DW

@Dano - in all fairness, it can be done if you have all the molds laying around and paid for. The DXII is not a fresh design, and good on them for bringing it back as there must be a demand for them.

@Andre - karting and shooting footage from a group of skiers may be akin to Talladega and Cheney 🤣.

@BraceMaker - a category not included in above post: BOS members, slalom addicts, pro skiers, etc. These customers demand / want the very latest hull designs, best and most powerful engines for short setups, optimized GPS guided speed control w/ .001% error, easy to use information screens, great handling & rock solid pull through course, latest prop to reduce wake, comfy seats, great sightlines, etc, etc. Result - the awesome Prostars, Nautiques, Malibu's that unfortunately cost $100k+ that people are willing and capable of purchasing. It's the R&D cost, premium materials (engines/ZO) that separate these boats from the budget boat not just leaving off premium vinyl, seadeck, deckadence. In the immortal words don't stop making them:-)

New boat cost - an item most people will not be aware of, the cost of the engine has gone up substantially. Why? - the old marine small block Chevy was being cranked out dirt cheap from a plant in Mexico where the tooling was paid for years ago. Once that stock was used up, the cost jumped because the industry also migrated to the LS series small block. The all aluminum LS costs the marinizers significantly more which has to be passed on. It also required tooling up all new ancillaries such as brackets, mounts, exhaust manifolds, etc. Add some Cats to that and the fact a boat is a giant hydrocarbon bathtub and those prices have also jumped.

In many sports there comes a time when the athlete, technical implement or combination requires the sport to adjust the venue (& rule book) to suit. Safer barriers, paved runoff's & 'track limits' are a few motorsports examples. Athletes tend to have the mindset 'it won't happen to me'.

In addition to the actual visual broadcast of watching the skiers, I look forward to hearing any technical comments (ie: OJ prop on Malibu at the Open, line tension data, ski brand scoreboard, etc.). Keep up the good work and bring on more of that stuff. Product reviews during slow periods would be pretty cool. I'm still trying to find out if RJ's blue Goode is a updated model or just a blue version of her favorite ski. T-Gas needs one done in Italian flag graphics:-)

The Sanger is targeted at a different market, barefooters. Footers are currently limping along with older DXII's and other options so offering something new is a gold mine for a market that is a fraction of the ski market (which is also really small) and has very few desirable options. Kudo's to them for stepping up, there must be enough pull from potential customers to make it a viable business step. Certainly a very different business calculation for Sanger v 'big 3' ski boat mfg's.

From the picture there is a small nick above the area in question, I would not be surprised if the actual tear started from a tiny nick in the handle and that is exactly where your hand grips the handle. Handles live an abusive life. The Aqua seal suggestion is a good one, not sure if some sort of handle wrap (aka golf club) could even withstand the grip / twist abuse we dole out on a ski handle. Personally, I have relegated myself to go with a $50-$60 handle and only expect to see less than a year out of it, I do ski a lot which translates to a life span of 200 sets to see the rubber worn off in the high grip areas. The other bummer for me, I use a radius handle so the flip thing won't work. It is that balance of rubber durometer to durability to end up with a handle with good grip, feel and long life. I keep looking for a way to simply find / buy / recoat an aluminum handle or bar to salvage more life out of the handles. Would love to see ski handles on an episode of "How they do it"

@markn - how does the Works 01 compare to the Syndicate Pro or based on your suggestion, what does it do better? Thx. @schuba - that would be a great choice, the cc versions are excellent. My 9970cc is amazing.

https://www.marinehardware.com/

There are 2 degrees of freedom as a ski boat pulls the skier; fore / aft speed variation and side / side steer variation. Basically, this is simply 'speed control' for velocity. Think of it more in terms of Accuski, or step 1 towards the inevitable 'can't/won't ski without' steer control sometime in the not too distant future. Or, put differently, read this thread in 5-10 years and thinking how on earth did we survive having to actually steer a boat. Who, today would tolerate hand throttle? Heck, most won't tolerate anything other than ZO with Z box being not acceptable. When 'Zero Steer' becomes the standard, Auto Steer will be the PP of steer control 🤣. I know several people who don't get the opportunity to ski the course simply due to lack of capable driver.

+1 on @MDB1056 comment on gauge glancing. Frequent water separator cleaning and trans cooler checks can fend off impending issues. Another warning sound is the exhaust note of your boat, the water flow is a significant part of the exhaust system, as an impeller fails and stops delivering water to the exhaust the note changes significantly. As the owner and financier of my boat, another check I do is to glance at the exhaust tips while skiing to verify water is flowing. We don't consider boat driving a time for being distracted, it's a time to focus on giving the skier the best pull and focusing on how the boat is running.

One option although you would be comparing new skis, the D3 demo program is excellent. You can try multiple skis to compare attributes then make you decision on what suits you. TW is available for feedback and suggestions as you try the skis. Can't offer any insight on your specific question other than the D3's I have sampled over the years tend to stick with their formula and have a familiar feel.

Per the broadcast, prop brand change to OJ from decades with Acme. Sounds like a few were tested before the final selection. As for the hull, it was not one on the list for ‘24 changes in the lineup.

A swap to an OJ prop from Acme was mentioned. Regina noted there were at least a few variations tried.

Another option is the Goode Powershell system: https://goode.com/products/powershell-5™ There is a lot of information to digest as you ponder your system of choice. As Horton noted, water skiing does not have the resources to perform then develop highly refined systems. The high performance systems have been developed by individual entrepreneurs with limited budgets, although with a lot of passion to bring water skiers improved products.

@lpskier I think it was a spectator sport back then and Hot Summer Nights was great. Back in those dark ages, your boat was used to pull skiers so people could kind of relate. Today, what I see is pontoons pulling tubers and the kids simply having no interest in trying/learning something remotely challenging, hence spectators at a ski event are friends / family. A figure 8 tubing competition where points were scored by best ragdoll launch would probably draw big crowds & you could follow that up with a cornhole contest. Sad to say, when I tuned in to the TWBC MC pro event the little icon showed 480 viewers (I can only hope that was wrong).

Just my opinion, it is a very small sport at the upper level with equipment evolving at a pretty decent clip. There has been a lack of dedicated standardization and a lot of small entrepreneurs developing equipment (Jon Travers being an excellent example) thus a lack of commonality with equipment. Even with the standardization of the binding plate hole pattern the different brands have them in different locations (equivalent binding position for a Reflex on an HO and Goode has them in different holes of the plate). Fin blocks are also non standard and we have multiple options from small shops. Heck, no two manufacturers even measure things the same! So @Dano be very happy boots are built with location adjustments built in, for snow skis you really only have one shot to get it right when you get out the drill.

Wouldn't the real question be: how does one make slalom more exciting for a spectator that does not participate in the sport? That is, if you actually want to make it more exciting to watch. The reason I add the participation part is golf which seems to have a large audience and lots of people that play recreationally (I don't golf and don't watch it either). Slalom for the uninitiated is not very exciting to watch and similar to other sports only becomes interesting when you start to know something about the game.

Gotta love the kiwinglish broadcast. Great job.

FW even commented on it. What does he train behind? (yep rhetorical question).

if just a spin wheel, same as always, at worse quarter turn appears to be the star wheel configuration if they are using them to allow the fin to be unlocked in the block. If that is the case, and I can reach down and adjust on the fly, I will be thinking as I approach the gates "was that clockwise or counterclockwise to add tip???" 😨

@Mastercrafter - I have a few fins that show similar wear. Carbon fin examples are even more extreme and have more surface erosion. Additional pressure / velocity differentials & vortices off the wing accentuate the cavitation. Modeling the dynamics of a ski in water is very difficult, the many operating mediums make it a huge challenge. @adamhcaldwell - very true.

Thanks @Horton for posting the schedule, reminded me to watch round 1 as the weather in Michigan is less than optimum today. And RJ is a full line length ahead at this point. I wondered that @Shell myself, it also has no model description. She did ski similar blue one at the last tourney based on the podium pic. Interesting comments from a couple of the skiers on boat pull, 'linear & lack of swing'.

@UWSkier - yes, every set the heel side unscrews a bit so the heel actually walks slightly over. I looked at a few solutions (locknut being one) and ended up landing on the carbon heel cup as my solution. The U hoop has to be removed when you do that which makes you substitute the thickness with a washer at the ankle pivot point. The result for me is a much more solid boot platform, reduces rock and side to side motion. The teflon tape may work to increase the friction enough, you could do a safety wire lock (ala aircraft or race car safety protocol), you'll have to carefully drill a hole in the screw for that.