Chef23

I may ski some tournaments this year for the first time since I was about 12. My 9 year old wants to compete and if I am going to bring him it seems like I should ski.

I saw April in October and I remember the number of skis she went through to be more like 5. April isn't very big and having her break skis would make me nervous skiing on a Goode.

We have 4 boats we ski behind a 3 Response LXs a 99, 01 adn 02 and a 07 Response LXI. Three have PP classic and the 07 has Stargazer. We have maybe 10 people that ski the course seriously at my lake but only two go to tournaments and they ski behind Nautiques. My son wants to ski a couple of tournaments next year so we will probably start out with an INT event and see how that goes. As long as he is skiing I will likely ski as well.

I very often say I would be a better skier if I could lose 40 pounds. Maybe this season will be different:)

Nice interview. Thanks.  One thought when you conduct an interview with someone like Terry it would be nice to know what he is skiing on, what size it is and what he is using for boots. Keep them coming.

There is a golf discussion board called Golf Equipment Afficianados at www.4gea.com that has a swap shop that is broken down by category of clubs. It gets a fair amount of traffic and polices itself pretty well. Somthing like that would work with another category for the swap shop and sub-categories if it works. Maybe at first just start with a swap shop and see what gets put up for sale then determine if it needs to get broken down.

John,  Why not just put up a topic area and let members post what they want to buy and sell on their own. Deals will be done between the two parties with no involvement by you. It will become a self policing area. I participate in some golf forums that do this and it works well. There are very rarely any issues with bad deals because the members get to know who is who on-line.

John, When you say heel side and toe side are you talking about your front foot or back foot?  Thanks

On the wide ride issue I ran into 28 off at 34 mph on an HO Charger. I never made 28 off but I had no problems with 15 or 22 off. This was after returning to skiing after 15 years off. I would guess a better skier could run that ski deeper than I could but it was capable of handling the speed but wasn't the most nimble in the turns as the speed got higher.

What kind of repair is needed? Do you have any pictures?

thager,  Thanks for the thought on that. I have been struggling with consistent turn in since I moved it back so far. I tend to just ski on my lake behind the same kind of boat (we all have Malibu Responses) but I like having something that is consistent. Unfortunately my boat is out of the water for the year so I have all winter to think about it.

I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way because I am not that good a skier.  Aren't the best skiers in the world skiing at 36 mph in open events. I understand there are some phenomenal skiers skiing in Big Dawg and other events at 34 mph but the world's best are skiing at 36 mph. It makes sense to me that if only a handful of pros have made 41 off in tournaments that there would be fewer people (at this point it sounds like 2 and never in a record event) that have run 41 off at 34 mph. I can't comment on whether it is easier because you have more speed at 36 mph. It sounds counter-intuitive to me that it would be easier at the faster speed but I am stuck at 32 off so what do I know.

Alex one of the things I have been working on is beginning the turn in earlier and letting the ski turn in more to generate more angle then holding that angle instead of trying to stop the boat with my pull. This is getting me earlier and what feels like slower at the ball. Before I was turning in later and rushing it then loading the ski right away and I was inconsistent and later. When I do it right I get set up much earlier for 1 ball and the pass is much easier.  My turn in point has changed from the windshield of the boat to 5-7ft before the nose of the boat hits the left boat gate (LFF). I am still working to find the exact turn in point I can replicate every time.

EF, Thanks. I am thinking of trying the A1 next year and hope to be around your weight (right now I am about 20 pounds heavier).

EF, how big are you and what did you decide on the 67.5 v 68.75.

I don't know anything about this place it is north of San Fran. http://skisunsetranch.com/

MS, how much change should I make 5/1000 at a time?

I have a Reflex hardshell on my trick ski and I got a plate and put it on my Monza with RTP and skied it for 1 set and then ran screaming back to my Wiley. I probably didn't have it set up right but I could never get comfortable on it and felt like I was going to kill myself. This was a mid season change and I didn't want to take the time to get used to it. I may give it another go in the spring when I am getting ramped up for the season. I do like the way the hardshell feels on my foot, it is very comfortable and holds me in place securely. One thing you need to be careful of is your back foot. I get up with one foot in and practically broke my toe the first time I kicked in. Since then I have moved my RTP back so it wouldn't be an issue but if you have your feet very close together it could be an issue.

I am very jealous of your quiver.

I am having issues with the tip of my Monza being too high coming out of both sides. I added some tip to the fin but my understanding is that only impacts the offside. Would adding some angle to the wing make a difference. I am running 7* now.

I would say it is toe side of your back foot. When I learned as a kid you really threw the ski around with that back foot and it was easier to drive with the toe of the back foot than the heel of the back foot. For LFF that is obviously 1,3,5 good side and 2,4,6 for RFF.

This is a very cool thread.  Colin thanks for your service to our country. John and Eddie thanks for helping Colin out.

If I wasn't so fat right now I would buy it just to try but at 235 I think it will be too small.

How do I go about carrying more speed? I have a similar problem with spray. I haven't generally worried about it but it is annoying.

Great summaries Bill.