75Tique

Perfect. So when people say he is on a 35.5 foot rope, that is 2 feet shorter than the distance to the buoy. But like I referenced above, or somewhere, given geometry and physics (given speed, just how far out can they pull) How far are they really reaching. Looks like about the best they can do (based on this particular run) is a 25* angle. If that is the case, the rope is only 32.17 feet from center. So at 39.5 off, they are really having to reach almost 5.5 feet, not 2 feet. Now do this for 43 off....tho I am wondering if the shorter rope lets them get even greater angle???

With regard to size of buoys.... I've also wondered how close to 90* a skier gets to the boat path. Everyone always talks about the rope being shorter than the distance to the buoy, but you have to subtract from that, the angle, which I assumed was a bit shy of 90* Here is another screen shot I picked up for the Nate 2@41 controversy, at ball 1. He's pretty darn close to even with the boat. As suggested above, I'd like to see a drone shot of a skier at the ball, get out my protractor, do a little trig and see the actual distance the handle is from the ball.

Reminds me of a truck project a friend of mine did. This Chevy was an earlier project he did. I'm not that into cars. I met him when I pulled up along side to check out his 67 Stevens flattie, another project he did.

He may have been doomed from the start on this one. Here he is coming off #1, not typical form for him. He just may have never fully recovered.

Well now I am second guessing myself. This is like one frame before my picture above, and it looks kind of like the OP's picture. Yet an incredibly small fraction of a second later, it looks like my picture above. In the instant I went from one capture to the next, its looked like the front of the ski hopped over the ball. A review of the rule and my 2 pictures looks like it pretty much clinches it. Hmmmm. Too bad.

I went back and replayed a number of times, trying to capture at the exact right moment. This is as close as I got. Looks pretty good to me. Are we absolutely sure the shot above is the 10.25 pass? Hard to believe he could go from that to what is seen in my capture.

I dont think a 43 off run is far fetched at all. May be a little ways off, but if Nate can do 2.5, then the ability, physics and geometry are there to do 3.5 more. What I am wondering about is when physics and geometry no longer allow the next record to be broken (barring the 8 foot tall skier) then what? As suggested before, I guess 38 mph becomes the new normal?

Was interesting to see how many world class skiers use a RTP. Back in the day, or maybe even today in the rookie/amateur circles, you werent cool, or your ski wasnt good enough unless you had double boots.

Depending on how cold the water gets, I would rather have a baggy with a ton of warm clothes under it than a thin layer of neoprene between me and the cold water.

In NC, you dont need a spotter, just a mirror, but on our small lake, governed by an HOA, you do. You guys all know this, but people not in the know think it should be no problem finding lots of people who want to go skiing, but we all know that's not the case, especially early mornings or weekday evenings. Have always had problems tracking down a spotter. Tried to modify the rules on our lake. First gave thought to skiers and boarders dont need spotters. Tubers, because they are for the most part idiots who just went out and bought their first boat last thursday did need one. We decided not to go with version. We then tried a version of no spotter needed for any sport week day nights or early weekend mornings. We have 2 levels of government, a lake and dam committee and an HOA board. I first had to fight it through the committee. Despite objections, mostly from people who know nothing about boating, they cleared the recommendation to the board. Vote was delayed but lots of concern, questions, objections. My rationale, experience skiers dont need an observer on an empty lake. Also, most of the "observers" in the yahoo's boats arent payng any attention anyway. However, I dropped the quest because no matter how you spin it, just because a few serious skiers and I can handle it, doesnt mean its OK for the general public. Cant really have special rules for us "special" people. So I have come to accept the inconvenience.

Cant believe that, when he only had 2 balls, I thought Nate had it in the bag. Goes to show you (1) it happens to the best of them an (2) it aint over till its over.

Beautiful boat, as is @Horton 's new boat. But who is it that decided, after centuries, boats can't have pointy front ends any more. signed, Old geezer traditionalist

I've done this the past two years and have signed up for this year. Great Event! If I designed it myself, I wouldnt do anything different. I realize there is some variation from place to place but our local one is great. Most "clinics" have several folks in boat per session. Here, its all you for your full half hour slot. When I first realized that was the set up, I feared it would be a lot of marketing or a lot of talk and procedure by the hosts. It's not that at all. You tell them what you want and they pull you and the pro gives you guidance. (I'm a rank rookie weekend warrior, about a 15off/30 mph skier, and they are more than accommodating. The two years I did it the pros were Breanne Dodd and Nate Smith. Both were great. This year is Ryan Dodd. I am sure he is a great swerver in addition to being world champ jumper, but I couldnt help but ask myself when I saw his name as our pro this year if he was going to make me strap on a set of jumpers. The last 2 years I have gone with 1 or 2 other guys. Since we are all older and tire quickly, we asked if we could lump our time slots together and take turns and the hosts had no problem with that. I've seen total beginners, rookie swervers and high end swervers all take part and everyone enjoyed it. Thanks Nautique. Great event.

Reminded me of a couple projects. All you need is a little imagination and a lot of talent. The first one I know nothing about other than seeing it on Youtube. The second one is an amphibious vehicle built in a guys garage in my old hometown, out of an old milk tanker trailer.

I'm not throwing this out there because I know its a problem, but because I recall some sort of problem with a friend's accu-sink course related to variable depth to bottom of lake and the different pressures required at each end and the fact that beyond 30 feet deep you are at an additional atmosphere and the deep end didnt fill at rates needed to fill the shallow end, or something like that. 100 feet is 4 atmospheres. That's quite a bit. Anyone have any idea what I am talking about? Also my own question. Never thought about a "homemade" accusink. Do all 22 balls need to be bladdered and weighted or just some or most and the others will follow along?

Don't really have any vintage skis to show, except perhaps the ubiquitous Dick Pope Jr slalom ski that I think pretty much every ski enthusiast on the planet has. (not mine - "stock" photo) Although I dont consider it vintage (it was just a few years ago, right) I am sure the younger crowd here would think my early 80's HO Mach 1 is vintage. Skis I would like to have on the wall but dont are my original wood Northland Custom Slalom, long ago lost, my first (and a lot of other folks too, I would imagine) "real" ski, the silver blue and green Obrien world team. I never owned the next step up, the pretty black with white spray Obrien competitor. For me, back in the day, that was my wish list ski. I also have no connection with, but like the looks of the red blue and silver Obrien Mach 1.

Havent been to a boat show in years. No ski boats, no interest. Dont see the big new luxurious pontoon boats on our lake, not exactly the high rent district. I am on a small lake, about 150 acres, mostly conventional old school pontoon boats. The lastest rage and most of the (very few) new boats on the lake are those Hurricane style deck boats. Uglier than sin in my mind, but I do kind of get it for the weekend warriors: A good hybrid between a pontoon boat to bring out your 15 closest friends and neighbors, but agile enough for the ever present tubing on our lake. Tubing is pretty much all you see on our lake. One other skier and me, an occasional very amateur wakeboarder or two and a zillion tubes. I was a little surprised this past summer tho, I actually saw a few boats with people learning to ski. Havent seen that in a while. Who knows, maybe its turning around.

I think the New England INT folded about 3 years ago due to lack of participation

I was going to ask if it had to involve a ski, but cnewbert already answered that question for me. Many of us started the year out at the Lake Norman NC New Years Day Barefoot Challenge.

I wondered about length in my recent search, but there is a lot bigger difference between a 67 and a 69 than 2 inches, which by themselves probably wouldnt make a huge difference. But here is roughly the same ski (I say roughly because they are not the same age and I am not sure how much the design would have changed through the years, but look how much bigger the 69 is compared to the 67. That's a whole lot more ski to push through the water.

Christmas Eve, Seven Lakes North Carolina. Air and water both 50-ish.