Roger

I am using ad blocker in Chrome (using IE for this session). When I access your site, I get a message that this has been detected and asked to turn it off. I use it to avoid pop-up ads and scrolling (moving) banner ads. I have no issue with the ads you have down the left or across the top, however I do not intend to disable it for anyone, even you. I have designed and deployed numerous web sites during my career and part of that process was polling users on what annoys them. The most common answer is anything that moves or pops up interrupting the reading of content. If I can't access this site via Chrome with my ad blocker, then I will not be accessing this site...

@mmosley899 - Hope to see you out there. I expect to ski Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun starting with the holiday.

@John Brooks - We are not far from the coast and generally have an easterly breeze from the ocean, so it doesn't get as stifling hot here as on say the West coast of FL. I don't think the water temperature reached more than 90 this year. It certainly skis "muddier" than mid to upper 70 degree water, but nothing terrible.

There is a reason I live in South Florida...

Previously: 1000 jumps. Currently:

@Zman - Of course :)

@Zman - Firstly, you haven't seen the airplanes I jumped out of :o Secondly, there is a difference in the freefall speed vs. the water speed B) Haven't jumped since 1980 (1000 jumps). I'm in yellow and black on the right end of the diamond.

@Zman - I can't answer for BuoyChaser, but for me, it feels faster than my 2016 Vapor. I'm 185lbs on a 67. I'm liking this ski!

IMO RFF has the advantage because they practice their offside turn 3 times per pass. When the LaPoints's taught their daughter to ski, they intentionally started her RFF.

@LeonL - I verified the turners were down ("ON") when I entered the water for that round at our last tournament this past weekend. The -28/32mph wake was still brutal. Maybe I'll have the rope length set to 15 once to see if the wake is better without the tuners engaged and then bump it to -32 (and shorter) for the remaining passes as the wake is fine from 32 and in.

I skied behind Jeff Kepchia's 2019 last night. It was my first ride on the 2019 Vapor, so I was kind of testing his wake and the ski at the same time. His 32mph -28 wake is slightly better than Becky's, but only slightly (still a very firm wake to cross). 32 and 35 were fine as are Becky's. Still of the opinion that there is no excuse for this wake on any 2019 boat.

Moving to South Florida helped...

Just received mine last night (67 Yellow). Coming off a 2016 Vapor. First thing I always do is download the fin/boot settings page and mount my boots and check the fin. To check the fin, I remove the wing of course. Wing screws were only just snug. Fin was no where near any of the chart measurements, so I am starting with the recommended long/shallow numbers. Fin clamp was also just past snug. Always check your screws on a new ski. Can't wait to try it out (tonight hopefully). I'll report back. There were socks in mine as well, so seems to be a standard add-on :)

I just skied our last tournament of the season this weekend. I was under the impression that at 32mph, the tuners did not deploy until 32 off. However, I was told before the set that they should be deployed there. So, when I entered the water, I asked the driver to check and when he set the rope length to 28, the tuners said "On" in the display. I got through the pass okay, but I still think the wake on this particular boat is extreme. I would say it's close to the 98 Mastercraft in firmness. Other 2019 SN owners are telling me theirs is better, but I have yet to try one. Still, it's this boat we will have in tournaments until at least Nationals, so have to deal with it.

@Horton - is this contest complete? Who won?

@Krlee - I intend to try another boat, but it is this boat that is used in our tournaments. Becky was driving my practice set, so pretty sure tuners were set as she confirmed starting rope length with me. I never had this issue with any 200 even when I occasionally started at 32/-28 to adjust for wind. I have driven two of them in tournaments this year and there were wake complaints for both. I will try the other 2019 as soon after this weekend as I can.

I finally got to ski a practice set behind one last Sunday. My comments above from the tournament were mild, the 32mph -28 wake at 32mph is extremely FIRM. Coming back at -32 was fine and I didn't even notice the wake. Maybe other 2019s are better, but this one actually hurts my ankles to the extent I will either skip round two this weekend or start at -32 as I'd rather miss my opener than deal with that wake. There is a 2nd 2019 at Okeeheelee and I will give that one a try when I can to see if it varies from boat to boat. IMO, there is no excuse for a wake like this on any 2019 boat... As a driver, the majority of complaints I have heard are the 22 and 28 wakes at 32 and 34mph. 32 and in seem fine at all speeds and the longer/slower loops also seem fine from what I've heard (even great by some accounts). For the last few years, I have not been concerned about which hull I drew in a tournament as the MC, MB and 200 where all fine at the loops and speeds I was skiing. That has now changed.

@Horton - I don't want new people strolling by and thinking that we promote drinking and skiing at the same time. Good idea. We were a bit more serious about such things in my previous sport though.

Straight line shock tubes used to have PVC in them. The first thing that wore out was usually the draw string ends and then the PVC would slide down the line during the run.

Looks like a ventril fin.

@gavski - "what's the point if ZO will always give you actuals? what's the point if the timing is apparently meaningless? gross-error check? has it ever been wrong?" - ZO gives the the actual time it took travel the distance, it DOES NOT always give actuals. For example, the first Big Dawg held at Denver (high altitude which robs engines of power), ZO was returning times as slow as 17:05 (and a few even worse if I recall correctly). With enough power, times will usually be within .01 or .02, however I saw a time of 16.99 during a tournament at Palm Bay (Sea level) this year while driving a 6.2 2019 Nautique.

The new 6.2 Nautique's that I have driven have so much power that I can cavitate the prop at will. Not sure it it's enough for ski fly, but it's way more than 36mph slalom or 35mph jump needs...

@BraceMaker - Came around 3 ball in a tournament and got ahead of the ski into the wakes. When my feet tried to come out of the Wiley's, my middle toe on the front foot could not make the radius and fractured (I have long toes and my middle toe is longer than my big toe). I did not know it was anything more than sore until a podiatrist visit 2 years later when an x-ray revealed the break.

@owennibley - You work your confidence back up slowly. I started back on combos (though I did try my slalom first). Skiing a few sets told me my achilles felt fine. Then, when I was able to ride my slalom, I just followed the boat a couple of passes and then started easy wake crossings until I worked back up to running passes. Since I also switched to Reflex/R-Series system, that also took some getting used to and building of confidence. I've taken two falls where I released since I got on them. One out the front where I got ahead of the ski into the wakes and one out the front where I actually hit the buoy. In both cases, I didn't even feel the release, I was just in the water without my ski. This reinforced by confidence in the new system and I ski without thinking about such things now. Last night in my 2nd set, I skied up the line to 2@35 and then got 4@35. I know my achilles is strong enough and I know that the release system works. Still, as someone above pointed out, you can be injured in ANY system. This is a motion sport and we attain some pretty high speeds (some years back, Andy Mapple and Deana Mapple were measured for speed. Andy attained 57mph at 36/-39 and Deana attained 47mph at 34/-38. Combine speed with an awkward fall, and injury can happen. Thankfully, it is rare if you consider the number of passes attempted vs. the number of injuries. I started the slalom course in 1987 and average 8 sets of 6 passes/week. In all that time, I've 1) Torn a calf muscle, 2) spiral fractured a toe and 3) ruptured an achilles. Neither of the first 2 kept me from skiing for more than 3 or 4 weeks. Only the achilles kept me off the water for an extended period of time. I plan to continue skiing...