Hutch66

Interesting Post Ballers. I tore my right ACL in January 2023. I’m 57, have been playing competitive rec league hockey forever. Tore mine in a game, first knee injury ever. It’s a grade three, orthopaedic surgeon says reconstruction surgery required to skate again. I haven’t made a decision yet. Sad irony for me was that we bought a used Response in Oct 2022 after not skiing for about 15 years. Anyways, I did ski last year with a brace, I’m RFF, torn right ACL. I am now working out at gym. What exercises / drills would you recommend for strengthening the leg and other parts of the knee? Hutch

Bananaron - I owned a 17' J-Craft and grew up skiing behind a 16' J-Craft. Don't have any experience or time with or behind the new 21' J-Crafts. But I have seen these personally at boat shows and marinas. The new J's appear to be very well built, lots of upholstery, lots of gauges and bells & whistles. The old J-Crafts were very basic - little upholstery, a few gauges, no windshield. These didn't even have a stringers and only a 24" wide floor. The seats were on the bottom of the boat which you saw flex in bumpy water. Slalom skiing, you could pull & tug these quite easily. I only weigh 160 lbs and I could easily tug it while slaloming. Only 1 tracking fin, 2 on the 19' J-Crafts. I cannot speak regarding the new J-Crafts. Ironically after owning & skiing behind outboard J-Crafts and when in the market for a new boat 12 months ago - I wanted a inboard tournament ski boat. We bought a 95' Malibu Response. We love it. Comparing my Response to our old J-Craft is like comparing apples to oranges. My Malibu rides better (slower yes), more room for passengers & gear and the swim platform is so much more convenient putting on skis. I just feel now, the overall skiing experience for skier / driver / passengers is better with our Malibu compared to when we owned our J-Crafts. I would caution if you consider an old 17' or 19' J-Craft. I know our Canadian $$ may be tempting. But these boats haven't been produced in quite a few years - probably +15 years. The boats I have seen listed for sale here in Ontario are usually butchered and in bad shape. Decent ones hardly go up for sale. The main reason I went to a Malibu. Good for you & your son MotoXR if you found a gem! Congrats! Good Luck Bananaron with whatever you end up with. Hutch

Just an update - positive feedback! We were skiing yesterday and made 3 adjustments. Removed the back bench seat, added approx 45 lbs under the deck & shortened the tow line to 28' off. Big difference - wake was smaller and felt softer. Much nicer to slalom behind now. I really don't know if all 3 adjustments cumulatively produced the smaller wake. I'm figuring going to 28' off and removing the back bench probably was the biggest impact. Can still add another 45lbs under the bow or even remove the original weight and see what this will result. Big thanks to all your suggestions! 😀

Great feedback guys. THX. I like 03RLXi's description: "launches". That's the feeling of what I'm experiencing with my inboard Response now. Feels like I'm literally launching across & over the wake. This will be learning experience that I'm looking forward to. Will get it figured out and begin skiing to the level I'm hoping to reach. Thanks!

Thanks for the additional feedback guys 03RLXi - regarding speed, currently skiing now at 32mph. Will try different speeds. dave2ball - 1/4 tank or less of gas. Driver & 2 spotters in the front passenger seat. Still learning but found some runs with two passengers produced a better wake. 6balls - my next runs, will try 28' off. I should also state again that I only have 6 runs behind this boat. Overall very happy with this new purchase and optimistic I will get more comfortable behind it. My goal is being able to open water slalom, not courses. Obviously its hard to state the height of the wake, its shape is definitely different than what I’ve skied with in the past . Guessing the height may be 10”, but its a very solid shape, doesn’t really look like a wake with two distinctive curls. Feels & looks like one wide beam if that makes sense??? My past boats were outboard J-Crafts. These were almost flat bottom ski boats made in Ontario back in the 80’s. Similar shape to California style v-drive drag boats. For slalom skiing, they had a very small wake. Actually two small curls approx 24” apart and 6” high – but very soft. I see DW suggested weight upfront, 50lbs. Anyone else have experience doing this? Even more than 50lbs? Thanks for reading.

Thanks for the replies- yes it was a 3 blade. I suspect its original or at least an old replacement; it's stainless and not Nibral material. I haven't checked but I'm assuming it must be close to being a 13"x 13". Seems like its the right pitch - 30 mph - 3000 rpm, 32 mph - 3200 rpm, 40 mph - 4000 rpm. Skiphreak - do you recall make / model of your 4 blade. Also - I'm trying to focus on getting the actual wake size smaller, maybe flatter is a better description. Find the wake has more of a curl to it than what I was use to with my old boat. I'm optimistic that with more time and weight adjustments, we should see some improvement.

Great feedback guys! Thanks.

Hello, Newbie poster here! I recently picked up a 1995 Malibu Response. After being away from skiing for about 20 years, I'm trying to get back into slaloming. From my first experiences skiing behind this boat, the wake size actually surprised me. The size was larger than what I was expecting. I only have approximately an hour of ski time (6 runs) and have tried different lengths. So far I have felt comfortable at 32 mph & 22' off. But would like to be able to ski more aggressively. Does anyone experience and insight related to adjusting wake size with a Response of this vintage? Any simple modifications of adjustments that can be made? Thanks

Hello, Looking for some feedback from anyone with experience with using a Mastercraft Mirage Lapoint slalom ski. Background is I'm an old guy late 50's getting back into slalom skiing. Been away from skiing for 20+ years. Always skied behind an outboard ski boat. Never skied a course but free styled slalom, typically @ 34mph & usually 15' off. Used an O'Brien that I honestly cannot remember what model it is. I'm now skiing behind a "new to me" 95' Response. Slowly learning the wake and adjusting to different lengths. Have about an hour of ski time with my old O'Brien in June & July. Skiing now at 22' off @ approx 32 mph. I tried for my first time using Mastercraft Mirage ski last week. Immediately felt the ski was very unstable outside the wake in clean water. Would almost describe this as a speed wobble. Didn't even try to continue crossing the wake and stopped. Is this ski known for being unstable? Is 32 mph too slow? What can cause the speed wooble? Can the wing on the fin cause this? Also, btw - Its 66"ski. I weigh 160 lbs. Thanks