Gloersen

Hard case skier if not hard core. '12 67" Prophecy Reflex FB ~29-29.125"/ Wiley RB 17" (1" space rear toes/ front heel) D-2.53/L-6.818/DFT-0.738/mini-wing-9. Arguably the fin #'s seem atypical but they work. The ski rolls on edge real well out of the turn & keeps on moving with tip down. For me it tends to finish the offside turn a bit hard if not patient in the reach. When patient in the reach very early passes ensue. Under my feet it sees limited 12m action but will be the one I stick with to keep hacking away at blue. I've stunk up 2 tournaments on it but such attributable to dire need of revamping the gates (no more 1 hand crap). I suspect the lifting "V's" under the sweet spot help with maintaining speed through the turn and with greater surface friction fore & aft of these 3 V's the ski has a tendency to balance better over the sweet spot, but who really knows? It's a great ski!

When a pass is run late & narrow it feels "fast", the ski tends to be behind the skier; less space created, less overall distance traveled at a given line length (mostly less than12m)=less overall speed for the pass. Based on surface tension alone; cold water is faster, but throw in the viscosity component; the topic is clear as mud and kind of like skiing in it. Curious if when the skiers up north visit our southern warm waters for coaching/training if they find upon edging out for the gates, with similar technique in cold water, then look up after doing so, find themselves way early before aligning the transition back in? Fascinating stuff but cogitating the concept unlikely to yield more buoys.

1st: It’s not worth pondering; just setup the ski properly & appreciate the warm water. IMHO: 1.) Cold water is SLOWER, that’s what makes it tend to feel narrower & hurried. 2.) Warm water is FASTER. Think about it; your widest & earliest passes consistently tend to be when the water is just right (low 80’s?, at least for us Florideans). The completed pass felt “slow” & in control, but more space was created, thus relatively greater distance in the same time = faster; just feels ”slower” 3.) Density of H2O varies little with temp. However viscosity & surface temp vary a fair amount. Cold water is more viscous and has greater surface tension. The ski tends to ride higher on the surface, which I think has a greater effect at the tail, creating more tip pressure in the pre-turn and facilitates tail blow-out; so less wing may help. If one bleeds too much speed though in cold water, ski gets deep & becomes more difficult to hold & re-generate velocity out of the turn (> viscosity). Warmer water is less viscous & the ability to re-generate velocity when deep is easier, allowing greater space into the next turn, the tail tends to ride lower with the lower surface tension; sometimes more wing may be considered. 4.) Most of is in one’s head. The whole topic is marred with varying, well-supported opinion; just ski!

Actually CP is initiating the edge out with his COM, maintaining the connection with his trailing elbow/hip, leading with the left hip, similar move to what has been described in the thread & articles, watch closely. Interesting to see how the Pros study the sport & evolve to stay on top of their game.

In addition to the Connection some more recent corroborative reads from the Water Skier relative to the topic. New Beginnings Fluidity in Movement Making Moves

Life as you've formerly known it has ended!

@Shane; agree! The Connection needs to begin out wide at the hook-up, BEFORE the load. The tone of the pass is set with that focus on the initial Connection in the stance prior to edge out, maintaining it through the edge-out to full width (preferably way up on the boat). Then re-establishing the Connection out wide when transitioning through the gates. Analogous to what @Horton describes as getting stacked out wide. So the obvious question, why are you "throwing out" the handle at the prior buoy? Loss of Connection of the trailing elbow through the 2nd wake into the pre-turn?

Welcome to the realm of fin adjustments & having more ?’s in your head during a set. Like most advise, set it to stock, & then ski to the ski. When you progress to 13m lines then maybe… But this assumes you have it setup properly; accurate, reproducible & comparatively similar binding/fin measurement technique is imperative. For example that .785” DFT you sited as stock is using the caliper’s “needle” which, I suspect, is an uncommon technique. Using the caliper heads flat; DFT should be set to .745”; .040” difference on the Z7ST is huge (imo). Next, on the Z7 ST, be sure the fin block is machined well. D3 makes a great product and has excellent customer service, however my Z7 ST (2010) had a fin block in which the recess for the rear DFT allen set screw was not adequately bored. Thus the fin clamp no matter how firmly tightened would not grasp the rear of the fin completely. Had it set to .785/2.515/6.912, skied lights out (my level), then after 4-6 sets or so would start tanking. So naturally reverted to fin adjustment (ill-advised) but in this situation kept finding the depth to be >2.52, some times >2.53....wtf? The wing effect kept pulling the rear of the fin down out of the block. Took about 2 months to unravel the fact that the fin block was inadequately bored for the DFT screw as described; you might want to check that on yours. The most important aspect of fin tuning is grasping what changes in each parameter actually does regarding the ski’s performance. I believe @Horton has a link to this. Fin tuning guru Steve Schnitzer’s link: http://schnitzskis.com/fintuning.html Have fun ripping!

A plethora of counsel exists on this topic. Rossi’s Article on Gates remains a good read upon which to re-focus. “Core Connection” also ties in imo; establish a balanced stance with a solid core connection prior to edge out & maintain it all the way into the apex (high up on the boat) thus creating an effective “dynamic” extension or reach. Slide the right hip into the stacked position all the way in a continual motion past the RHGB; maintain the core connection with the handle, keep the back (right) shoulder low to maintain out bound direction, counter/reach.

Is this among the reasons Lucky coaches skiing the course with 2-hand turns up through 28off? Can't really counter much, but 2-hand turns mandate good handle control past the spray as well as the arms straight, out front-over the ski balancing/sweet spot maneuver. As far as 2-handing a pass; can't even do 22off myself, not disciplined enough to keep trying.

U 1st!

so if I lose my head, ~8% of body mass, my weight goes down to ~167lbs. Should ski lights out then, especially if nothing with which to think or the "XX" element interfering with focused efforts. skiing mindlessly without a head just might be the answer. :)

maybe I'm seeing it, although this clip of JB's 39 (tournament pass) is not his best for staying connected into the pre-turn.

@mrpruess assimiliating

"The key to being light is staying connected throughout the pass"....that one statement says it all. The "connection" starts with the stance prior to initiation of the edge-out and emphasized at the apex of the edge-out; sets the tone for the remainder of the pass.

@Roger, always great to have the WPB constituents in PB; looking forward to a good tournament.

John Wilkins: will do. great venue at Palm Bay.

1st of all, this '12 Prophecy is hands down best ride I've been on. Rolls on such a high edge and keeps moving through the turn, just keep the handle at the core and the space in front of the next ball is astonishing. Compared to Elite, Z7, A-2, A-1; the best of the lot for my poor technique (over-powering) Tried 2.527 (34mph) 6.823 .74 9 PDG! Very surprised how smooth & easy the offside turns were. Intuitively I would never have tried these settings, expecting too much tip rise. What did seem apparent was that the ski stayed out front more through the turn & the tip did not engage as much, but if the reach was patiently maintained the finish was money. At 14m never came into any ball late enough to know what it would be like to scrap a turn. At 13m was not taking advantage of the huge space at 1B & slamming the turn ending up early but upright & without good velocity into 2B (LFF) & subsequently over-turning. Can iron that out with some non-chilly sets. Very curious qualities behind these #'s; hope to report continued + feedback. @Horton: you try these types of settings? @mrpruess: you're the one with the unique handle move at the apex of your edge out? You had killer 1B's at 11.25m but slammed 2B dumping you at 3B at Milton last May (was in the tower)? You'll have to explain the philosophy somex on that cross over the chest/abdomen move with the handle at the apex of your edge out. Skiing Ski Watch in May '12? @Drago: why haven't you skied in 2 years? Ran 10.75 & called it quits? I could see that. Myself just hoping to run 11.25m before turning to dust.

Canadian or not (agree as American as the rest of us);that girl has been doing some skiing. BTW that R lake at Hancock is sweet.

Noting from another thread that JB runs on the 67” Prophecy with Length 6.8220 Depth 2.53!!! DFT .74 W 9 Have heard of other Pros tending to run the fin shorter, deeper, further back from stock; perhaps favorable for 10.75m & less. Right now running 6.855/2.515/.77 on ’12 Prophecy with good results but there is always better. Contemplating messing with the crap fin block & trying those #’s; probably waste a couple of practice sets. Anyone trying the short/deep/back setup with success at ~12m lines?

Who's ready yet? One week 'till a double-header next week Sat/Sun in Palm Bay. Few weeks ago was thinking mid blue no problem, but tanked in 10 days, be lucky to run the opener, practice today in 17mph tail/head....freakin choppy & scary... HATE this sport! Can't wait 'till tomorrow, maybe the Easter Bunny will show. :)

Wakulla River

You are an '07 X5 (rather than X7)? You'll probably receive a lot of suggestions to go with a Radar 68"; a good choice. However the D3's will likely provide that turning ability you seek & coming off an X5, a stable ski would be a better transition. If going for a new stick, think about the ride before you buy program with H2Osmosis; a Fusion might be worth a try.

To reiterate @LFF The month of May is the peak of alligator mating season, resulting in large alligators moving between water bodies in search of mates. Mature males are going to be actively moving around during this time of year so you're more likely to see large alligators. After months of hibernation when more dormant during the chillier winter water, large male alligators may get your attention; they're not the only ones active, smaller female alligators are also busy trying to fill their stomachs and put a layer of fat on. They’re mostly interested in shore line activity for prey, typically after killing (drowning), the prey is stored along the shore in grassy areas, guarding it until it rots at which time it becomes palatable & digestible for them. Obviously one doesn't want to meander along unfrequented shoreline. They are mostly aggressive during the May mating season; however it has been unseasonably warm and likely on the move already. Stirred a big one while my daughter was open water skiing some years ago in the Arlington River here in NE FL, fortunately she thought it was a manatee & didn't freak or fall; it was a solid 8-footer though. My other daughter a couple of years later when we were again free-skiing south of Switzerland on the St. John's, while awaiting to start, not one, but 3 gator heads emerged behind her (morning glass), probably just 5-6 feet (generally the distance from the tip of the snout to eyes in inches = length in feet). Fortunately my other daughter was too busy chatting to notice & thus no panic ensued, just put in gear tightened up and told we were "hitting it" Got lucky on her 50% deep water start success at that time. Ignorance is bliss. They are curious, but alligator attacks on people in open, deep water is exceedingly rare, perhaps with the exception of clear-water springs/rivers like Wakulla, but these are not skiing venues. Cottonmouths are oviviparous & appear not to have a particular mating season; they’re just pissed off all the time. Personally I think the Florida environ is more conducive to effective training.

Huge boon for the sport imo.