Chef23

I never remove the liners from mine either. I loosen all the laces and slide my foot out of the binding. I leave the binding open in my shed to dry. I am a twice a week at most skier and frankly haven’t been skiing very hard but my boot still looks great.

When I think about both feet in I think about a snowboard. Nobody has releasable snow board bindings. When both feet stay with the board you can get hurt (just like on snow skis) but they tend to be different injuries. I always felt pretty safe on a snow board that my whole body might get twisted around but I wouldn’t tear up anything. I understand the lever is shorter on a snow board and the speeds are slower but at times the surface is harder.

I have always gotten up with one foot in. I am capable of getting up with two feet but it is much harder on my body. I haven’t missed a gate yet having to kick in but I can see it being a risk if I missed the kick.

@Horton my comment on late fees and practice is from people in our region that run Class Cs at sites that don’t need improvements in our areas. I think a large profit is probably not reasonable at a cost that people are willing to pay.

I would say practice sets and late fees are the ways that tournaments make some money.

Frankly I have always had the kids shuffle back and slide in off the platform. I don’t find it does any damage to the wood platform.

You are looking for a Unicorn. The beauty of the Reflex is that you can just buy larger boots and adjust the plate. I bit the bullet when my son was 8 and actually bought two plates and one boot. I put a plate on his slalom and one on his trick. He is 21 now and I have had to update some components and buy a couple of boots but he is still using much of the same basic equipment. You rarely see used Reflex set ups.

We are on a public lake and we don’t really have any published rules. I don’t believe that we can prevent anyone from using the courses. We do talk to people using it, get to know them. There is no requirement for anyone to pay but we do try to raise enough money to cover costs. Regarding turns we generally don’t have issues. People are good about rotating in and not taking too much time when there are people waiting. I think the biggest thing is being friendly and welcoming. It might not hurt to have some rules to share with people. Our course is out in the middle of the lake so you need to be out in a boat so it makes things a bit more difficult.

Definitely invest in a newer 41” ski. That will last her a long time.

@o2bnMaine it seems that one set a month would provide some benefit and not be overly expensive.

There are coaches that will travel if you can get a couple of days of coaching lined up. I know Wade Cox and Seth Stisher have done it in the past and I am sure there are others. Generally you have to cover their coaching time and travel expenses. I am pretty sure Nate Smith is from Indiana so reaching out to him to see if you could line something up would probably make some sense.

The Denali guys have said that a ski that is set up well for your openers generally won’t perform as well at your hardest passes. I am not sure if that applies at all levels or not. To me this sounds like you may need to pay more attention on your opening passes on a ski that will get you more buoys than on a ski that you can be on cruise control on your first couple of passes. Unfortunately my body won’t let me test that out right now.

I have been coached by Joel a few times and always skied better as a result of it. I am not smart enough about skiing to critique his coaching here though.

When I first met @JoelHowley he was slaloming with a helmet on and he no longer does. I have never worn one and haven’t felt the need. I do know someone who has had some concussion issues that wears a soft wrestling type of headgear for extra protection. My son had a concussion water skiing years ago and I have no idea if something like that would have helped.

Sweet looking ski. It looks like that rear boot might be too far back. His back foot should be almost touching the front. A Wileys front will definitely help him out.

Just keep skiing and turn where you expected it to be.

The answer to do I need a new ski is always yes.

As a warning the Carbitex is quite a bit stiffer than the Strada. There are plastic shims in the sides that you definitely want to take out and it may take a few sets to get fully comfortable on it. I made that move last year and it was definitely an adjustment but worth it. My Strada had gotten sloppy and the new boot is much more responsive.

My Dad had one of those in the 70s I forget what year. Great story I am glad you are good.

She still needs to be higher on the boat for her gates. Also she is letting up at times on her offside pull coming into the wakes. If she gets higher on the boat and works hard through the wakes she will be much earlier. I believe in speeding the boat up a bit each time beginning skiers make a pass. I think when they drop back in speed it makes it easier.

Good luck.

Agree with @jhughes. If you are going to ski the course you will want PP. My friends who have had that era RLX did have an issue with the HDS. I have a 2002 and have had no issues. The price seems quite high. I would think 15K for a low hour perfect condition boat would very top of the range I think 12-13K might be more in line.

I agree that she is skiing too the buoys and that is making her late. I would start with her gate having her get higher on the boat and turning in later giving her more angle and making her early. The other thing I would do is try to get her to pretend there is a buoy 20 feet earlier than the turn ball and try to get out to that then start the turn early enough so that she has completed it by the time she gets to the buoy. Right now she is skiing right to the next buoy and starting her turn right there. She needs to get there earlier and turn sooner. Her fundamentals look solid though if she can wrap her brain around that she will pick up buoys quickly.

I have a Camaro and an Eagle. The Camaro definitely has more padding and flotation. It is also heavier when wet. Eagle does make a vest with more flotation but I don’t think there is more rib protection.

@gavski that is just nuts.