anklebreaker

I'm purchasing a boat for a salt water - it will be docked at a fairly shallow dock: 2' at low tide, 5' at high tide, have to run 15' at this depth before bay opens up). I grew up on a fresh water lake - my dream boat would be ~22' used for tow (slalom, wakeboarding, surfing), and also getting around the bay. Wake surf boats have a draw of 28"; some outbouards are as low as 12" but have a hard wake and no surfing. Some questions for the forum: -Would an outboard work for tow (slalom)? If so, suggestions on what to get that won't kick up too hard of a wake? -Does anyone have experience dredging (use a Jetski or boat engine to blast sand at bottom)? Bad idea? -Given the situation - suggestions on what boat or types of boat are best? Help is greatly appreciated! Stu

@mmosley899 thanks for the tip! I was not aware of these. Outstanding ROI to avoid an ankle break

@BraceMaker interesting. I thought of it as tying down the static lace to make the boot tight. As if I were putting on shoes. You keep it much looser? That makes sense in retrospect but isn't intuitive IMO.

What boot do people recommend to avoid stuff like this? Hopeful I'll get back on skis at some point. Syndicate given the ankle support and release?

I'm an intermediate skier that badly broke my ankle last week on an HO Freeride ski with HO Freemax boots. It will require surgery which means 4mo+ until I can walk or pickup my 2yr old again. I believe the design of the Freemax front boot is uniquely unsafe and likely to cause similar injuries. More background: The skier's back foot will exit the rear tow immediately during a fall on a Freemax setup. The front foot will not: the static lower lace combed with heal of the boot prevents the foot from coming out even in the worst fall. Unlike the Skymax, the Freemax has very little ankle support. So, when you fall, the back foot comes out, the front foot will stay in, and when the ski hit the water during flip/rotation of a fall, the skier can badly twist or break their ankle. It seems like this boot has the wrong combination of what may be independently good technologies: flexible / soft ankle with a footbed that will not release your foot. During last week of bedrest I've done some research and believe this to be the most dangerous of all HO boots but is marketed toward the casual skier. The Syndicate has a release mechanism, the Animal doesn’t have the static lace and a double boot prevents twisted ankles, the Skymax has ankle support. Ankle safety was not even an after thought before my injury. Now it's life changing. Be safe everyone! Get boots that release or are safe!