swbca

Incredibly responsive software developer. You're the best. The more legible ZOOM level is a good thing . . before the change you just made, an hour ago I was verifying the zoom level to make sure someone hadn't accidentally changed between skiers. It was hard to see without my reading classes.

Remember ESPN announcers telling us how fast slalom skiers go as they go through the course ? 70mph ??? It may be frivoulous but I would like a tracker that records your speed with a very fast refresh rate so it would record a map of your slalom skiing with a continuous speed readout as a dot replays your position on the map. Garmin and Apple watches have apps that will create a map on your phone of where you have been but show Max Speed only. The speed tracker could give you another metric of progress, consistency and symmetry of your skiing.

I think I found that PylonCam Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro (rear camera) provide the ultimate solution for Pylon videos with Ski-Doc. One of my favorite things about PylonCam Pro is that it saves your ZOOM setting when you minimize the app. Rather than trying to set up the camera configuration in the bright sun in the boat, I can set it up in my kitchen before heading to the dock, minimize the PylonCam Pro app and my settings won't get messed up by someone accidentally touching the phone's screen before I'm skiing. I was looking at GoPro as an option as well, but you can't get the realistic "WTBC" boat-cam ZOOM level shown in my screen shot (3 posts up from here) without the skier skiing out of the frame on very short line. I am Definitely sold on PylonCam Pro. Steve should charge more for the app . . . its sure worth it ! @Stathis Ventouris Presetting (saving and locking) the ZOOM level would be a good addition if it could be be done. Right now its a big improvement that the ZOOM level isn't lost when you minimize the PylonCam Pro app. With WakeEye it was hard to keep your ZOOM setting when any accidental screen touch (like when mounting the camera on the pylon) messed things up.

I am trying to find the best video quality solution for a pylon mounted phone or GoPro. My first criteria is to have skier appear as close to the boat as the rope is short. Like this, where the skier is at 90 degrees from the boat path without skiing out of the frame and looks as close to the boat as he actually is. So I just bought an iPhone 14 Pro because it came out with better camera performance than iPhone 13 and earlier. I was expecting I would have to use the selfie camera to avoid the stabilization problems with the back cameras. Results with iPhone 14 Pro - The selfie camera on the iPhone 14 Pro had terrible shake from the high frequency pylon vibration. - The main rear camera was perfect - no vibration jitters. At 1.8 zoom set on the Pyloncam Pro, your skier will look as close to the boat as he actually is on short line and he won't ski out of the frame when he is at right angles to the boat path.

@Slalom.Steve I think you comment in your posts above that iPhone users may want to use the selfie camera to avoid the stabilization with the rear cameras when they are zoomed in to some level. I tested the selfie camera on my iPhone-XS and my wife's iPhone-14 Pro. You also commented the Selfie cameras are probably better on later phones - You were correct on that - I tested two iPhones yesterday. - The iPhone-XS selfie camera was not good zoomed in 1.5. Soft Focus - not sharp. - The iPhone-14 Pro selfie camera is very good when zoomed in the same amount . . this would be good for slalom videos

@BugHunterThis is the view I get with my 8 year old Android phone at 1.5 zoom. The shake when the rope is snapped tight by the skier is bad. Can a GoPro ZOOM get close to this view ? (the skier fills about 1/3 of the frame height - close to a 50mm-equivalent "normal" focal length on an film SLR. ) This is Paul Chapin a week before he skied in the last over-35 World Tournament . He's not in course, but he is skiing full width - there was too much wind in the course this day. Thanks for your help with this ?

Great! thanks alot . . I don't know the difference between GoPro models . . what would be the best option to work with your APP ?

I don't recall if it was posted on BOS in the past, but I read about iPhone users disabling the mechanical stabilization with a small rare earth magnet near the lens. Has anyone here done that ?

Do you have a slalom video that you could post here ? Specifically, Where ZOOM is set to have a 6' adult skier fill around 1/3 of the height of the video frame at 35 off when he is upright at the wake. And showing that the skier doesn't ski out of the frame at 35-38 off when zoomed as above. This zoom spec approximately simulates a 50mm equivalent "normal" lens on an SLR. Not the usual way-to-wide angle seen on old GoPro videos. I have been using an old android phone on SkiDoc. There is no vibration problem and Individual frames are great quality, but the "rope shake" with short line skiers is bad. Looking for an improvement on the stabilization of rope shake. I just tried the Selfie camera on an iPhone-XS zoomed at 1.5 and every frame is soft-focus. Not good enough. Ready to switch to GoPro if it looks good at the 50mm-equivelent described above. Thanks

Saving your ZOOM setting when minimized is currently a feature exclusive to PylonCam Pro. -Wakeye on iPhone loses your ZOOM when minimized -Wakeye on Android loses your ZOOM when minimized (tested on Galaxy S22 and S7 -iPhone native camera loses your ZOOM when minimized -Android native camera loses your ZOOM when minimized So PylonCam Pro didn't just inherit this characteristic from the iPhone, its unique to PylonCam Pro APP. Many skiers have a phone dedicated to their Pylon Videos. So even if you have an Android phone, you could buy a used iPhone on ebay for your skiing. It avoids the complication of having your phone usage getting tangled up with your ski outings. Of course they could probably get the ZOOM save feature on an Android if they get to it, but its a big effort for a small market. Steve the developer had to do this out of the "love" for high achievement.

I tested it and I see the zoom value survives when you put the app in the background. Until today, I have been using an Android phone with Wakeye and it didn't preserve the zoom value when minimized. That feature of the iPhone and your new app pretty much solves the problem. I can set all the values of that app in our kitchen before I head for the lake and they will be ready when we start the app from background when we start skiing. No worries about trying to do it in bright sun without my reading glasses 🙂 Thanks this is a great improvement !

Would it be possible to have the zoom level be a saved value ? When out on the lake in the sun its hard to setup the app, or for your driver to verify settings in the sun if you are already in the lake. We lost getting good videos sometimes with wakeye because someone touched the phone screen while changing rope length. I can understand why saving zoom level might be difficult but it would be a nice feature.

We had the earliest "ICE_OUT" in 70 years. So we put in our dock with plans to ski April 1. This was this morning and 6 more inches of snow are expected today. Steve Nelson, our local M9 current world trick champion has been skiing for 2 weeks. He had to buy a new Nautique to practice for the last world tournament. I have his old Master Craft still safe in a heated garage.

Ski Boat Owners, be careful not to operate your Ski Boat like a Wake Boat too close to shore. This is behind our 2004 ProStar. Two family members in the back seat for ballast.

My only problem with the Titanium or most other skis is me. The washer is something I have never tried to see if it would help on either side. I just found it was MISkier's post where I saw this detail first. Always up for testing an idea ? Thanks

As long as there aren't DEI activists that insist on and promote gender confusion among our children in sports.

Master Craft advertised the 1986 Pro Star as the first NO WAKE slalom boat. The 86 was the first year with the Rainbow Graphics. I bought one because I had just had meniscus surgery on both knees from 10 years of skiing behind Nautiques. The 86 wake was like a flat bottom race boat. It also turned like a race boat. It turned with G's and no roll at speed. Everyone now says it had terrible tracking but I didn't know better at the time.

@The_MS I believe you made a comment somewhere about putting a small washer under the center screw on one side of the fin block. I understood that would slightly reduce the fin area on that side but not the other. I don't recall if you said that helped your on-side or your off-side. IF you are RFF which side did put the washer ? Thanks

I drilled a hole near the prop with a tube extending above the waterline. Please explain this. Any hole drilled -in the hull- near the prop would be a hole below or behind the fuel tank. I have no plans to copy your idea, but curious about what you did. I knocked down the prop wash on a 2004 ProStar with a replica of the Nautique Hydrogate. I quit using it because was a waste of fuel.

I've been thinking about the "common solution" you describe above for a month.

@Horton Thanks for the North American Moomba schedule. It prints out first 5 columns into 5 pages with no formatting effort . . . Very Helpful

Regarding the phrase: "Wake sport mode" refers to operation of a wake boat with wake-enhancing equipment engaged. Aren't the hulls of wake boats designed to create a large wake even without the "Wake-enhancing equipment engaged" ??? I agree the language in the bill is very good, but these boats operated without the operator's consideration of his wake can cause more damage than a ski boat or most other recreational boats. Obviously Boat speed is a wake enhancing factor but not a feature unique to wake boats. Not sure how that can be addressed in the bill.

@Drago you have a lot of thumbs down. Perhaps explain . . it appears you are against having a law that includes a definition of "Wake Sport Mode" The Michigan law looks good but enforcement and citizen complaints may come from confusion about the phrase.

"Wake Sport Mode" is likely to be misunderstood by Wake Boat operators. They may think going 16 mph at 200 feet from shore is fine as long as the aren't using ballast or similar wake enhancements. Hopefully ski boat owners wouldn't 16mph with three people in the back seat at 200 feet from shore which makes a wake that could easily be considered a Wake Sport wake. The law should have a clear definition of what it means.

If 3 meters (10 feet) is your high water mark, and the water drops to zero later in the season, have you figured out the minimum safe depth for running a ski boat with skier ? 4 feet would be my guess. If you end up using a second float to maintain tension, the two floats are going to seek the same distance from bottom when the water is down to 1/2 of maximum water depth = 1.5 meters or 5 feet. If you use a 2 float setup you would have to make a mid season adjustment so the 2 float system can allow for water less than 5 feet. Sounds like a good place to ski.