boarditup

Here are links to some professionally shot photos during the Global Invitational: http://grandcityimages.smugmug.com/gallery/8728735_CwK9d/1/577206114_t7MwNhttp://grandcityimages.smugmug.com/gallery/8714106_iyLnR/1/576030356_hnRNTTop one is jump, bottom is slalom.Karl

Unless it is swollen, it is just painful and a distraction. Tape it to the other toes so it does not catch when you put on or take off the binding.

Jump photos added to blog

I created a new blog to cover the event with pictures. I will also be tweeting as I have time. The blog is at: http://placidwaters-mi.blogspot.com/. I posted a few photos shot tonight with a little commentary.ÂÂ

Thanks, Tadd.  I will be tweeting also during the day with scores and other happenings. My ID is placidwaters.  You are right about the prep. I have been working from 6-10 or later every night for since Memorial Day getting ready. It takes a lot to get a new site in shape. Digging the lake was the easy part.

Sorry. MBA speak - freeloader is a technical term, not a slam.  The fact remains that all skiers benefit from USA WS being there. Only a very small percentage actually pay for it. The rest get a free ride. It is just a fact of voluntary governing bodies. Figure about 12 million waterskiers in the US, less than 100,000 members of USA Waterski. The active minority make it possible for the majority to enjoy the sport. The same thing happens with any other sport - those that are well organized thrive. Those that are not organized or poorly organized fail. Lots of examples: Skateboarding has experienced an organized start, the failure of the organization, the the reconsitution of the organization and now thrives. It survived the fad phase. Several sports and activities are not so fortunate.  USA WS is going to be instituting an affinity membership - less cost, does not apply to tournaments. These memberships may help, time will tell.  Not everyone sees the benefit of putting money into an organization where they do not see a direct benefit to themselves. Most people do not, and do not join. Personally, I don't care. I pay for the entire family every year - even though I am the only tournament skier. The kids participate with a local show ski team, so they need the membership for that. My wife skis a few times a year, but may pitch in at one of the tourmanents we host or serve as a dock starter at a ski show, so I pay for her to be a member. That is my choice because I see the secondary benefits and am willing to pitch in and volunteer to pay. I look at is as a donation of money for my sport, not a payment for a specific item at a store. I see my time at Learn to Ski Clinics, adaptive watersports, mission projects, and helping my elderly neighbors in the same light - I do not expect to get something from it. My work is because I think it is important. Steve is working hard and smart for USA WS. That does not mean USA WS is the same as the sport overall, but in his case, I believe it is. I encourage anyone who is a skier to sign up at least as a supporting member. For USA WS and the sport to have effective clout with the various governments there has to be large numbers. If the numbers are increasing, that is even better. When the numbers go down, the clout goes down. Why do we need clout? Fishermen want to ban slalom courses and restrict times for skiing. Property owners want to restrict wakes. Environmentalists want to eliminate powered sports including boating. Taxes. Tort. No individual can stop this march to oblivion. Together, we can.  Warts and all, USA WS is worth having around. At least it is heading in the right direction.

USA WS is kind of like national defense or fire protection. Once someone has it, everyone around them has it as well. You benefit from the rules, structure, marketing, government relations, and group identification as much as any member. In economic terms, you are a freeloader. Because USA WS is voluntary, that is your choice - most skiers are not member and are freeloaders on the system. They get the secondary benefits without being a member. Those of us who are members pay the freght and perform the heavy lifting of keeping the sport viable nationally and internationally. Steve did give a good explaination of the benefits of the organization. It is up to you to determine if you want to join to participate in those benefits. The only way USA WS can compel membership is by organized event participation.

The fin block is aluminum. The screws are stainless steel. The two do not work well together in salt water. Replace the hardware with siliconized bronze with pipe dope (PTFE paste) as an anti-seize compound and your life will be easier.

The ZO debate affects only the upper performance echelon of the sport. Those of us still struggling at longer line lengths do not notice the pull (at least me). While the very competitive tournament community has a real problem with the shift in technology and programming, most of the rest of us cannot tell the difference. The tournament slalom boat market is very small, and I would guess that most of the boats are NOT sold to the people in the ZO debate. Of the 6 most recent ski boats sold that I am aware of, only one was sold to a person that has ever competed in a Regionals or Nationals (well, three were sold to show skiers who have their own nationals). The promo boats are sold to upper echelon tournament skiers, but I would guess that only 50% or so go to them. The rest are picked up by more recreational skiers. The rules that call for a .5 max variation have never been complied with. I don't think that any boat can satisify that requirement with a big skier behind the boat. Water, being a fluid media, just does not allow for that kind to tolerance. As a sport, we have painted ourselves into a corner trying to be "fair" to all skiers. Until we have an electrically driven rail system, there are going to be difference and tolerances. We cannot get away from it. Does it really make that much of an impact? I argue not. Yes, it is frustrating to have your performace impacted by variations and tolerances. In the world of snow skiing and snowboarding, the time of the day you have your run can have a profound impact on your score. Additionally, the course is never set up the same way every time. It is always different - that is accepted and the skiers and boarders adapt. There has been several game changing innovations in skiing: ropes, handles, adjustible fins, wings, plate bindings, hard shells, liners, CNC props, fuel injection, tracking fins, metric system, etc. It seems to me that the previous innovations had one major difference from ZO - the cost and pace of implemtation. Yes, it is not the preferred way to implement the changes. However, if anyone was invested in a company with the patent protection and they failed to maximize it, you would scream as a shareholder to replace the management for a team that would increase the payback on your investment. Ideal for the sport and your performance? No. Our sport is expensive. It is also very fussy with lots of picky rules that are the souce of endless arguements. It reminds me of the young boys on the baseball diamond arguing - until the ball gets taken home in a huff. The real question is how to we leverage this into a positive? ZO is a lot easier to use and to drive. ZO is also a better pull for wakeboarders. Maybe our wives will like driving the boat more with easier speed control.

I have spoken with and exchanged many emails with Steve. I find him to be intuitive and have the elements of a good leader. He does have a very difficult position - caught between the traditionalists and the needs of the future organization. There is a lot of friction within the organization - lots of competing personalities and groups. I believe Steve is the right guy for the job - especially because the does not have the organizational background and can take a hard, honest look at things without a lot of baggage. Give him a chance - I believe he will succeed.

Website is now up: www.globalinvitational.com (I hope I spelled it right).

Lots of issues with the price of the boats: Raw materials Skilled labor Engine & tranny Running gear Electronics and guages Engineering QA/QC Overhead Profit (allows for continuing operations) Whenever I see a tight market - where prices are not dramatically different between various high quality items and no more than a 25% difference between high quality and average quality - I know that only normal profits are being made. Normal profit is the profit margin you can receive by investing an a large number of investments (typically 5-10% ROI). Only when there is some restriction on entering and competing in the market is there a larger profit margin (patented drug, for example). High profit margins always come down to normal in time. We are in a very mature industry. There will not be a significant drop in price anytime soon. We, the market, will not support it. We buy the boats with the luxuries and options and shun the bargain basement boats. That is because the bargain basement boat buyer's market is typically the used boat market. Nobody makes money on tightwads except Dave Ramsey seminars - and those people are in recovery.  The question is how to grow the sport and inject more money into it so we all can benefit. John's proposal is a great one. I would be very curious, however, to find out the demographics of the typical tour team boat buyer. I suspect it is the very occasional tournament skier who uses it more as a family boat than a course shredding machine. That is why the manufacturers produce the boats they do - they sell. The stripped down boat does not sell - and there are many struggling or deceased companies to prove it.

I have used the figure of $40-50 per hour to cover interest, depreciation, and general upkeep on a ski boat. Obviously, this is a sliding target (first year depreciation, older boat upkeep, etc.). I have typically lent out my boat for tournaments for the gas and a free pull can called it a day. I think you are onto something. The rules, I believe, were set up to sell boats on behalf of manufacturer/sponsors. You are looking at a new paradigm where the support comes more from the skiers and depend less on the manufacturer. I think there may be some resistance unless there is a age limit or a sliding scale to encourage the purchase of newer boats. If the big three do not sell enough boats, we will all suffer the loss. The small, lightweight, and cheap boats do not sell. Look at Gekko - exactly that description. They went bankrupt, but now are back in production under Centurion. It skis great, but it does not have the backing and reputation of the big three.

So.... More of festival/carnival atmosphere would help. We are working on that.  Flyover...hmmm...I think I can arrange a USCG helicopter demo (rescue swimmer, etc.)  We were thinking of a kid's park with silly carnival games and contests. Something to wear them out for an hour or so. We are also working on beer and food.  Keep the suggestions coming.  Thanks!  Karl

Does anyone plan to travel out of state to be a spectator at a tournament this year? I am hosting the Global Invitational near Grand Rapids, MI (Allendale, MI). My first thought is few people would travel from outside of about a 150 mile area to be a spectator. However, I really don't know. Any thoughts?

I have a lake and course that needs skiers to live on it.

You have to design and engineer for wakeboarding more than 3-event. The shallow and cheap slalom lake does not hold up to a slammed boat.

If particle size is fine, no slope will work - it will continually suspend and erode. You must have enough weight to stay put.

The sand here is has a large amount of gravel in it - large particle sizes, so they tend to stay put better than clay, silt, or fine sand. We have a 10:1 slope to a depth of 4' and then a 6:1 slope down to 12' deep. Experiments showed that the natural sand wants to erode to 8:1 and build at 10:1 with wave action. I have an X-2 wakeboard boat with ballast and typically 10 teen aged kids in it. We have run over 200 hours on the lake last summer with no detectable erosion. Other boats on the lake included 197 and 190's for tournament use. An X-Star with an additional 3,000 lbs of ballast was also on the lake for a while. There is a lot of information on shoreline erosion and engineering. You simply need to make good use of it. My restrictions were given above.  Karl

Just to throw a bit of gas on the fire:  How about a Sanger Barefoot? Barefoot Warrior Comp? Australian build Malibu? Dyne or HydroDyne? CC Mustang? Early Stars and Stripes, before AWSA approvals? How about a new, innovative boat with hybrid power?  Lots of people really like lots of rules. The real question is what are you trying to accomplish? Many families want to have multiple sports behing the boat - skiing and wakeboarding are the kings of the industry right now. What is next? Do you want to lock in as it was pre-wakeboard?

The problem with the AWSA approved boats is that the approval is only for the two years after the build (tournament use). The approval is also for a certain prop on the boat with a fully stock motor. A new prop and KW air filter, you are no longer approved. You can have the restriction of AWSA approved for the hull at any time during the life of the hull and eliminate that technicality. That would mean, however, that the X-1, the former Pro Star 205, would then be legal. Slippery slope. On Lake Placid, we have a restriction of inboard boats or outboard boat equipped with tracking fins that can make the turn at the end of the lake at skiing speed. Other boats are permitted only as service craft or tournament support. I have an outboard aluminum hull for course service so I don't ding up the MC. As for wakeboard boat damage, a properly designed bottom with a good particle size will do fine for erosion prevention. Most slalom lakes are not designed to deal with any wave energy. Even on a small lake, the most energetic wakeboard crew can only contribute 10% to the total wave energy on a shoreline. Any marginal shoreline design will be destroyed by the additional 10% - you have to plan ahead.  www.placidwaters.com

I am in the mad rush of planning for the event. Other than INT and some local AWSA tournaments, I have no experience with this kind of an event. The details regarding the jump are both picky and expensive, but I have to get it right the first time. I think it is a great opportunity to share the site with the skiing community. If anyone has some good advice, I am all ears. I have about 6-months to get ready and my goal is to have everything in place by mid-May. The end of May is our Parade of Home and I will have an entry, so there is just a lot to do and think about. The more help I have from the people on this forum, the better the event will be.  Thanks - Karl www.placidwaters.com - there is an e-mail link on the site or info at placidwaters dot com

I was the coordinator for MI for several years. If someone wants to know of my experience, I will tell them. However, everyone has their own experience and mine is not typical.  The INT has a great mission and it suceeds in bringing in a lot of new people into the sport. Here in MI, a good percentage of the newer blood in the AWSA tournaments are INT'ers that "graduated." I still get a lot of requests to take it back again so younger kids and whole families have a better experience getting going. The reason for this is: Green buoys (13' inward of reds) Wakeboarding (everyone can participate, even non-slalom) Mulligans Non-technical and understandable rules Easy entry into judging and other support activities My career path changed so I travel constantly, and the position requires a lot of time and effort. AWSA tournaments require less up-front time and cost, but take more structure with officials. I really enjoyed running INT tournaments, but cannot dedicate the time right now. E-mail me for my phone number if anyone wants to talk.

A list may be very difficult because many skis were custom built. I just bought a custom built ski off E-Bay for $25. It is 70" long and customized with "Bob" under the lacquer and very small bindings (size 8-9). I discussed WUSS with the guys at the MI Hidden Lake tounament and there is support for a dedicated WUSS tournament in '09. Most of the guys had their original ski and had a glint in their eye when they thought about dargging it out of the barn. Lots of Wester Wood skis out there.  In MI and WI, there are a lot of show ski planks (flat, two wood or plastic rudders (not fins), no rear toe strap, 9" wide, 68" long). I tried one in the course and you just can't get it to turn at all. You may get very other buoy.  Good luck and have fun finding the right ski.

I joined and have the T-shirt to prove it. I'll have to put on modern bindings on the ski - back then, size 14 bindings just were not made.... If enough interest, I'll host the WUSS nationals next year at Lake Placid in MI. Since the one of the first nationals was held about 20 miles away, it is only approproate. Wood ski jumping and wood tricks anyone?