75Tique

Want to echo what Kevin said. Absolutely get over to CorrectCraftFan. There is a tremendous knowledge base over there and a ton of people with experience on such things. Avoid the facebook sites. Although those guys know an awful lot, pretty much all of it is wrong.

Back to the wake bike. So the inventor/developer/expert/best (only?) rider on the planet cant even make an easy turn out of the wake without dumping it doesnt say much for the advertising claim of allowing "the user to easily carve and jump wakes." Not the best sales pitch I've ever seen. Maybe a little more practice before shooting the video?

Radius handle seems like an obvious ergonomic benefit, again, maybe just moreso for us old folks. Lay your hands, face down on your desk in front of you, handle width apart. Now roll your hands into holding on to a handle position, without thinking too hard about what you are doing. You will see they end up in an obvious arced position. To get them straight requires some effort that would seem to put stress/strain on your wrists. I am not a high end skier by any stretch, but went with a radius this past summer for the first time ever, despite thinking it made sense for the above reasons, for years. Since our shoulders are like 2 feet apart and our hands on the handle are about 9 inches apart, it makes sense to have a handle that accommodates that angle inward.

@scoke The issue is your core fundamental theory of skiing is built incorrectly on "squatting and pulling" versus "leaning with your frame". Thanks for your input. What you say is very true, tho its no so much a case of it being my fundamental theory, its a case of that's what I do and I dont know how to fix it. @RGilmore Thanks for your additional input. Please understand, I was not saying I dont like hearing the same thing. As long as I am doing it wrong, I have no problem with people telling me I'm still doing the same thing wrong, and appreciate the input, even if it only verifies what I've heard before. Also, dont think I've rejected the idea of video coaching, I've just never done it before and dont know where to go for it (hence, no bad past experience) As far as your two suggestions, I video pretty much every pass I make and a lot of free skiing as well. A video camera, (a real video camera, not a phone) is pretty much always in the boat and I have myself recorded as well as the folks I ski with as we are all rookies looking to improve) (a number of, but certainly not all my videos can be seen on youtube, at channel "75tique") As far as your suggestion of watching a pro and trying to mimick, my favorite go to video is the Regina Jaquess 1/4 speed video. Its awesome. Not that there arent a ton of the pro guys videos posted, its just that hers was the first I stumbled on and I was so impressed by it. It also is sort of consistent with my opinion that women are probably better form skiers than men as men can rely more on muscling their way through and the ladies have to rely a bit more on form.

I'm surprised on a cold winters day, over 1100 views but only 6 comments. I get it tho. Same old same old. Get your butt in. I've heard that a lot. Problem is, I have found, easier said than done. Like I said, I've heard that from about every one that critiques me over the past few years, including Breanne Dodd, Nate Smith and Ryan Dodd (thanks to the Nautique Swervin' events) as well as other skiers better than I. Somewhere in one of Bob Marley's comedy routines he jokes about a skier saying every one says the same thing about his skiing and marley says thats because you keep doing the same thing wrong. I wish I could find that clip, but I cant. Anyway, Thanks for the input and yes, I know, I need to get my butt in and shoulders back. Getting wider for the gate is also useful information. Gates are tough for me because I dont have 55s, which would help with set up and timing. And @markn , good guess on the boat (either that or you peeked at my profile) but it is a 1996 1776. So my new question, any tips on how to achieve what we all know I need to do. Like I said, apparently easier said than done. Not sure how to make it happen. @ski6jones , you mentioned send vids to a coach. You know anyone that offers that service. Any of them to a quick prelim assessment at no cost?

Just read with interest the improve offside thread and earlier watched the Freddie Winter most common problem video because both are me. And since its winter without much skiing going on and because you guys like to critique, I figured I would post my most recent (final set this year) video and solicit comments. Let me give the video a little context first. Keep in mind, despite being a men 7 (tho never competed and never intend to, I just did that so I dont have to actually state my age) I am a relative noob to the course and just learning. Last year I made it to 30 mph, 22 off. So my goal this year was to get to 22 off 32 mph, my "official" speed. I started this year out at 32 mph and didnt come close. I backed off to 30 mph and for some reason took most of the summer to get back to where I was last year. So last outing, 10/15/20. I laid out my course and because of one thing or another, the guys I was going to ski with ended up not making it. I was planning on pulling the course in the next couple days and this was going to be my last outing and it looked like it wouldnt happen. I saw some kids boarding out on the lake and when they were done, asked if they would like to try driving a course. They had never done it. We made several practice runs though the course and it seemed they had it, so I jumped in. I told him a number of times to pull me at 32. Well I dont do the course at 32, I do it at 30. I free ski at 32 so I had that in my head. So my first several passes were at 32. Seemed fast, but he assured me he was going 32. It finally dawned on me what I had done. I was skiing at 32 while thinking I was going my normal 30. The good news is, I had my best pass ever, 4 @22 0ff, 32 mph. Practically this years goal without even knowing it. Once I realized what had happened, we brought the speed back down to 30 and I had the final pass in the video, probably one of my best form wise for the season. So, having made a short story long (sorry about that) fire away. I know Ive got the standard problem of leading with my shoulders, but believe it or not, that last pass has probably been my best form run I can remember. Maybe I can win someone here a beanie?

Interesting discussion. Never really occurred to me that course orientation was a factor or variable to think about, despite the fact that I have an E-W course and mornings/sun up can be a real pain. (I guess mainly because we rarely have a choice) Given the fact I have to tighten the course each deployment/use and the leader is on the west end, it is often impossible to see if the course is straight. And then, when skiing its tough for the driver to get lined up with the course when heading east. Actual skiing doesnt seem to be much of a problem. I am thinking of more a SW-NE orientation for next year, but it will be tight at the ends. ( the yellow line marks the "no-wake" perimeter of the lake) As rookies, we really appreciate having the set up distance we have now. Not sure I can get adequate room at each end. Thinking of sacrificing being able to turn at one end. As far as what Horton said about one plus of an E-W lake being the views, yes.

our small neighborhood lake banned surf boats before it was really an issue, so no problem on our lake. The similar neighborhood lake across the highway waited until this year. Because of opposition to taking away an existing right, they grandfathered existing wake boats but said no more. Maybe you have some room for that kind of compromise discussion.

I just got through flex sealing all the seams (except sleeves, I think they are OK) Looks to be pretty good seals. I'll be doing another immersion test in another day or two to see how I did. Hope I got it. It was getting pretty soggy in there.

@RGilmore You might be on to something. I wasnt sure at first, since I am in about 30 feet of water, plus, the two buoys holding up the line, the mainline would just sink to the bottom in between them. But then I thought what about a separate length of rope, tied in two places to the mainline, held up by buoys. What is difficult here is how much buoyancy to hold the extra rope up, but not float to surface. Last year did some experimenting with this and a turn ball, almost completely deflated will still float to the surface and suspend the mainline. Then I thought, I can use poly rope, which floats, vs nylon. It would float, but not pull the mainline up. But it would be a loose loop, whereas what we want is straight up to about 5 feet below surface, then a long enough horizontal stretch to find with a grapple or boat hook, then straight down. Thinking about it some more..... I could take 30 or 40 feet of 1/2 inch pvc pipe, sealed at both ends. It would be buoyant, but not pull up the mainline. If I am in 30 feet of water, I would have a rope at each end, to tie it to the mainline. I think I am on to something here, but 2 questions remain. Would 30 or 40 feet long be findable pretty much in the middle of a small lake (vs in a narrow cove, where most courses reside) Certainly easier to find and hook than a single ball 5 feet below the surface. Second question, once the course is floating with all the buoys, what do I do with the 40 pvc pipe that would now be floating at the surface. I could unclip it, but at 30 or 40 feet, even with the pontoon boat I use to float and sink the course, it would be ungainly to handle. Maybe I could clip a weight to it to sink it when course is deployed, but now its getting complicated. Any thoughts? Am I going down a path that has potential?

@MISkier By saying you are going to "try" to redo your wrist seals, I take it you have not done it before. Go for it. Pretty easy. BARE seals are available from amazon. There are a ton of videos on youtube on how to do it. Key is to find a good form that fits tightly into the wrist/seal. Hunt around the kitchen or garage. I found a pickle jar the exact size. I have done all 5 of mine and they all seem to be holding up well.

Does anybody have a bare baggy suit. Mine leaks pretty badly. Put it on and did some "forensic" submerges today to try to see exactly where leaks are, seals, fabric, seams? Seemed to be seams as I felt water come in, but got out pretty quickly before it spread and it had soaked my jeans around the crotch and in strips down the legs, right where seams are vs all around. So I want to "treat" the seams somehow, and am thinking of going the flex seal route. But before I do that, and why I asked if anyone has one, is all this tape over the seams "factory" or something the previous owner may have done to seal the seams. Note: Ive had the suit several years and the bad leaking just started the last year or so. I am wondering if I should remove this tape before flex sealing or leaving it on. I am inclined to pull it off, since it is already coming off in spots.

@RGilmore Every time. Since my leader is attached to the anchor, hoisting the anchor up (standard EZ slalom 30 lb mushroom) is how we access the mainline. So it needs retightened every use. I suppose I could try to attach the leader to the gate. Maybe that would allow not tightening every time.

Have a similar situation but not looking for airline, looking for course anchor. I have to sink my course when not in use. Our first approach was similar to one above, have a course buoy attached to the anchor so it sits about 5 feet below surface. We are not in a small cove, we are in the middle of a small lake. First time out we spent forever looking for submerged buoy and couldn find it despite GPS coordinates (tho with roughly 30' accuracy of a phone gps, thats still a pretty big area, and triangulation to shore objects. Ended up having to drag for the mainline to find it. This year, new plan. I have about a 200 foot leader from a course anchor to a lake no wake zone buoy. Not a bad system, but apparently we have junk on our lake botton (roughly 30' deep at leader/anchor location) in the form of old tree limbs, as a lot of times the leader gets snagged on the bottom, as does the anchor (I think as a result of dragging it along the bottom each time it is tightened. Any suggestions on ways to mark the anchor other than the 2 we've tried? Can not have a permanent floating buoy.

I doubt it will be for sale for long. Looks good and is a rare and desirable boat. Yes, I saw the ad a while back and decided it was pretty much a clone. I have the back seat, it was in the boat for about an hour this year. I picked mine up in Indiana a year ago May.

:D

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After watching the Swiss on and off all day, it finally started to sink in, but as a rule, when I am just watching TWBC sporadically as time allows, I have to bring up this cheat sheet I saved on my phone, tho admittedly TWBC has gotten very good at showing a graphic of both lengths. It amused me once when a commentator commented that it seems a little strange that US identifies rope length by how much is coiled up on the floor of the boat. Good point.

@thager Yup. I'm not sure of the exact number, but I think the 200 is roughly a billion times better looking boat than the SN. I'm sure they could put all the function of a SN into a 200

Agree with all the commenters above. The webcast was great, no glitches, tons of great angles, even drone coverarge, no dead time. Very well done. And the competition was great too. Like the format, great bunch of competitors, and something no one has control over, some fun competitions right down to the end of both groups. Keep this up and skiing just might become a spectator sport again.

How do you know where to mount them? All I can think is super calm day with absolutely zero wind so boat stays put. Driver at the helm, another guy laying on the deck, spreading his weight around so as to not tip the boat, placing them where the driver says to place them while he has a guide ball in his sights.

Here is a little bit of history on the CCF "Orange Crush" The idea was conceived by Keith, owner of CCF. He came up with the concept, let site members have some input on the final design. Crazy as it sounds, Adirondack Marine on Lake George NY agreed to have the boat built as a spec boat and covered the cost. The full build is documented here. https://www.correctcraftfan.com/ccfboat/ The boat was delivered to Adirondack Marine for a CCF gathering in the fall of 2008, where it was unveiled. By the end of the weekend gathering a CCF member stepped up and offered to buy it to assure it would stay in the CCF family. He was a fabulous custodian of the boat, rarely used it but hauled it around the country to other CCF gatherings. A couple years later, another CCF member bought it and uses it as a daily driver, but assuredly, it is being well cared for. Its a beautiful boat.

That comment just reminded me of this clip of me, from 4 yrs ago.

Now isnt that a bit ironic, an "oldjeep"

For those of you who are not Nautique people and might not know, "Ralph" is Ralph Meloon, son of Walt Meloon, who started Correct Craft in 1925. Ralph lived into his 90s, passing away just a couple years ago. Into his 90s, Ralph would come to CorrectCraftFan events and do slide presentations/"Lectures" on the history of the company. Great guy, great stories, great company. While digging out the Ralph photos, I happened across the one of me standing on its platform, the weekend of its unveiling, in the fall of 2008 at Adirondack Marine on Lake George in NY.