DW

To me, it is all about what you need to focus on, and at different levels, you might be able to look at different things while focusing on another. This is very relevant in racing (cars in this case for me). My intent is to get across the course ahead of the next ball, not at the next ball, so as I was working on this, I would look a little ways up (actually back from, in real coordinates) from the ball, so mentally I would be telling myself to go there. If I were to look at the ball, I would tend to just ski right to it, which is not what I wanted to do. As I have gotten a better handle on that and it happens a bit more naturally, I can actually look at the ball or even somewhere else and still end up where I want to be. I think a lot of the where you look issue changes with experience, thus polling any particular person at a given time ends up with a different answer. I'll bet that Andy Mapple, Jamie B and the rest of the pro's can probably, as they say, ski the course with thier eyes closed, or seriously actually look at a variety of things while skiing a pretty tough pass.

We use Kevlar for the impact areas on race cars (nose and tail), so it is not only good in abrasion, but also good for impact thus not cracking but rebounding to the original shape after an impact. Screw retention to the boot would be the issue with all the compsite plates, if you look at how all the formula car constructors attach wings to the end plates, you will see the bigger surface area washers that are used.  There is a very abrasion resistant product called Jabroc that is what the rub plank is made of on an F1 car.

John,  Not using carbon binding plates due to fastener pull through? Or some other reason? ÂÂÂÂ

You would feel a lot dumber if the clamp had fallen off midrun!!

Hull configuration and wetted surface certainly play a large role in the drag influence on a ski boat, they are high drag due to lots of wetted surface mainly caused by the hook at the trailing edge. Therefore it takes a lot of HP to make them push through the water and thus relatively low top speeds. The engine is subordinate to the prop, since the prop is what delivers the HP to the water. The variation in props and there is a lot, is most likely what causes the variation in settings across similar boat brands, the difference in hull style is what causes a difference between brands. My experience is both are first order contributors. The next order differentiator is most likely the actual engine power configuration and variation amongst hulls of same brand boats. On the trans issue, it's all a matter of where the boat is operating relative to the power band and thus how much power or torque a skier is pulling against, and the prop's ability to deliver that power to the water (slip or lack of). It's all a matter of what's left after you subtract out the amount needed to propel the boat at that speed to compensate for skier load. Comment on level of HP, a 100 hp increase on a boat yeilded an 11 mph difference in top speed (Malibu) and a simple prop change results in a 2 mph change in top speed, so you can see a prop can be as effective as a 20 hp change. If you look at top speeds of a early '90's boat with the 265 hp Mercruiser, say 44-45 mph and then with a 320 hp Monsoon at roughly 50 mph, the two power level v. top speed trends are pretty consistent.

JD, Yes, I understand the personality thing pretty well in motor sports, particularly the NASCAR end of it. I have to say, Wade Cox and Chris Parrish have every bit the personality of any of the NASCAR drivers and that is a compliment to them not a knock on the Cup drivers because they are pretty interesting. What is the difference, the promotion behind the personality to drive it to the incredible heights of popularity that NASCAR possesses. The best example of the effect of personality is to look at the fractured open wheel racing world. Champ car has only one personality, Paul Tracy, and the rest just don't cut it and the sport has dropped off the radar screen (losing Indy obviously hurts a lot). Ever since Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya left the sport has died. IRL is showing something of a pulse with Marco Andretti, Dario Franchitti (read Ashley Judd), and of course, the poster girl Danica. Personalities tend to come and go, rivalries are also an important ingredient for interest. My point was not to go down that path but to try to identify a sport where they pre plan the event so that they minimize errors and event stoppage, and I just happen to use one I know a little about. I think water skiing can adopt the concept of making sure every thing is checked and correct prior to a record run because you can basically plan the fact that it is going to happen and if it doesn't, it won't matter. What matters to the audience, and the TV crew that left during the down time, is the long period of no action and that is the thing to eliminate. I agree with John, the crowd certainly became electric as a potential record was about to be broken, one could certainly feel the excitement as the scenario developed. The potential is actually better than drag racing because you can watch it develop, where you only realize you witnessed history when the time is posted in a drag race.

The foursome next to us at the MI tournament came over from Eastern Ohio and were not related to any of the skiers, so, I think with proper promotion perhaps there is opportunity for attendance. The face off format certainly makes the event more exciting than a traditional style event. I did not expect a big crowd and like Dave said, the site itself was fantastic. I think one thing that is a major problem with a water ski tounament is the stop in the action for checking and rechecking for whatever reason. That takes away the excitement and the flow of the event, along with the fact that any casual fan has no understanding of why the event is stopped (and thus now very boring because nothing is happening). I think the sport needs to find a way to keep the action continuous to make it more spectator freindly, if that is truly desired. The local TV station that was covering the event, actually left when the action at the MI Big Dawg was stopped to check the rope length. The solution was the best action possible, but should never have happened to begin with. NASCAR has pre race tech inspection to ensure that the cars meet the requirements. It is NASCAR's credo that the fan will know the winner when they leave the track, hence money and point penalty's for those that adjust the cars out of tolerance during the race but no change in the results. It should be pretty simple to set up a fixture on shore to check rope length prior to it being put in the boat. Boat path and speed need a quick check solution (video / time) to satisfy the validity of the run.

Two boats used, one boat had a 1/2 meter long PP line added to a standard rope (the officials tournament that morning did not use the PP evidently). Everybody that skied first round on Sunday in the boat with the long line won their match. When Ben skied through 41' off in first match of round two, the officials checked the rope and found the error since that was a record and needed to be verified. The corrective action was to have all the long rope skiers reski to see if they still advanced to round 2. Most did, 2 did not. The format is pretty cool, I guess the long line is same as an awesome lane choice in drag racing!!! Looks like there needs to be a line lenght checking process set up so that this does not happen.

How about a cause and effect documentary on what effect each of your tuning changes had on the ski.

Water in cylinder #1 probably indicates a bad head gasket / intake gasket or cracked cylinder head. Check the cylinder wall for a crack to see if water got in to the bottom end through a crack there. Was winter storage done properly? Should be the typical ways to get water in to the bottom end, but one weird thing could be via the exhaust manifolds either the water coming in from backing the boat up way too fast or a crack in the manifold itself. That scenario would have the water go to the back holes rather than the front ones since they are lower.

I would be curious to know if other Goode ski users notice a polishing of the bottom of the ski over time?