ForrestGump

Let me continue..........after getting off of the Goode, I realized that I did not feel as secure as it cast out from under me in the preturn. Any little bobble and I'd get into trouble. It feels like the fastest ski I've ever been on but I think that's because it doesn't carry as much speed after the apex, so you have more of a sense of acceleration up to the second wake. I will say this..........bindings made a huge difference on the Sixam. On the Goode, it didn't matter which bindings I used. It felt the same no matter what. Which really surprised me as I always thought it to be finicky. On the Sixam, the D3s felt ok, the BIOS were horrid, and the RS1's instantly turned it into a rocketship. I'm thinking of trying the RS1 ski just to see. I'm afraid I'll like it though! lol

Actually, I went from the Goode to the Sixam SS. The transition was very easy. The Goode "feels" a little faster across the wakes, but I'm earlier and wider on the sixam. The Goode felt like it turned harder, but I carry more speed from the Apex of the turn back to the second wake on the Sixam. I'm guessing that since the pedigree on the RS1 is somewhat the same that it will feel similar.

As far as the ski goes, you could go either way between a 66 and the 67 and be fine I think. With the way todays skis turn, the 67 wouldn't hurt you and would go like gangbusters across course.

Justin, Was it the .125 thick plate with the R graphic or the thinner .100 plate? Have you talked to Eddie Roberts at Radar about it yet?  Shane

Boody, if it's silly to say that the RS1s are safe, wouldn't it then be silly to infer that they aren't? Same goes for the FMs. I've seen plenty of RS1 releases when the ski is stuffed at the ball. If you feel loose in them when the laces are just snugged, you almost have to have the incorrect size. I've also seen people get hurt when stuffing the ski with FMs because the FMs didn't release. Now is that the fault of the binding or the fault of the person setting it up?

WOW, what a difference bindings can make. I recently picked up John's 67.5 Sixam SS to replace my Goode 9700. I went ahead and mounted my old D3 bindings(old style, not Drivers) to it, and 3 sets later had equaled my old tournament PB. I was hooked. Now, when I got it from John, the fin was WAY different than what Obrien calls stock. The DFT was about .100 shorter compared to their numbers. I reset it to Obrien's stock numbers before skiing with it for the first time. So last week I bolted on a set of Obrien Bio's and couldn't ski 15 off, let alone ski into 32off which I'd been doing recently. So I moved the bindings forward. Felt like I was dragging a dump truck. Moved the bindings back and felt like I was crashing into a wall at the wake. Moved the front binding forward and left rear binding stock and it started to feel better. But it would try to edge change straight off the top of the wake going towards my on side. I just thought letting go just prior to the first wake produced some kneck snapping crashes. The first time it snapped into an edge change at the top of the wake and sent me completely layed out all the way out to the buoy line I swear my head rotated 3 times on my neck. lol. So I finally got out the tools and put the fin completely back to how it was when I got it from John, which was shorter, not as much tip, and a LOT shorter DFT and the ski came alive again. I still feel like it needs more tip, but at least I'm back close to where I'd been skiing. I'm just curious what other peoples results have been when going from the old style bindings to the newer, stiffer bindings such as the Drivers, Bios, Drafts, etc. I like the fact that you can run them looser and still not move around. But damnit, I feel like an unguided cruise missile at times!  Shane H

The new Line Lock fin box is nice. Very easy to adjust.

Hey John. All good things come to an end at some point. If you end up with any spares, I wouldn't mind picking up a 106 from you.

Kelvin, John's Malibu is dialed in pretty tight and he is pulling he and I at 180 lbs and Mike A at 160 within .01 to .02 and we're all using N. Mike C hasn't skied enough at 200lbs to be a good test subject. I wonder where the break point is. You've got a 40lb delta and have issues and we're running a 20 lb delta and don't behind basically the same boat.  FWIW, I skied 1 tournament set on the same lake with SG/servo yesterday as we did on Saturday and set a new pb. How can the DBW boats feel so different?

Goode 9700 for sale. 66.25 inch 187 amp. brass inserts epoxied in from day one. Never had an issue with screws loosening. $550.  shane hill

Skibug, I'll try and get the settings my buddy is using on his Response. It skis very well. I know that feeling you're talking about. I felt like that behind the Mastercraft promo boat this weekend.ÂÂÂ

I completely agree KTM. The AWSA should have stipulated to both speed control manufacturers that for them to get sanction to pull a tournament using the GPS, that they had to do both DBW and non DBW, IMO. If ZO had done a non DBW, I would have both SG and ZO on my 05 SN196 and could practice with either one. I know lots of people that would buy both. I don't know a lot of people that are willing to go spend $40K +, though.  Of the seven boats we use at our lake, none are DBW, and none will be replaced by newer boats anytime soon.  Oh well. It is what it is.

jdarwin- Interesting. Now that I think about it, you're right. It was all light weight skiers where the malibue/SG would take off in our tournament. I did see the MC do it one time to a lighter weight skier when the SG was being used.  The pull we're getting behind the nonDBW boats with SG is awesome and I can't complain. But there's definitely some work that needs to be done on the DBW(even ZO) application from what I saw last weekend. I lost over 1 full pass this week when we went from the non dbw boats in practice to the dbw boats in the tournament. And that was at our own lake where I've consistently performed within a couple of buoys of my pb this year. My best score in this tournament was 8 less. WTF?!?! Maybe I just had a bad day.

I was very impressed with the Roadrunner. It uses C Channel main frame rails instead of boxed tubing but I actually like that because I know it's not trapping water inside. The lighting on it is great. It tows well and the boat sits about 6" higher than on a ramlin or dorsey so you don't have to worry about centering it between the fenders. The one thing it could use is a keel V. I say this because with the bunks being higher, you have to back deeper into the water and this causes the point of the bow to end up below the bow roller. So I'm having to pull up onto the trailer, attach the winch, then pull forward with the truck a couple of feet so that the angle is better before pulling the boat all the way up against the roller. If the trailer had a keel V, I think the keel would ride up on that and push the nose up to get it over the bow roller.  For the record, though..........prestige makes a really good trailer.  shane

I just paid $1800 for a brand new single axle Roadrunner trailer for my 05 from Buxton in Lewisville, Tx. So for not much more money, you could get a very nice trailer built specifically for your boat. ÂÂÂ

We hosted a tournament at our lake yesterday. The Malibu had SG only, the Nautique had ZO only, and the Mastercraft had both. They ran the MC with SG unless the skier requested ZO. At times, the Malibu would take off coming into the pregates. We'd have 32mph skiers coming through the gates closer to 34 and 34mph skiers smoking through at 36 or so. Then it'd settle just as it came through the gates. Had a few rerides over that. Not every skier, but out of 26 skiers it happened at least 4 times.  Here's my thoughts based on what I felt between the two systems. I normally ski behind an 05 196 and an 05 Responce LX with SG. Yesterday, the 08 malibu just didn't feel right. Don't know what it was, but it just didn't feel right. The mastercraft on the other hand, felt a lot better, but I could never get free of the boat. It always felt like the boat was running away and advancing too far down course from me as I apexed the turn. With the Nautique and ZO, I COMPLETELY blew the gates on my opener. I turned in where I normally would and had to completely let up as I approached the first wake other wise I was going to be about 3 feet wide of the right hand gate ball. I adjusted on subsequent passes, though. It was definitely an interesting comparison having all three new boats side by side in subsequent rounds. The boats themselves ski so much different now compared to last year, IMO. I skied best behind the MC yesterday. But damn that wake felt hard. hahaha  My friend Mike has been struggling all spring with 38. He's been getting 2 pretty consistently. Yesterday, in the first round he runs 2 at 38 behind the Malibu with SG, 5.5 at 38 behind the Nautique with ZO(he went out at B and then switched to A for the 38 pass), and 2 at 38 behind the MC with SG.  I'm still undecided on this issue. Mainly because we've been using SG very successfully on the 05s. On those boats it feels awesome. But SG on these DBW boats just didn't feel right. shane