kpickett

Thanks so much, guys. I appreciate the advice. I certainly know that most of my problems are technique related, but I haven't felt like the ski is helping me much. I'll definitely try your fin suggestions. I am on a 65.5" - forgot to mention that. I'm skiing tomorrow or Thursday, and I'll report back after that.

Here's one of the recent ugly 32s on the Elite. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at7KnvSD0gM

So, here's the story. Last year I was riding a Prophesy. By last fall I was running several 32s each set and knocking on the door of 35. I liked the ski - it had a great onside turn (LFF) and it was fast, but I didn't feel like I could ever get quite consistent with my offside (2,4) turn. I tended to get tip rise at the end of the turn. I bought an Elite this spring, and I immediately loved it. It was fast, and the turns felt totally symmetrical. BUT, I've been struggling with 32 all year. I run it occasionally, but it's always a rodeo ride. If there were a prize for ugliest 32, I'd probably win it. Here are my problems - #1 - I can't get the gate worked out. I just can't get this thing to turn in unless I fall back on my back foot. It just glides too far. I do the Seth Stisher modified one-hand LFF gate. I'm getting slack at one ball and it's just a mess from there on. Big problem #2 - after watching video I can see I just can't get width. It seems fast, but I'm really narrow at 32 with no chance at 35. Big problem #3 - I often end up on my back foot on my off side turn. Then, to compensate, I stomp on the front and the ski just stops. I went back to my Prophesy this weekend and boom - gate and 1 are fixed instantly, but there's still the offside turn problem. I want back to the Elite tonight, and ran an awful 32. Any suggestions? Here are my settings:LFF 34 mphD 2.49DFT .785length (tips) 6.85wing 8 degreesbindings at stock Thanks in advance,Kyle

Thanks, guys. I should mention - I've been dragging him up and down the lawn since he could stand (literally). He started skiing when he was 3. Did it a little last year, and then this summer, after he learned it was fun to get your head underwater, I can't get him to stop skiing. He's got good form, and he desperately wants to turn and go around buoys. But with the skis tied together, he can't turn very much. I like the idea of working off the boom. That's actually how we got him up in the first place. I think he'll get it pretty fast. Good idea to work off the short line on the boom. I hope we can try it this weekend. /vanilla2/uploads/FileUpload/10/1050.jpg

So, my five-year-old has really got the bug. He'll ski all day up and down the lake on his trainers. Right now, they're still tied together at the front and back, and the rope goes to the skis. Any suggestions on how to transition so that he's being pulled directly by the boat to his handle? We tried a couple times, but he's used to the pull coming from the ski, so it just pulled him right out the front. Thanks so much. Kyle

I'm using them. I'm on my second pair. They last about a season-and-a-half for me. I'm just about to replace mine. They're a good price, and they hold up pretty well. I do wear palm-pads underneath, so I go one size larger than I would without the pads. When they start to wear out, the bumps start to get a little slippery.

Evidently Ballers can't use Chrome. It's interesting stuff, but only seems to work with IE.

As someone who has taken your advice on skis several times, I appreciate your (and others on this board, as well) candid advice. So, following up what you just wrote, could you lay out how you define lower, mid, and high level skiers?I also find your last sentence very interesting. Is this how you define a "forgiving" ski? That it is effective for a wide range of skiers? I've always wondered, because for some reason I have never been able to get D3 skis to work for me (while an older X5 has been the perfect ski for my wife to learn the course), and D3 is frequently spoken of as the most forgiving brand. Is there a way to define the range of styles/usage for a ski?

Thanks for the advice. Horton - I do the buy cheap and resell on Ski-It-Again. MS - your numbers (a few years ago) made the Monza work for me, but I got a lot more consistent on the F1. OB - Thanks. I'm 5'9", 150. I loved my Goode, but it freaked me out when it broke between the bindings. I'm a little gun shy about Goodes because of that. The mid-ride is interesting to me. I am interested in trying the Strada. No calls for the Elite? That seemed to be the big ski a year ago.

So, I'm one of those guys who buys a 1 to 2 year old ski when you guys move up to the latest and greatest. Those of you who've skied the models just prior to the latest, any suggestions for the best of last year? I went from a Goode to a Monza to an F1 to a Prophesy. The Prophesy has gotten me around 3 ball at 35 (34 mph), but I have never felt like it's really the right ski for me, and I want to get through 35 this year. I really slumped on the Prophesy in the middle of last summer. I've never seemed to connect with the D3 skis, either - I'm not sure why. I'm 150 lbs., 55k skier. (I know to try before I buy - of course, that's harder with the recent used market.) I appreciate any suggestions.

Fuel economy! Gas is supposed to get back to $4/gallon this summer and maybe $5 by next summer. This is already an expensive sport and the barrier to entry is going to get much higher in the years to come as gas prices continue to rise. Electric motors for boats that run on private lakes make a lot of sense. Smaller engines, more efficient, etc.

Yes, Richard. Five good reasons.

Kyle Wiley Pickett - 39 years old, from the bay area, currently living in Northern California. I'm a symphony conductor. I conduct the North State Symphony (in Chico and Redding) and the Juneau Symphony in AK. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I'm probably the only professional orchestra conductor who skis into 35 off. We ski at Villa Lagos - Eric Pettinger's lake in Gerber, CA - along with a couple other BOS lurkers. I grew up free skiing on Lake Shasta, and got to take a few lessons with Mike Suyderhoud over the years. I didn't really get to ski much during all the grad school years in Baltimore. I got back into skiing the course around 2003, when some great folks in Chico invited me to ski at their lake. I built a portable course to use on Shasta, but I really got into it about 3 years ago when we joined Villa Lagos. I'm really proud that my wife is hooked and running the course at 15 off/30mph, and that my son got up behind the boat this summer before his fourth birthday. We also have a one-year-old son who doesn't ski (yet). As an orchestra guy, I get asked by people all the time, "What instruments are your kids going to play?" and I always respond, "It doesn't matter to me, as long as they waterski." I skied the INT tournaments this year - Tourney PB is 1.5 at 35. My practice PB from a couple weeks ago is 3 at 35. I'd sure like to get through 35 next summer, and I'm considering doing a couple AWSA tourneys next year. I ski on a 66" Connelly Prophesy, although I'm thinking of making a ski switch next year. I ski behind a '94 MasterCraft Prostar 190 w/ the LT-1, which I still think is the best slalom boat ever made.

I'm no expert, but I asked Marcus directly about "back arm pressure." The problem is that the term "back" doesn't make a lot of sense when we're essentially sliding sideways. The arm coming back onto the handle (ie left hand, after coming around 2 ball and heading to 3) is the "back" arm. Marcus worked with me to try to feel most of the pull in that left hand, because that really squares you up to the boat when you reach the center of the wake. He also felt that it was important to feel the back arm, so as to get it ingrained in sense memory, so you don't have to think about it.

Than - it's a Bay Area thing. We aren't noted for our proper pronunciation of all the Spanish names in our area. I grew up in Los Gatos, which gets pronounced "Las Gatus." Mt. Diablo is the same sort of thing.

Richard, Ed, and Thomas - Thanks for your comments, too. Lots of great things to work on. Thomas, thanks for those images. One of my friends has been telling me this for years. It's amazing to see how Chet does it. I like the idea of separating the handle release from the edge change - that's a way I've never thought of it before. (By the way - the new Arm-Guard is great! Thanks.) Kyle

Boody and Brent - Thanks, also. I've been told many times to stand up taller at the ball. I'll work on that, too.

MS and Thanimal, Thanks very much. I see it now, and I think I get it. Last year at our Face-to-Face clinic, that's exactly what Marcus was working on with me. I did have a few times when I led with the hip and had that shot from a cannon feeling. I've been working on other things, and I kind of forgot about that. I will work really hard on the body position and skiing back to the handle instead of reaching for it. I really appreciate the advice! Kyle

Hey MS - thanks. I get the second part, but I don't quite understand the "head forward lean." Do you mean that my head (and leading shoulder) are dipped, or that I'm too upright? Thanks a lot. I'm going to work on it today.

OK, so you all convinced me I should ski more tournaments next year, so I should get a little better at my skiing. I just started working on 35 a couple weeks ago. I've been around 2 ball a dozen times and around 3 ball once last weekend. I'd love some advice on how to break past the two ball wall. Any suggestions? Here's a video from today. It's not the best 32 I've ever run, but it's pretty representative of a first set of the day after a week off. This is 22, 28, 32, and 2 balls at 35. I'm at 34, LFF, on a Prophesy. I always appreciate the suggestions from all of you experts on the board. Thanks in advance.

Skoke - I'm definitely not bashing OB. I certainly apologize if it seems like that's what my purpose was. I've read a lot of OB's comments over the years, and I have huge respect for what he's done in Atlanta. I also understand why "skidudeski" pushes his buttons. I posted the quote because I think it's an interesting, and valid, point of view on the "Why ski tournaments?" question. I think it also goes to my gut feeling that at their hearts, tournaments are about competition with other people, not with your personal best. I think that really does make it hard to swallow the idea of "competing" when you know that you're just not competitive with the other guys in your class. That said, I had fun this year in the INT - did post some personal bests - and I'm going to help try to get a lot more of our local skiers involved next year. It will probably be a more fun "competition" if we have a bunch more skiers in the middle.

Posted on the Water Ski Forum today - it came from a heated discussion about ZO, but it gives an interesting perspective: "If you ski tournaments just to see what you are capable of and to motivate you to improve, you're not much of a competitor, and tournaments, be it with ZO or PP, are proably not for you anyway. Would you like to medal at a big tournament? Would you like to see your name go up on the National Ranking List every week? Would you like to have a better score at Nationals than 25 guys who have a higher average than you? If you answered NO to any of those questions, you shouldn't waste your time going to tournaments...no matter what the speed control being used is."

Anyone upgraded to Stargazer and still have the 6.5 gauge and chip they want to sell? My buddy just picked up a Prostar 190 with the older PP. He'd like to upgrade, but he isn't interested in going to Stargazer.

Thanks, all, for the tips. I'm finally breaking out of the slump. Here's what helped the most - 1. Bill's suggestion of standing tall (echoes what Seth told me in a lesson). 2. Working on getting high on the boat and rolling in slowly for the gate (thanks, Phil). 3. Really focusing on being square behind the boat, especially not letting my left shoulder get closed on my offside pulls. 4. Initiating an actual edge change on offside, rather than just skiing to the ball and cranking a turn. I could only work on these things one at a time, so it took a little while, but they all helped. I also went back to the Prophesy, and I put the stock fin back on. (I had been using the slot fin.) I added a little tip and reduced the wing to 8 degrees from 9. Things seem to be working a lot better. Started running that 32 pass again and got back to work on 35. Thanks for the good stuff on this board!

Of course, I spend two months of the year in Juneau, and there's no skiing in Juneau. There's a perfect spot - twin lakes - right on the other side of the highway from the channel - but no power boats are allowed there.