eleeski

What are you afraid of? Change the adjustment! Of course I'm typing this as I'm icing my ankle. While Dawg and Horton might be able to feel .005 adjustment, I need to make a .020 movement to feel any change. If I really want to make the ski feel different I will change .100. If things improve, good. If not I go the other direction. I have my old numbers so I can go back. Bad habits can be broken easily with a ski that doesn't encourage the problem. A couple of rides on a weird setup won't scar your form for life. An evaluation ride won't have you laying it out for that ankle biting buoy - unless the new setup really works. Another reason to adjust is that settings change. Travel, bumping a buoy or a myriad of different factors can knock that fin out of adjustment. Know your baseline and check it often. Certainly after every great - or horrible - ride. It's always the skier that determines the buoy count. Switch skis or styles for fun. Eventually you must forget the tweaking and just ski. But make sure you are assured that you are getting the most out of the setup first. Eric

Wow! Interesting idea. I'll look for materials that might work and see if I can be the "someone". EricÂÂÂÂ

C'mon John, it was the ski! The test ski is now retired. I'm not sure if I'll plunk down the cash for the Goode but we talked about it. But Kirk took a test ride on Connie's old Goode and he likes his old Leeski better. And Dave's graphite did just arrive at the office... The bindings may have been a factor. It was my rear ankle that got tweaked. I run my top clip fairly loose on the rear hardshell. My foot may have started to pull out, then hit the clip and caused the injury. It was not a high energy crash so I didn't blow up the bindings (per design). The front foot is 100% with the tight clips. Binding redesign will put a rubber band in place of the rear clip so I have the flexibility in the rear foot I need without the slop. The buoy caused the fall and I tagged it pretty hard. My water is down just a bit so the buoy was floating a little high - but still in tolerance. I would not have fallen so hard or weird on my safety buoy. I stand behind my call for a safer buoy. Eric

A couple of years ago at Mike Hayes and Marcus Brown's request I designed a buoy that didn't hurt me if I hit it. We ran them in my lake but the longevity was poor and when they got torn up I replaced them with conventional buoys. Mike and Marcus are now healthy and buoy specs changed to allow a bit safer placement so the buoy redesign got shelved. But I just hit a buoy wrong today and got a minor (I hope) ankle tweak. Perhaps it is time to continue the evolution of a safer buoy - especially when the current buoys are injuring our rising stars (Kurt Hinz just got a major ankle injury from a buoy hit). I'll at least bring a prototype to Nationals just to stir the pot a bit. Eric

http://aircraftspruce.com/pdf/2007Individual/Cat07042.pdf Aircraft Spruce has it for mail order but I get it in stock from the local aircraft supply shop (El Cajon Aircraft Supply) in San Diego. It is easy to work with and very light for a non-structural filler. The only drawback is the long cure time - especially when it's cold. Eric

What ever happened to the nudie bar sponsor for the trick slalom event?

The problem started when the ski was diving into the water in the turn. I wondered if a thicker edge in the front of the ski would help things. So I added some Superfil to make the ski thicker in front. It helped a bit. On the theory that if a little is good more is better (the Steel Reserve conjecture) I thickened it up more with another application of Superfil. Now the ski wouldn't turn. So I sanded off the second course of Superfil. Actually, I used the grinder and didn't do a very pretty job but the ski worked - sort of but it was really slow. I decided to grind off the ridges on the bottom (unrelated change but bear with me). It was pretty ugly and I was getting flamed for my ski cosmetics so I broke out the Superfil to hide the grinder marks. I also dressed up the edges. The ski is still ugly but it turned 2 4 6 really well. But 1 3 5 was really weird and bouncy. So I smoothed out the left edge of the ski with a sanding block. Now it wouldn't turn at all on 1 3 5. So I softened the top left edge - and the ski now dove again on 1 3 5. So I sanded the left edge at a 5 degree angle from vertical (OK I didn't measure - that isn't quite vertical so it looks OK. This also left a much sharper edge on the top edge of the bottom bevel. Now the ski is balanced and turns well on both sides. Thicker edges - more speed in the turn and the ski turns a smoother but wider arc. Rounded or soft top edge - tighter turns and a slower ski. Bottom bevel sharpening - faster ski and wider turns. The effects were more dramatic than fin adjustment - but messier and more time consuming. All fun, Eric

All of you youngsters are spoiled. With PP the ride quality is better than my skills - regardless of who is driving. In the olden days the driver really mattered but now almost anybody can give a ride in tolerance. And marriages can be preserved. If you need better driving than the tolerance to ski well, improve your skills. With that said, there are drivers that bring out the better performances and drive to a tighter tolerance. They are wonderful to ski behind and sometimes can help my buoy count. The dedicated drivers (like Joe) really help - but I'm stuck with Lisa (the Hammer). Eric

Hey, you're trying the Lee gate! Of course he made the next buoy. Eric

I've been playing with the edges on my latest experiment. I am surprised how much tuning can occur with a little bit of Superfil and some sandpaper. The thickness of the side of the ski, the softness of the top edge, the angle of the side, and the softness of the top bevel edge are all parameters that can be adjusted for specific performance effects. A very cool aspect of the superfil / sanding tuning technique is the ability to adjust just one side's turning characteristics without changing the other side. My 2 4 6 was working well but 1 3 5 was toxic (dumping me in). Sharpening just the left bevel cured the problem but left the 2 4 6 the way I liked it. Perhaps the manufacturers could add a bit of fileable material (a la old LaPoint skis with their 'file on" edges). Competent tweakers - like those on this board - should have no problem tuning edges. It's another tool, and one without as many tradeoffs. Eric

Funny how things happen. I am sending Dave Curmi a couple yards of graphite cloth to experiment with. It would be way cool to end up with yours to replace that. I have a UPS and Fedex account. I'll make sure John has some to play with. What kind of beer / wine/ scotch do you drink? I'd be happy to buy it from you. Eric Lee eleeski at aol dot com 760 774 4677

They'll punish you by making you go to a Britney Spears concert. 25 yards of carbon? I'm salivating. Eric

There are lots of variables in building skis. It's actually a lot of work to make an exact clone of a ski. Then getting it to ski the same is another challenge! With free graphite, you still might not save any money and who knows if you'll be able to ride it. You'll have to do things to the ski with a grinder that are appalling. And who knows what the final product will look like (wallboard texture). Dave, there are lots of ways to incorporate whatever cloth you have into a strong light layup. While I have enough cloth for a few more skis I would eventually be able use your material. If you need to get rid of it I'd love to take it off your hands... Dave, If you are ever in San Diego, bring your graphite and we'll make some skis! Whether or not we make a ski you like, we'll have some engineering nerd style fun! Eric eleeski at aol dot com

With the way I maintain stuff, I'd check for water in the bilge and a corroded oil pan (when that happened to me I had more oil in the bilge water than water in the oil. The intake manifold gasket can also fail and cause a similar problem. But when water in the oil happened to me (after an overheat - make sure the exhaust manifolds are good) I had to overhaul and mill the heads and replace the head gasket. Eventually I replaced the whole engine but I got good service from the repair.Good luck, EricÂÂÂÂ

The Eric Lee gate only works for RFF skiers. You lefties have to play games with your gates, sorry. I pull out just before the 55's and line up with 2, 4, 6. Next I softly switch edges and target the right hand gate ball. I wait late so I'll barely make the right gate and commit as hard as possible. My focus can now completely shift through the gates to the 1 ball turn. It doesn't take long to initiate the turn in and it's easy for the RFF skier to get great angle. I have problems overpulling sometimes so I will start narrower! to correct that. I might line up a bit wider for a headwind or left crosswind. I have never missed my gates in a tournament. Eric

Want it off the front or back? I'll probably use a chop saw not the jigsaw. Actually, I'd probably just move the bindings back (inserts are pretty easy to install) and ignore the extra tip length. I'm still intrigued by the golf dimples but my Steel Reserve induced palsy prevents me from making consistent dimples. Besides the 80 grit finish works pretty well. Eric

80 grit sandpaper smooths out the wallboard look nicely. Of course sometimes I use 36 grit if the ski won't slow down. Life's too short for fine sandpaper. Eric

I started skiing the course on a 64" ski at 26mph (165 pounds). If the ski is plowing your weight is too far back. If you learn to weight the front of the ski more it will help you at all speeds. Maybe move the bindings forward to the stops. 28 is a good starting speed. Plow a little on the opener and enjoy the feel of the ski as you speed up. If you aren't making the course, shadow the buoys. Make six turns lined up with the buoys - even if you are so narrow you barely cross the wake. Try to make the turns even - most people go too wide on the good side which makes the bad side turn harder. Learn the rythm by skiing narrow and add a little more kick behind the wake to get around the buoys. And don't look at the buoys. Long line works well for little kids going really slowly. Everybody else gets better rythm from 15 off. The geometry of the pull from the boat works against you with long line. I don't start at 15 off anymore for the same reason. Eric

I enjoy disagreeing with Horton. Lots of the college kids here use the CR7 at slower speeds with acceptable results. You might learn faster on another ski but spend the money on water time instead. Make sure you don't have a wing installed. I will agree that 15 off is the best length to start with at any speed. But I see a lot of young skiers starting at 28 off 34mph and going to 36 as their second pass. I'm not sure it helps them but slow deep shortline is not an uncommon training technique. Eric