a good stocking stuffer.

SSG223, your wife should Google "alligator attacks on water skiers in the US". It will be a quick search. She won't find any in the entire country (at least I haven't) let alone Florida. Given that the greater Orlando area is the epicenter of professional and high end water skiing in the world, with lakes and courses and skiers everywhere, if gators, or moccasins for that matter, poised a problem, the area would never have achieved that status. By contrast, pit bulls killed 40 people in the US last year. You live in Washington? There's bears there, right? There have been 28 fatal bear attacks in the US since 2000. A bigger concern living in Florida would be lightning strikes with 10 people killed annually across thte state. Driving to buy groceries is a more serious threat to life and limb than gators. (I've learned to drive very defensively since moving here). As for better or worse lakes for skiing, if you're primarily an open water, free skier, a larger lake will always give you a calm lee shore to ski on regardless of wind direction or velocity (within reason). The long, narrow lakes, naturally occurring or man-made, can get quickly blown out by wind blowing in the direction that the lake lies. It's never a bad idea to research the prevailing wind direction during different seasons of the year and match that info to the lake you might be considering, as well as the location of the house... i.e., which shoreline it's on. A big lake might always offer a lee shore, but it would be nice not to always have to drive to the other side of the lake to find calm water because your house is situated on what is typically the windward side of the lake.

After reading about the terrible break Olando76 suffered, and especially after viewing the gruesome x-rays he posted, I'm wondering what bindings or binding systems are considered the safest, particularly in terms of preventing this kind of injury. I suppose it might also be worthwhile knowing the types of bindings that are least likely to prevent such injuries.

Yowzer Orlando76... just now saw this. Bummer! Hope your recovery goes well! Sorry we never got to ski!

78° in Claremont today according to the boat.. Felt warmer though, as typically I’d Need a shorty below 80°. Air was about 84°. It was tough, but some’s got to do it.

Horseback riding.

No therometer this morning but water felt like about 83-84°, somewhere around there. Air temp at the time was low to mid 70s I suppose. Quite nice! Didn’t stop me from wearing a shorty, but I’m a wuss.

85° in Melrose, FL yesterday.

N. FL. Temp reading from the boat on Sat said 91. But it felt more like a true 88. Sweet!

aupatking, I was more annoyed than mad. After all, I never got to ski the upgraded course even once! To the best of our knowledge, no one else skis the lake. I myself live an hour away, so I wouldn’t know. But the Village dragon boat teams that practice on the lake all the time seem to think we are the only skiers. Could have been a one-timer though. Stevie Boy, since the Overtons get the job done, and are apparently not worth enough to steal, we’ll stick with those I guess. A_B, I like your suggestion!

Wish, the course is at the opposite corner of the lake from the houses and no houses are anywhere near the course. The houses are a good mile away and the course can’t even be seen from them. Plus, if I were a disgruntled lake resident intending on disrupting the skiing, I’d take all the buoys, not leave nearly half of them. And while I was at it, I probably would have cut all the bungys as long as I was being a jerk. I didn’t post this incident for sympathy. I thought there was at least a very remote chance someone may know something about it. But as mentioned, this happened at the end of March, so it’s much too late to file a police report. I should have done it at the time as you suggest.

Trouble is, Jordan, we have no idea who took them, have no idea where they might be, and really no way of proving they are mine even if we had a lead on a course that suddenly and suspiciously sported some brand spankin' new red Wally Skier turn buoys plus a set of green Wally Skier novice buoys deployed about the same time ours were swiped. In truth, at this point it's a loss, but being curious in nature, I'd love to know the answer to the mystery. Had I known about this forum back when they were taken, I might have had a better chance of recovering them, if in fact a skier took them -- which, unfortunately, I think is the more likely case given the highly selective nature of which buoys were taken and which were left behind. At least they had good taste in turn buoys!

mmosley899, I think you are exactly right. And perhaps on top where the initials or some unique form of marking can be readily seen from a boat. Next time!

ESPNSkier, I wonder if maybe some bird or other gator food might land on rest on the red balls for some reason, and the gators popped the balls going for dinner. Though I don't know why a bird would care about the color. Then again, I've never been a bird.

lpskier, not a gator either. They might puncture a buoy on occasion, but these all had the cable ties cut and were then unhooked from the locking, adjustable hooks, leaving the bungy and hooks cleanly behind. And there’s no reason why an animal of any kind would discriminate against the guide buoys and only go after the high priced balls. Anyhow, they sure wouldn’t taste good no matter what. Especially all 12 of them. Gregy, that’s a decent theory for sure. I don’t run the club, so I’m not sure if anyone got kicked out. But skiing had not yet begun for the season, so it’s unlikely. Besides, I bought the buoys myself and I get along great with all the club members. I was just trying to upgrade the course for everyone’s benefit.

klindy, yeah, the course can barely be seen from the park, and not at all from anywhere else on the lake unless someone knew what to look for specifically, so it had to be someone already on the lake in a boat as you'd never know from shore if the course was even there, let alone have new buoys. Probably a crime of opportunity, rather than anything else. Since the replacement cheap buoys have not been tampered with ever since, it's unlikely that someone was trying to stop the skiing. In any case, the club members do as much or more free skiing than skiing the course, so taking the buoys would not have slowed or stopped the skiing. But again, the fact that perfectly good guide and gate buoys were untouched suggests that whoever took them knew the Wally Skiers were higher priced and of superior quality. Even many casual skiers would not even know the difference, so that's why I think whoever did this knew what they were doing. We checked the shoreline all around the lake. These were definitely swiped. Wish, I like your strategy, but too late for us. This happened months ago. Like spicoli suggested, we have moved on. Ilivetoski, doubt it was fishermen, unless they happened to be educated skiers as well, since, again, they only took the expensive buoys. The average fisherman would likely think the Overtons were just a good. Nando, I think if someone just wanted to mark something, they would have taken the perfectly good boat guides as well, rather than run the full length of the course on both sides snatching only the turn balls. Weird what happened to your course! DavidN, well, it's only money. But I'm unlikely to spring for nice buoys again only to have them walk. It would have been hard to really spot anyone taking them, particularly very early or late in the day. The course is well away from any easy observation, and sometimes there is no one on the lake at all, so a lone fishing boat could have taken all 12 in a matter of minutes. They did leave the nice bungy's I made up with adjustable hooks, so they could have been even bigger jerks! The course is at the east end, well away from the houses on the west shore a mile away. And there are no houses on the northeast shore, so someone could have done this quite easily unobserved if the lake was otherwise empty. I don't like to think another course skier would take them, but again, someone was educated about the relative merits of different buoy brands. I figured finding these was an exercise in futility, so other than putting the word out to some skiers I knew, I just wrote it off to experience. Bruce, the buoys were attached by Wally's adjustable hooks plus cable ties for extra security. The thieves cut the cable ties and unhooked the buoys, leaving everything else. If I were ever to spring for nice buoys again I think I'd find a unique way to mark them so they could be readily identified and perhaps less likely to be stolen as a result. But they could well be in a different state for all I know. That's life! I just thought it would be interesting to post this on the forum for the very remote chance someone knew something, since the forum reaches such a wide audience.

I only recently became aware of this great forum, so this post is not exactly timely and probably won't produce any useful information at this point. But my curiosity remains about the theft of a set of brand new turn buoys from my club's slalom course on Lake Miona, Oxford, FL. Toward the end of last March we set out 6 brand new red Wally Skier turn buoys on the club course. And because this club is primarily older skiers, we also affixed a set of 6 green Wally Skier buoys inside of the regulation width red turn buoys for the benefit of novices or weaker skiers. Before we got a chance to even ski the course once, we had some windy weather so it was 10 days later before we finally went out to ski. What we found was that someone had swiped every single new Wally Skier buoy, leaving behind only the entry and exit gates and the boat guides, all of which were just cheapo Overtons or similar. Now, no one else ever skis on this lake. The only other boats we ever see are fishermen. Yet, someone obviously recognized the relative value of the Wally Skier buoys vs. the others, and just took the expensive ones. I doubt the average fisherman would know the difference, much less have use for 12 slalom turn buoys. So it remains a bit of a mystery. But if anyone on this forum knows of a course that suddenly sprouted some brand new Wally Skier red turn buoys, particularly if they also installed some green novice buoys as well, sometime around the end of March or early April, I'd love to know more about it. There would be no way to prove they're ours, and it's too late to do anything about it anyhow so I wouldn't even try. It's just one of those things a person would like some answers to. Kindly PM me with any info. Thanks!

Not if there’s a game that day, lskier.

Thanks Lelani. I’ve had several emails with Chris and she told me to call you, which I intend to.

liquid d, so what is the deal with Lake Wauberg? We’ve driven by it dozens of times and seen the jump, but we’ve never seen any activity on the lake. I’ve always wondered about it.

Just curious if anyone knows why the 2019 SN 200 is not offered in an open bow configuration?