Adam Caldwell

@Horton -I will PM you.

@hemlock That illustration would be "ideal" if the rope is 100+ feet long or the boat speed is excessively slow. However, move to a shorter line, or higher boat speed, and the "ideal" gate path across the right hand gate ball would be nearly the polar opposite.

@ Horton Consider the possibility that by initiating your pull intensity where you are, you are increasing the speed of both the rotational acceleration of the rope around the pylon, as well as your tangential ski speed - very EARLY before center. This isn't necessarily a bad thing...and In theory, this SHOULD BE creating more space in front of the next ball. But it sometimes it doesn't. The pitfall in this scenario is failing to have your upper body in a position on top of the ski and against the handle/rope to prevent your upper mass from falling back towards the wakes after CL, and killing the swing too quickly once you are into the preturn. My advice would be to recognize that when you load the boat, the ski is about to haul ass across the lake, and you need to keep your upper body going with it and not get left behind. (this requires more effort and awareness then simply being connected with the handle). Both into and through center, you need to work to keep the upper body leading the direction of the swing - all the way into the buoy.

@Horton Start seeing how crazy/extremely narrow you can start. Might be eye opening.

I have a family friend with a 13yo son who just got a shiny new Quantum trick for Xmas. He lives in Mechanicsville, VA and spend time in Maine during the summer. Wondering if I can connect them with anyone who might be open to giving a couple pulls/trick lessons in Richmond area this spring Thanks!

@lpskier This is tricky. For me, Yes, there are things about A settings that help keep the boat moving out in front of the skier on the way into the buoy. HOWEVER, its no good if you are not getting enough energy on the way into CL. You have to get support and adequate throttle into CL before anything good will happen into the next turn. Some boats at 36mph are almost too sensitive (too fast on/off throttle), and moving from a "C" to an "A" has helped. Load that same "sensitive" boat up with a bunch of people, gear and fuel, and the C will probably be better then A. The same boat that feels good on an A setting at 36 might feel terrible at 34mph with "A". Dropping to 34 over the last 4 years I almost always have to push to C2/C3 before I like what I am feeling. I think a lot of it has to do with the ZO programs, Hull Drag, and Propslip/Engine RPM for given speed and what we are asking the boat to handle in terms of crew weight, fuel type, intake air temp etc and then on top of that handle the skiers input off the ball and behind the boat. There's no "right" answer. But, if you study the numbers provided in the ZO tables - interestingly there are things about A1 that are more similar to C3 then you might think.

@lpskier Yeah I think theres some truth to that. As long as you can turn it, then the bigger ski will be less demanding on the body and keep you moving in the turns better. But its possible if the setup is WRONG, the bigger ski can be harder on the body if you're taking slack hits every time you turn the ball.

@Bruce_Butterfield - Glad you are enjoying your ski. We work EXTREMELY HARD at making sure our recommended sizing is appropriate for all skiers. The core of our market is 34 and 32mph skiers and the depth of our recommendation charts reflects that 100%. From my experience, a persons height and ability to create lateral leverage is a greater factor in ski sizing then weight. Which to me makes a ton of sense, but become far to convoluted in communicating a size chart that way. Consider two 220lb skiers at 34mph. One that is 5'6" and one that is 6'2". The shorter guy has two soft rubber boots (Wiley) and the taller skier has two high cuffed hard shells. Its very common for the taller guy with stiffer hard-shells to like the XL while the shorter guy with rubber boots rips the best on a medium despite being the same weight. Skiing STYLE is another big factor on this as well. Sizing is not easy as there are a lot of factors at play that influence the final setup of ski size, fin settings, etc. Our sizing tables come from a ridiculous amount of feed back and testing with all kinds of skiers from 28mph up to 36 and we have revised them a number of times as we learn more and more about the ski and continue to gain feedback info from skiers riding them.

The depth of the field for both Men and Women is crazy... Its no guarantee any one skier will win anymore. Nate and Regina are dominant, but the field is getting better and better because of it.

we hated to move on from the C75...but in a quest to find the MOASS, we kept going.....

@ScarletArrow - @Horton wouldn't want to do that....he might actually run 47off

@Bruce_Butterfield - We reached out to them last week but still eagerly awaiting a reply!

@FWinter - Even as a work in progress, I feel the energy and brains behind the Waterski Pro Tour and TWBC has done more positive things for our sport in the last 9 months than I have been whiteness to in the last decade - if not two! I cannot wait to see what you guys are able to do long term and its been an amazing experience to be able to be involved both as a competitor and supporter. Keep up the hard work! Can’t thank you all enough!

@Ali - yes, but there is ZERO info in them. Needs to have more relatable info. Things like weight, years skiing, etc. Could also do some fun things like grip strength, min/max/avg line load, handle preference (12/13" and diameter), binding setup, fin settings, ZO option for the different boats, rope preference, ski and ski size, etc. Would be great to see those profile links pop on the webcast when a particular skier is on the water. (no clue how difficult that might be). I'm sure they already have big plans and much more! Excited for 2022 to see what they put together!

@DavidN - we are thrilled with how things panned out this year. We know we are different and very few know much about us at all - mainly because were not a "marketing machine" and don't really worry much about other peoples opinions. We let the scores do the talking. Though we couldn't necessarily afford to, Denali ponied up and sponsored nearly every event TWBC has done the last couple seasons. I am 100% behind what they are doing for our sport and blown away by the progress they have made. Its a great team of individuals who love the sport and passionate about their craft. Coincidently, supporting TWBC was a motivating factor for me just to get back involved in tournaments and be part of the action/fun. One thing that has been cool to see is the change in atmosphere/vibe at the events with TWBC on site. Even without a huge crowd or banners and bling, when you see the TWBC crew on site, you know its time for business and people are watching - CLOSELY. I do think it would be a smart move for TWBC to build out a bio page for competitors that could be linked to webcast for both the viewer AND for commentators to have some info to pick through for a particular athlete or competitor.

@thager same fin in the ski all year. Haven’t touched it. So not sure what you mean. Development doesn’t happen overnight. I thought I had “validated” the fin performance at Malibu with just getting inside 5@41 and taking 2nd place to Nate. So then after Malibu I added 0.200 to the depth and took out 0.1500 length and pulled it back .200. (Yes those numbers are right). At my home training site and several others I stoped at along the way, this new “zone” was crushing it and felt easier then ever. The issue seems to be that on the other boats I need more time to find the right ZO setting as the swing speed is a little different and need a touch more energy into CL then what I’m able to find on the nautique. Being the odd brand/odd guy out there is never easy. We will see who’s laughing last.

@Horton designed to warp space-time.

@Horton what if it was a NACA duct

Maybe this argument needs to be changed to: Octane 100% matters when you put more then 500-600lbs of line tension into the system when you come off the ball. If you don't, its possible you will never know the difference. I'd venture to bet that the pure momentum of the boat traveling at 34 or 36mph is enough to overcome a sub 600lb pull off the ball.

I have been blown away by this skis performance all the way down to 26mph/15off with some older 60+ skiers. I honestly had no clue it would be any good down at slower speeds, but we're continuing to be enlightened every day.

http://iwwfed-ea.org/classic/21IWWF02/

To go with the video above - here is a still shot from an extremely talented photographer we have here in Charleston, Cary McDonald. The 2021 Malibu open shots will be on his website at this link https://www.carymcdonald.com/Sports/Water-ski/2021-Malibu-Open-Day-1/ once he finishes uploading 4000+ images.

@6balls -For sure nothing is ever 100% perfect for every situation. Although my binding/release is highly tuned/customized. It comes off exactly when it should and never when it shouldn't. Knock on wood. To be out trying all the crazy things we do with skis and fins (almost every set out since 2008) without a trustworthy release system would be suicide.

I was very grateful just to get outside of the ball without another trip to the ER! The game plan was to stay safe. The competitor in me forgot that plan and went for it. Realty kicked in when I felt my left side make the first impact with the water. There was a quick flash of light in my eyes after touchdown on the water that almost made me regret what I did...but after a gentle bounce - I realized my ribs survived it! From then on I was just trying not to get tangled up with the rope! My back foot completely slid out of the kicker when the rope came tight and in the next moment I shook the spray out of my face just in time to see a yellow buoy passing the boats platform far enough away to be able to make a move on it! Crazy weekend! Thanks for all the support!

The more I think through handle design/safety, the more convinced I am that spectra shouldn't be used in the handle section of any towed watersport. Its far too small and flexible and has the ability to 'wrap' and sinch much more rapidly and easily then a doubled up 16 strand rope. Coupled with the very small diameter, it will exert extremely high forces once wrapped up, and it will occur almost instantly as there is no stretch in the line. I am also with @lpskier on the handle guard. There is not enough data to support. I think the safest bet if you choose to use one is to make sure it is a 'break away' type of deflector. Meaning that if you were to put an arm through it, the guard can break away prior to causing a more severe injury. The guard shouldn't be anything more then a 'deflector'. Meaning that it is not permanently attached, and if it fails to defect an object getting into the triangle, that it will separate under a high enough force. In this case, it likely and very plausible that the cross-member rope in the triangle (permanently attached) caused much more damage then it likely would have without it. Be cautious with your equipment and don't trust that just because a product is being sold that it is "safe". Use commons sense and think about what you are using on the water. That is true for skis, bindings, handles, etc.