75Tique

Missed the ad. Just curious on price and what made it a good deal. I am guessing a nice 97 might be 15 (unless there was a COVID premium/boost?) so maybe this one was 12-13ish.

1985. Barefooting, hit something and it knocked me down. Driver came back and asked, "Did you hit that board?" I reached down to rub out the pain and my thumb went deep into a void between my heal and my foot. My heal was dangling off my foot like a broken saloon door. I had hit a board with the pointy end of a huge nail sticking up out of it and curved over like a hook. 10 minute ride back to the ramp, 30 minute ride back into town. 31 stitches to get it secured back in place. Fortunately, for some reason, it did not bleed.

Wow! Looks like we have a winner. Very nice and price seems reasonable

Great big kudos to TWBC. Their presentations get better and better with every event. Certainly has been fun being able to see these events with such great coverage.

You dont say if you are trying to start with your back foot in or out. Important in your situation to start with it out. Having it in puts weight on the back of the ski, making it harder for the ski to get up on plane. Drag your back leg stretched out behind you, toes pointed back. Your back leg thigh will press against the water like a ski and help you get up. Rest your chest on your front foot knee to help absorb the pull (less strain on your back) and to be less likely to be pulled out the front, tho being young, strong and athletic will help that too. Its a good tip for us old folks, though.

Because they dont know the words???

I was going to mention the remove the valve cover idea myself, but, I seem to recall hearing, I could be wrong, that you cant get the valve cover off without removing the exhaust manifold....which could get ugly.

I always like to refer to this photo when skiers say you need an $1800 ski with $500 bindings, $100 gloves, a $200 rope with a $200 handle and a $120,000 boat to ski any good.

ski dim https://skidim.com/cap-oil-fill-screw-down-1986-on-ford.html

Ski Eliminator Cheyenne />

@pregom

Here's what I use. I struck this pose specifically so you could get a closer look.

OK, another honorable mention. My 89 TS6M. (1996 - 2008)

The last one was kind of a draw between Mars' blue boat and Jody's red reverse gel, but since I couldnt find a picture of Jody's, Chris' won out. A 1986 Silver Nautique almost made the cut. Always liked the very square no-nonsense lines of the 2001s. The red and white reverse gel MC above does get an honorable mention. As far as you guys that posted the pictures of the new boats, They're OK, but in general, MEH, they all look pretty much the same. Kind of like cars these days. Every single car on the road today is a generic sedan or a generic crossover. A Kia looks just like an Audi.

To everyone mentioning the 97+ Nautique. Dont forget the boat that was essentially the bubble butt prototype, the 96 176. :)

Sunny, You dont state your experience or level of skier. I only ask because I am a big advocate of USCG approved vests for most skiers. I know 2 people that suffered significant chest/rib injuries wearing non USCG vests. Could it happen with approved vests? I suppose so, but why increase the chances. I looked at some of the vests identified above and was surprised that they dont all specify whether they are all USCG or not. I would think that would be needed. I think the average joe, like myself, should stick with the USCG vests for floatation and protection, but that's just me. The super high end folks that think a bulkier vest is restrictive and can affect performance, they know the risks. https://wsia.net/competition-vests-vs-uscg-approved-life-jackets/

My interest in skiing goes back to when I was a kid. It was always a part of my life, but the year I really became a fanatic was 1972. I met a friend through swimming, he lived about 60 miles away, so we only saw each other occasionally. But that summer, I was 17, he and I got together almost every weekend to ski. We taught ourselves to barefoot by stepping off, and of course the harder the fall, the bigger the laughs. We didnt have a spotter, so a little handy work with a life vest, a ball for a head and a baseball cap and we had "Rog" our spotter. We were the only ones around that could barefoot and were almost celebrities on the lake. We must have put a thousand hours on the old Mustang that year skiing, footin, and trying just about every goofy stunt we could think of. It was definitely the most fun and most memorable summer of my youth. Tom and I went in and out of touch over the next 30 years, but hooked up once or twice and did some skiing together. I reconnected with him back around 2007, to find out he had moved to Atlanta. Shortly after reconnecting, I got word that he had passed away. I went to his memorial service. At a table of memorabilia (pictures, articles, awards...) were four pictures of him footin' that he had saved from the same day as the picture I posted below. I got up and spoke a few words about the great times we used to have and how that first summer we skied together was one of the best ever. Afterward, a woman came up to me and said "you dont know me but I feel like I know you. A few months ago, Tom sent me a copy of the video of you two barefooting together that you had recently sent to him and he said how that first summer "was one of the best ever". It was something to just hear you use the same words to describe that time you had together." I was glad and flattered that he remembered those times and shared them just as I have here. Here is a brief video of the first time we reconnected, in 1991 after about a 15 year break. https://youtu.be/UIkSQdqGrXI

Wait a minute, are you saying I should not be using my 55 year old Al Tyll book for instruction? As far as side slide vs 360: First, one of the answers implied she was working on one ski. If she is just learning trick skis, I would say stay on two. Body position, handle passing are enough to worry about without worrying about balance. I always found one ski akin to standing on a bar of soap in the shower. When I was learning trick skis, my instructor (not a professional, just my neighbor) wanted me to learn a side slide. I found that very difficult and found it much easier to move on to 180s. 360s followed. As far as the advice about learning 180s by getting up backwards, that reminded me of a story a friend told me. He said the way he was "instructed" to learn barefooting was to jump out of 2 skis. I think his barefooting career lasted a grand total of 15 minutes.

@lpskier John. I was not paying super close attention back then, but it must have been in the 90s as I lived in the area at the time and remember the concerns about that tour stop and the water quality. Onondaga lake is a cesspool, with old industries and the county WWTP along the southern and western shores. I currently live on a small, neighborhood lake that has some public beaches. Three times a year, before major holidays, we test the water near the beaches for e. coli. Usually fine. Lots of geese around, plus septic systems surround lake, but must be designed right as rarely any excursions.

@Jody_Seal Really like your Rickshaw's lines and colors. I like the old school flatties (yours, Stevens, Rayson) vs the newer ones that look like kneeboards with those silly 9 foot tall engines in the back. That's one of two of your boats I'd like. I thought you sold the red and white one, but it appears you still have it. That's always been one of my favorites.

I compiled these few excerpts together a few years ago on my dads birthday. (He passed about 18 years ago) He had compiled about 6 hours of old home movies ranging from the 1930s to the 1960s and put a sound track to them and narrated them. Wait to the end for relevance to this thread and BOS Here are other more skiing focused excerpts, from the early 60s.

Wow nice place. Was not familiar with that neighborhood. Yeah, $700,000 is a lot of dough for us mere mortals, and out of my league, but for that house, lot, water front situation, thats a pretty good deal. Tho, as an avid swimmer, I might opt for the one across the street with the 3-lane, 25 yd pool.

Havent skied on (or around) my birthday in over 30 years and that time, I lived in Houston, so not a particularly big deal. 25 of the intervening years I lived in NY or MA, so the water was pretty hard in January. Been in NC for several years, but either being at work or crappy conditions prevented me from realizing that goal until this year. The stars finally lined up for a pretty good outing. Air 50/water 48

Sort of like surfing...in my mind, that is pretty much just stand up tubing.