T-fromTO

@Stevie Boy , you are not wrong. You guys just LOVE all the super techie stuff, boats, gear, settings, gadgets. You can't get enough of it! For example, there is a popular thread on here that has over 3000 views and over 100 comments about a gadget. That just blows my mind, I didn't make it through 2 minutes of the video before I was bored to tears. I think a big part of why guys are so attracted to this sport is because of all the "stuff" that goes with it. Not saying that there is anything wrong with that, but it is one of the differences between the sexes that men can find gear so endlessly fascinating and that women (in general) don't. I personally just want to ski. I am of the set it and forget it mindset. I do read a lot of the theory and technique threads as I am interested in improving my skiing but I pretty much skip all the boat engine and fin setting stuff. PS And thanks for setting up our skis for us!

@efw More like beer without a frat party.

Here is a comment from a woman (albeit an addicted slalom skiing one). Absolutely, go for it! 2 hours is plenty of time!

@mwetskier kinda got it right as there can often be a frat party atmosphere on here. That said, I do appreciate Horton's efforts over the last couple of years to tone down the frat boy thing. I think it is working.

Wow, 2 dislikes! I genuinely thought people might be interested to know but I guess I was mistaken. I'll be quiet now.

Got this information from an email from George Levien to Harald.

The results of the drug tests for the Big Dawg finalists have come in. All 16 skiers tested negative. (Got this information from an email from George Levien to Harald.)

The protest didn't "get heated", it started out heated around the middle of Rodgers pass and didn't cool down!

Please, everybody understand that Dave Miller did not personally start the protest!! It was the other skiers. I am the girlfriend of one of the Elite 8. I was there, and watching Jeff come back down the lake just felt SO WRONG! I'm talking about a gut level reaction. I get that in hindsight starting the protest was probably the wrong thing to do, but at the time the sense of injustice was overwhelming and the Big Dawgs acted on it. I firmly believe that if all you guys out there criticizing the skiers were actually a top Big Dawg skier at the site at that moment in time, 90% of you would have reacted the same way. (There were 2 or 3 guys that didn't freak out, but the majority did.) There was no rule book a in anybody's head at the time. I'm talking about animal instincts here and almost everybody has those. Still not saying the Big Dawgs were right but just tired of all the self righteous comments of some of the commenters here.

Unintentionally, this would have made really good reality TV! Although I don't think that is the direction the sponsors would want to go!

@jcamp You are spot on. The elephant in the room here is that the altercation between a sponsor and a final 4 skier caused the skier to disappear for at least half an hour. No one knew where he was or what to do without him. The event was very close to being cancelled because of this.

I strongly agree with @mshaw200‌ I was acutely embarrassed for the announcer having to ramble on for an hour about "getting things just right for the skiers". The audience on shore and at home deserved better then that and should have been informed of what was really going on behind the scenes instead of sitting there like idiots.

@TylerR In defense of David Miller, he did not personally "complain for an hour and delay the entire event'. The other Big Dawg skiers took up the cause on an immediate strong gut reaction to an extremely unfair call. They did this on their own without any prompting from Dave Miller himself.

Harald said that the course was lit up nicely. Better than Okeheelee because there were lights on both sides of the lake. Other elite 8 skiers say that flashes and car lights are part and parcel of the night finals and it would never even occur to them to ask for a re ride. Nautique is likely going to make a new rule disallowing re rides for flashes.

It was very difficult for the chief judge and the Nautique reps to make a strong stance in the face of such a large angry group of protesters. These were people who had nothing to gain personally but just wanted to see the right thing done. I think all would have been okay with a 3 way finals if that had been proposed. As it was, there was an extremely embarrassing time delay where spectators went home, people shut off their computers

@LeonL -Approximately 12 very tall, very angry skiers (and other interested parties) descended upon anyone with any possible authority to overturn the re-ride. Not sure if everyone knows, but Greg Davis is no longer in charge of the Big Dawg events. He is now labeled "Founder and Consultant". Nautique boats now owns the Big Dawg series and as such, they are more than just a sponsor now. Obviously no one can override the judges decision. I believe Rogers knew that and stood cool as a cucumber at the starting dock for over an hour while mayhem took place all around him and the announcer talked himself silly. All so that he could get a second place finish instead of 3rd.

A lot of drama went down tonight. The Big Dawg skiers on shore banded together and vehemently protested this call and it was like a mutiny. The talking heads at Nautique did not know how to deal with the situation and that is why it took so long.

Harald tries to be light on the line as much as possible, but when necessary he will use his strength to scrap out a pass.

Harald has been on the MR ski with Radar boots for about 4 years. Previously he was on Fischer with rubber bindings. Harald's brother in Austria started making the MR (stands for Manfred and Robert) about 5 years ago. His skis are based on the Fischer and are very light and soft.

I was at the tournament and kept track of all the guys that ran 39 more than once. For what it's worth, here is the list. Ward MacLain-twice Jason Seals-twice Tim Huston-twice Todd Johnson-3 times Chet Raley-3 times Harald Hintringer-4 times Jeff Rodgers-5 times Dave Miller-6 times

I guess I will be the first one to congratulate Harald on his second place finish. He ran 4 39's and managed to beat Jeff Rodgers with a very nice score of 2 1/2 at 41.

I do not want to take away from Jay's win but I thought people might be interested to know that Jeremy had an equipment malfunction around 2 ball at 38 where his rear binding came away from the velcro causing his fall. It is too bad as it would have been nice if they could have gone on into 39.5 and posted some higher scores. I do know that all 4 were disappointed with their scores from this weekend. All 4 were recognized on the stage at the banquet though. Will be interesting to see if the Big Dawgs will be invited back next year.

The Pro/Big Dawg thing is a conversation that needs to be had. What is it about these Big Dawg events that make them as popular (or more so) than the pro events? I've worked out a few reasons. 1. The average water skier (male, over the age of 35 with job and family) can relate to these guys (male, over the age of 35 with job and family). This is their peer group. They say to themselves "If I train really hard maybe I could ski in one of these!" or "What if it was me out there? How would I do?". This is huge, it makes it personal. 2. There really are about 15-20 guys who could win a BD event. The competition is so close between so many guys that it can't help but be interesting. With the pros, there is such a narrow field of guys that can win their events that they have become somewhat predictable. 3. The format of the BD is very cool. Any guy 35 plus can pay the entry fee and get thrown into a pot with up to 50 other guys. They ski 2 rounds and try to make the "Sweet 16" head to head to make the "Elite 8" head to head. The BD events really are well run events at great and varied sites. The fact that it is an international series adds to the cache. I'm just calling it like I see it. Not really sure what we can take away from this to make the pro events more interesting.

Just a couple of observations as I was there this morning for the whole thing. They did a head to head with those guys with Jeremy and Harald paired and Dave M. and Jay paired. Jeremy was running his 38 but stood up at 4 ball once he knew he had beaten Harald's score. I kind of wish he had continued skiing just to see what he could have done. Also I would not say that they had the best water as the morning calm made the rollers even more obvious. The slight wind that came up as the morning progressed helped to mitigate the rollers.

Not sure about "Hot Dawgs" for the women, just in case some of them are not actually hot! How about "Lady Dawgs" instead?