Slalom.Steve

Wait.. like a pole all the way to the boat? I guess you'd never get any slack! 😂

It says "There shall be no sharp edges or projections", not protections 🙂

Ugh, as if it wasn't enough for the f***ing surf barges to ruin the water, now they have to ruin the laws too. JUST BAN WAKESURFING - simple answer, actually addresses the problem, best solution.

Sweeeeet Its Because Of The Fans This Happened Eric Church GIFfrom Its Because Of The Fans This Happened GIFs

@ColeGiacopuzzi - sounds good. or should I star with long/shallow, if that seems to be the more preferred option?

@Chris Rossi Question regarding this: I got my '24 Vapor but not before the Midwest season came to an end😭. So my first set on the '24 will (likely) also be my first set in over 6 months come next spring. I've got the fin set at short/deep to start as recommended, but I'm worried I'll be rusty and not really tuned into the ski anyways (I'm 32-34mph, 15-28off) and thus not able to get good feedback on trying different settings. And I imagine I'll ski better on my 2nd day even if I were to keep the same settings, so if I do a day at S/D then a day at L/S and improve, is it the setting or is it just getting comfortable on the water again? All that said, my previous skis were a '16 Vapor and a '22 Vapor, which only have one stock setting specs, and I only ever ran those at stock. So I've never in my life made a big (or any) fin change. Will it be obvious enough which I prefer even with it being the first rides of the year? (yes I am planning for my ski rides 6 months in advance lol)

I just did this with my new '24 Vapor Pro. But then I added 0.005" of depth to the fin and the resonance numbers came back totally different. ^that's a joke😉. For the serious part: If I held the ski near the center, I was getting pretty consistent 107hz (+/- 1 or 2) readings no matter where I hit the ski. But when I held the ski off-center, I was getting 39-40hz, again regardless of where I hit the ski. Definitely could subjectively hear the lower tone too, the sound felt a little louder and more "full" and the ski vibrated/hummed for longer as well.

@vtmecheng, @Dano - I'm not saying the Radar screws never loosen, but in my experience, they loosen much slower than D3 screws.

It's not letting me embed the video because of copyright on the song, but just click to view on YouTube: 2024 Radar Vapor Pro Build - Lagoon Blue

I've found the flat black screws that come with Radar bindings to stay put much better than the silver countersunk+washer screws that come with D3 bindings. Unfortunately the Radar ones are too wide for the front or middle holes on my T-Factor, but I use them on the rear (of the front binding) holes.

https://www.ski-it-again.com/php/skiitagain.php?endless=summer&topic=Search&category=Slalom&postid=68798 Just posted this. Great ski at a steep discount due to a handle pop repair. Doesn't affect performance though, I set several PBs after the repair! @eleeski, you're not afraid of repairs, you want it? 😁

Well the Vapor, being the top-of-the-line Radar, is somewhat "designed" for short-line skiing at 36mph, or at least the size numbers are likely based on that. So my understanding is that if I was at 36mph and long lines, I'd probably use a 66", or if I was at 34mph and short lines, I'd use a 66", but being at 34mph and at longer lines makes me two "steps" away from the default size tuning for Vapor, and thus pushes me into a 67" size.

I'm at 160-165lbs, and I ski 32-34mph, 15-28off, though I started dropping 32mph entirely at the end of last season. I'm on a Radar Vapor and I've asked number of the Radar team, given 34mph and longer lines, what size to get. Trent said to go 67", Brooks said to go 67" until I'm at 35off, and Jamie recommended 67". Cole is the one dissenter would said "definitely 66" - so varied opinions but more towards the longer ski, at least as it relates specifically to Radar Vapors.

make that *any new, high-end/performance ski* New set of combos... no, not so much 😆

@Joebaum15 Not to discredit the Denali at all, but I imagine comparing any new ski to an 8-year old design that uses lower quality materials (Graphite is two levels below the top of the line Radar), you'd find the new ski to be much better.

I went from rear toe plate to the Radar HRT and I love it. Can't speak to high instep though.

Second this^ It'll make you wonder if you wanna buy Nautique.

Obviously, Jack Travers is an absolute legend in the world of water skiing, with an almost incalculable impact on the success of waterskiing... but a live sports announcer, he is not lol. He only ever says something when Tony specifically prompts, "right, Jack?" and then he says a couple words and goes silent again.😄

@chaloux My understanding is that tomorrow morning they're gonna run that same Women's slalom series tomorrow morning. Anyone who did complete their sets can either keep their score from today and not ski again, OR throw out today's score and start over fresh (so no protected scores).

The ski graphics should be two pineapples now.

@Jordan - I think there is definitely something to be said for not constantly changing things. I think this is particularly true in a sport like waterskiing, where our opportunities to practice are so limited. Even if you have a situation where you can ski as much as you want, your body can only take so much. If I play basketball, I can go to the gym and shoot 1,000 free throws in under 3 hrs (I looked it up lol), and I could do that every day, even twice a day! As a skier, we only take 12-20 passes in a practice session (generally speaking), and at least personally I can't keep that up 7 days a week. At this point, any high-end ski is a good ski, so if you're on a high-end ski, even if new Ski XYZ is a little bit better, you're also going to use valuable practice time adjusting to the ski. And even if your old Ski ABC isn't quite as good, if you know exactly what to do on it, you may ski more buoys than on a "better" ski that you aren't as familiar with. That said... obviously this doesn't mean you never upgrade a ski! My skis have been the '16 Radar Vapor and the '22 Radar Vapor, and from my first pass the '22 was a noticeable improvement. I think I'm pretty committed to Radar now in part because the skis continually evolve from their previous iterations, so I suspect there would be less adjustment time needed to keep upgrading to new Vapors as opposed to switching between brands every time. I figure, I get the excitement and improvement of new gear (I'm with you there as a gearhead!) but it feels more like just "an improvement" as opposed to "a change and improvement." Not that this is restricted to only Radar, this sort of thinking would suggest finding "your preferred brand" and then upgrading only within their offerings. That said... the only other ski I've even tried is a C85, and I'm a 34mph, 15-28off skier, so I'm curious if someone who has more experience skiing and more experience trying various brands and models would agree with or refute my theory!

Yeah man, I'm always tryin to find mo' ass. oh wait... nevermind.

@Horton I should also qualify that my ankle was a little stiff afterwards, so I will admit there was a bit of "injury" due to the T-Factor. 😁

Haha yeah the fact that I slid on my back for awhile meant there wasn't a "hard stop" at any point, so it ended up being not nearly as bad as it could've been. It's rare for me to go OTF like that too, but it was also the 9th pass of my 2nd set at a line length I've run fewer than 10 times.

@JimP By "release" I mean that your foot separates from the ski, whether that's via the binding releasing on a mechanical system or your foot releasing from a boot on a fixed/rubber system. It seems there may be a mixture of use in this term, but in the way I use it, the T-Factor is not a "non-releasable binding," though it will certainly be harder to trigger a release than a mechanical system. Just for one data point, here is a video of my foot releasing from my T-Factor, and I cinch down both sets of laces basically as tight as I can. (to repost from earlier my specific setup: I use a Large T-Factor with a 10.5 US shoe size, which is right in D3's recommendation, but I also know a couple guys with 10-ish shoes that size down to a Medium, so their's may be harder to release, though they may also not tighten as hard as I do, I'm not sure).