ForrestGump

My girlfriend announced that she wanted to start skiing. She's very athletic and picked up wakeboarding with ease earlier in the summer. Put the boom out, pulled her up, and let her ride beside the boat a couple of weeks ago, but she's never done a deepwater start on a slalom yet. So, what is a good choice of a ski to put her on? I'm wanting to get her something that she can learn and improve on and start running the course, but not something too radical.  

I tried Schnitz's mini wing today for the first time on my RS1. Usually I run with no wing. Going from no wing to the mini wing did nothing but make the ski feel better.........the ski was more stable, it turned on a tighter radius, the tip was noticeably down, etc........ whereas going from no wing to the standard wing made it feel as if I was dragging a cinder block behind me. It did force me to move the bindings back to stock, rather than having them forward. Now this comparison was between the original Radar wing and not the new low profile stainless wing. The only downside was having to drill another hole in the fin since the screw hole centerlines are narrower on the Schnitz wing. I ended up giving the new radar low profile stainless wing to my buddy who's on a 9800SL and he likes it compared to the stock Goode wing.

I was going to say the same thing as Brent. Setup of the ski doesn't seem to be the issue. Keep in mind that probably 90% of a problem at one turn are a result of the turn prior to it.In addition to reaching for the handle, I see you sweeping your hand and handle across your body at times to get it to your free hand. I was taught that your reach should almost be like a boxer's punch up to about eye height and about 45 degrees from straight out. Then you should reverse punch back down as the ski comes around. Pulling back the handle should be the exact opposite motion of reaching it out. As the ski rotates back under you, your free hand should naturally land on the handle. When you try and reach for the handle with your free hand, or sweep the handle in front of you to get to the free hand, your body can't end the turn with the natural inclination and load against the boat that it needs. This sets you up fast and narrow into the next turn.  Another thing that has really helped me lately is rather than pull my arms in towards my hip when I get them both on the handle(I'm seeing you do this), is to push them down towards my thigh. This really seems to let my body fall away from the boat and let the ski finish what it's started to do and leave me in a strong position.

Here is ours. Myself and 4 others, plus the two brothers family who own the land are the only people with access.

 

 

There are some vintage wood skis on ebay right now. Even 3 or 4 Majerajah's!

We use the skier to skier bouys. This set has been installed since May. Just need to jump in the water and clean the algae off them before our last tournament in two weeks. I think we've only lost one to puncture this entire year.

hahahaha. No way!  The Western Wood stays with me!

I did notice that Lapoint used a bottom concave similar to the Sixam with the flat rails under the front foot.

I had an MPD and RS1 side by side and my untrained eye saw more tail rocker in the MPD.

Geez, I hate selling stuff. I swear everyone wants something for nothing. I've been offered $350 and $400 for this ski. And I looked back through my logs and I have TWO sets on it. I think I'll keep it. :) I've got a 68 RS1 on the way that will be taking up space next to the 67 RS1, the Western Wood 68, and this SS. I'm starting to feel like Rock Star Horton with my little collection. :)

My local ski shop got in their A1s last week. Damn, that thing is NICE looking.

It's odd......In our area, the nautiques with ZO seemed to get better this year, whereas the MCs with it seemed to get worse. But then again, my friend Mike skied within 2 bouys of his pb at nationals behind the MC and said it felt great.  Makes me wonder now how much it is the difference between some of the boats.  The fact that we're still discussing this issue at the end of the year still says that we have an issue with speed control in our sport. 

I agree with pretty much everything Roger said here. I got mine in early June and love them.  I've released out the front multiple times without issue.  What pushed me to get into the RS1's was that I did not come out wearing D3s when I stuffed it at the bouy and I ended up with a small spiral fracture in my femur. It didn't keep me from skiing but made my shin feel as if I'd been kicked by a horse. lol I feel safer in these than I have in anything else.  I wear a size 10.5 and bought the 11s. I don't even bother to cinch the lower laces. Just wrap cross and wrap the laces over the top posts and snug the adjuster. The only gripe I do have is that the laces pulled out of the clamps on both. After talking to Eddie, he had me reclamp em and tie a knot in the laces right at the clamp. He said to pull on the knot rather than the clamp and I should be good from now on. Before my rear foot would be cramping by the 4th or 5 pass. Now my feet don't bother me at all.

 Shane Hill

Damn, the black is sexy. Eddie told me they're all sold. :(

New in late July, then I tore my trap so I'm out for the year.  Only 3 sets on it before I injured myself. Perfect condition top and bottom. $600

I bought a 68" Western Wood Mike Suyderhoud ski in good condition this week. :) I even found a new in the package Western Wood ski bag for it. :)

Do you have a picture of the new black ski?

I'm glad to see this one end, myself. I managed to get a grade 2 tear of my left trap 2 weeks ago(2 days before the SCR Regionals). The doctors told me Thursday that it's probably going to be another 6 weeks before I can ski again. :(

Interesting topic here, John. I think your talk about roll stability brings me back to my feelings about the difference between the RS1 and Sixam SS.  The RS1 does seem to be a lot more stable under foot as you're letting the ski swing out from under you coming off the 2nd wake. Whereas the SS feels like it snaps from one edge to the other.  I ski the same bouy count on either one and both seem to get about the same width. It's just different.

 So on the A1, the ski feels longer in the preturn. What about from the apex on?

Hmmmmm...... I like Andy's skis, myself.  I'm afraid that if I tried the new one, I might just have to buy it. Damnit, I'ma already splitting time between a Sixam and an RS1. $4000 worth of skis is JUST what I need. LOL

I don't necessarily agree with the issue of speed. I think it's ok to shorten the rope at slower speeds, as you learn a lot from that.  I find it easier to learn new line lengths by slowing the boat down 2mph and then incrementally bumping up the speed a little bit at a time until I'm running the new line length at the max speed. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I saw that. I also love how he says it comes with a 12 month extended warranty worth $249. And then says you can delete the extended warranty for a $100 credit! LMAO

Our private lake north of Houston is the same way. It's got a high clay/silt content and everyone comments that it skis very well compared to other cleaner lakes in the area. The comment is always that the ski shuts down. We actually drained the lake over the winter, got rid of mud cats that were stirring up the silt, and filled it back up and it was noticeable that the ski glided farther than before.

I'll get that info this week.  For the life of me, I can't remember where we got the powder dye from. 

At tournaments, everyone looks at me like I've got a 3rd eye when they see my ski without a wing. lol.

I tried one on my RS1 the other day. Just skiing in a straight line you could feel that the tip was down more. But it just feels like I'm dragging behind the boat and in the edge change. So I took it off and moved the sequence plate forward one hole. I did get a mini-wing from Schnitz the other day to try. It's 1/2 the size of the wing that comes with all of todays skis. I'll post what that feels like after I try it.