o2bnMaine

I just finished listening to this one. I am only slightly embarrassed to say that in the last couple of episodes I've had to hit the "back" button a few times to listen to something again and again. I get the concepts being described eventually, but the talk about Tilt and Reverse-C took me longer to visualize. Still, I'm always chomping at the bit ready for the next episode to get released. I'm loving all these new ways of thinking about my skiing!

@MitchellM You are in good company with Scott Ellis as a neighbor! I have a friend on Julianna (next-door) who's getting into skiing. He has a '10 Response LX. There's no course on Julianna, but I can ask if he's interested in ski buddies.

"You need to change edges behind the boat." Statements like that are so imprecise it frustrates me to hear it. But, it is what I'd hear from coach after coach. Professional coaches and friends. I'd read in magazine articles in Waterski Magazine that said as much too. I know I'm being harsh, but the above quote got me thinking about what has become the most important revelation for me after I (finally) learned how to keep my hips up! I feel like a lot of what I've read or listened to about edge change doesn't translate well (for me). I guess that's a nicer way of saying what I said above. Over the past couple of years, I've been listening to Spraymakers (the last few episodes are what got me thinking about this again) and a few other sources and had an epiphany of sorts. Back in the '90s, I was told when to change edges. I was not told how to change edges. I (mis)interpreted "edge change" to mean when the ski shifted from one edge to the other -- the point in time through the swing from buoy to buoy when the ski hits "flat" and starts showing the face of the ski to the boat. I'd hit that "flat" spot and start showing the face of my ski to the boat as I crossed the centerline! I'd find myself initiating my edge change way too early and therefore I'd have slack rope and would ski too narrow to the next buoy. I didn't think of it as a motion that has a beginning, middle, and end and will take time to complete. I don't recall the professional in the video, but she/he talked about relaxing your legs (maybe she/he said bend your knees to allow?) and allowing the boat to start pulling you up out of your lean. I'm probably butchering what was actually said, but it clicked for me. This is when I realized the edge change wasn't a point in time, and that I've been focusing on the middle stage instead of the beginning. Lately, I've been thinking of it very differently. Whether how I describe things in the rest of the post is correct (or decipherable) is immaterial to the fact that I'm able to ski wider, earlier and I find -28 and -32 much easier now. I'm curious about what others have to say. I don't mean to say coaches have been coaching wrong all these years. I'm just saying that I never interpreted what they were saying in such a way that my outbound swing followed the correct path until I got with Lucky Lowe a couple of years ago. He had me do a land drill to teach me where my hips should be through the cross-course swing. He inadvertently helped me with grasping this concept more fully by focusing on my shoulders (and hips, of course) and when I should stand up (we were on land with no boat) to initiate the edge change. Since this epiphany, I tell people that the important action of changing edges is when you START (not complete) the edge change and how you should not deviate from your current heading (direction prior to starting the edge change) yet. I also stopped thinking of the edge change as having to be completed quickly. It is OK to have an almost-flat ski. What is NOT OK is allowing the ski to deviate in cross-course angle until you get farther away from the wake. When I go from 1st to 2nd wake, I focus on keeping my body's directional position unchanged --- keeping my eyes to hips in alignment with my cross-course path. If I do this as I am changing edges, I find I'm not as inclined to allow my upper body to cross over to the inside of the turn until I'm farther outside the wake. On my off-side turn, my hip stays engaged much easier as well. And I find it easier to keep my inside arm close to my body thus keeping the handle at my hip and engaged for when I do start my "reach." Is this how you all interpret the coaching you've been given? I'd love to hear what people think!

Yeah. That's way too much time spent not driving. I can drive my F150 with the 36-gallon tank from Florida to Maine and only fill up 3 times. Driving from Maine to Florida, I filled up in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. Trailering the boat cuts fuel mileage in half.

@UWSkier Wife took it. I think this was as I started the turn at 1-ball.@KRoundy Space White Premium AWD w/Extended Battery. She drove it from Florida to Maine and back this summer. Plenty of chargers along I-95 the entire way. Typical recharge adds 180 miles of range, which is more stops than I prefer, but it worked out great for her. We wouldn't think of towing the boat with this though!

@A_B I think I saw a pro with a rubber strap they slip behind their read heel. I'm assuming one could get up with one foot out and then slip it behind the heel after getting situated. That is a lot to do before the green buoys pass the boat, though!

@scoke I only had to use the old handle one more time after skiing with you. I will say I did cross my fingers before stepping off the platform! I still find it odd that only the red side was worn out. Neither my wife nor I pay attention to the color when grabbing the handle when starting.

Scott sent me a handle this week. It replaces my well-worn Radar 13". He makes a great product. I am very happy. The bar was from a test batch. If that's what the production handle will feel like, sign me up! It was very sticky. I never felt like my hand would slip or rotate. I always felt in control even if I didn't get my hand back to the handle as I would like. Durability can't be covered for a few months. ;-) But quality is a 10 of 10. Sorry for the bad quality photo. I snapped it just before dropping the boat in the water. But you can see all the important bits. The braid where the two lines join is super strong looking. The rubber protectors near the bar are a nice touch and should help with longevity. As you are can see, the old handle was at end of life!

Well, for the small number of you that know about it, I had a decades-old neck injury get mad at me a couple of weeks ago at Okeeheelee. All it took was the first get up. I didn't even have to turn a buoy or take a fall. I managed to ski 1.5 sets (with pain) before I threw in the towel. By the time I got home I was almost in tears; unable to even lie down. I've been steadily getting better. Enough to go to my my wife's chiropractor for a visit. She was amazing. She started at my feet and went all the way to my scalp. I wasn't even sore (from her treatment) the next day. I gave it a couple more days before skiing. My neck complained a little that set. Today, I didn't even feel any pain at all. I didn't push past 28-off. I'll get back into 32- when I'm back home in a couple of weeks. Now, all I can complain about is taking so much time off I feel out of shape!

It started to get a little chilly in Maine, so we moved back to Florida. We base our location on two things: (1) Air/Water Temperature(2) How frequently it rains. When it starts to rain every day in Florida, we know it is time to head to Maine. When the water gets cooler, we start thinking about heading to Florida.

@RAWSki How deep does the ice get? Some friends in Maine tried to leave a buoy at the surface in Maine. The course got ripped down the lake when ice out occurred. I've never attempted it as a result. Now they pull the course (the entire course) each Fall. That gets us an easy way to do annual maintenance!

@RAWSki How deep does the ice get? Some friends in Maine tried to leave a buoy at the surface in Maine. The course got ripped down the lake when ice out occurred. I've never attempted it as a result. Now they pull the course (the entire course) each Fall. That gets us an easy way to do annual maintenance!

@dbski I have a friend who runs a rental business at the southern end of the lake. I called him up and he came right over to drag us to the boat ramp. I'm glad I didn't have to be anywhere though. Lisa from Insta-Slalom was great to work with as always. She helped me isolate what I needed to replace for as little $$$ as possible. I'll hopefully have the course back together before I'm off injured reserve. I tweaked my neck on Saturday -- I couldn't even lie down Saturday evening -- and really should hold off skiing for a bit longer.

@dbski I have a friend who runs a rental business at the southern end of the lake. I called him up and he came right over to drag us to the boat ramp. I'm glad I didn't have to be anywhere though. Lisa from Insta-Slalom was great to work with as always. She helped me isolate what I needed to replace for as little $$$ as possible. I'll hopefully have the course back together before I'm off injured reserve. I tweaked my neck on Saturday -- I couldn't even lie down Saturday evening -- and really should hold off skiing for a bit longer.

@kurt Yep! We use the one on Howard the most, but we will venture to Lulu and Jessie.

@kurt Yep! We use the one on Howard the most, but we will venture to Lulu and Jessie.

@BKistler It is at the north end of Lake Howard in Winter Haven. @lpskier What is worse is having to wait for the materials to fix the course!

We skied yesterday. Everything seemed fine. But in thinking this all out. I think someone snapped an anchor line for the main section of the course. The pre-gates are on their own anchors, so that picked up the slack. The prop grabbed the nylon anchor line and wrapped it up. Then, it started into the stainless mainline!! I'm going to have to replace a diamond for 6-ball and the exit gates. And an entire pre-gate cable. I think I'll have to replace one anchor line as well. Lisa from Insta-Slalom is going to get me a price tomorrow. I was able to get the cable off the shaft without too much effort. I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary while testing. My test was a quick trip out on the lake followed by pulling a friend barefoot for 4 miles at 39mph, so I'm pretty sure I'd have felt a hum if there was an issue. :-) I learned another valuable lesson this week. I should have inspected the course more before jumping in. We drove back to FL after being away for 4 months. Who knows the state of the course after 4 months of neglect. Just because I didn't see anything wrong on the surface didn't mean we were in good shape.

Basement: it is half submerged. My guess is the floor is about level with our dock! So, the dock was under water... So was the basement! We are the house on Lake Howard that was NOT owned by the Popes. The house not connected to the walking bridge. Michael hit you guys so my harder than we've ever been hit. It was just a Cat 1 by the time it hit us.

I (finally) skied again!! We drove from Maine to Florida just before Hurricane Ian was supposed to "land." That gave me enough time to prepare for the storm. It has been the longest between sets for me!! Two weeks!! But it felt good to get back at it today. I stuck to 28-off for the whole set. Wow, it is amazing how out of condition one can get in just two weeks! If anybody wonders what a hurricane will do to central Florida, here you go. We are very close to the exact middle of the state. Hurricane Ian was forecast to go right over us, but it ended up heading east of us (which means we didn't get the worst of the winds). Typically, the storms de-power by the time they get to us. Our problem was the water. We had high water from two months of storms each evening. That meant the extra foot of water from Ian put things over the edge. That's why the basement flooded... Anyway! Here are some pictures from just after the storm. These might look bad, but in all honesty, we did not lose anything we need to generate income or enjoy life. Most of the stuff we lost should have been sold or given away a long time ago. The two cars were totalled as they had sewage flood them. That made that decision easy! The mower still runs fine, so it survived. The boat survived. The vehicles we use every day survived. And the dock survived. We lost once section of fence. We have some very minor leaks in the roof. That's about it!! As you can see in the pictures, the boat/truck got the prime spot to ride out the storm (between two buildings).

I don't think I've had more concussions skiing than in the rest of my life. I'd guess I've had a few minor ones, but most have been while barefooting, not slalom. I can remember one big fall slalom. At this point in my life, I tend to let go before I take a bad fall. My wife is my driver and with her being the only person in the boat, she isn't comfortable with me getting seriously injured as she wouldn't be able to get me back in the boat. I will still go for a PB periodically, but I won't hold on for 1/2-buoys anymore. It definitely does happen, for sure. I know a 20-something that took a VERY bad crash slalom. He couldn't remember that he even skied that morning. Seriously.

@swbca I weight my course a bit with Gatorade bottles filled with sand. The bottles go at the end of each buoy arm. That helps keep the buoy arms flat in the water. If you don't add some sort of flotation mid-way (foam in the PVC) or weight to the end, you could end up with a slightly narrower course. I tried this method because I'm not a fan of hitting a water-filled buoy. Having the extra weight at the end of the arm counters the buoyancy of the buoy...I think.

I ask the driver if the Zero Off was set properly because even the turns feel slow.

@markn @Fam-man I just saw your comments. Five Fingers makes a great product that doesn't impact performance, but does stop the burn for the occasional footer. I just bought these and they've been working great for me. I will alternate between footing with and without booties to try to extend tolerance.