A_B

I am trying to keep weight loss going in the right direction so coming off 72 and 69 Senates, and picked up a really clean 2020 Vapor Pro 69.5 this week. Our weather literally just took a dump and we have gotten 4" of 50-60 degree rain which will drop our 78 degree water a bunch. So not much time to play around when I get back on the water. Other than the Short/Deep and Long/Shallow as posted by Radar, what tweaks is anyone running that was a game changer, or is stock where it's at, and which stock seems to be working? Thanks AB

@Bionaraq one of the problems that I have seen people trying to drop is they want to immediately put their foot in the rear toe plate. This upsets their balance and down they go. I have them drop the ski and actually keep their barefoot off to the side of the single ski for a while and you will easily keep your balance and can gradually transfer to the slalom. Most of your weight will stay on the ski, but the foot out to the side just helps balance. Also, there is really not a need to stuff it into the toe plate, and you can just put it on top the toe plate with toes in front or behind it, and if you feel like you are losing your balance, just put that barefoot out to the side and you will see how it immediately balances you out. Once you feel totally in control, then stuff the toes in the RTP. I would also stress that the posture should be good and handle kept low at waist level with arms straight. And on the slalom start, I think I qualify as a bigger guy, having skied at 285 and currently 260, the key is to push your toes on the front foot down so you don't have a 90 degree bend in your front ankle. A wider ski will push a bigger wall of water if you do not get the tip held down in this position. A firm rolling down of the throttle is better than just dropping the hammer. Too little is not good either, as you will not get lift and will run out of air! Good luck with your addiction..

Maybe we need to add golf's responsibility on the player to use the honor system? Pro golfers play for millions and they call penalties on themselves all the time. Hats off to Tate and Brandt for making the call when the judges didn't. Saw that at the Nationals for a gal who skies at my lake when they other girl was award 1.5 at 38, forcing a runoff. She clearly scored 1.0 and at most 1.25, but she dropped the handle as the ski was close to the buoy, so @Bruce_Butterfield's rule would have worked in that scenario. I can't remember in 40+ years of skiing when I dropped the handle afer I got outside the buoy without turning back past the buoy line. 99.9% are handle pops or I toss it to the side becuase I have way too much slack. Clear drops are from the brain saying is this worth a busted ankle and the brain answers NO!

@Horton, wait until you are in your 60's, freaking everything hurts! To top it off, I was stepping onto the platform from the dock and I slipped and slammed my knee down on the wood platform, bruised the top of my foot as it scraped, and now my left lower back is messed up and couldn't even ski yesterday to enjoy the 84 air and 78 water in freaking NW Ohio!!! The good news is my daughter will be graduating from Chiropractic school next February, and I have a Zenith hyrdraulic adjustment table in my basement..

what length ski are you on?

Moose Juice works in a pinch!

All I know is that I have had the rope and handle shot up past me while driving about half a dozen times all of which were without a shock tube. I always use the 4’ version in my boat. Nowadays it seems that people want to bring their own line and handle sans shock tube where in the old days everyone just brought a handle. While it’s nice that they don’t want to use up someone else’s $100 line, it seems the shock tube usage is going in the wrong direction.

I know. Why not a 68”??? It would be a good substitute for the slightly wider 69” skis on the market.

I don’t know who disliked my comment up above but please explain how you would ever call that a half buoy from any angle with our current rules?

@horton agree on video angle for the 1/4. I am pretty darn sure it wasn’t 1/2 though from any angle!

@Horton the announcers called it 0 maybe 1/4 from their booth. When judges awarded 1/2 they sounded a little surprised and moved on. I would like to see a poll of official judges who are shown a picture of a ski tip crossing the XY line above and see if they score it a 1/4 or 0. Maybe some would call it 1/2. The policy clearly states “the skier” crosses the C and XY line. That means precisely what? Boots thrown out with skier behind the ski sliding on the water or the legs of the skier? Body of the skier? What is “skier” crossing the XY line? It sure doesn’t mean just ski tip to me. Wasn’t the current scoring rule installed in an attempt to stop skiers from holding onto monster slack and shooting ropes into the boat? Has that really happened? Maybe when it comes to a full buoy vs half buoy, unless it’s in the end gate. Supermen like AM Roberge and Lapoint would get a death grip on the handle and get yanked out of the water while holding onto huge slack lines. I don’t really see that too often now so maybe it has helped a little in that regard. But it has caused major confusion on 0, 1/4, and half at all levels of judging.

@dbutcher when I saw it “live” I thought maybe a stretch for 1/4. Video changed my mind to 0. How judges called this 1/2 is anyone’s guess. The way I read the rules the skier boots should be at the buoy, not just the tip, when the handle is dropped. I have seen skiers on 38 called 1/4 when they held the handle past the buoy for quite a ways and I scratch my head how a skier on 38 off can go 30 feet past the buoy without breaking the buoy line back to wake. I guess it’s their interpretation on what is skiing position and continuance. But that sounds more like figure skating judging to me. We all know how that works!

Photo below was scored 1/2 at Nationals this year. Should have been no score IMO. Agree video is needed to call these split second situations. I think we should have rules that make it easier to judge with the naked eye. Not a huge fan of NFL replay review. In skiing the delay could freeze the next skier. Or have an adverse effect on next inline by breaking concentration or cold water or feet getting cramped, etc.

Stainless is the way to go. Our Accufloat course is over 30 years old and the cable still looks like new. We had a galvanized course in the river about 40 years ago and it never saw air and it had corroded and had that dark rusty look to it when we moved to our lake and it broke a few years in. We swapped the homemade course out for an Accufloat with stainless end anchor lines and they all look new. It was just surveyed this year and the boat guides were within record tolerance. The pvc arms had bent over time so were replaced with individual anchored skier balls. We would have replaced galvanized a few times by now in my opinion.

I have always thought there is a market for a slightly wider 68” ski that could have a narrow tail that would turn quicker than the 69 and 71 skis for bigger skiers. The 69/71 skis are like stretching a Porsche 911 and expecting it to handle turns the same as the short wheel base.

Any rumors of a 68” Omega Max for next year???? Hint hint.

These warnings are no different than the Malibu bs. Someone probably hurt themself trying to pull a frozen pin out and so now we all have to get a warning label for it. If it starts getting sticky put some lube on it. Geez.

Never liked OB boats. My neighbor always stuck me with driving duties on a popular and very busy lake in Michigan whenever we stayed over the weekend at their cottage. He had a SN OB and with kids in front, a lot of boat waves, my neck would get sore from constantly looking around for traffic and waves. Was no fun making sure to get the bow up as big rollers came our way. Maybe tournament boats can remain in their little niche as CB boats and the families that want to stuff 6 kids up front can do so in those monster surf boats.

Hell no. Maybe if we were talking Coors Light Pro Tour back in the day when pros made real money. Right now is a totally different story. I ski with a U17 girl when she is up at home who has been invited to a couple pro events and that is great experience for her. Even if she won, the money would barely cover expenses of travel and lodging etc. I think the “amateur” rules should be rewritten to reflect the times. Any support we can give the young skiers trying to keep “professional” skiing alive should be a top priority. We write the rules so if we don’t like them we can change them!

My slalom shorts are about 100 years old and the seams that have been repaired numerous times are about ready to blow apart and don’t look very fixable. I don’t care for real long shorts so would guess these are 15-17” side length and they don’t stretch and aren’t real baggy so virtually no bucketing on starts. I don’t need any extra resistance! Aside from neoprene shorts, which I think are too hot for summer, what brand/make do ballers like out there? Thanks AB

@klindy - I have a 68" Black and Green Extreme in the ski locker. Collecting dust.

@Sethro I made my shoulder straps a little longer than the original XL. My neck to waist seems to have gotten longer over time.... :blush:

Hyperlite Moto Gloves - I don't know what kind of palm material it was, but it stuck like nothing else I have tried. Best gloves I ever wore. Red and Grey Masters Curves. I thought the Amara was really stickier than black version. Second best gloves I wore, pre-surgeries on left hand. 2019 Radar Inside Out Vice gloves. They changed the finger material in 2020 and just doesn't fit right. I liked the non-inside out Vice as well, and would buy those again.

@Horton you and I had a discussion about the "critical" super shortline move at the end of the lean into the wakes, some time ago. I think the key is to stay connected to the handle on inside hip with your inner arm in and taking the load, the ski moves from under the line to a turn edge behind the handle, and your shoulders stay back, which helps use all of the momentum you started on the other side of the wake. My personal problem with this was staying over the ski too long and not getting into the chair position at the end of the "pull" phase, which makes it easier to move the ski out on a different edge whilst keeping the shoulders back. That is where we had a disconnect, where you said it just happens. Not for me and maybe several others.. When I started getting this figured out, 38 and shorter seemed like instantly I was in the game, where I could run 35 back to back to back and then still come up short and narrow and fast on 38. It is all about how you keep the momentum and get the ski on a turn edge right after the wakes. Leaning in just makes you narrow. Staying on an accelerating edge or flat make you too fast. The ski has to be on a turn edge and shoulders back. Light pressure on the hand that will soon be taken off the handle. Again, lots of ways to skin the cat, but almost all the top skiers handle this move about the same.

Awesome design on allowing the heel to flex. I find the current one too stiff and prefer more forward and back motion - BINGO!! I am so glad they modified the Vapor boots, because I literally ripped out the back rubber on two of my old Strada boots this year and have one left (now with glued seams) with an older Vapor (Black and Blue with rubber back) and I was just thinking about what to do next. I have two Sequence plates setup and take both to lake just in case I tear one... I was a double boot guy for 45 years until I tried the Radar Hybrid RTP last year. Just didn't get comfortable on a regular RTP. Radar truly is making some innovative products and their customer service is second to none.