lcarnes

Wally Sinker is designed exactly for those specs. Go to http://www.wallyskier.com/

@AdamCord You hit the nail on the head. Having just done two Pro-Am events at what I believe is a world class facility, we jumped through every hoop we could think of to get sponsors value for their investment. Our intent was to provide the full "wrap-around" for the bigger sponsors, including a secondary boat show on the busiest intersection leading to the public lake near the ski lake, premium booth locations in the festival, and premium locations near the lake as well. The secondary boat location would have provided an extremely high traffic place to show off their wares, including wakeboard boats, plus would have attracted even more people to the event. Not only are they stretched thin on dollars, they also are stretched on people; it was too much for them to pull off, which was a huge disappointment for me, and for them. I wanted to show them we could help them sell boats and ski gear. Ironically, we also had sporting clays as part of the event as well. Profits are required for anything to be sustainable, whether you are a small event organizer, huge business or non-profit charity. The only distinction between for profit and non profit is where the money goes. This is the line of thinking we have to have in order to turn this thing around. The idea of a true organization, with dues and decision-makers at the base of it is really worth considering.

Here's all that was left after one got after it in the spring.

@schafer One thing that helps a little is to wrap the part that is under the water with duct tape. That has slowed them down, but I recently had them chew right through the tape on a new one. They like the new ones the best. Besides trapping, we haven't found a true solution.

Another vote here for Wally buoys. Our only problem is that the local otters and muskrats think they are candy.

I’ve read this thread with great interest, partially because for the last two years, I was part of a team that produced a Pro-Am tournament that had over 1,000 attendees each year. We are all coming from our own experience, so I will give my viewpoint. I’m a woman that got addicted to skiing in my mid-40’s. Once the sport got ahold of me, it has not let go, and as a result, I have bought 3 boats, 7 skis, countless ski jackets, gloves, ropes, handles, dozens of bathing suits, hundreds of coached ski sets and a ski lake in the last 10 years. That kind of spending should prop up a sport! I’ve also gotten more fit in those 10 years than I ever was before, even in my 20’s. What has puzzled me from the beginning is this question: How can one of the most addicting sports on the planet have such a hard time attracting new people? And where are the women? It seems to me that if you get the moms, you get the world. Never did the dad say “no, let’s not get that boat.” If the mom wants it, the family will have it. In fact, one of the boat sponsors sold a boat at our event this year. Who wanted it? You guessed it. It was the mom that drove the sale…the dad just did the negotiating. What I learned in producing this tournament is that we ALL need to understand what is attractive about our sport, how people first get interested, and what are the best pathways in for someone to get started. If we are to truly grow this sport, we need to understand how to get the thousands of people who are on the periphery addicted like the rest of us. I’m not sure what the answer is…I do know that we had several new-to-tournament skiers for our event and April Coble’s women’s week (now weeks) brought a lot of new women into the sport, many of whom would have stayed on the sidelines if it weren’t for a place to learn while being encouraged. They come to those weeks for the camaraderie and the fitness. The tradeoff for creating such fitness is that the sport is hard to learn and even harder to master. It’s tough enough to learn how to get up on a slalom ski and dang near impossible after a surf or wake boat just went by. Trying to cut through the wake, reach and carve a turn on that kind of water? For a beginner, it’s rarely gonna happen, especially if they are learning behind a non-ski boat. Even when we have great conditions, we are worn out by the time we have slightly advanced our learning on how to do something new. And another tradeoff is that the more people we attract, the more we have to share the water. I will admit my frustration after getting a number of women hooked on our public lake and them taking up all the good ski time. In doing our event, showing the sponsors a payoff was difficult. Yes, we could promise exposure to lots of people. But how many would be buyers? And when would they buy? At this event, or months or years down the road? The math has to work, or they won’t invest. The target audience has to be there or they are wasting their money. The question is, who is the target audience and how do we attract them to skiing? Should we be marketing to the bored people in the gyms that want a more fun way to stay fit? Should we be targeting women in their 40's like me? Should we be showing up at Cross Fit events or triathlons inviting already really fit people to ski? What will advance the exposure of the sport to people who might be interested? We definitely advanced the exposure of the sport with our event. Our community and the neighboring cities showed up. The pros showed up, and were able to perform at high levels on a full course. (I personally hate that the pros have to be willing to compromise to substandard conditions to get exposure. The NFL doesn’t do that and our athletes deserve better.) However, it’s too time-consuming and expensive to privately fund these things, and it’s hard, if not impossible for the meaningful sponsors to justify spending meaningful dollars without a clear payoff. Here’s what I do know. The sport won’t grow without new blood. The question is how to get there.

We hit 32 degrees in the morning for the first time Saturday morning, and it's been dropping that low every morning since. That just happened to coincide to me not being able to run even a decent opener. The ski was flying past the buoy and I couldn't get it slowed down to turn for the next buoy, although the skied turned fine once I had it slowed down enough. I texted Adam Caldwell with my dilemma and after some back and forth on what the ski was doing, he suggested a 5/1000 move back. I couldn't imagine that such a tiny move could make a difference. It was truly noticeable from the beginning ...I skied some of my best passes of the month today. What is interesting about this to me is that I ski 30/32 at 15 off. (I'm the low speed Denali guinea pig) While I've always tried to have my fin dialed in, I'm by no means a tweaker. However, this experience has taught me it's worth understanding the differences.

We are trying several new things with the Mystic Waters Ski and Skeet to make the tournament interesting for spectators, easily accessible to new skiers and worth the trip for the pros. We are borrowing ideas from Tryon International Equestrian Center down the road, which is drawing 5,000 plus crowds every weekend for show jumping. 90+% of the spectators are not horse people. Their model: create a fun, engaging atmosphere (some call it carnival) and people will come to watch an obscure sport. We will have a “Pick a Team/Win a Prize” booth where spectators enter a raffle benefiting our local charter school and it gives them a reason to cheer for a given Pro/Am team (plus gives the sponsors a new email list). We are including some drama by bringing in Alex the Super Juggler to attempt to juggle on water skis right before the Pro Head to Head final. Pros are vying for $3,000 cash prize for men and $3,000 for women. We will have both MasterCraft and Nautique pulling the skiers in a format similar to Diablo. The handicapping system for the Pro-Am allows brand new, never-skied-a-tournament before skiers to actually have a shot at winning in the Pro-Am for $1,000 split between the Pro and the Am. There is a Health and Wellness Festival that includes vendors anxious to be in front of the athletes, live music, other demonstrations, kids play areas, open slots for the public to join the shooting tournament. We have four outstanding food trucks, and a catered awards dinner open to the public. All of this is a huge part of the draw for the crowd (we are anticipating 2,000). No one was bored last year; it’s a festival you can enjoy all day, skier or not. We are doing this because our ski site is incredibly friendly to the skiers (many PB’s set at last year’s event) and has the infrastructure to handle a big crowd. It’s also EXPENSIVE to produce. Almost impossible to get enough sponsor money to cover the costs. It’s a chicken or egg thing. The only way this kind of thing will get any traction is if the industry supports it.

Plus send her to the Coble Ski School Women's week in September.

We have been holding a Women's Week at Coble Ski School for the last 5 years. We have had women in every decade of age from their 20's into their 70's and in one year, we had a woman of 85 who decided to ski again after 20 years. And she got up on two! Most of the regulars are in their 40's and 50's. One of my regular ski partners is a woman of 73. We call skiing the fountain of youth. Gotta keep doing it!

Xena is actually a pretty good spotter. I don't let her ride in my new boat though.

I really believe that waterskiing is the fountain of youth. More women need to see this! Since 2009 April Coble Eller has held a "Get Fit for Women Week" at Coble Ski School. One year we had women skiers in every decade of life through 80. The stories that come out of our women's week are inspiring. We have seen women turn their lives around and upside down to ski once they got the bug. So many women were grateful for a dedicated women's week because it gave them a place to learn the sport without pressure. In fact, you have never seen a group of women root for each other as strongly as they do during that week. It's a lifetime sport and women are the untapped potential for growth.

Chrome. OS X 10.9.5

I'm going to have fun watching this process over the winter!

We have found hanging a stocking full of moth balls over the boat keeps the spider poop off. Also, be friendly to your mud dobbers. They eat the spiders.

My husband watched a very large snapping turtle surface next to me as I dropped the other day. He had the poor judgment to tell me-and we have a longish wait for the lake to settle down. Only thing I could do was keep my toes in the toe plate and hope for the best that pass. It's one thing to know they are there and another to know one is right next to you.

We had a fantastic turnout this summer for the Mystic Waters Ski and Skeet Pro-Am (between 1000-1200 over the day of mostly open water or non-skiers) on a lake that produced very high scores for both pros and amateurs. We also were able to get a number of first time tournament skiers to enter, and the next day, we did a "learn to ski" which brought out several brand new skiers. My favorite story was the father and two sons that put up their wakeboards to ski on the big lake Sunday morning. We lucked into a site near Lake Lure NC that has the best of both worlds-great water and great viewing. We held a Community Health, Wellness and Art Fair to bring out the crowd, and counted Mapple Skis as one of our supporters. We are sincerely hoping that this venue and the continued support of the sponsors, vendors, pros, regular skiers and hopeful skiers will help us grow the sport. Hoping that my pic will load. I'm new at this.

Great story. I watched Karen run 4.5 at 39 off this last weekend with Whitney McClintock holding Ridge and cheering her on. Karen is indeed Super Mom!

The Lake Lure Ski Club pulled out a Wally Sinker this last weekend that had been sunk for 2 years. It was ugly. But some stuff is still usable, and the Ski Club has no use for this anymore. I've sent you an email message with the number of the person to contact about it.

Reflex says this: "For the maintenance of your release mechanism, we recommend changing the spring and the screw every two (2) seasons. If you ski in salt water, change it every year." My Reflex started doing weird releases exactly two years after I bought it. I just replaced the whole mechanism, because it had been in the saltish water in Acapulco. While $150 seemed high, my question was "If I am injured because of a fixable mechanical problem, how much would I pay to be back on the water?" It was much more than $150.

I'm going to chime in and vote that you come ski in the Mystic Waters Ski and Skeet Pro Am in Lake Lure on August 23. We are just down the road from you and will have F class for new tournament skiers. We will pair you with a pro in the shooting tournament for a chance at a $1000 prize. Your wife can enjoy the Health, Wellness and Art Festival, watch the Dirty Dancing Dancers, a Tai Chi demonstration or even better, get a massage. After that, she can buy a smoothie from Whitney McClintock and take a guided hike around a 162 acre former Girl Scout Camp. The evening will include an awards banquet with beach music and a camp fire with s'mores. Sunday is Funday and we still have a couple of slots for ski lessons with some of the pros. Here's the link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mysticwaterslakelure Deadline is August 1 and we have just a couple of slots left...

My experience is that the larger the diameter of the handle, the more tired my forearms get. But a really small handle tires my fingers. It took some experimenting and I have found that a 1 inch diameter is the most painless for my hands and forearms.

We are having the same problem with our new to us 2013. Really hope someone knows how to fix this. Have been through the manual several times and can't see a way to fix it.

The new release is working perfectly. Closing it is like the difference between closing the door on a new luxury car vs the old clunker. When I really examined my old release, it was rusty and clearly in need of replacing. Just for safety, and because I take my boot on and off every set, I'm going to replace it every year. It's a small price to pay to insure I keep skiing.

Got the new release. Put it on my ski, got in the water and did my old routine. Boot stayed attached to the ski. I didn't actually ski since I had no driver (and it was thundering). Hopefully I can give it a full test tomorrow. So it seems the best explanation is that the releases simultaneously went bad. We decided that it's quite possible that being in the brackish water in Acapulco a year and a half ago might have contributed, even though we thoroughly washed the mechanisms at the time. Wear and tear is definitely not the explanation, as my husband has used his less that 25% of the times that I have used mine. Next I'm going to take the old release apart and see if I can find what went bad. Hoping this episode is behind me!