Deke

I'm a 53 year old engineer living and playing in Telluride, Colorado. Got hooked on waterskiing about 11 years ago with the help of "Marco" who is also on this forum and I continue to organize a club on a public lake in Southwest Colorado. I don't ski tournaments yet and I don't count partial passes, so my personal best is 15 off at 34 mph... or is it 22 off at 30 mph?. Whatever. Would like to figure out a way to spend more time on private water or a way to eliminate tubers at the public lake so that I will improve before I am too old. My wife, Nancy, also runs the course at 15 off, 28 mph. Deso our Labrador is the spotter and coach. Our boat is a 99 RLX with Stargazer. I couldn't care less about ZO. When we're not at the lake we are snow skiing, playing in the mountains, or mostly working! Deke deCastro

Air 70, water 64 yesterday

Terry Winter will do custom graphics http://skiskinz.com/index.html

I don't tweak my fin but United Airlines did a pretty good job of it last fall...

Do those directional ridges help you go uphill?

Ed, I vaguely remember seeing a short paragraph in Waterski Mag or The Waterskier some months ago about a person in Germany working on this sort of thing. If I recall it was the no boat approach though.

Why use a boat at all? How about an underwater monorail? BTW, I AM an engineer and DIDN'T stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night :)

I would purchase the 55m sections from Ed. The single buoy on its own anchor works OK if you don't ever need to move or re-tension your mainline. In our case the single was just too much hassle so we'll most likely add the sections next season.

The RC was the successor to the Nomad. Many did not like the white Nomad. I have both but in different sizes and the size is the only thing I can tell the difference in at my level. I would think someone new to the course would be the same. That said, I would buy the 2008. Just make sure to go on the large side for her weight range if she will be running the course slow.

RS-1's / Stradas release way more reliably than rubber and will give better lateral support as well. You might like that extra support with a sore ankle as well.

Jimmy, you make it sound like you're busy or something! Seriously though, you are very lucky to be able to ski 4 days week even if you didn't have all that going on.

I have these http://www.boothelectro.com/waterski.htm

Hillarious!

That's about it....

S.A.S. = Ski Acquisition Syndrome

Lots of good ideas on gas. As for the driving duties, why not set up a quota? You could use a white board to log driving sets just like you might log or schedule sets. The totals will tell the story and maybe add some peer pressure. Our club just has to pay an equal share for permits, spare parts, etc. for public lake site. I still have not received payment from everyone for this season. Some people just won't do any repairs or maintenance. There would have to be three buoys missing or the course would need to sitting in two feet of water before they would do anything and then, maybe not. I actually had someone call me 70 miles away to tell me after skiing all weekend that they thought one of the buoy arms wasn't fully extended. They were right. Did they bother to fix it? No. Wow, don't get me started!

Marco, isn't your daughter going?

Right, tape measure. Besides, I can't really see far enough for that 5 ball line up :)

I agree on the Polyform buoys. They have held their color and shape for us much better than the Overton balls we used in the past. Also, fill valves work way better.

Roger, maybe that's why I have so much trouble with my pull out. Left hand gate/5 ball works real good at 30 mph, but at 34 I always feel fast at the turn in. I will try the right gate.

We've got to do the tape, brick, rope, green ball thing too but in the interim there is another way. While standing outside the wake waiting to pull out spot the left gate ball and #5 ball. Somewhere around when they line up its time to go. Of course if your driver is not lined up all bets are off, so you need to get a feel for your distance from the gates as well. Make the 55 buoy.

SA, you could drain the block, then refill with solution through the big water pump hose. Just disconnect at the thermostat end and fill. Not sure about the manifolds though.

Marco, did you guys use the 200 at your tournament? What was the consensus there?

If your water source is via irrigation and it is "infected" I'm not sure there's much you can do. Those mussels will grow in ditches, pipes, engine blocks, just about anywhere and can choke things up. The way they usually spread, though is by boats/trailers that carry the larvae from other infected waters. Don't let anyone put their boat in your lake that has been somewhere else without first cleaning the hull, trailer, bilge, and cooling system. Colorado is now enforcing this on public lakes. Here's a link... http://wildlife.state.co.us/Fishing/MandatoryBoatInspections.htm

Not sure what the shell material is on the Strada but I wonder if you can get a snow ski boot fitter or shoe repair shop to heat and stretch the toe area. I wouldn't cut either the liner or the shell.