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My 14 year old son never became famous.. Was it because his grip was wrong ? B)

@dvskier I will be happy with the upgraded PP. When setup correctly, a lot of good skiers say their isn't that much difference. I have already burned up all my hobby money driving at Road America, Infineon Raceway and Brainerd International Raceway.

@BrennanKMN Right. I have the course in through the ice, but getting stuff together to wind it down when we aren't using it.

@Garn I will cal Brenda at intow. Thanks

@DW You asked about my throttle delay comment. According to my engineer friend who designs computer driven control systems for many industries including aeronautics . . . The PP upgrades have helped a lot, but if you are still using the PP servo to drive the throttle, the servo is very slow compared to the engine integrated servo in the ZO boats. (this engineer timed the PP-Servo on his CC boat before he traded it for a ZO CC). The affect of the slow PP-Servo depends on the percentage of throttle increase that is required to offset the pull by the skier. A bigger engine and/or a lighter skier require less throttle travel so the amount of servo delay depends on those factors and the settings that are in use. Bottom line, the difference in speed between the PP servo and the servo integrated into the ZO engine can't be programmed away. The degree of it being a noticeable difference depends on the skier, the engine, the settings and probably other external factors. All of that said, many good short-line competitors practice behind upgraded PP boats and ZO boats and say the difference isn't significant for them.

@teammalibu is a good dealer for adding or upgrading Perfect Pass. I ordered the PP Upgrade, StarGazer and Gauge from him. Save a $$ and it was drop shipped from the manufacturer in 3 days. Installing it my 2004 ProStar-TT when the ice goes out. Just send a BOS message to @teammalibu with questions or for a quote.

@skialex I talked to ELMO. Are all good ski ropes made out of Polyethelene now. Earlier in skiing history, they switched from Polyethelene to Polypropolene. So for example, are MasterLine ropes now Polyethene ?

I need 2000 feet of the poly rope type used in approved slalom ropes. I found bulk "POLY-E" is that the stuff ? I'm not using it for ski ropes, but "official" rope has the strength, stretch and low abrasion properties that I need.

I have a pair of friends who ski behind an updated PP and a ZO on alternate practice days. They are both in "senior" divisions that practice at 35 and 38 off. They have no problem with the PP boat. An engineer familiar with the system says the biggest cause for a difference is the mechanical throttle in the older boats. There is a about a 3/8 second delay in the chain of events involved in advancing power on the older boats. Since the skier goes from buoy to buoy in a little over 2 seconds per buoy, the throttle latency makes it harder to sync the acceleration to the skier's position between buoys. The PP boat mentioned above has a mechanical throttle and they are still happy with it. I just bought the PP upgrade and ZBox for my 2004 ProStar from BOS member @teammalibu. It still in the box because its -12 degrees here. @teammalibu is a PP dealer who will save you money on the system . . . enough to make a difference. He has PP factory drop ship to you.

@mike_mapple We Need something that compresses with depth to reduce buoyancy. So a good quality buoy or group of buoys is best. We are pulling the float down 32 feet which is one atmosphere cutting the buoy's volume by 50%, provided its initial pressure was equal to 1 atmosphere plus the water pressure at the top position . . . the buoy is flaccid at the top . . not tight and not collapsed. Styrofoam will not lose buoyancy at depth.

@BraceMaker a very attractive and inventive idea but it would require maintenance. If its not a closed system, the air very slowly gets absorbed into the water so there is something similar to a very slow leak of air. I did something like that in a previous course. Every couple of years I would dive down and blow some air into the holes forcing some of the water out. Maybe again . . its a "tunable" solution.

RGilmore The Taylor Made Tuff End comes in several sizes so I could use a single float. For exampe the15" buoy has 62lbs of buoyancy - I will probably have to test with some temporary floats to see what I need. Probably start with 9" skier balls that I have to see how many of those it takes to the the job . . then go permanent with a better quality float. Thanks

@lpskier The boat guides look good. Need their additional volume for buoyancy compared to the wallyskier skier balls for the winch extraction assist. (in the drawing above) The turn balls would be good for the course. They would cut the total buoyancy of the course down so the tension from winch to the course would be less, resulting in less stretch in the 700 feet of poly roap between the winch and the course = less winding. Good Recommendation . . . thanks

@Horton Another great skier who gripped "wrong". Cindy Todd at 1969 Nationals in Berkley. She isn't current but her beauty is timeless so she gets a picture. I was skiing with the Berkley Club at the time and snapped this shot from a spare judge's tower.

@PatM Sounds good, but we prefer something that will compress at depth and then rebound. I have a friend who used foam Crab-Trap buoys for boat guides. the looked great but after they were sunk 40 feet every day, they crinkled up and didn't rebound after a while. A standard 9" slalom ball would be fine but I don't know if they deteriorate after several years.

On a new submersible course we just installed through the ice, we need something equivalent to a couple of 9" skier balls that will always be underwater and well be subject to daily 1 atmosphere compression/expansion cycles. Is there a particular skier or gate marker product that wouldn't decay and sink after several years ? Don't need or want a fixed volume float - reduced buoyancy at depth is good in this case. From experience, is there a Brand of Skier or inflatable Gate markers that are most durable ? Its the blue float added to the original design - it ensures there is no residual tension from the winch-line on skier or gate buoys when the course is "up"

@Broussard I bought this 1986 ProStar promo boat in 1986 From Midwest Marine - now Midwest Watersports - for $16,000. Sold it for $8000 in 1994 when I moved away from the lake. It was a great boat as long as the prop was perfect. The power slot on that elastic hull required the prop to be better than new or better than just repaired. It took a couple of years to find the perfect prop. I still can't adjust to the prices of new boats. Twice the price of a good German car - not counting the ultra premium German car models.

I'm thinking about getting some of the baggy shorts that the pro's wear.

ITS 4TH OF JULY . . Light Weight - No Wake - Cute driver. Great for happy hour cruising . . the gunnels are wide enough for comfortable seating for cocktails and dinner with up to 12 people all summer long. We usually have the lake to ourselves at 9:00pm so I learned to practice when the course looks a little blurry.

Remember the first boat marketed as the "NO-WAKE" 3-event boat ? In 1986 the Master Craft got a new flatter bottom. Not a trick skiers dream. Now replaced with a 2004 ProStar 197 TT - with a larger wake

THANKS ALL - question answered

This was mentioned in the Fin Whispering book . . . I am not advocating this practice . . . just asking . . Preventing slippage with tight screws on plates stiffens the ski and puts shear stress on the inserts. If the front pair of screws were slightly loose but secured with blue-locktite (removable), it would reduce these affects on the ski. Is that a "step to far" or is that part of the ski tuning toolbox?

ANYONE Does a 197 ProStar need weights to offset the 110 pound wife driver ? for slalom ? I recently bought the boat but its winter here.

@MISkier Where do you get lead shot bags. I used to have two 100 pound steel plates with a handle welded to each, but lost them somewhere ?

@TEL give it some time . . it will be worth it. Tie a rope to a tree in your yard and get into the new habit. Its snowing here, so I have it my basement as part of my daily workout.