JohnN

C'mon, @Drago, you know Masters want some 195/35m skis like the ones I have for sale. I think Masters Nationals was won on a pair last year (unfortunately is was SG on a GS ski). Sorry to digress, but our water is getting harder...

@Than_Bogan I've run into that scenario with Bubble Buoys where they feel too hard or push too much water when hit at or below water line, particularly with the rear leg on an offside turn. What seems to happen is they get filled full, then adjusted down so there's no give. For our lake, I bring the sub-buoy up just a little and taking some air out makes them all nice and soft again while sitting perfect.

Some kids never learn to let go :) ... I'm recovering from a broken tibia mid-summer (M4, double Animals, broke forward past the wakes), the good news is, at least in my opinion, a clean break is relatively easy to come back from. Thinking about going hardshell myself, but more from a performance standpoint than a safety standpoint as I had 15 years of no injuries in the Animals. The only systems I'd really hesitate on are the some of the single plate dual-hardshell systems where I've seen *really ugly* injuries. In the end, @RazorRoss3 has it right, the better you can keep your body position, the fewer chances you have to rely on the bindings to keep you from hurting yourself.

Webcast and announcing are awesome. I can't believe how they've kept the energy going all day, for all the skiers.

Interesting idea, and it should be much less complicated. I like that there is strategy involved, more than just deciding starting pass or opting up. A taller skier who typically has an advantage at shorter lines may choose a slower speed/shorter line where a shorter skier may choose a higher speed/longer line to get to the same buoy count. Kind of levels out the playing field... I could even see people changing their max speed based on the site or conditions. Communication with the boat crew would be essential - currently we know when to speed up and when to shorten, with a change to skier selected max speed it would be a little more challenging.

@jp CO has a pretty strong tournament scene, and there are lots of options from pay for pull to ski communities to ski clubs both with and without boat needed. Send a PM if you get the nod and I'd be happy to fill you in. FWIW, it's hard to beat living in Colorado.

make that usawaterski tournaments :-). Already switching gears. The same discussion is happening in the snow ski world relative to gear requirements.

Maybe it shouldn't be mandatory, but it needs to be allowed. One solution could be to allow shortening below max speed with reasonable scoring or allow/encourage skiing up when appropriate? 36 can hurt though, and is the speed where I've seen several concussions. Kids who ski outside of ussa tourneys will likely have to go 36 as well. FWIW, the jump to 36 hasn't seemed to impede the three we've had go this year and last. Each has exceeded their 34mph line lengths within a season or two (15@34 - running 22@36, mid-28@34->mid 32@36, 1@35@34->2@35@36). 30 to 34 was a bigger jump, IMO. Finally, big picture wise, sending boys to 36 when they hit M1 and are at risk of quitting anyway would probably hurt the sport more.

Ethanol on a hot day is likely the problem. Before you go, insulate the fuel lines and the fuel pump if possible, when you're there prop the cover up with something when taking a break and it should help.

Isn't ZO the only variable in the equation? A solid PP boat is easy to get but it's still leaves a competitor at a disadvantage. To back up @Horton with his assessment, ZO didn't drive our family out of the sport but it caused us to reduce our interest as competitors and to reduce our associated equipment purchases, regional and national participation, etc.

Both my kids love their Apexes for both the comfort and the performance (mid 32 and mid 35 at 36mph), FWIW. I've skied in them and thought the lateral response was better than my Animals with much better comfort.

@DW Which tables are you referring to in Accuski to modify the feel of the pull, and how can they be accessed? Happy to spend some time testing it out. Maybe there will be a run on any remaining NOS Accuski parts :smile:

@E_T I get it. But, for me, that would be my threshold. It's not worth more than that on a 1200 hour boat that skis just fine just to get a zo pull. If I had a carb or needed a repower it would be a different answer.

Found a milk jug course somebody set at the end of a bay on Lake Powell. It all progressed from there.

The $3K number seems reasonable to add DBW/ZO to a boat that has EFI already, just for the tourney pull and the driving ease. At 7K I agree, you're getting close to a much newer boat.

LT1/Powerslot is one of the all time best combinations for skiing. Come on @Horton, figure out how to add ZO to it cost effectively (we have a 97 LT1/Slot and love the boat, just not the lack of ZO).

Tactics - I've had good luck with having kids finish the turn at the ball (as opposed to ski around the ball). Gives them a bunch more time to get across the course. +1 for wide skis, slow speeds, light rope, and working outside in (outside 1, shadow 2,3, 4, 5 go around 6 then add 2 and 5, then 3 and 4, then add gates). When they're close and looking good, but get behind by 3 or 4 make sure they're getting enough width before turning in for the gate. Big picture, focus on body position, head/hips/arms/grip if on one ski.

I really can't say - it was straightforward to mount and tightened down securely with no apparent gaps. The screws are bigger than the standard binding screw, but, there is only one in the toe area and one in the heel area. 3 slots give you the ability to adjust the binding side to side and fore/aft. The base is pretty thick plastic or composite and the screws go into inserts. I'm sure HO tested it under strain, and at 28 off I didn't notice any untoward flex. Probably the biggest thing is it doesn't look like you can use them on anything but a new HO at this point.

I took a ride on the Vmax boots today on a v-type, and here's what I felt in one set, on different bindings and ski. The initial impression of the bindings is that they are sleek, light and feel well-build. Mounting the bindings was way easy once I got the feel for it. Only two screws per binding! The secret is sliding the boot forward to get the toe screw in, put the back screw in loosely and then adjusting the fore/aft position and tighten. Overall the binding/ski combo was probably the lightest I've ever picked up, amazingly so. Getting into the boots was super easy, the new lace system and rear lace holder excellent. Very comfortable out of the box. The boots snug up well without having to crank on the laces, without the sloppy feeling that you can get in a boot with a separate liner. On the initial pass the boots felt a little sharper/more responsive than my normal bindings (HO Apex), but by the 2nd or 3rd pass they felt pretty normal. No cramping at the ends was a definite bonus in maybe 60 deg water. I didn't get a chance to test the release, but with the bungee laces I would guess it to be similar to the Apex's. At the end of the ride releasing the laces and getting out of the bindings was way easier than the Apex bindings. The only change I would maybe make, other than fine tuning the binding position, would be to maybe try to blow out the little toe pocket of my back foot to accommodate a "sixth toe" from snow skiing. As far as the ski goes, it was fresh out of the plastic, no calipers to check the fin or anything. My usual ski is an A2, and the V-type felt faster through the wakes, and easier to get under the rope coming out of the turn. The offside was fantastic, the onside will need a little adjustment to tighten it up, possibly just by adjusting the binding position slightly. The feel was easier skiing and faster than the A2, but a little more responsive than the A3 I demoed last year. Also, this is about the 8th set of the season, slightly breezy, cool air and cold water, still just working through warmup passes. Overall, I would say both the bindings and the ski show a lot of promise and I'm looking forward to trying them out as the water warms!

You've got a ton of great advice here. One thing that jumps out to me comparing your video to Stisher (1:28) and Rossi (0:18) is that their inside shoulder is leading the way all the way through the finish of the turn where yours is rotating in early taking the pressure off the inside edge of your ski. Think of it in snow skiing terms - if you're carving a turn and, after you cross the fall line you rotate your hips and shoulders into the hill the the turn either washes out or the radius increases due to less inside edge pressure. I think if you can convince yourself to keep the inside shoulder up and leading, the radius and finish of your offside turn will stay more constant and smooth out. In addition to what everyone said about the hips forward, weight distribution in case you don't have enough to think about.

Vail, BC, Copper, all good this week and as @Marco said, the southern mountains got dumped on. I've been at Steamboat this week and the top of the mountain has been outstanding (thanks Troy and Becky). Sunny in the forecast now, though, so it will likely transition to more of a spring feeling but the coverage is good. After thinking about getting the boat out a few weeks ago it's been a nice change.

Catching up on a day off of races (for me). @jimbrake the kids are still psyched to waterski, but the summer camps are becoming more important. I know they'll have a chunk at Mt Bachelor, and maybe a little overseas. Saw your message about painting BOS a little too late - would have been good :-). Talk about a small world - after the snow talk on this thread who do I get introduced to Saturday at the end of the day but @MarcusBrown, skiing with a buddy of mine.

Good to hear from you @jimbrake . We made the move to the mtns so the kids could train at Vail. The World Championships are a huge deal up here, tons of people from all over, live music every day, lots of work for locals and the 2200 volunteers. We've been watching events from up close - I'm one of the dye crew (painting the blue lines on the courses) for the event, and the kids have been on the slip crew (60+mph slipping for some of them on the DH course). The coolest thing that you don't get on tv is the sound the WC downhillers make when they go by - sounds like a freight train passing.

Men's SG postponed today. Nyman spent a few hours after the cancellation taking laps in the terrain park with the local kids who had been slated to slip the course. Pretty cool!

@Bruce_Butterfield I think your suggestion is right on the money for a truly elite Nationals. At various times our family has been qualified for Nationals, but we haven't gone due to the time and, yes, the cost for one set. Qualifying and Head to Head would make it much more exciting, and a 3 day event would be better. I probably wouldn't make the cut, but the kids might, and with enough ski demos in one place I would be more more motivated to take them for sure. As far as the Nastar Natl's comparison we went for several years when the kids were smaller. That event would be more like having ability groups, a huge party and 4 ball courses. Fun, but not really testing and crowning a national amateur champion. We stopped going after the courses were made shorter and easier, and parents were complaining about racers who skied in other series of races besides Nastar (USSA). Probably more comparable to INT Nationals than an AWSA Nationals (not that there aren't great skiers at both INT and Nastar Nationals, but they're not where the most serious amateurs are). FWIW, the team aspect and the multi-day jockeying for the leader board of Nastar Natl's were probably the most fun part for me.