mikegile

I agree with @pgmoore. Take them out to avoid the funk! I have a carabiner on the handle of my bag. Boots stay on my feet when I take my ski off, then straight to the clip. Just make sure the flaps are up when putting the liners back in. Minor inconvenience.

@MattP, I recommend the beer beforehand. It helps minimize the anger management.

I used to work at Wileys - way longer ago than I would like to admit - building bindings. The jump bindings are great for a number of reasons. 1) They are customizable - thickness and number of wraps, and thickness of rubber allows for a boot as stiff or flexible as desired. 2) The foot bed is padded. We played around with all kinds of options from just a piece of foam to multiple levels of rubber, especially in the heel, to custom foot beds on top of rubber for cushion. You can specify your level of padding. 3) Easy on and off. These bindings release extremely predictably. 4) Easy to rebuild. If a wrap or finger hole tear it is a cheap five minute job rather than needing another binding.

Very cool piece. As a competitive mountain bike racer it is hard to imagine not being able to ride that thing, but probably wouldn't do much better than anyone on that video. Watching him ride it after he figured it out makes me wonder if it may be a better way to ride a bike, had we learned that way from the beginning. Check out the counter steering (think counter rotation) and the way it makes him lean....... Just sayin'

Go with Lithium if you can swing it. It will take you as far as you can go and your free skiing won't suffer.

Another endorsement for the Blacktec! I looked at it and couldn't believe it would be warmer than any other suit, but this thing rocks!

Hot water shower

Valeo Core, core, core

Be sure to keep your handle in during edge change and carry. As for ski I agree with above comments - ditch the wing. Easy to try. If you feel like the ski is initiating the turn too soon and shutting down your outward momentum, you could try moving the bindings back a click.

I just got a new 4runner and when I moved my old Packasport over, even in the furthest forward position, the back door won't open. You may want to take time to check if you are planning on getting some kind of box.

Maybe the dueling walls of water could look cooler if they mirrored the courses and the walls came together every third turn!

I believe it depends not only on the skier but the ski. When I was skiing on my 2nd year Strada, some smart guys convinced me to try without the wing. With in a week I ran -38 for the first time. Kept the wing off for the next several skis and it worked on them as well. I then got a red Strada(2013 I think). That thing was a rocket and I couldn't handle it without the wing. Firm believer in no wing until into shortline for learning.

Had the perfect day Sunday. Lesson with Terry Winter in the morning at Hilltop. Got a call from Eddie Roberts on the way home and headed to Radar for another session! 73 and sunny with water about 60

I second Wiley's

The Z box works great with a fairly similar feel to ZO, at least on a drive by wire boat. If you already have a PP setup it is just plug and play with the exception of mounting the GPS puck. We did struggle with the Z box on a 1999 Nautique. I did the plug and play upgrade to Stargazer prior to the Z box coming out. Everything worked just as expected. When I added the Z box, our group almost quit the sport. Not sure if the servo wasn't working properly, or there was too much delay in the throttle, or what. We were consistently skiing one to two passes worse than we did before. After removing the Z box ( and putting it on my DBW boat) everything returned to normal. That boat skis great now. Hopefully this is a one time thing, but thought I'd let you know

I broke my ankle on my rear foot a few years back. My flexibility was limited and affected my skiing as I had trouble getting forward pressure on the ski. I ski double Stradas with a custom footbed. One thing that helped me was using a heel wedge. This lifted the heel and allowed me to get where I needed to be. May be something to play with at least for the short term. Good luck!

I agree with @Deanoski with the roller, but Kilo Kai works faster.

Talk with Darren at Wiley's. 206-762-1300. They make bindings and can do custom fits if necessary. He can also let you know how the Radar's fit and if it will work.

I'm sold on Masterline. Great ropes and handle rubber not only feels good, it's durable as well.

I like @ToddL 's comment and analysis of the Andy's video and the still shot overlay. For me one of the biggest mental challenges at -38 is making the turn further down course. The geometry is different enough from -35 to change the look and feel. The apex of the turn is more where the ball is; backsiding the ball is not really an option any more. This coupled with the increased speed and shallower attack angle makes my mental clock tell me I need to get going now! This makes me rush the turn and the usual bad things that happen. The overlay picture above shows the geometry and paints a picture of how it should happen. Hopefully my pea brain can take this to the water!

I definitely lift my rear heel. Evidence of this is a broken plates behind the rear heel. I have a lack of ankle flexibility and feel lifting the rear heel is the only way I can get my weight forward enough coming into the turn. I believe it is also necessary for me if I am to keep my knees bent during the edge change. Picture Terry Winter

There is a difference between turning early and creating space before the bouy. I believe when the bindings are "too" far forward the ski wants to shut down it's outbound direction too soon. As the ski changes edge you lose width and carry down course rather than carrying wide. I struggled with this for quite a while. I moved the bindings forward a click and it felt great. I moved them again and it felt great as well. More stable and powerful feeling, but I was not getting the width I needed, especially when the line got shorter. I was getting frustrated because I felt good, but was struggling in the course. I got a piece of coaching from Aaron Larkin who caught this. He had me move my bindings back to stock and it freed me from the boat and I started skiing better.

I run mine neutral - Strada bindings on Vapor - center holes. Be careful moving too far forward as you can lose width/space. Ski starts to initiate the turn too early and hinders carry. Bend your knees!

I'm on Stradas as well and have never had a release issue. I tighten the front boot as snug as I can get it and leave the back one fairly loose. As for sizing, mine run true, but sometimes it is more of a volume issue.

Go with a custom foot bed. I had my boot fitter make me a custom pair and would never go back. At least get a set of super feet liners. Glad to hear of the improvement!