Thomas Wayne

"TW, why is your right hand so much bigger than your left? Mmmm." Simple: http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/ThomasWayne_2006/Xray1aemail.jpg  TW

A small point: this sport is not "water skiing without the water". There's water, it's just really cold water. TW<---- willing to become combative on this water/no water issue

What's better than a 68? TW

Wow, RD's dinky little handle makes my hand look massive! And you know what they say about that, "big hands... big  gloves." TW

I thought flares went out with the Bee Gees. http://www.atomretro.com/xlarge/black_denim_flares1.jpg TW

"Funny how carma has a way of coming around..." Yeah, she used to come around my place for a while too, but then karma caught up with me and she dumped me for a Buddhist monk. TW

"Alaska - where you can't be too drunk or too fat."  And that's just the women... TW

The best method we've found for keeping tension on a floating course - where there aren't big swings in water level - is a bungee system I came up with many years ago. Wind, ball deflection (due to skier crash), etc. are all quickly corrected by the constant elastic nature of this set up: http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/ThomasWayne_2006/coursebungy.jpg TW

You hear that sound MS? That is the sound of inevitability... TW

Kewl! Log all expenses and keep us posted... TW

"Ski like a girl."  Yeah. Preferably Karina Nowlan. TW

I think I'm going to have some T-shirts made that say "WWWW?" (what would Will wear?) And I'm going to give them out [free] to girls who look like this: http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/ThomasWayne_2006/WWWW.jpg TW

"Food for thought"  Coffee is not food... unless it has Bailey's in it.  TW

First of all, that PP "servo" motor is actually a 1.8 degree stepper motor, and these are readily available on eBay, along with many other discount sources. In fact, here's one now: http://cgi.ebay.com/TAMAGAWA-STEPPER-STEP-MOTOR-with-REAR-SHAFT-150oz-in_W0QQitemZ260490710807QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca674cf17 Controlling it and coordinating it through some sort of I/O (input/output) drive unit is not difficult; I would think an algorithm utilizing simple step and direction commands would suffice. A very dependable driver for this stepper can be found here: http://www.geckodrive.com/ and a discussion or two with Morris would probably be extremely helpful, though you should be prepared to be overwhelmed a bit by tech talk. If you want to discuss it further we can do so privately - pretty sure you already have my email. TW

"I would suck to flt to Ohio to get rated..." Whoa, slow down there big fella! Didn't anyone ever tell you to not lead out a negotiation with your best offer? Start with the small guns, like a cheese platter or something. Save that major concession in case your really need it to... you know, make the deal go down (so to speak). TW

Regarding the FM evo binding, I believe this is the same method and manner of release developed by O'Brien for their new Elite binding. If so I would be inclined to think they're more likely to have integrated the design of the various parts and pieces, rather than modifying existing boots, etc. When in doubt, go with the big company that is the Gold Standard for customer service, and has been around for many decades, IMO. TW

Re: the seized screw - if possible remove the fin block and fin from the ski; position the block sideways (in a vise or something) with the screw "head" facing upward. Saturate the screw and screw-hole with penetrating oil, and keep doing this for a day or two until you can unscrew it. If you've galled up the drive hole such that an allen wrench will no longer work you'll have to buy or borrow the correct size "easy-out" bit to remove the screw, but use the penetrating oil first if you want to ensure not damaging the threads in the hole itself. TW (PS: Kroil is the brand I use - http://www.kanolabs.com/google/ )

Dying young. TW

Growing old beats the alternative. TW

An extra $100, for what is probably a minor additional cost to manufacture, seems a little stiff - maybe that's what they mean... TW

I haven't personally felt the need to make minute adjustments to binding placement, but insofar as this thread is partially about Nick Parsons' statement: "Depending on how the water feels my ski usually requires a forward orbackward movement of my bindings of a 1/8 - 1/16 inch. When skiing athome and dialing in a ski my binding movements often get down to a1/32-inch.", I thought I would mention that incremental adjustment can be achieved with a slight plate design mod. More importantly than making minute [binding] adjustments to tweak your skiing, I think having a very precise way of adjusting binding placement would have value as an initial setup concern. After finding a comfortable setting I would be more inclined to make my tweaks at the fin level. TW

I haven't looked in a while, so I might be overlapping memory of the Approach plates with the sequence plate, but I thought both the front and back RS-1 boots could be maneuvered pretty freely - maybe it's just the back one. The part I like best about the RS-1's, though, is the ease with which I can cant the individual boots and still have the plate riding flat on the ski Years ago I designed a simple plate hole system that would allow micro-adjustments (1/32") using just the standard insert pattern (HO, Radar, O'Brien, etc.) in the ski. It doesn't allow for angling the plate (ala the HO Approach rear boot), but would work very well with the Radar sequence plate - in fact, now that you guys mention it, I might just pull out those old drawings and modify my own plate in anticipation of test driving new skis this spring. If I get around to doing that I'll send the drawings to Eddie and maybe it'll show up in future iterations of their bindings. TW

With the Radar bindings you also have adjustments available from the underside of the plate that allow additional tweaks to the binding placement, as well as rotating the feet independently and canting (with shims). Changing the specific placement of each boot may alter how the full- and half-hole attachment points position the boot(s) relative distance-from-tail numbers - though I haven't tested this hypothesis. TW

Like anything else of this nature the best you can do is research it throughly, get multiple professional opinions, determine who the top guy in your price range is, and then trust the rest of your life to him. The first lesson they teach in medical school is: "God heals the patient, but the physician collects the fee." TW

You might also want to research "chemonucleolysis" - ( http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/chemonucleolysis ) - I don't know if it's applicable to cervical vertabrae, but it is touted as a viable alternative to fusion in other areas of the spine. TW