Thomas Wayne

Be sure to request that your coach is not driving the boat while he watches your video.

TW

(PS: Calm down, it's a joke!  Just a little light-hearted humor...)

I wanna know how long it was after the wedding before you heard the words: "Some things are gonna change around here..."

TW

The proper backward stroke on a rowing machine finishes with the shoulders being pulled back into a "shoulder-blades-pinched-together" position.

Also, I'd have to think that lots and lots of planks and/or push-ups would be good for this issue.

And, finally, maybe a wider handle would help - perhaps even a 15" wakeboard handle - by better allowing your chest to get between your biceps on your pull.

TW

The Eskimos bundle up their "old warriors", put them on an ice floe and push them out to sea.  If that's really what you want I'm sure it can be arranged - but I'd have to make a few calls...

TW

Here's the original Flo-Master plant sprayer I modified a couple of years ago:

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/ThomasWayne_2006/FLOMASSA1.jpg

That was a very quick and easy mod, but now it's even easier.  Go to Home Depot and buy a Flo-Master 1998BH (pictured below).  In the photo you'll notice the end cap (atomizer) labeled "A".  Unscrew this and set aside.  Inside the remaining  nozzle you'll see a soft, semi-transparent plastic piece similar to the illustration on the right.  Pull this piece out and cut off the larger diameter end (discard), leaving only the smaller "shank" - make your cut as clean as possible, since the resulting face will need to seal against the base of an inflation needle.  Replace this shank into the pump nozzle.

Now, using a small drill bit, an awl, or similar tool you'll need to enlarge the hole in the atomizer cap ("A"), such that your inflation needle can be pushed through it - a tight fit is desirable here.

That's all there is to it.  Push the needle through the atomizer cap, screw the combined assembly back onto the pump nozzle and you should be good to go.  Fill the tank about halfway up with water, screw the lid back on and pump the living hell out of it.  Use it to add water or air (or both) to your skier buoys.

TWhttp://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/ThomasWayne_2006/flo-master.jpg

When are you guys gonna learn to put water in your turn buoys?

TW

The distance, in a straight line, from the very tip to the very tail of a ski results in what ski manufacturers (et al) call the "chord length".  If the 65.5 Elite measures 66.5 along its running surface then their size designations are most likely in chord length.

We all learned about the chord of an arc in high-school geometry, and most of you (the lucky ones) never had to think about it again after final exams.

TW

So try this instead:  Run your opener (let's say -28'), for example, then run -32', then go straight to -36 1/2'.  If you run the last one, -38' is just 18 short inches away.

TW

Looks like you have to register with Dartfish TV and then log in to see the video - is that correct?

 TW

At first I was only interested in slalom, but then my sister told me she was getting $100 a trick and I thought "I gotta at least try...."

TW

Intermediate line lengths have been used by skiers for many years to help them "graduate" to the next line length, and the success of the technique is pretty well established.

TW

Up here, where it actually DOES get cold in the winter, we go a little farther.  We drain the block and the heater lines, then pump RV anti-freeze into the heater core.  We also pull the top header hoses and pour a little RV anti-freeze into the manifolds, and the last thing we do is run the engine for a minute or so with the raw water pickup hose stuck in a bucket of RV anti-freeze.

No cracked blocks for us, thank you.

TW

Tell Eddie to start working on the 68" mold next... would ya?

 TW

(PS: Handle measurements?)

So the part that's missing from the tail of Eric's ski... is that just from the corrosive nature of the Salton Sea?  Man, that's got to be some tough water to eat away fiberglass resin like that.

TW

Second on the motion for Shiner Bock.

TW

Ed,

You're right.  I guess I only thought I wanted to shoot my ski.

As for New School vs. Old School, I'm firmly in the New School camp.  My personal beliefs about "casting" the ski out are firmly rooted in handle control theory.

TW

I'm with Gloersen, and have wanted to shoot my ski many, many times.

TW

If is actually is an availability/economics thing I would happily pay extra for a driver.  I agree that a knowledgeable coach can tell a lot even when driving for a skier, but I have a very hard time buying the idea that a coach who isn't watching you ski can provide better input than one who is watching.  That just makes no sense at all to me.

[This opinion also valued at .02]

TW

I'm in a discussion with Wade Williams over on the ProSkiCoach forum about which ski coaches drive while they coach and which ones have a separate driver so they can watch the skier directly.  That discussion can be found here:

http://www.proskicoach.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=5013#p5013

For whatever reason this topic has been separated from one that had other posters involved, and has become a discussion between just myself and Wade, but I'm very interested in knowing what other skiers think about this subject - so I'm raising it here.

It seems to me that when a ski coach also drives the boat he must absolutely be unable to give the best coaching possible, since his attention must obviously be divided between the two tasks.  For my money I am interested in finding a coach (or coaches) who prefers to have someone else drive the boat while they face rearward and watch me ski.  Wade seems to have taken the position that a coach who isn't driving at the same time he's coaching taking the easy way out, is "lazy", and isn't giving the skier the best coaching available.  I can't actually say I even comprehend that logic, but that seems to be what he's saying.

My position is that someone who's driving the boat can't possibly see everything I'm doing - in fact, he/she can't even see 25% of my skiing - and is therefore incapable of telling me anything beyond what he/she can't feel or sense from the drivers seat.  In other words, I think if your coach is also your driver you are either getting bad driving, bad coaching, or both.

i have further thoughts on the subject, but what I'd like to know is:

1) What do other guys think about this subject?

and

2) Which coaches are known to use boat driver - specifically in climes that are favorable during the winter months (Florida, Texas, etc.)?

TW

I wonder if this advice will vary depending on whether one dresses left or right...?  And what if you're Scottish?

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/ThomasWayne_2006/extralargecondomad.jpg

TW

Scot,

We haven't had any sanctioned tournaments in Alaska in over a decade, but we used get a crowd of a few hundred back in the days of the July 4 State championships.  That said, the last tournament I attended in the lower 48 had a decent crowd and media coverage - of course, that was the recent Diablo Shores Pro-Am, so the demographic may have been skewed a bit...

TW