jimbrake

I have several questions. Is that a typical swedish gym setup? How do you invert on your invert board without hitting your head on the wall? Is that stationary bike as hard to use as it looks? How much do you want for the whole setup? thanks, Jim PS - Sweden has had a lot of great athletes over the years. Props to the swedes.

Your boat path was off.

I've gone to Acapulco the past couple of years and it always exceeds my expectations. The villa you stay in is incredible from the villa itself, to the staff, the food, the views - everything. The weather is amazingly comfortable at the villa, too, as it is at 1,400 feet above sea level. It's a great place to hang out with everyone after a day of skiing. You always have to balance having too good of a time at night at the villa with having to get up to ski the next morning. The ski site and the palapa where you spend the day between sets is also first class. Two courses, great conditions, current or recent Nautiques with ZO, very good drivers and plenty of coaching and video. Ski as much as you can handle. Lots of pro skiers are available to coach depending on the week that you go. Masseuses come to the ski site, too. The lagoon is across the road from the beach, so it's easy to run over to the beach and get in the water if you want. Other activities available include golf at a great course on the beach, surfing, diving, dolphin swims, bungee jumping, watching the cliff divers, and Acapulco nightlife if you want it. Significant others that don't ski or ski a little bit always end up getting into it and skiing as much as the others. I highly recommend it. Jim

Holy crap, Clemson Dave, that is an s-load of tip. I tend to run longer than I see people posting on various boards, but more in the 6.930 range. I know TWinter likes to run his fin pretty long, too, but not that long. Hey, if it works - cool. I found that in colder water longer/shallower works well, and in warmer water, shorter/deeper.

Are you W?

Sorry AGLS, but "her instincts prevented handle contact" just isn't true. LUCK or Karma or the odds or the minute mechanics of her exact fall prevented handle contact. That was a scary fall and I'm so glad nothing went through the handle. F!!! Jim Brake

I dislocted my right elbow on an arm-through-the-handle fall in May '08 and partially tore the ulnar collateral ligament. I got the recommendation from two orthos to just let it heal. I was swimming at about 9 weeks and water skiing again at 12 weeks, but in a very limited capacity. I couldn't really throw a ball until about 5 months after the injury and then only lightly. When I started skiing again in April of this year and started going pretty hard at it, i had a couple of setbacks where it felt like my elbow was pulling apart. Fortunately, with rest and ice it strenthened up and hasn't been an issue this year. When I first injured it I thought "this needs surgery tomorrow", but went with docs recommendations and good rehab. I still can't throw a baseball as hard as I used to be, but good enough to play catch and coach little league.  Good luck! Jim

DSmart, Not annoying at all. Could tell you were checking out the lakes to see what was up. You should've landed - you were up next.

Hey DSmart - off topic, but do you fly a helicopter in Sac? Was skiing at Bell Acqua yesterday evening and a helicopter flew over and Mike Winter said "that's Dave Smart".  Anyway, interesting topic. Surfboard fins come double foiled (like a keel) and single foiled (like a wing) and there are endless shapes and dimesions and fin setups from single fins to the common three-fin thruster to the five-fin bonzer set ups. As far as I know there are no flat fins (blades) on surfboards. I've often wondered what some small side fins would do to a slalom ski's performance. I'm not much of a tinkerer, though, so I've never tried it. Would take a ton of experimentation on size, positioning, etc. Could be potential benefits to ability to hold angle, accel, decel, etc.

Boody, Not an exact match, but I know of a Nautique promo guy at Bell Acqua that has a grey and white '09 (with ZO, of course) that he'll be looking to sell here soon. Don't know what he's asking, but I can find out if you'd like. Sweet boat. I've skied behind it several sets this year. where are you located? Jim

The duct tape cracks me up! Nah, mine didn't look like that. I took one of those plastic dog head cones and just cut out a triangle, punched some holes in it and zip-tied it to the handle. Worked fine, but just liked the Arm-Guard custom fit and Lexan material better. My ski partner made a cover like Rabineau's and it works fine, too. ÂÂ

As soon as I heard about Brett Yeager's accident, I covered my kid's handle with a home-made handle cover and ordered Arm-Guards for their and my handle. My kids never had a ride after the Yeager incident without a handle cover. I on the other hand, delayed in covering my handle and as karma (or irony) would have it, put my hand through the handle and dislocated my elbow on May 10. Was sure I was going to need surgery, but after two ortho docs said no and 6 weeks of rehab, I began skiing again at the end of June with an Arm-Guard. Won't ski without one now. Have brushed the edge of the panel a couple of times with finger tips, but generally don't realize that it's there. I mounted the Arm-Guard on my kid's handle way too close to the handle (about 1.25 to 1.5 inches from the handle) and they have never hit it. I keep expecting dock starters at tournaments to complain about it being difficult to put on the rope, but no one ever has, I think everyone gets it. I have heard the idiotic question of "what if your hand goes through and gets stuck in the gap?" To that I can only say if you knew the force that pulls the handle off of your arm, you'd know that the panel isn't going to hinder that in the slightest. Jim