Geoff

I have kayaked and paddleboarded as s work out regimen. I'd sworn off skiing until I started paddleboarding this July, which has been great for the core. 2x the workout of kayaking. COVID's been hard for so many, but it's given me time to play on a lake I've lived on my entire life. There's far worse ways to quarantine. I really missed skiing. Hell, I had dreams where I'd be moving around in need thinking I was skiinghip. I'd wince every time I passed the spot where I heard the disc pop ... it's great to be back out. Had a kid in a high end ski boat stop the other night and claim it was the best skiing he'd seen all year. His family, like mine is in its 3rd generation of ownership on the lake. His father was a great skier about 5 years older than me. Had to put vaseline on my ears to get my head through the door after that comment.

Thanks folks. The back brace tip was great, too. I've been using the one they gave me after the discectomy, but wanted to get a new one. (I also use it downhill ski racing. ) Took the suggestion of 69" over 67", and opted for a Senate Graphite over a Lithium given I'm riding behind an older Larson Flyer with a 125 OB. Getting popped at the wake is a given kind of like hitting ice when snow skiing in New England. Any luck and Indian summer will hold long enough to test it out this year.

I am 61 and starting slalom skiing at 10 on a wood, concave thing called a Northland Pro Comp. Bought a Connelly FX Graphite in 2003 or so which was way easier to carve than the old, multilayerd wooden Pro Comp ... and then snapped the l4/l5 disc in 2012 and dropped the sport until this year when I got a paddle board, got into better shape, and tried a tow rope on a paddleboard and decided the impact on my back would be minimal. (I snapped the disc when I cut too sharply, got slack, started sinking, and my ego wouldn't allow me to drop the rope. I did make it to shore, but my leg was numb by then. I certainly do not want to do that again.) The FX is a 69" as I was about 235 in 2012 and am down to 175 now, but likely will settle in around 185 for the foreseeable future. I haven't a clue what to buy, I only go out on dead calm conditions and do my best to just get into a turn cadence and run it as long as my wind holds out. I have hear of Connelly and O'Brien. The Carbon V 67" is "in the cart," but at that price I want to think it through. Have also been recommended Radar? Never had to worry about boots and am not sure I want a full back boot as that is totally foreign to me. Any advice? 50 years of experience. Reasonably good shape for my age. I have the cadence back on the cut speed, running between 32 and 35 most of the time, but am leery about really trying to lay it over based on the back.