skibug

In the immortal words of Jeff Spicoli....You D#$@%CK!!! Meant in the nicest of ways though.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBPWxtuBjaU

I know this isn't a medical site; but, there seems to be some BOSers out there with a lot of knowledge. My ski season ended last weekend, only a month and a half along, as i found out this week, in my MRI, I have a torn shoulder labrum with a 4mm-6mm x 12mm cyst that has formed pressing on nerve that runs through my shoulder. The pain just lets me know that I am still alive, at least that is the only positive that I can take from it. I have my surgery scheduled; but, I was wondering if anyone else out there has had a similar type of situation; and/or any words of encouragement or advice. The doc says it will be 6 weeks in an immobilization sling and 6 months until I can ski again.

I will gladly volunteer to comment for the masses if you want to send me the ski......I pretty much go with the following line length and complete pass percentages 22(100%), 25(100%), 28(90%), 30(75%), 32-32-32-32, etc.(10%)....I use the line with the extra loops....my wife calls them training loops; but, I keep having to correct her...they are NOT! training loops, they' re just different. At least it makes me feel better about it.

Richarddoane, I understand where you are coming from; but, my perspective is a little different. I ski for fun with my buddies and wife. I will preface this next statement by saying that I am very social person. Why should I travel a couple of hours to take 2 or 3 sets and kill a whole day when I can travel 15 minutes and take as many sets as I want; without waiting for more than 1 or 2 others to take theirs? It just doesn't work for me; that doesn't make me right or wrong, that is just the way I enjoy skiing. I have been to (8) differnent sites for coaching and such; so I do get some exposure. As for the 10 -12 members, 2 (both of them are my ski partners) ski or have skied in Big Dawg tournaments as well as other Class R tournaments and the ower of the site is a Big Dawg skier as well. I would venture to say that they would not join USA-WS if it weren't for their involvement in tournaments.  The point of it all is: What does USA-WS have to offer to attract not only the hardcore tournament skier; but, your average wally like me. I just don't see any benefit in joining. Maybe I am in the minority on this one. Maybe it makes me an ignoramous....but you know what they say....ignorance is bliss....

Being a non-member, I am not quite sure. I have a nice boat (plus 3 other boats to ski behind in our club), a private ski lake, a nice ski, 10-12 members to ski with, I am not sure what would really entice me to join. I have my insurance through my auto insurance company and I get a break for having all of my property with them. I am not a tournament skier and probably never will be. I am not good enough and I don't have any grand illusions that I will ever be. I am not a defeatist, just a realist. I will continue to chase bouys until I can't ski anymore; but, I am pretty sure I will never break into 39' off. If I break into 38' off someday I will be elated. So what does USA-WS have for me. It seems it would be a one way street, me giving them money to help support the orginization and maybe.....and that is a BIG MAYBE....grow the sport. Especially based on the "5-year plan" view point. I totally disagree with their "5-year plan" perspective. A five year plan is effective tool if you use it, revisit it, keep your eye on the direction it gives you. It is a goal to shoot for; but, it is not set in stone, they can evolve and exist as dynamic plans. For this reason alone, I would hesitate to join.

Try auto upholestry (SP?) adhesive found at any local auto parts store

Don't care how it looks....how does it ski???

very odd....but terry has a red top and black shorts and John has a black top with red shorts....It looks like John has a green bottom ski with black lettering and Terry has a black bottom ski with green lettering........WHOA!!!! Bizzaro World.

Don't take it this the wrong way; but, I don't know his back ground or education or accomplishments. I have no vested interest in USA-WS, nor am I a member. So I guess I can't really make a fair evaluation; but, one thing that took me back was the fact that they don't have a 5 year plan. That is sort of short sited for any company, corporation, or governing body.

Yeh, but Terry has a colored rope and John's is white.......

I may sound ignorant in asking this question; but, how does some guy who never skis in a slalom course, jumps, or tricks become the Executive Director of USA-WS.  I think that you would have to have some type of understanding or perspective in order to make adequate and fair decisions in governing a sport.

Your rope looks pretty twisted up....maybe the torqued was transmitted from your arms through your core to the front of your ski........

I heard the same from Jon Traver's mom when I call the ski school a couple of weeks ago. She said he loves it. That is what got me real curious.

Anyone have any reviews of the new Z7 ??

I ski RFF with RTP. I moved from an Animal RFF to the E-Series (Pro-build). Ditto on everthing Tom said. I haven't worn any other hard shell / Hyrids; but, this one feels great and it was a pretty easy transition. Jager Sports has great cutomer service to boot.

thager, Tried ebay earlier, no luck, I will try Daves though, hadn't heard of them. Thanks for the possible source.

Looking for a size medium, seems as though everyone is out of sizes except for X-large and XX-large. Checked all of the usual suspects and some not so usual, came up empty.

I didn't know Pamela Anderson was involved with skiing........no life jacket needed.

I just switched from HO animals to the E-Series. They are great!! I also think they are a very safe design.

A friend of mine....no really...this was a friend of mine was sking at a tournament and was ripping through the course. He somehow lost track of the bouy count because after 6 ball and he was trying to get to an imaginary "7 ball". He just kept right on skiing, obviuosly missing the exit gates....he was well in front of them as you would imagine.

I say you plant a half dozen trees at each ski tournament site and call it good.

I have heard two words in this thread that I am guessing are misunderstood..."react" and "respond" in terms of what the skier is doing. I am by no means an expert; but, I get a lot of coaching on my driving from my ski buddy who is a professional driver. He is a 39' off skier and very particular about who drives him and how well they drive him. He can tell me when I am off and I can actually feel it starting with the pull out. His main coaching tip is to not get behind the skier, meaning that you have to be proactive (and not reactive) by anticipating and putting the boat in the right position to compensate for the impending load.  The statement made earlier "Some people have it and some don't" is definitely true; but, for anyone, more time behind the wheel and added caoching is the key, even for those who do have it.

I ride a 2007 D3 Nomad RC, I will defer to the experts on what they say the attributes of this ski are supposed to be. All of my input is based off of feel since I have never tested it in a fashion to produce discrete results. There are few to many aspects of a ski's characteristics that cannot be quantified, for instance edge change; totally dependent on skier ability and technique. This produces a certain subjective feel for a skier to comment on. I think angle, turning radius, slip, cross course speed, width, possibly load, flex in application, torsion, could all have tests designed to quantify them. I am sure I am missing some; by no means am I an expert or an elite level skier.  This is just food for thought; but, at the end of the day we will probably just all defer to the experts and the marketers of the high end skis and put some blind faith in what they are telling us about the true intent of the skis performance. No matter the test results produced, I still believe I will always ride before I buy.ÂÂ

LeonL makes a great point that the driving outside the course sticks with you. I can attest to the fact that the pull up and alignment of the boat to the course as you come around the turn island can affect me. If someone comes around the island wide and has to run a shepard's hook boat path to align with the course; that really screws me up for the pass. The other thing that really gets to me is if someone over or under  throttles going into the course and I can feel the boat slowing down/speeding up at close proximity to the set up bouys.

I totally agree that bouy count is all that matters; but, if you are going to break down ski characteristics, then you need to define those characteristics and design a test for them. Much like football players at the combines are tested in various performance categories, 40 yd dash, bench press, shuttle run, vertical jump, etc. etc.; this doesn't always translate into what kind of player the athlete is on the field. Autos are tested in performance categories as well; but, it is a combination of the various performance categories that makes the overall impression of the car. These individual attributes may sway your opinion of what you think you need and at least give you an idea if the ski is faster, generates more angle, carves a tighter radius, etc. All that said, this would be a rather large and complicated effort for a very very small population of skiers. Knowing the characteristics of a ski would still only narrow my selection of skis to test before I buy. I would still have to ride a handful.