LeonL

teammalibu, or anyone else who can help me get in touch with him.  Can I get an email address for teammalibu?

Mateo, yeah you can do a dozen with a envelope of Rit in 2 gallons of water.  Two packs might be better.  Heck I even pour it back in a 2 gallon plastic jug and use it the following year.  Haven't tired the green buoys, as our seem to hold color a lot better than yellow.  I'm sure they will take dye just the same, just have to pick the right color.  Let me know how you like the results.  They will last at least a season before fading.

lkb,  35 in the bag said there is nothing you can do about zebra mussels, but I know a guy who runs a business eradicating them.  I hope that you don't have them, but if you find them let me know and I'll put you in touch with the exterminator.

lkb, Can you see the bottom?  If not you probably will not have a grass problem.  Our lake (where acmx skis also) gets fairly clear in the winter and up until we start skiing a lot in the spring.  Our murkyness is mostly attributable to wake action against the shore and bottom.  Some of the comments about "fast water vs. slow water" as relates to temp may be in error.  I've come to believe (from input from quite a few people) that cold water is not "fast", just the opposite.

Chris, how did the CoX work out for you?  It's cold and low water in KY and I have to wait til spring to try mine.

I do read TWSF and post there occasionally, but it really got bad a few weeks back and I got really tired of reading the flames.  I'm gonna work on getting Nate on BOS.  Don't know him so well, but I know his main ski partner. (ST)

I've met Nate. Pulled him in an "L" in 2009.  Know the guys he skis with daily.  Know what he can do.  The real rub for me in the skifly comments isn't concerning Nate, it's a real slam against people like Dana Reed, Jeff Gilbert, Alan Long, and the sponsors.  These guys are straight-up whether it's a CERL or whatever, things are gonna be right and a score is a score.  I'm not familiar with the site, but I'm confident that Alan (listed as CJ) checked things. 

I'm with Shane.  When I first got ZO I thought "yeah I guess your times are right just because you say they are."  But I had an old timing box from the days before PP and I hooked it up.  Obviously a stand alone system, and as Shane stated no segment varied more that +- .01.  It's virtual in that you tell it where the entrance gates are located and it knows where each sucessive gate is. When the boat reaches that predetermined point in the course ZO will tell you how long it took to get there. Try setting the speed at 34.2 and intentionally drive so that the system does not engage, say at 28 and note the times.  By the way, see how good your times are by hand driving using digital gauges!!

I've personally watched a skier from our area progress over the years until he is currently ranked #10 nationally in M3 and #2 in the SR.  He is obviously a student of the sport and a good observer.  Other than the above mention of laying down the basics,  honing his skill comes from lots of water time.    He tries to ski every day in the late evening just prior to dark, after most everyone has left.  He skis on a public lake with SG and is over 200 lbs.  So he has learned what it takes to perform with whatever system. So you can't discount water time. 

Chris, unfortunately due to low water levels we decided to drop our course for the winter yesterday.  Bummer, so I'll have to wait til spring to find out how I like th CoX.  I did demo a 67" (that was all that was available at the time) back in July and liked it.  I'm about 150-155 so I felt the 65" would suit better.  Honestly I waited until now looking for a deal on ski-it-again on the ski instead of springing for a new one. 

I've got a 65" coming.  Binding placement?  Any recommended fin numbers for a 65" other than Horton's for the 67"?

I guess I'm kinda old school.  I don't think that gates should be called exclusively from the boat.  Sometimes that's kind of a hard read and I always believe that 2 out 3 should make that call.

I think scoke is taking into considation what I mentioned.  There are always skiers who enter your tournament that are judges and drivers.  I and scoke (apparently)took the assumption that you felt that you needed 12 officials not considering the skiers.

I'm with scoke on officials.  You can get by with way less than OB indicated. We, in our club, are fortunate enough to have a senior driver, senior judge, 3 reg judges, a couple of asst judges, 2 reg safety dir, 1 reg scorer and a couple of asst scorers that are pretty new. Now this is not a big club, only 17 skiers counting kids.  This did not come about by accident though.  From the early days I have encouraged (pushed) every new member to get some rating.  Some of these have multiple ratings, but they suffice for sanctioning approval.  We ALWAYS get skiers entered who have ratings as judge and driver.  We sometimes overwork our scorer, but we're working on that.  In KY we try to have a clinic at least every 3 years, but for those seeking to upgrade sometimes they have had to go out of state to get a clinic to suit their timing to test up.

Based on Brandon's response (lack of funds) is there anyone on this forum who is computer savvy enough, and willling to volunteer (read donate your time) to build a computer module for a judge clinic and/or test for upgrade?  Having said all that, as one who has attended many judge clinics the discussions / dialog that goes on always seems to bring up and sometimes clarify some difficult rules.

ShaneH brought to my attention that "Fast Track" to achieve a AWSA judge rating is misunderstood at best and possibly not known of at all.  If you hold a Level 8 ranking in any event you may, by submitting an Assistant Judge Application, receive an Assistant Judge rating in that event.  If you hold a level 9 ranking (to the best of my knowledge, I'll check it out further) you may 1)by attending a judge's clinic, 2) taking (and passing) the written and practical test for Senior Judge receive a Senior rating for the event in which that Level 9 ranking is held.

6balls, offer up those suggestions to your Regional Council persons -- sounds good to me.  Don't want to hijack the thread toward official certification, but one thing does bother me.  I made Senior judge the old fashioned way -- I earned it (lol). Seriously, with the fast track option available for those skiers with an Open or MM qualification, why do I see so few of those guys  getting a Senior judge rating that way.  I still have some concern about fast track Seniors, due to lack of tournament experience (especially boat judge), but it's there to take advantage of and why don't I see more?

Not a ski fix, but a prevention of future problems.  Just try to be more patient in finishing the turn; let the ski come around before you load the line and be sure not to drop your shoulder into the turn.

As a tournament organizer who offered T&B at two tournaments this season we saw 5 skiers utilize the option out of 30 skiers in the June tournament with only 2 improving their score.  In our Sept tournament there were 10 who opted to T&B out of 26 skiers with 3 improving on their round 2 score.  A couple of skiers came back at the pass that they missed on and did go deeper but failed to run the pass, so their score was 3 or 4. So, score inflation did not seem to be apparent in our instance.

Joe, couldn't address rub off of dye from spongex, but there's no transfer from polyforms, dye gets absorbed.  Just soak 'em in a bucket of dye for 12-24 hours.  Turn 'em upside down and tie them down with the bucket bail.  By the way, you mean that you have drivers that hit boat guides! :-)  I paint turn buoys and entrance gate buoys with engine enamel (Chevy Orange color).  Don't ever seem to get any marks on boats from entrance gates (wider of course) but have seen some orange on skis.

Guys I've posted this before, but assuming that you won't lose the guides totally due to damage or vandalism, go with the polyform.  Yeah they cost more but I've got polyform boat guides that are over 10 years old.  They fade out too, but you can dye them (RIT brand  yellow at Wal-Mart) they're bright as new. 

As someone aptly stated earlier, rules are established to eliminate chaos.  Here in KY we go by the rules.  Some we don't like, but we adhere regardless.  I have a problem with the 1/2 buoy - slack rule, but it is what it is and I judge accordingly.  With regard to the little kid who got his gate pulled, I have mixed emotions, but the integrity of the sport and especially rankings and regional/national qualifications are skewed by improperly scoring slalom.   If you look at the AWSA rankings you will find that in B1 the COA for Level 6 is less than a full pass and for Level 7 it is only a full pass at 31kph (19.3 mph).  Shane was PO'd at the senior judge in the boat for pulling his gate, but another judge did as well or he would have kept on skiing.  That's why another rule works -- 3 judges minimum with majority ruling. A note on personal integrity (some would say I'm an idiot) if I miss a gate or buoy I'm through, I quit, regardless of the official score.

Horton, a bio file or user profile would be great so that one could look up individuals at leisure.

This is who I am.  Leon Leonard, age 63 M6.  Got started in skiing at 40, first tournament at 42.  Kinda over the hill but still able to ski near my personal best.  (I guess if you've never been very good that's not saying much).  Personal best in tournament is 3.5 at 35 off and did 3 at 35 in a tournament this season.  Senior driver and senior judge.  Live on a private, 3 event site (don't jump or trick, though) in Eminence, KY (near the center of a triangle made up of Cincinnati, Lexington, KY and Louisville, KY.)  Ski on a D3 RCX with roller blade shells on a Fogman plate.  Ski behind a 2008 SN 196 w/ ZO and a 2002 SN 196 w/ PP classic.  Can't tell the difference.  Ski in about 5-6 AWSA tournaments a year if I don't go to Regionals or Nationals, then a few more.  Our site welcomes BOS guys if you're going to be in the area! 

For turn buoys and gate buoys it's kinda what color you want.  The Overton buoys are the best color for visibility but don't retain the color very well.  The Polyform buoys are more red, but hold their color better.  For boat guides (yellow and green) go with Polyform.  They last forever.  If th color fades you can dye them and they look like new. 

lkb,

 It's kinda about how much you tow.  I have a 5.3 and everyone that I have spoken with says the 4.8 uses more gas than a 5.3.  Go figure!!  Everyday usage you'll spend more on fuel.  Of course if the purchase price is a big savings, it'll take a long time before you lose out $$ on the mileage.  If you don't have to tow very far very often it doesn't matter so much.  For the last several years I've towed about .5 mile per year, (from the garage to the lake in the spring and back in the fall) except for when I picked up my '08 196 in FL.