Adam Caldwell

@VONMAN - If this was a government project that photo would be considered confidential. Lol

Awesome work Steve! Will check it out!

Yep, just ran out of graphics. Definitely a hoax. Hopefully the print shop can get some new ones to me soon. I'm getting wind that the Small c95 with the fin at 2.40, 6.80, .800 7 wing at 29" is incredible 26-32mph for the 100-130lb range.

To quickly highlight the versatility of these skis and potential range of fin setups....The comparison between my Feb scores at Stillwater and this past weekend is interesting. The February tournament at Stillwater I was riding a size Small c95playing with some "different" fin settings trying to play around with how the ski was rotating and moving back under the line for me at 41 on offside (2ball). Fin setup was a stock 5 hole fin (and this is no typo) at 2.350, 6.800 at .850 with a 28.75 Front boot and a 7 deg wing. This tournament I went a very different direction, spreading the boots and fin apart and adding area. I was on a stock Medium c95 with 5hole fin at .700 6.90 2.50 7deg and a 29.25 boot. It was a little more "stuck" overall, but did some nice things when the rope was short. Austin Abel was running his stock Large this weekend with the CG fin at 2.450, 6.800, .750 and 7wing and boot near 28.75 (boot back to accommodate his size 15 foot) Again, these fin setups arent necessarily IDEAL for the masses, but to me is fairly profound in terms of versatility with the fin settings on the c95 platform. The majority of guys who are my guinea-pigs are making 50/1000s or more fin movements without an issue when playing around. The 1-2/1000s movements are a thing of the past on this ski. The "Box" seems to be between 2.450-2.52, 6.80 and 6.920, and .750 to .900DFT and boots between 28 7/8 and 29.5. I'm doing my best to understand whos liking what with different bindings/boats/styles etc to help people get up and running PBs as fast as possible.

@AdamCord is not wrong. AI_coaching on deck.

How do I submit a test lesson!

Yes, the CG fin setup is VERY GOOD on the c95. But we also have some really really good settings for the 5 hole fin. For simplicity, we are sending out skis with 5 hole fin for now. There is a much larger population of skiers who are more familiar with the 5hole fin, and from a "demo" perspective or trying your buddies ski out, it helps improve that experience overall (meaning people are not trying their buddies ski without the "correct" CG fin mounted in the slot. Because that definitely doesn't work well (typically)! @VONMAN, good to hear skiing in the wind went well! That has been a big goal of mine. I've always hated skiing in the wind and having my eyeballs vibrate so much your vision goes blurry, lol. I incorporated some new material into the c-95 to help absorb and damp out the vibration from the ski that typically resonates into the body. Its not 100% perfect, but its a HUGE step in the right direction. @scoke We are a long ways from running production in the manner that the bigger companies are. We are way too small to buy big enough quantities to pump out hundreds of skis in the off season. With the uncertainty of the economy this year, I took a more conservative approach. The first batch of material I have is for a very limited number of skis. I have another batch on standby for the fall should things go well. I keep a few sizes on hand ahead of orders as much as I can, but I don't build out hundreds of each size and wait for sales to come in. Its just way too much for one guy to handle. This is a labor of love and we do what we can to keep designing and keep moving forward and helping skiers reach their goals on the water. At most a ski would take 2 weeks to get. Now that things are in a good spot, I can usually get them out the same week fairly easily. But obviously things change as we get further into the summer months. This year, I put "build slots" on the website for ordering. It helps spread out the timeline to where its more manageable on our end. My days of working 10hrs at my day job, being at the lake for 4-5 hrs till dark, then burning the midnight oil in the Denali shop till 1am trying to catch up on orders are over. My sleep and health have taken priority over everything the last couple years.

@Scoke. I know your not looking for a reply from me necessarily, but.... A lot of guys we have killing it on our skis just are not engaged in this forum at all, or are too afraid to let anyone see them ski...lol I have a few build slots open on the website. Trying to "trickle" skis out in a controlled manner so we can spend time helping people get dialed without being overloaded. I hate seeing anyone flounder. Everyone has uniqueness to their setups, styles, etc. I got some video from Will Bruzzese (a 36mph skier) last night running what he said was "one of - if not the best 38s I've ran" followed by a lifetime PB of 4@39. His tournament best on USAWS is 3@38. 7 buoys beyond a tournament best at those line lengths is significant IMO. Lets just say the smile on his face could easily be seen on the video at the end of every pass. - To me, thats what matters most! We did pull the fin back and a little deeper then stock after his first couple sets where he was overturning 1 ball at 38 (hes a righty). He has had the ski for less then a week. Don't quote me, but I think Will is probably 6'1 - 180lbs on a Medium at 36mph.

@SethroAustin able is 6'8" 215 and skiing the best he ever has.

Note: I wouldn't be sharing this story myself as I'm not one to try to hype anything, but none of the group at trophy this weekend is on BOS from what I could gather and I know people are interested to hear whats going on behind the scenes. I had a 200+ 6' guy at Trophy show up this weekend. First few sets of the year skiing with Austin Abel as he ran a clinic at the site for the weekend. I never even got in the boat except to drive and ski myself. The first 2 days the guy (late 40s?) went upside down almost every 2/4 turn and only ran a single 22 off pass out of the first 4 sets. I could tell he was frustrated and annoyed....and bleeding (reflex shin blowout) lol. He was riding a ski hes had for a year or so and can run 28 on in mid season. I had a conversation with him and just offered a ride on my Large c95 I was about to ship off to Cord. He was a strong athletic guy who knew how to pull and turn, but it just looked like the more he put into his ski, the more he was punished for it. I got the tape measure out and showed him the nearly 3/8" additional width under the feet on the c95 compared to his 68" ski. Also had him "flex" it in his hands to see the difference in stiffness. Surprised was an understatement. Austin told me that this guy ran 22 heard, then a tight line 28off tailwind pass and popped handle at 5@32off in the headwind on the first set on it. The biggest thing I heard about was how easy the deep waterstarts were and how much more space there was in front of the buoys. All nice things to have. Needless to say, I'm building another one this morning to get out to Cord as Im not getting the other one back. In todays age, with boats that have 400+ HP and ZO, if you are over 200lbs and still riding a ski that has a profile shape and bevels similar to what existed in the late 90s and early 2000s....then your life on the water is harder then it needs to be. Get a Denali and don't look back. Worth noting, another guy (60+ years old)_whos been on the sidelines watching Denali for several years took one pass on a Small c95. He was 5'8 155lbs and a mid 32-35 off skier. He was sold on the first pass. Definitely was a good weekend and was nice to see a lot of hard work starting to pay off for people on the water!

@VONMAN ....PM me what you measured it at as arrived!

All things being equal. You can design a ski to be as symmetric as possible....for most. Despite the best efforts of any designer. The moment someone with a little bow in their legs, or more pronated feet, or stiff ankles, hips, knees, or some quirky binding setup, there will ALWAYS be an opportunity to improve the synergy and balance between the skier and the fin through asymmetrical fin tuning.

@swbca Doesnt matter where you are. My experience was that after I added 30k offset...ski got faster and earlier to 2 ball with more speed. So i added more depth to slow down the 2 ball. Then, to keep my 1 ball the same I had to add more offset. then it got stuck behind me at 2 ball, So then I pulled the fin back more, and it got faster again..so I went deeper and added more offset again...went through that cycle about 4 times until I was nearly 100k offset. My first time past 4@41 in practice with 100k offset and fin about 30k back from where I started, with just about the same length. I think I was roughly 2.530 and 2.430. Would have to dig up some numbers to be certain. Not ALL skis and skiers are going to need the same. At 34 or 32 I'm not sure 100k is remotely close to necessary, but 30k can be spectacular. The nice thing is its a lot better then filing on a ski or a fin and making changes you cannot undo.

Thats what I told @AdamCord last night.. lol

worked for me without logging in.

@swbca Sharpening the trailing edge of a fin to a point, or going with a full radius or a complete flat will all have fairly significant impacts on how the ski rotates through the finish of the turn and moves off the second wake. At least in my experience. May not be as noticeable at 34 or 32mph but it sure is noticeable at 36. You can run heavy biased 45deg to one side only (on leading or trailing edge) and create some pretty cool effects. If your curious, get out a file and hop on the platform between passes and take a few swipes at the fin. Just make sure you have a couple spares beforehand!

@VONMAN - great question! Thanks. Response to come soon! @o2bnMaine I made a few trips down to test some skis but the weather was garbage every time! lol. The small mold is officially done and ready for you. 🙂 I've got a few build slots opened up for March... Would love to get you setup and dialed before you head to Maine!

@Zman Yes, several my testers in Charleston are 200+. So far I have yet to measure a ski wider then a Denali under foot. I build a ski last summer that was officially too big for the 28off-38off 220lbers. If you need a point of reference, at 17 inches from the tail on the Large C95 measures in at 5.25" wide. Compare that to what your riding now and I think you would be surprised.

@Horton, give them a chance.... I will add that concept is somewhat against the grain as it could be interpreted as leading with your head....not with your hips. lol.

@Horton Lets just say I've put way too much time into about 10 skis (of all sizes) now since sending Cord a Stock c95 and him immediately running 41 last summer. I've put Cord on a few of those skis over the fall/winter. After seeing him and a few other guys basically fail to run a clean pass on any of them or have a single good turn, I think it was demoralizing enough that my ego couldn't take it anymore. 😄 Time to put the tools down, settle on a ZO setting and ski.

This is a common issue with a lot of skiers trying to "get their hips up" or "stand tall". When your loading a ski into the wakes, we have to be cognizant of how our upper mass is positioned relative to the centripetal force (load in the line). A lot of people inherently know how to do that, and its why the are able to accelerate and ski decently well with an ass back compressed ski position. When most people make an effort to stand tall on the ski or get thier hips up, they do it well with respect to the ski, but simultaneously losing the ideal upper mass position relative to the centripetal force. There are a few very simple tricks to help sustain an ideal position between upper mass and centripetal force while standing in a tall, hips up stacked pulling position. Without giving it completely away, for those curious, spend some time pulling on a rope tied to a pole and play around with how your head is positioned on your shoulders and relative to the rope/centripetal force. You'll realize pretty quickly that moving that 8lb bowling ball on top of your shoulders ahead of or behind the centripetal force vector will significantly impact how your mass will move on top of the ski and ultimately determine your efficiency through the back of the boat during the loading phase. The effort/act to stand tall with hips up causes the bowling ball to move so far behind the centripetal force they fail to accelerate despite being in a good "stack". I struggled with this for a long time. I could accelerate like crazy with my ass back, but not with my hips up. That all went away when I learned how to position my bowling ball better such that my upper mass moved in relation to the ski to create more efficient cross-course acceleration for a given "pull" against the boat.

The Small mold is FINALLY done! Building out the first couple production skis this week for the test team.....So, provided that all goes smoothly, keep an eye out on the website for build slots for skis the next couple weeks! I continue to be mind blown at what I'm able to see people do on top of it every time I ride in the boat and watch. We have a phenomenal set of baseline fin setups and binding positions dialed in for 34 and 32mph and will continue to share updates as things evolve over time. We have been VERY tight lipped about what we've worked the last few seasons and what has gone into this ski. But now I think it appropriate to open up and put more info out about the ski. So - If there are specific questions, throw them up here!. I'm thinking we might do a little video to respond and answer them and explain the reasoning and process behind what we did with the design in a format that easier to digest. AND GO! Worth noting.....Having spent and insane amount of time on the c95 design the last few years, we worked pretty hard to improve the ski even further over the last 6-8months (mainly for myself and my personal needs at 36/41). However, having taken a couple prototypes down to FL this winter it was obvious I only made it worse for the everyone else other then myself. Needless to say, I'm at a loss as what we can do to make this ski any better then it already is. We think this design is opening new doors and possibilities that I'm not sure we have fully come to realize the true potential. So for the first time in a VERY long time I am putting down the bondo, Sawzall, files, and sand paper and the all the tools...and just going out to ski. Should be an exciting year!

I think the nub idea makes sense...if you happen to only get a partial grip on it, that extra material might help the couple fingers you did get a hold of it with to stay on it better. Doesn't need to be big...but something maybe better then nothing. Need some A/B tests to really know what would be better.

Well I've got one young gun interested in filing on some skis....Any other takers out there?

I think more people should get out the file and play with a ski. Like @AdamCord said. It can be a slippery slope, but learning things is what fun. I think I would have been done with this sport a long time ago if it wasn't for exploring what filing, splitting, or adding bondo on a ski can do. Its all part of the fun and part of the challenge. Plus if it doesn't work. you at least have a good excuse for the day. Plus, the more skis that get filed on, the more that get destroyed, and the more people will need new skis! If anyone knows of some young guys who are curious to play with this stuff, send them my way!