Bill Gladding

Transmissions at least on new stuff are already aluminum. Give me an aluminum block and heads then give me closed loop cooling and heat exchanger. Aluminum manifolds don't last unless used only in freshwater but they don't cost as much as an engine if they do. I drove a Maristar 230 with a VW diesel in it. It pushed the Maristar pretty well but wasn't a racehorse up to max speed. It had closed loop cooling and was a V6 advertised at 325kg bobtail. No cheap or simple substitute for cubic inches and iron but something will come along eventually along with changes in the hull construction and design also.

Pretty but not practical. We used to park next to each on the shore waiting our turns but no more. Rubber did suffer with the whacks but that is what "chaffing gear" is for.

I owned a 2006 Response then a 2008 and felt the 2008 had better wakes. It felt like it rode more on top of the water and was more sensitive to balance. With only a driver aboard we used to ballast it using bag(s) of play sand or the wake would be really hard one way.

I had that in my left index finger knuckle so changed handles and after a month or so it went away. I have had pinky finger tendonitis from grabbing handle close to bridle. When line comes tight it pinches and makes pinky sore.

I don't know what the weight in yours adds up to but we ran ours without the tower, wedge installed or other gear and kept 100 pounds of play sand under the observer's seat unless we had two crew. The boat rides high and seems pretty light so was a little weight sensitive. Do you keep you ski bags and several skis aboard and do you keep them on the same side of the motor box? I noticed with ours that if the boat wasn't level it would make the wake a little hard going one way. Have you crew if any slide back and forth as necessary to level the boat when it is running.

I agree with dave2ball. Last tourney I was in third round was Malibu and It felt softer than the 200 and 197 before it. I almost went up a number. Probably will next time if I get the same feeling on my first two passes.

I have been toying with lengths similiar to Andybs. I started with Andyms numbers but took the length all the way to 6.89 keeping .78 from the tail and about 2.51 to 2.513 in depth (when I change the length I don't fret the small depth changes). At 6.89 the ski was working real well but would not tolerate excess speed into the offside and would blow out the tail or when slow I couldn't hang on at the finish of the turn. Shortened to 6.88 and it is working better not punishing me for carrying speed into the offside. Today I rotated my front binding a little clockwise because I noticed when I would stand up tall into the offside the ski was biting a kind of hard. This also seemed to be an improvement. It helped my onside turns be a little more automatic and I could stand up tall and reach coming into the offside buoys more predictably. I did take a dramatic out the front at 13/55 which sent me sailing down the course landing on my back and skidding half way to the next buoy (opposite side of course). I think that was caused by some habits I picked up trying to turn the ski with the other set-ups. I came into two ball with a ton of space and width and according to my wife when I changed edges the tip of the ski went down and off I went into space. On subsequent successful attempts at 13, 12.5, 12 and 4 @ 11.6 (I have 1/2 loops) no more out the front problems countering into offside and not trying to climb on top of ski to make something happen. Fin adjustments are important but I really appreciate being able to rotate my Strada bindings to tweak ski performance in the turns. I don't see much written about binding rotation but everyone's feet are stuck on the end of their legs a little different and I think it is something that should be taken into account when making adjustments.

Anyone around 6'2"/205 on a 67.5 Elite like to throw out some numbers?

Being quiet (moving less on the ski) also allows the ski to move more easily across the water. Twisting, bending, pushing with your legs and other movements affects the trim of the ski and causes drag. Drag causes you to lose speed which you have to recover by going faster. It's all good (you can make 6) as long as you have the time and space to compensate but as you shorten the rope you have to eleminate drag causing movements and maintain proper balance on the ski because your margin for error shrinks not allowing you catch up.

My wife and son were great too. If you do a little research you will see that just about everyone who has gone through this was immensely grateful for the help they received from family members. You don't realize just how inconvenient it is to run around straight legged (in my case just one). My limiting factor to the vertical position the first few weeks was swelling. When the brace and wrapping would get tight I'd have to sit for a while.

Skiied two sets for two days straight at McGinnis. Repaired knee only slightly sore but recovered almost completely two days later. Forearms and traps still tender to the touch. Hope the rest of the season goes as well although I doubt I would routinely do that many sets in as many days on a regular basis. Work hard Jeff!

Ya, same injury as yours just one leg. You be very careful. I had a good leg to catch myself on if the repaired one needed help. If mine had been bilateral I think I would have learned to tuck and roll. Headed down to Ft. Lauderdale next week going to try and do some skiing at McGinnis while I am down there. Let me know how your recovery goes.

I skied some during the summer but most of what I did was drills. Hanging out on one side then the other and pulling out from the wakes each side. No wake crossings for a good long time, then skied in front of the buoys so I could be smooth and not get pulled down trying to turn exactly at the ball. Skiing was the hardest thing I did to my knee it usually made it sore which stopped me from doing other constructive things for it until it settled down a few days later. Keep in mind I had one good leg which was my front one. I began as soon as I could on treadmill walking, eliptical, biking and finally running. Biking was the best it would actually shrink my swelling. I can run but won't anymore until it at least gets in the mid to upper 60s on a regular basis. I highly recommend road biking or spinning if you can. Just make sure you are set-up on the equipment properly. No impact, makes your legs stronger, good for your cardio and social if you can find group rides (usually good scenery in spin classes/vanillaforum/js/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-cool.gif). I think it did more for my recovery than any other activity. I don't plan on skiing until it warms up a good bit here in Jacksonville, Florida and hopefully it does not bother my repaired knee when I do. I have been skiing the course since 1999 and managed to do pretty well at 2008 Nationals but don't see myself continuing if it causes any significant discomfort. I will be finding out in a month or so... Good luck with your recovery!

I ruptured my right quadriceps 03/07/2010 got repaired on the next day (turned 50 04/29/10). I got ROM to bicyle within about six weeks and in October skied a tournament but probably shouldn't have because I got a little deep trying to get one more buoy and tweaked the repaired knee. Currently faster on the bicycle and stronger in the weight room than pre-survgery but waiting to see how skipping across the wakes slaloming goes. Be diligent with PT and don't hurry to get back on the ski. Too much to soon just slows recovery and reduces the favorabiltiy of your outcome. My injured leg is probably about 75% of my other now. Ultimately it will be stronger than it was:)

Does the red warning light come on when this happening? If so you need to get a mechanic to plug in and see what is up.Â

I rode with my bindings a hole or so forward of stock for a long time and had good results at 15, 22 and 28/34. Also ran the fin .1 or so forward in combination.  Eventually those settings held me back. Do what Eric says and try different things within reason and go with what feels good and gives you confidence. Work towards technique that is compatible with settings closer to stock. I had an extra set of wheels for my bike when I started riding now I sometimes ride with no hands:D

Hi Jody I am LFF about 200 lbs skiing the same line lengths as you. I started with Mapple's length number (6.837) but am currently at 2.51, 6.848, .79 and wing at 8. Ski really perked up with the longer fin length gliding much better improving my gates significantly. I see Butterfields numbers are a little longer and deeper than mine so I am going to give them a try to see if it helps to keep me from overturning my onside. Also getting along real well with A2 on ZO. I am using Strada bindings on a sequence plate. My plate has a white mark that I thought represented the front heel location but I find that puts me too far forward. I think I am only a hole or two from being all the way back with my current settings.

Rawly, We had something very similar happen to a 197 our group owned. Driver went to reverse when he was slowing to turn to pick up skier and submarined. It wrecked the Bimini and got quite a lot of water in the boat but did not damage the engine, harnesses or other electronics. I would think you would be ahead of the game if they give you new electronics and a 0 hour engine. The rest of the boat is pretty much water proof after thorough cleaning and drying. Your event sounds a little more serious than ours so it might be worth having the shop dye penetrant check the propeller shaft at the propeller end to make sure it hasn't cracked at the keyway. If they are going to replace the engine and electronics maybe you could get one with the correct ECM to run Zero Off.Â

Where'd you see the shiny thing!

I would go with Strada and sequence plate. I came from Wileys too.

Stop the video and look at your position as you are leaving the 2 and 4 balls. Your arms are straight and your knees are soft but your ribs are way too far from your vest and your rear end is too far back. Try hooking your handle to the pylon or anywhere else and lean in the position you are in the video. Then modify your stance by bringing your ribs up between your elbows. It should force your bottom to come forward and your legs to straighten a little bit. That is a better position to be in crossing the wakes. Right now you are heavy on the back foot with your arms and shoulders out front of you causing you to trip over the wake. Keep your ribs up between your elbows and push the ski towards the boat as you approach the bump and you should shoot across without getting pitched off the ski.

Tuning is fun as long as you are going places doing it. I like to get things right then leave them alone but sometimes right can be hard to come by. I have used approximately the same fin settings on the last three skis I have ridden. I am currently riding a 67" Elite using AM's fin settings which I haven't bothered to change yet while I am playing with binding placement. I just started using Radar Stradas mounted on a sequence plate and really appreciate the different adjustment options. I have had chronic bad offside turns (LFF) but by having the option of rotating the front binding I think I have solved that problem. Turning the front binding a little counter-clockwise has made a world of difference. In fact I turned it so far my onside suffered so I had to bring it back a little to even things out. Nice to be able to adjust binding spacing (if you are into that) and also neat the way they can be moved forward and back in half hole increments. At this point I couldn't be happier with them. I am just returning to regular slalom sets after rupturing my quadriceps in March so set-up and technique are high on my list. I don't have much in the bank for recovering from mistakes so I work to ski as cleanly and as efficiently as possible. Yellow and green are going down fairly easily hopefully I can get after blue soon:)Â

If you have two pickups change them and see if it works the other way. If so then one is bad...

Inconsistent and can't keep your arms in? For me that means stand tall on the ski. Sometimes a slump is literally that. Just before you pull out for the gates push your chest up and straighten your body out. When you make your move left soften your knees just a litte but maintain the tall body position while driving your ribs into your elbows. Same thing when you turn in for the gates. Stay tall and drive your ribs into your elbows. When you are not tall on the ski there are too many weaknesses for the boat to exploit and you won't get a good swing going. No leverage + no swing = no fun:(

I have seen those on Star Trek. I think his name is Hugh. Don't get in a run-off with him 'cause resistance if futile!