RGilmore

As I understand it, "lean", "load", and "speed" are all closely related one to the other. For example, for any given lean angle, the faster your ski is moving [in the direction of travel] the less will be the load on your body. This was explained quite some time ago through illustrations posted by one (or possibly both) of the Adams. No doubt Caldwell can explain this far better than I, but my understanding is that for any given measure of time a certain amount of water must pass under the upcourse edge of your ski - and that water passing "sideways" under your ski amounts to drag, which equals more load on your body. So the less time you spend at the point of the highest volume-per-second of water passing under your ski, the less will be the load you feel on your arms/body. And let me just add, I hope that's not as confusing a concept to understand as it is to read. Oh, also, I could be wrong.

Three points to consider: 1) Your sight picture from wide in your glide makes the gate balls look narrowly spaced - almost impossibly narrow. However, when you arrive at the gate you will find you have a far wider opening to ski through. 2) When you turn in aggressively you get the distinct impression you are traveling on a line that is almost 90 degrees to the centerline. You're not, due to the fact that the boat is actively dragging you downcourse at about 50 ft per second. Your actual "angle" of travel (over the earth's surface) at the gate is no more than 45 degrees (relative the centerline). 3) The gate balls just naturally spread apart from the wake pressure of the boat passing though, and will most likely still be opened wider than nominal when you get there.

two words: "Ed Hickey"

Get a "Marine Dynamics Sting Ray Hydrofoil", attach it to the top of your 115hp outboard's cavitation plate, and never look back. Well, if you have a skier behind you, maybe look back occasionally.

@RichardDoane OR replace sections.

My CG fin whistles when I don't use the mini-wing. I always assumed it was a built-in alert for an incorrect set up.

@Fastguy888 Some of what you're imagining is specifically disallowed By the AWSA equipment rules, to wit: "C. Slalom and Jump skis: 1. Any type of fixed fins may be used. 2. Devices affixed to the skis intended to control or adjust the skiing characteristics of the ski, for example, wings on a fin, are allowed as long as they are fixed and do not move or change during actual skiing."

@Fastguy888 I may have a great, FREE solution for you, but first I need to know where the lake is you are wondering about. Don't need the lake's name or exact location, just the nearest cities / towns and the state. PM me if you don't want to make that information public right now.

@TEL @Woodybc62 Good for you guys. Just as there is no "better" manner of twisting a doorknob that you "must" switch to, there is no hard fast rule about how you MUST hold the handle. It's simply NOT a "majority rules" scenario. No matter what anyone here or elsewhere says, there is no such thing as the "wrong grip" - only the grip that is wrong (or RIGHT) for YOU. Hold the handle in the manner that has proven to work best for you. Can you imagine anyone here approaching Robert Pigozzi saying, "Bobby, buddy, you GOTTA get rid of that crazy bent over turn-in for your gate, pal." Or telling Chris Parrish, "Man, that both-palms-down pullout for the gate is RUINING your setup. You gotta switch to normal." ? In the same light, I seriously doubt anyone would have the gall to tell Jeff Rogers he'd have a "much stronger offside pull" if he would just hold the handle "right". All that said, if you're gonna hold the handle "wrong", take time to closely study the top skiers who also use a switch-grip. There are more than you might imagine - Jeff Rogers being one of the most prominent. Notice where THEY position the handle, relative to their hips, during their offside pulls. There are many very successful skiers who ski with a reverse grip - study THEM.

I've suffered from both "golfers elbow" and "tennis elbow" - in opposite arms. There are several things that have helped over the years. I use compression straps from Tru-fit and Mcdavid during skiing. Depending on how the elbow in question hurts, I've had success with the strap above the elbow joint (lower end of the biceps) OR below the elbow (traditional use). I use the Thera-Band Flexbar (green) as per the video above, doing extension-focused work. I use WODFITTERS latex "flossing" compression bands to help strengthen my forearms during workouts (see video below). And finally, I use Finger Grip Resistance Bands - again, extension focused - to improve my hand strength, which in turn gives me increased gripping power without straining my forearms (see link below). FINGER EXTENSION BANDS

@oldjeep you wrote: "use the site: parameter - which restricts the search to a particular website" I wonder if there is some sort of way to create a link function ("algorithm") on the BOS page that allows a field to be populated with one's search term (i.e., "panda") and then appends "site:ballofspray.com" to that search term -followed by a new page opening to the Google results for that search? In other words, essentially piggyback on the existing Google functions "for free"...

I haven't had a chance to speak with Chet Raley recently - since a while before the scamdemic started actually - but it's my understanding from others who've been training with him that his current coaching revolves around approaching the entire course as if it was simply six "gates" in a row.

For a couple of decades, before we finally built a boathouse w/lift, we used a red mooring buoy as part of a system that allowed us to moor our ski boat several yards from our dock, padlocked to a stainless chain that led back to a locked connection to the dock itself. The mooring buoy remained underwater year round for it's entire life there. After building the boathouse we passed the mooring buoy on to a friend on a different lake who uses it to suspend a submersible well his lake. All told, that mooring buoy has spent 100% of its life (almost 30 years) entirely submerged. Depths have varied from a few feet to more than 12 feet under the surface. "Taylor Made Tuff End" is the make/model; they are very recognizable by their red color with navy-blue heavy-duty eyelet:

This is a close up of one of my sequence plates from a few years ago. To anyone who would suggest that the fore and aft "floating" anchor points are not significant to ski flex I would say, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

@jayski I remember back in the late 90's or early 2000's, in a magazine article about Jamie B. (and others skiing compressed styles), Jeff Rogers (who advocated a more rigid stack like his own) was quoted saying, "At the end of the day, them boy's backs are hurting."

You might want to switch to the ACME 668 prop. Gave us a much stronger hole shot with better performance at lower speeds, at little to unnoticeable high-end expense. But, of course, Your Mileage May Vary - literally. Skip Dunlop out of Polk County, Florida is the go-to guy for ACME prop information, repair, and sales.

Due to a slight arm deformity, I have no choice but to grip opposite of the so-called "correct" manner. That said, in my experience, palm down with my left hand (I'm RFF) allows me to get the handle much closer to my naturally-closed right hip on my offside pull. Meanwhile, my onside pull is naturally open, and seems to be indifferent to grip orientation. Most importantly, I think skiing performance and personal comfort far outweighs the perceived need to conform to someone else's opinion about what is "normal".

@MISkier Yeah. That's what gives it its amusing twist. Another version of the same wry humor is "Two words: Superglue". However, to be clear, there really is no practical application for superglue in this conversation.

Two words: Jeff friggin' Rogers

The skier’s body is a variable link between the applied force and the resulting work. Proper stack allows the most direct and efficient transfer of energy from the boat, which supplies the force, to the ski, where the work is done.

@Wayne You should go back in time on this forum and read the stories about the early development stages of the Denali ski. Tales of multiple pressure gauges mounted all over the ski, providing varying real-time values throughout the course, all being recorded by a go-pro camera for later analysis - that's the is the one I loved. 'Bout as far away from merely relying on a buoy count as you can get.

Used to be lots of spots available in California out off of I-15 east of Barstow. Hey look, there's one now: https://www.ski-it-again.com/php/skiitagain.php?endless=summer&topic=Search&category=Real_Estate&postid=45540

Not for nothing, but in the early days of fiberglass skis, the entire bevel and a good amount of the sidewall - especially in the tail area - was solid a solid resin / glass fiber mix. I personally watched Bob LaPoint aggressively file the tail bevels on several skis in Acapulco one year. These days, file a little too much on a bevel and there's a decent chance you're gonna find you self looking at the foam core peeking out. That is a bad ski-tuning day for sure.

@FunoRyota if by "Stretch Arm" you are trying to have reminder for the point I made, you might be better served with "Fully Extend". The concept is that, at apex, your ski is as far away from the handle as it can be without the handle being pulled free from your grip.

Unless it has changed, the tolerances for the location of the "55-meter" pre-gates is quite large - several feet, IIRC. So while they are handy, and you'll miss them if they're gone, some of the old methods of lining up the left-hand entrance gate ball with the five ball (or whatever) may be sufficient for a practice. Or course, you might have to visit an old folks home to find anyone who still remembers and can teach you those old "go points".