jhughes

@Drago - No. :p

May be the first time on BOS I've seen someone spell "pics" correctly with no 's. Thank you for that.

If you're a Radar skier, a D3 is going to be a departure for you. You might like that departure, you might not. Very different skis. NRG are deep riding, snappy turning, stable and reliable machines FWIW.

15, 16 are better but they are all good. I've seen extremely wild fit and finish fluctuation 17-21 but they all ski very well. 12-14 had the engine further back, the kinda odd straight throttle lever and single spoke wheel which all were meh.

250 on mine, not a hiccup in 6 years. Love love love this engine. So not exactly what you were looking for but it's been fabulous for us. Everyone I ski with loves the pull and we ski behind all the latest motors and boats as well. Removing the intake manifold and cleaning the valves is a simple DIY with easy access (and only 1 intake valve per cyl) if it ever comes down to it. Not something I worry about at all.

Call Steve at Bennett's, That'd be your best bet as far as straight up volume of Prostars going through there.

Maybe a boot move but I'd leave the fin stock on a D3 at the described skiing level(s). Seems like stock numbers in general have been good across the board with modern skis vs. some "magic settings" being out there like the old days.

Another option is to simply replace with a used GT40 that somebody else pulled out of their boat from a ZO conversion project for a couple grand if you're patient. Or move the GT40 top end and electronics to any 351 marine block. Good GT40 engine computers are getting rare, too, by the way, so that part alone has some value.

5 sets at Swiss last weekend, spectacular.

Was that a Wade Williams reference in that photo mosaic? Upper left? Glad this is acceptable practice. I think it's key to highlight that this is different than "turning with the shoulders". Note "the hips are the driving force of slalom" as Rob said so that's the foundation upon which this rests. Don't "turn with" the shoulders if your hip game is not up to par.

@skibrain has it nailed. I didn't know what a course was until I was probably 22. I'm a "first generation" ski nut. When I was a kid we had family friends with a lake cabin and a 1977 Ski Nautique. As a little kid in the 80s I was mesmerized by that boat, it was the coolest thing ever. It's impossible to explain how much cooler that boat was to a 9yr old than any other boat at the time. From the spotter seat of that boat I watched one of those family friends throw up walls of water slaloming down the lake one morning and I'll never forget it. Much later in life it was a crappy Sea Ray I/O that I eventually learned to slalom on and the rest is history, total addict hook line and sinker. I bought my own Ski Nautique before I even had a tow vehicle! Priorities. I also remember in the 80s that almost every adult I knew would at least ski combos and could do it for fun without hesitation. My parents, their friends, it seemed way more common then for some reason. I don't know any people my age these days outside of "ski people" that even want to try combos. That might be a thing/sign of the times, I don't know but the appetite for trying hard things may be less now. So I guess keep free skiing on open water when the rest of the lake is watching, some kid is going to want to do that when they see it. That's probably one of the most important things we could do.

Gold. The first section, the first 15 minutes or so, every skier that wants to improve needs to listen to until they accept it. Well put. I always say "if you're going to ski that easier pass, ski it with purpose and/or ski it like the next pass". Playing with lowering speed... ugh that's going to be a tough one for me but I have to believe you guys! The fear is getting "used" to the slower speed and losing the ability to ski 34, particularly 32 mph vs. 34.2. Probably an unfounded fear, but I wonder if this is different/more significant than 36 vs. 34.

The coverage was totally amazing, super super cool. Very appreciated.

@adamhcaldwell Go get 'em, I'm rooting for you! Back to Than's comment I do think if you are a TWBC sponsor they should know more about the ski and speak favorably about it, the sponsors are helping pay the bills. They throw a lot of free plugs out there in the commentary (how many times did they plug Ski or Die podcast?) and then don't know their sponsor's products, that's an area of improvement for them for sure.

@Than_Bogan it's been a long time since Tony has been on a slalom ski and I can't imagine he geeks out on gear like some of us. The ski looks odd to most people, fair mistake.

51 out of 51 39s run by Nate, never missed, and 25 41s run. Unbelievable competitor.

Amazing show, so incredible to have waterskiing in our living room multiple weekends this year. Tony's comments were very entertaining particularly his reaction to the EM win "if anyone drew that up they CERTAINLY deserve their Connelly slalom ski" LOL. Well done all around, great show.

Covid forced me to set up a home gym in the garage and it's been one of the best decisions we've ever made. Stall mats, a rack, KBs, DBs, bumper plates, his and hers Oly bars, air bike, rower, bunch of accessory equipment, etc. and we're good to go. So good. Tons of use all year round. My wife is doing FPM and loving it ^^^ @JennyLaBaw . Home gym space + FPM is a great match!

Isn't the wild card here the eControls ECU tuning for these motors, in particular even by brand of marinization? I can tell you for example the 5.3 in my SN (PCM) is nowhere near the same 5.3 in the Malibu (Malibu maranization) we also use. Same GM L83 but couldn't be more different feeling and driving.

Funny. I was sitting here watching the webcast, then got distracted for a while. Meanwhile the webcast ended due to high winds, and auto-played the 2020 version of this tournament. I'm watching it thinking "man did those winds calm down! Wow 3 way run off between Freddie/Nate/T-Gas! Wow Fred is on a red Ion now!" etc. I was watching this for like a half hour before I realized it was last year's broadcast just auto-playing.

@ALPJr now Malibu has those hinges holding the doghouse on. Multiple toe busters on that thing and the pin of the hinge rattles out on its own and rolls around the boat, lovely.

For a lot of skiers, the path to skiing better is about leaving assumptions, ego, and skepticism at the dock and being open-minded to real feedback. That's more important than any "tips or tricks". How do you break through that barrier with people who just will not accept the truth?

@FWinter skis an Ion-S, or at least did in 2021. My guess, and I have no idea if this is true, is that the NRG series has a softer tip layup like an "S" ski. I tried the NRG R2 this spring and I liked it, ended up trying an R1 later in the year and loved it, best ski I've ever ridden. So, big fan of the NRG series here. It's a very "turn-y" ski on both sides, huge bomb onside turns always available if needed which is really handy particularly if coming from a weaker offside lean which a lot of folks struggle with. At the same time ridiculously forgiving and neutral wake to wake like all D3s.

More on mine: Year after year what do ski designers think, ultimately, ski buyers want? It seems like most skiers want a ski that just skis the course for them. More buoys with the same or less effort. Ultimately will skis just ski the course for people? No falls, automatic turns? Is this where skis go? I'm so curious as to where skis will go and what limitations ultimately just pure physics has on this.

@Chris Rossi the podcast series was AMAZING this year. I've been contemplating just picking parts of it out and writing about them, each one has highlights that are huge lightbulbs for people potentially. Too busy as of yet to do this. No additional questions, just wanted to give kudos here. Actually, edit: How much innovation is really left in slalom ski design? How about bindings?