eleeski

@wart The earlier than 2002 Nautiques were excellent for everything. Slalom tricks and jump! With lots of weight added, they were even decent wakeboard boats. Seriously one of the best boats Nautique ever built. @Bruce_Butterfield has the best possible with a ZO Bubbleback Nautique. The 2002 and on 196s were awful trick boats. The table is unacceptably rough and they never fixed it. Some boats were better than others but the inconsistency was frustrating for a trick skier and coach. I taught basics outside the wake the table was so bad! The Koolaid group will bid up prices of this hull but never get one if you have a family that wants to actually ski and not just watch you slalom. I'm not sure when Mastercraft changed their hull but my 04 is pretty close to my 11 hull. Perhaps the best all around boat ever. Especially with ZO. They have an undeserved reputation for a bad slalom wake (misinformation from the Koolaid crowd). My boats have given more first complete passes and PBs than anybody else's (yes, that many college kids and juniors). Best all around boat ever! @smigforce The 205 might be a decent and fun family boat. But it will make a MC 197 wake look easy. Fine until 28off but the wake is different. If you get it, low fuel, no excess weight, light boat crew and a shallow lake will make it pretty good. I made the mistake of slaloming behind one with a full fat sack - ripped the boots off the ski through the gates! I'd personally go with the Bubbleback Nautique. If it's a project, upgrade the engine to a ZO engine. I did a 79 American Skier conversion to ZO so I understand some of your thinking (insanity?). Eric

My Datsun Roadster was the vehicle of choice as it had enough traction and power to launch our old Nautique when pickups and vans would just spin tires. Never towed on the freeway, of course... Eric

Whatever the official score is stands! Judging is never perfect. It is the best that can be done in real time with the views and judges available. Hopefully the error scatter is random and not affected by bias (either way) and all skiers would get the same evaluations of a similar situation. This discussion needs to stay as entertainment, not condemnation of the judges or skiers. So in the spirit of entertainment, @Mike Gile got it right, Fantasy scores dictate the outcome! Eric

@Than_Bogan Women have been pole vaulting since 1992. It took them a couple decades to set a 5m world record. It took men 50 years to break 5m - both starting from similar 4m records. Your girl has little competition so she's doing enough to win. Given time (that the men have had) and real competitive experience, things could be very different. (Note that the women's only marathon record is a couple minutes slower than the record where women run with men.) In a generation or two, many of the "women are athletically inferior" predictions might appear quite mistaken. @matthewbrown I've competed in a division of one or two too many times. It does not foster the competitive comradery that make amateur athletics fun. Something that a transgender or "odd" person would need in a world that barely accepts them. Most people commenting here have never met a transgender person, much less know one well. Too many of the posts might be felt as misogynistic and insensitive. There are real issues that need to address certain sports, professional divisions and records. These are easily dealt with for a sport like waterskiing where big money and world renown are not driving forces for participation. To answer the thread title, put an asterisk next to the transgender female record and list both records? Eric

Having transferred thousands of gallons (tens of thousands!) of fuel, static is real and deserves respect. Never use a non rated hose because it won't have the static pathway (OK, I did but I ran a bare copper inside the hose to deal with the static). Never use plastic pipe or fittings instead of the original equipment (I'm lucky it was diesel as the sparks were surprising. Diesel will ignite but not as easily as gas. Another static wire got me through that transfer in one piece until proper replacement parts were installed promptly.) However, I'm not convinced of any static issues in putting plastic cans in the bed instead of on the ground. Touching the cans should dissipate any static. Touching the nozzle to the truck bed should dissipate any differential before you fill. Always touch the nozzle to the can while filling. I think the no fill in the bed rule is to keep the truck from blowing up with the can - important if your kid is strapped in the truck. The gasturbator from Harbor Freight is nice for emptying fivers. A water separating fuel funnel is faster and safer if your fuel is at all questionable (I got mine from Aircraft Spruce). My pumper tanker trailer with dual fuel filters was so easy. Fuel management, another plus for the electric boat? Eric

@Jboss Bring your music to the desert. It's 70f water and 77f air here! Better hit up a casino nearby and bet on 7. @eddie_roberts_jr We saw the conditions you ski up there in that other thread (awesome!). More untracked shore snow for the weekend? Eric

Has one female here complained about having to compete against a transgender? It's all guys - which doesn't really make sense if fear of the competition drives the concern. Unless women have a real advantage to cross over with? Regarding Ms. Semenya, that is a difficult situation. I only checked the Wikipedia page, I knew there was controversy. Sad that it's not actually resolved. I guess that means the transgender issue isn't fully settled either. Regarding MMA, it is weight classes? So gender differences should be minor. The female high school wrestlers that Kirk wrestled against when he was light were formidable opponents. Some were CIF champions. No intrinsic advantage due to the weight classifications. Even Martina's nemesis, Renee Richards, didn't go on to dominate pro women's tennis. She did have a decent career which could have been fulfilling if she didn't have to fight so much for her rights. This issue is overblown. And quite insensitive to anybody facing a gender change. Life can be difficult, recreational sports don't have to be made more difficult. Eric

I looked up the runner Caster Semenya. She is cleared for competition and her medals and records stand. The IOC now allows transgender as long as the testosterone level is below 10 nanomoles per liter for 12 months before competition. Good enough for the Olympics, good enough for waterskiing. Eric

@matthewbrown Actually biological oddities do exist. There are chromosome abnormalities causing disagreement about the eligibility of an elite runner. A little different as she was identified as female at birth and has not changed but strict biological assessments ate inconclusive. It's political now. Transgender people have motivations far deeper than moving from #50 to #15 on the world rankings. They have an extraordinarily difficult path in today's world. Athletics, especially amateur athletics like waterskiing, can offer so much to them. Differences don't need to be dividing. Eric

The boat is shot. Send it to me for proper disposal. The USD team is looking for a boat. Eric

Changing genders is a huge step driven by immense pressures and needs. It carries lots of anguish and stigma. If a person gets comfort and fulfillment by waterskiing, that's great. Maybe even more important to someone going through a gender change. I hope we can accept and support people whatever their situation may be. Eric

At a recent Junior Worlds, the top male tricker would have placed fourth if all scores were combined. The gender gap is shrinking! Sailing, equestrian, drag racing and many other sports have no gender separation and are entertaining to watch or compete in. Maybe we are too hung up on the records and purity of the events to just enjoy them as sport and recognize exceptional performances. Wait, what am I saying? Women's beach volleyball is way more fun to watch than the men. (Come on, it's the tactics and skill of the women's game that is more fun than just the power of the men's game - what did you think I meant?) Some sports need to stay segregated. Eric

@addkerr So Broadside and Okeeheelee, a couple sites of the best Nationals, need islands to keep the water nice? Experience doesn't support that either site is deficient in water quality. My short island free lakes get zero rollers from the turns. Note that I trick in them and often spin as well and get no turn rollers. We set down deep and come straight back in (actually the initial start is about 10 degrees off straight in but easy to adjust by the 55s). We had members who liked to simulate the turns at lakes with islands. That worked as well. I like coming straight in. That is very nice for the skier as the focus can be strictly on the course in front of you (no distractions of surviving the island and the set down visualization gets the sun, wind and water matching the direction you are going). A drop buoy is critical for a tournament. Last year, the drop buoy went missing at Nationals and the setups became inconsistent (that lake was quite long so it's not so critical in a short setup - the end drives the drop pretty consistently). If you have a windy site straight down the lake, a breakwater might be useful. While still a serious obstacle for the skiers, it could reduce the wind fetch. I haven't seen a nicely engineered windbreak breakwater but that might help. Move it out of the way when the windy season ends. Islands suck. Eric

@syndicate The tires at Laku don't look ugly, they look scary! I definitely don't want to hit one. Water trampolines are really fun. @MISkier 's idea to park one of those as an island is pretty sound. Easily movable for optimizing the path for slalom or jump or pulling it where the kids can play on it. Soft if you hit it. Might be a problem if hitting it turns into a game. Some islands can be OK. Eric

Islands helping prevent backwash is a myth. Prop rollers, reflection off the island and reflection off the shore can actually create more water movement than no islands. Add the safety issues of hitting the island, the maintenance issues and the lack of boat turn options to realize that islands are a disaster. Put in a noodle as a drop buoy to get a consistent start stop point that works best for your lake. Problem solved! Islands suck! Eric

Masterline will engrave your name on the handle! Never lose it at the tournament starting dock. Handles have natural anti roll properties. Enhanced anti roll is way less important than a handle/glove that fits your hand and is comfortably grippy. Surf wax rubbed on the handle can improve the grip of an old handle. Eric

Wakeboarding can be fun! Love to see the creativity of @ShredEddie and the guy in Greenland. Eric

One downside to turbocharged gasoline engines is that the boost required a lower compression ratio. High compression ratio engines are more efficient. This used to more than offset the efficiency of using the waste exhaust energy. Old turbos were gas hogs. I don't know if modern computer controlled engines can adjust parameters enough to allow high compression and turbocharging to achieve improved fuel economy. Note that diesel engines do fine (better) when turbocharged. Eric

Lighter weight does directly translate into less drag. So fuel burn will be lower and more power will be available to pull the skier. For a trick skier, custom ballasting can replace the static engine weight to improve the wake. In boats and skis, lighter is better! Eric

@jakecuz23 The turbo will be reasonably spooled up as the baseline power need is pretty big. Add fuel under boost and the power should come on quickly. Big displacement engines have lots of big heavy parts that need to accelerate to add power so maybe it's a wash on which will respond faster. Is this an E-controls computer running the engine? ZO compatible? Darn, I just ZO converted my 79 American Skier with a heavy V8... Eric

@Horton At least I collected another caricature award. Pandas, wingnuts and now Office Space, I am the GOAT at collecting these. Note that I did say I needed to try a different setting. Or are you saying that all ZO settings are identical behind all boats? Eric

So @Horton , all you need for slalom is a small wake??

The trick wake is too small. Decent shape and a good table but just too small. It was my tournament boat of choice the year MC changed their hull (the MC had a tiny wake then, there weren't any to train behind and MC was pulling a high stakes tournament I trained for). So I did get quite a few rides behind it and adapted to it. For slalom, I liked the small wake. But I never performed well behind the boat. The pull felt really hard and unforgiving. I normally ski at C3 so maybe I needed a different setting to compensate. Too efficient at delivering horsepower to the water? There's more than just a small wake to making a good slalom pull. I only drove it a couple times but it felt reasonable. Not twitchy and unstable, not heavy and unresponsive. Reasonable. I did like the boat overall and would consider buying one. I'm sure I could figure out ballasting to get an acceptable trick wake and a slalom feel I like. Eric

@TustinTom JB Weld works well for me for reinstalling inserts. Better than my fancy laminating resin. An adhesive epoxy theoretically should be better (available at exotic snow ski sites in tubes - sorry no links) but I haven't used that yet. JB Weld impregnated steel wool is my choice if the insert hole is loose. I do use a lot of JB Kwik for easy replacements. It's not as strong but I have had great results with that as well. I can get a repair done in a reasonable amount of time. Regular JB Weld requires waiting overnight for it to cure before removing the drive screw/jam nut needed for installation. Tricky repairs get regular JB Weld, easy ones or clean new installations get JB Kwik. Eric

I use antiseize. Salt or brackish water demands this. If my screws are coming loose, either my insert is bad or the screw is stripped - or both. On particularly bad inserts, I've put some plastic thread or strips in the insert to make it tighter in the short term. Check your screws regularly but don't overtighten them. Some plastic washer or foam plate base will act to lock the threads mechanically as long as the torque is right. Loctite works badly with inserts on my skis - backs out my screw in inserts. Molded in factory inserts might be different. I'd use sticky pipe thread compound before loctite. Antiseize goes in every binding installation I do. Eric