SkipGundlach

Thanks for the many and varied responses. Trailer - new EZLoad would be 5K, couple of specific-to-type folding tongues at 5K or just under... Platform: damaged, missing one of the brackets, same bracket as shown in Sethro's pic, and with identical diamond hull shape. Might need couple of boards or a start-over for the wood, in response to Horton's question. Platform and hull shape all visible in pix in original link. The ebay boat looks killer, but wrong side of the country (Atlanta/SE FL, permanent home NE GA). Still, at that price, assuming no killer bits about the engine, it might be worth an airplane ride there and back to looksee/test drive and a UShip to bring it here...

Hi, Two Questions: I'm considering this boat: https://www.popsells.com/wake-ski-boats-for-sale/malibu-wakesetter-vlx-in-orlando-florida-r4-336633 It's never had a trailer and we'll want one permanently. The questions: Will it be a big deal or easy to find a trailer either specific or adaptable to this boat? And, without having seen it, but seeing the various pictures, is a 600 hour engine with purported good service records, and a wonky platform (likely will need replacement) equipped Wakesetter a good, average or poor deal at 19K? Thanks for any experienced opinion 😁 L8R Skip

https://ballofspray.com/profile/9334-susb8383/, thanks for those. In training my little grandsons, they started on tethered pairs; the next step was removing the stern tether, which provided more control. As a snow skier, I'd use the snowplow technique to help newbies get comfortable... As to two-skis, my feet are so large I was afraid that I'd split the bindings on the typical pair available to me - and I came right out on the times I tried on the one (son's slalom) I stuffed my feet into. As the opportunity (a VRBO week a couple of houses away from where the foundations are being dug) has passed, likely I'll not have another trial before a year or so from now. In the meantime, I'll be seeing PTs about my knees, as my ability to stand (I got up, but couldn't STAND up) without pain is the major issue. That said, specific exercises to enhance whatever muscles are actually used in skiing would be useful. I found info today which suggested that my behind-a-jetski was in 2010, and my real-boat pull most likely earlier than that, so I've been inactive in skiing for a long time (and getting older, of course). When I was actively skiing, I didn't do the first lick of organized exercise, so had no concept of what I might have had 'naturally' - though my tailor observed that I had"prominent buttocks" - which I laid to many daily trips up and down stairs to refill coffee or whatever else in my 2-story home on Lake Lanier. So: Specific exercises to enhance my ability to ski? I'll be going to a PT when I get back to Vero to try to sort my knee pain...

LOL I had no challenges in that regard. My chest STILL hurts - over a week later. I'm pretty flexible, I think; I can easily (and comfortably) put either or both knees to my chest. My now-a-year gym workouts (in prep for this move!) have made it so I can no longer sit on my butt with my heels to my sides, comfortably, for the first time in my life, however. All those thigh adduction/abduction exercises, prolly... Getting out and tracking (all but the stand-up part) was of no issue; ski on line to stabilize, rolling start, and I'm out. But not up... I desperately hope my (vs my son's) ski will help, and I'll be doing some PT when I get back to the gym, as well as some trainer-guided stuff to see about my patellar issues. I don't believe it's replacement time, as it is solely patellar-top pain... Sigh...

thanks! I did look it up; unfortunately (or fortunately; I would hate to have any OTHER pain centers) the description of the pain areas is not what I have. My pain is solely at the tip of the upper (toward my pelvis) side of the patella... I live on the second floor so up/down at least once a day, sometimes several. I'll try walking up backwards. Both knees are about the same pain level, but one suggestion I've had will be to do seated single-leg lifts (I've always done both, and both hurt about the same). Seen elsewhere/elsethread, my thighs are strong, I think, and my calf-lifts on a seated, 3' extension/125# lift/cushion-on-knees are of no challenge so it's likely to all be down to my knees...

Thanks. I have no current connections nor locale (used to live on Lake Lanier in GA), and will need to recover my ski before any further attempts. But that's a good idea. Our expected boat may have such a tower, but likely won't be one of the hybrids, as both too big and too expensive, never mind the wake. Something like a Malibu with a scoop to pull the stern down, perhaps. But keep me in mind; if I succeed in getting my son to do a deep search, I may have it before again living in GA!

Yah, I'm aware... Recall that I got out just fine. My left buttock still hurts from the time I spent on top of the water, with my butt on my heels! Part of my teaching newbies/kids to ski includes thrusting hips forward and making a straight line with shoulders, hips and ankles. Sometimes, as I stand up if I'm not driving, and make obscene movements with my hips, I can get the skier to adjust 🙂 😁

Really. Search, my name on the internet 🙂 I'm currently away from my home and thus my 8GB of photos, of which there are many of me going around a ball (I used a digital movie camera on whatever the mount which had the line through it, thus tracking me, to check my form, and captured frames from it)... Unfortunately, I now live in FL, in a condo in Vero Beach, and won't be back on skiing water (or at least presumed) until the homes (my tiny next to my son's regular lake home) are complete. With any luck I'll be able to retrieve my 72" custom HO by then; it's not gone, merely 'lost' in the miasma of my son's basement. I strongly suspect I need either new knees or figuring out how to work out to the degree that I have more leg-push strength without the pain (which I suspect has led to atrophy in that aspect; I can do thigh adduction and abduction at over 200#, but no more than 70# front seated lift, e.g., due to pain). As to the slingshot, in my early days, I had my daughter driving at 12, doing circles in the underpowered 16' wood runabout until it got up on plane (and me up on 2)... So: anyone here had this knee issue and overcome it?

When I was actively skiing, I made my own handles and one for my wife, mimicking the EZUp. At the time there was a supplier who was into my concept (rec.sport.waterski days, if any of you are old enough to remember NNTP - long before forums), and supplied my various colors for my regular take-offs, and her RWB colored EZ clone. I had no challenge getting out; my left buttock STILL hurts; it was the standing part which was challenging...

My apologies in advance of what will inevitably turn out to be lengthy. Background: I'm 78 years old. After living 30 years on a lake with the last 7 of them course skiing, I lived and cruised 15 (2007-2022) years on a sailboat. I climbed the 140-ft/220 steps St. Augustine Lighthouse with no knee pain 2 years ago,and other greater or lesser ones earlier in that time. I've now lived 18 months ashore. I believe I'm reasonably fit. Today I have notable patellofemoral pain on knee effort. Standing from a chair, e.g., or squats, or doing seated leg curls forward is very painful. (Reverse - pulling - is very much less so.) That is the only segment of either upper or lower body work I do 4x weekly at gym, now for a year (living on a cruising sailboat was a great way to stay in general good shape!), where I have any pain. ~10 years ago I managed to get up behind a jet ski after it did circles until coming up on plane before pulling. Before I sold everything and moved aboard my cruising sailboat, I always wanted a full-on hot start aboard my custom 72" HO with "Nautique" on the bottom (I was 225 and 6-3+ and am 14EE with full xxxl boots; ). So, last week, behind a Nautique, and on a not-my-ski (my son can't find it in the garbage dump of his basement, but had a wider 69" HO Charger with widely adjustable full boots which - with much soap - accepted my feet), I go in for my first pull. The last regular-boat pull (~2010?) many years ago, after many years without skiing, I had needed a more typical rolling throttle start, so that's what I asked for this time. I got out of the water but could not get up. No issues with grip; my knees pushed hard enough against my chest that nearly a week later, I still can't sniff or cough without pain. But my left buttock got blasted by the water torrent as I failed to get up off the ski. On the possibility that I just didn't have the strength on a smaller ski, I tried a pair. Essentially the same result. Yet, for a week I was coaching little kids and newbie adults, and remembered some of my mechanics that perhaps I didn't do on that thwarted set of attempts. Not rotating my hips adequately? Inadequate back strength? Or all down to the knee pain leading to lack of eventual leg strength? All of the above? I feel like I should be able to get up, and once I rediscover what I used to do effortlessly, should be able to ski many more years (one of the early VHS training tapes I and my son watched had an 86 year old driver for the camp doing the course, e.g.) on the lake to which I'll move in a year or so. Ideas? I likely won't get another chance to ski before my move, but also will have that time to work out and work on whatever portion of my mechanics which is failing. And finally, has anyone had the same pain issues but has resolved them? Thanks. -- The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. - Sterling Hayden