Skihack

Ed, Â You are absolutely correct, I am in the wrong sport. I am seeing that after about 10 tournaments for the daughter this year. Next year, I am looking to cut that by half. Looking to enjoy skiing for fun and exercise and not take it so serious. I am an accountant and I am failing to see the return on the investment if you know what I mean. Laugh out loud.

I was told that the 2011 mastercraft would be the last year for this hull. A major hull redesign is supposed to be coming for 2012. They have to do it, the boat pales in comparison to the SN200. No where near the driveability nor the skiability. I would not buy one unless you change boats every year. I think the MC with a 409 hp would be the best boat to train with next year. After that, hard to say.

Thanks for all the inputs guys. My daughter is working on her 32 offs at 32 mph. This speed is tricky I find because you just don't have enough boat speed to get you out there effortlessly. You have to work it. Tried slowing the boat down to work on 32 off and she hated it, saying it was more difficult slowing the boat down a little bit. Her Goode is bit too long at 65" not really a 64". I don't believe she will be able to turn a Senate C, probably a bit too long. If the Senate C was made in a 63" version I believe it would be the best ski for 32 mph G2 divison. Leaning towards the D3 Z7 based on the majority of comments plus Paul Crawford's outstanding customer service. Â Thanks again.

I am leaning more towards the purchase of a D3 because I get good service with Paul, Radar is a little slower with responses and sometimes never returns emails.

Hopefully, you guys can guide me in the right direction, and I can get the best ski the first time. Ride before you buy is a good program but can get downright expensive if you have to ship skis back and pay 50 dollar demos two or three times. So, i am somewhat down to deciding between a Strada or D3 Z7. The skier skis at 32 mph and her weakest point in skiing is getting angle out of the turn. Between the two skis, which turns the best? I am willing to bet that the D3 turns best but the Strada is faster side to side. Thanks in advance.

hmm, seems I've heard that before. Seems it led to ski shorts being designed for ZO. At least the folks at Radar are addressing the issue. AM seems to be doing so as well. They are not whining about it, but they are working with it.

Not sure this applies to the new technology. I am very old school, wide body skis, no carbon and hand driving. Just an example of how flex can affect one person's skiing. We tested fifty skis in one week. They were Jobe's. They were all from the same mold and had the exact tip and tail rocker, not much of a sweet spot. Some of the flexes were duplicates. They were blind to me the skier. I picked the two that I never missed 38 on. Turns out that the two I picked from 50 skis were the exact flex. They were 90 lbs in the mid section and 54 lbs in the tail. Now, these numbers are really low and can't be compared to the new skis. The Jobe's back then were wider from the forebody on down to the tail. But, all in all, this testing indicated to me that flex does play a very key role in ski design. I don't think today's skis can be made too soft though. I think tip and tail rocker is also a very key design element as well. I do not know what you are skiing on, but for example, let's say you were skiing on an A1 of the same length as Will Asher's personal A1. Suppose he let you ride his personal ski. I am fairly certain that you would ski better on his personal ski than yours. The best thing to do in my opinion, is to try all of the skis out with the ride before you buy program and that way you get the ski that works best for YOU, not some ski you think will work best for you because some pro is riding it.

Any info on when this ski will be available for purchase? Is this ski much different to the A1? Thanks.

Starting wearing some of Michael Phelps old outlawed suits. It really does tame the ZO along with a ZO compatible ski. What you need to do is get a 70" Monza cut the tail off, and bend the tip for more tip rocker. Or you can do like I did, take a jigsaw and cut a 9500 Goode right down the middle and add about 1/8 in the middle and fuse it back together. Disclaimer: This needs to be done by an expert such as the Ski Factory. Do not attempt to do this on your own.

You need to ride a ZO compatible ski.

Looks to me like you are probably using about 7 gallons per hour. That really isn't that much off from a 98 SN as far as I can tell. You had me wondering on a previous post. I thought 4 - 8 pass sets meant a 4 to 8 pass set per set using 5 gallons of gas. I was like man no way. Nice boat.

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=245349354221&id=aa6b621e90e4b0cb26f93e7b9af98298&index=ch1 Feel free to wear my shorts.

It seems awfully odd that some of the high end skis, such as the wide ride, Strada 55, and even the regular Strada, and the X7 have added some width to the forebody and tail in some cases. These designs appear to be driven by ZO. It has even been said that the SN200 was designed to "tame" the ZO. I do not know about that, but I do know that a lot of people seem to ski better behind it. If you read the first paragraph in the ski technology link of the radarskis.com site it mentions cruise control as being a catalyst for ski design. I am just repeating what I've read, and these boys at Radar know what they're doing. They build awesome skis.

Tiger Wood shorts. Some with $$$$$$ signs all over it and maybe a pic of Obama on them. If you log onto Radarskis.com, then click on product, then skis, and then ski technology. Read it carefully. Seriously.

Thanks Roger. You said what I wanted and did not want to hear. Since you got your newer SN you have run more 35 offs. That is what I suspect that most tournament skiers need. Time with ZO. Now, I just don't won't to fork out the money. But, with the time and money that goes into practicing and preparing for tournaments, it makes no sense not to upgrade.

Skimech Andy was telling us yesterday while dropped at the end of the course during his set, that with speed control the only place you have a chance to make up ground is between the finish of the turn to the 1st wake,that's it!

A Goode 9900? Is it a 64.25? What boat does she train behind? Does she use the switch?

Hey can you test ride a 63.5" Strada and give us a review. Now, that would be interesting and pics would be awesome.http://www.ballofspray.com/vanillaforum/js/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-cool.gif

It appears to me that the Strada and the A1 interact with ZO best. But that it just my observation. There are alot of Goodes out there dominating. You couldn't get my daughter off her Goode but that is changing. She has struggled all summer trying to get good finishes out of her turns to no avail. Try to get some help from Dave Goode and he just wants a deposit and send her a new ski. A very heavy deposit might I add. Definitely lost a future Goode custmomer right off there.

Thanks Brent Course that went over my head. While they say that ZO does not affect the lighter skiers, I am finding that is not true in our case. My daughter skis in G2 at 32 mph and weighs 120 lbs. She runs 28 off 98 percent of the time in practice behind a 98 SN with Stargazer. Her PB is 4 1/2 at 28 off at the Nat's. It's not just the number of buoys she runs, but she looks like a completely different skier behind all of the boats with ZO. It may be the Acme props or it just may be the more powerful engines. I tend to believe it has more to do with the ZO as I had exclusive use of a 343HP Ski Nautique. I turned the ZO off and drove by hand. All of my times were 17.90 to 17.98 and she didn't miss a single 28 off the whole week. So, I am not going to whine about ZO, but I am going to select the ski that will do what my daughter wants it to do with the additional focus on how this particular ski will interact with ZO. I have already experimented with some wide tail skis that seem to interact with ZO better. However, consistency and predictablilty is somewhat of a problem. It just seems to me with the wider forebody and narrow tail designs it will be difficult to keep the tip down.

Ski looks identical up to a couple inches north of the front boot inserts. Really don't see the benefits of a wider tip except maybe at 38 off and shorter. I believe the focus needs to be on getting more performance out of wide body skis like the Senate C. I see this as a good way to keep Zero Off from hitting the skier hard. Wider skis don't ride deep in the hole on hard turns. Just thinking out loud here. Rode a Radar Senate C and it was an effortless ride. Smooth and easy without driving the tail deep on the shortline turns. Has got to be easier without setting the Zero Off on a warpath. A little resistance from Zero Off is fine but you will not win if you input a hard turn to it, it will dish it out twice as hard.

So, is the ski going to be cheaper due to the core or is it going to be one step down performance wise to the Strada?

Anyone have any info on this ski? What lengths it will be offered in? Thanks

Here on our planet we still ski on 64" Goode 9500's. We are little people. We get very good velocity. Stability is also very goode with our warp speeds. But, we have a difficult time changing directions. Our people have intercepted some communication from you earthlings who call this turning the ski. We have much difficulty turning these skis. They go straight and try to follow the watercraft. We do not wish to follow the watercraft. We want turn! Calling on all Earthlings, how do we adjust our fins to get better turns? Peace be with you. Maybe in the next light year, we get the wonderful Zero Off. We have to figure out how to throw the signal up our way first.

Matt Brown the winner of the Big Dawg this weekend, does anyone know the stick he was on?