Ed_Obermeier

DBW Stargazer is a total no brainer for the driver. Once you get it set up you just throttle up and the system does the rest. No further adjustments required and it consistently gives the same pull/times pass after pass.

Last year in M5 age wise but don't ski tournaments much. Not that I want to slow down but out of curiosity what class is max speed go to 32 mph?

Wakesurfing isn't a sport. It's an activity. Kinda like tubing.

Over the years I've bought numerous used cars, a couple used boats, and I've also bought 2 - 3 used skis through SIA. To date I'm yet to get screwed on any of them, cars boats or skis. Like anything else if you do the homework, ask the right questions, you can get a pretty good idea of how the car (or ski) was treated, maintained etc. I'm fortunate to be skiing on a Vapor I got new (love it!) but I'm not above buying another good used late model ski through SIA if that made more sense than buying one new. Used doesn't necessarily equate out to junk. SIA provides a valuable service to the waterskiing community and I for one support that.

 

BTW if anyone knows where I can find a good condition 67" KD Evolution Carbon I'm looking...

Lots of previous discussion on how to set up SG properly to fix the problems it sounds like you're having there. Search for those threads.

 

 

 

 

 

Actually I think @‌ALPJr has one of the better ideas I've heard in awhile. Small wakeboard cable parks have sprung up around the country and seem to be holding their own. In fact I live 15 minutes away from one (KC Water Sports cable park, Google it). Why couldn't the same concept work for slalom skiing? Maybe we need a poll - if you lived within say a 45 minute - one hour drive of a small ski lake with boat where you could buy a couple sets for let's say what, $50 a set, 1) would you do it (probably need a time slot reservation system), and 2) how frequently do you think you'd use a facility like that if it were available?

 

The Austin ski scene @ToddL describes above rocks, what an awesome concept! I think it gives at least a little credence to the idea of a for-profit ski lake set up on the same model as the cable parks could work. People get interested in a particular sport by being exposed to it enough to know if they're interested in it or not. Sounds like a great way to expose a larger portion of the public who might not otherwise ever be exposed to it. Downside - start up costs.

 

@alloutsledders this has all been REALLY helpful, eh? :>)

Just to throw a little gasoline on the fire... I used my '05 Response LXI in local INT tournaments for several years to help pull the tournaments. The other boat used was always a latest model MC 197 promo boat. The novice skiers, almost to a person, would always ask the coordinator that I pull their classes with my LXI rather than have to ski behind the 197. Just saying... An '03 - 06 LXI in good condition with reasonable hours can be had for mid-$20K range if you can find one for sale.

 

Can't comment on the latest model 197's but have heard lots of good things concerning lower speed wakes. If you've got the other $20 - 25K to play with...

 

Deleted post - wrong thread. My bad.

Like Mama used to say - "There'll be others..."

1. How often do you get to ski?

 

Twice a week. Occasionally 3X a week but if I ski hard I really need a couple of days of recovery time between or it's just about not worth it. Damned rapidly increasing age.

 

2. Do you live on a lake?

 

In my dreams. So no. I have a private lake 15 minutes away that I get to ski on a very few times a year, another private site 1 1/2 hours away that I can ski on anytime I want. But it's 1 1/2 hours away... Community lake with a course I ski on with fair frequency (props to the Raintree crew) but it's a 50 minute drive each way. Three public lakes we can throw a portable course in but the wind determines which lake we can use. Two of the 3 are 45 minutes each way. So I drive a lot of miles to go skiing.

 

3. Do you have a boat and driver at your dock at your convenience?

 

Everyone I ski with drives so driver is not an issue.

 

4. Are you part of a club?

 

No. Unless INT League counts.

 

5. How close is the nearest skiing and what's your availability?

 

Closest public lake is 10 minutes. But the wind has to be low to ski there. Early mornings only and only with no/light wind. So usability is limited. Otherwise a couple of times a week is about it.

 

6. Any suggestions to help out my current situation?

 

Plenty of great ideas above so I won't add to that, other than to encourage you to not give up on it. Keep digging, you'll find a kindred spirit out there somewhere.

 

Wednesday evening is a regular ski night for me. After a long day of work in the summer heat a little pick-me-up is sometimes a necessity if I'm gonna ski worth a crap. If/when I need that I'll usually just drink an energy drink, really haven't tried the 5 Hour for skiing although I have used it a few times in other situations. When I'm rested it's not an issue.

 

When your stomach gets done breaking down all the other stuff all you're really getting out of any energy drink/booster is the caffeine anyway. Coffee, tea, Mountain Dew, Coke, energy drinks, what's the difference? They're all just a way to put a little caffeine into your system. If that's cheating I guess I'm a serial cheater.

 

@nam1975 Monster actually makes several fruity flavors that don't taste bad, more like slightly watered down Kool Aid than anything else. Those I can drink. Don't know how anyone drinks Red Bull i.e., taste is horrible IMO. There are decent tasting energy drinks out there, just gotta try a few.

Not sure if it's a decimal or not. Don't know that it would matter.

 

If you're having to be careful to creep up to correct rpm to get it to work right seems to me lowering the baseline more would do the same thing without having to be that precise. But I'm just guessing at this point. My baseline is about 250 -300 rpm below suggested and it works great. But I also have more ponies to work with it seems.

FWIW @alex38 my settings are - PG 25, 1 ball 18, 3 ball 20. This on an '05 RLXI with 340 hp Monsoon engine. My baseline for 34.2 is 3100 rpm. All my segments are almost always within 0.02. I leave my crew weight at a constant 350 lbs, never change it.

If you don't have this info maybe this will help.

If you want to affect the one ball times you adjust the pre-gate setting. I.e. PP says the standard setting for PG is 70 (@ 55K). On my '05 RLXI I have it set at 35 and my one ball times are always within 0.01 or so. BTW my system is mechanical. If you're talking about a DBW system I have no idea. All the DBW PPSG systems I've been in touch with work perfectly with minimal tweaking.

 

From the paperwork I got with my SG - Available Settings: Pre-gate - This controls the speed of the boat approaching the course. Stock values on Normal Setting is about 70. In the event your one ball times are a little slow increase this value by 10 or 20 points which speeds up the boat outside the course. If they are a little fast reduce this setting slightly.

 

This tells me that if your one ball times are hot you need to reduce the PG setting.

@AB First thing I do once up is to pull off the nose plug. Then pull down the legs of my board shorts, then scratch my... I don't leave it on, just have it on during my deep water starts then pull it off.

@Glydon messaged you back this AM, check your inbox.

Tried the blow the air out the nose thing, never was able to make that work. Flooded sinuses, head cold symptoms for the next 3 days. So I've pretty much always worn a nose plug on pull up. All my ski buddies quit making fun of me years ago... I don't feel near as bad about it now.

 

I just get the cheap plastic ones from the Walmart toy department, take the plastic string from a pair of ear plugs (the type joined with a thin plastic string) and replace the rubber band strap with that. I've got nose plugs I've been using for a couple years now, only lose them when they finally break in half.

Being a Kansas skier I know some folks who know a bit about the family of the girl, my understanding is that the family is very active in the Midwest tournament scene and see/ski a lot of different lakes. I'm not, so no direct contact, someone like @sunperch who is more involved with the local tournament scene could possibly shed more detail on the family and circumstances.

 

Skied with my family doc and main ski bud Saturday and we discussed this a bit. He got a bulletin from the CDC and Kansas Medical Board about the case, basically stated what @Texas6 said above, very rare and unusual for anyone to actually get infected with it. My understanding is that the amoeba is actually not that rare, it's in a lot of the lakes and rivers we've all been in, and we've all likely been exposed to it at sometime in our lives. Takes pretty specific and probably unknowable circumstances for you to actually get it, and that it's extremely difficult to diagnose. The take away is that it's extremely rare to get it and is nothing to be freaking out about. Doo doo occurs and it's a damn shame it happened, especially to someone so young. Like everyone else my heart and prayers go out to the family.

Don't over throttle on pull up. It takes SG longer to settle back down to correct speed than it does to come up to it on throttle up. Find a consistent point to take the throttle handle to on pull up and don't over shoot it. If your return spring is a bit weak that magnifies the issue even more.

@Deke. Guess I wasn't aware there was another update beyond the one I have onboard now, other than to add the No Magnets Required Option. Last upgrade I did (think I'm running 8.02 also) came on a small circuit board looking thing (PROM stick?). You simply take the cover off the box, plug it in (there is a port provided for that), run the upgrade and it has an LED that flashes to let you know it's loading and when it's done. Pretty simple process. Just order the update from PP, they'll send you the upgrade stick thingie. Looked at their web site but didn't find any specifics about what the latest version is.

I've got a couple I'll probably never use, PM me if interested.

 

Ed

Or you could attach a line to the anchor and drag it to get tension, assuming the anchor is at all moveable. If the anchor won't move the come-along or a boat trailer type winch is probably the best option.

On most of the courses I'm involved with helping to install or maintain they use a standard issue cable come-along, the type you can buy at just about any farm/home center type store for around $30. Attach it at the end of the last diamond on the mainline between the diamond and the anchor lead going down to the anchor. It will be about 7 - 8' deep at that point but easy enough to pull to the surface to make adjustments, use a boat hook etc to pull it up.

 

Because it's common steel and galvanized cable expect 2 - 3 years of service life before it rusts up to the point of requiring replacement. At $30 a pop not a big issue to replace IMO.

 

Rule of thumb is when the last set of buoys on the end of the course are pulled down half way (hemisphere of the buoy) you have all the tension you need to hold the course straight in all but enough crossing wind that you wouldn't be skiing anyway.