Craig

@ScarletArrow, @jhughes, Identifying issues is only part of the equation. You still need lots of buoys practicing fixes to the issues to make any headway. In an ideal sense, if you are not making progress you are either, not identifying a critical problem, not implementing a correct solution, or not repeating a solution long enough to make it second nature. If spending a lot of time at 28 is going to help you identify what issues you are having that are hindering progress, that is awesome and, I agree that is worthwhile. The point I would add is, once you identify them you need to find an appropriate fix and manage to integrate that into muscle memory. I think that requires time behind the boat and a lot of buoys. Personally, I find the change in speed to be much more distracting (e.g. I would much rather spend time working at 36/15 than 32/28) but that is me.

I wouldn't use stupid either, but I would not abandon those line lengths. You need to spend your sets running good passes, not just trying to to run passes. I too have struggled for several years at these lengths. Late last year I started running 22 with some consistently and ran 28 for this first time this year. It was not until I accepted that I needed to spend a lot of time running passes with good form and started managing my sets as such that I started to break out of it. In an average 6 pass set, I want to turn about 32 buoys. If it is early in the year, I want to turn 36. If it is a tournament set, obviously, as much as I can but I don't worry about it. If I am not turning a lot of buoys in a set that is one indication (not the only one) that I am doing something wrong and it is time to take a step back so you don't practice bad habits. Additionally, I am finding out that spending time with better skiers/coaches with accelerate this. Hang in there, get someone to watch you, and run a lot of good quality passes. My 2 cents.

I think what @DavidP is asking can be rephrased as: What ski can you move the fin by some amount (say 0.010") in any dimension and feel the change the least relative to it's original fin position? Is that right, @DavidP?

Build a pylon mount for one of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkhI4s6gLsA#t=43

I was in the same situation as you but I am one size up (10.5 running shoes). I am in a 10 Strada and it is exactly as @eddie_roberts_jr described above. It was tight for a few sets and settled in and now are just perfect.

When coaching, brevity is important. I also try and think of something to tell the skier to do/focus on as opposed to something NOT to do. I also try to analyze for a bit and took for repeated trends. Giving someone advice based on one bad buoy is really frustrating to the skier. I also try not to step beyond my coaching reach. If I do not see something, I am not going to make up something for you to work on. This is particularly relevant when skiing with people at skill levels that I do not have a lot of experience (both behind and in the boat) with. From the skiers perspective, I have found it useful to have a plan for each set and make that plan clear to your boat crew. If they know what you are working on, they will tend to focus on that. Since I also find it useful to work on the same thing for many sets at a time this will help keep your sets focused and help keep too many stray ideas from clouding the issue.

@Than_Bogan‌, it is a southern tradition; A cake to reflect the grooms interests. I am from the Midwest and was married in the South, I was also confused by the term when my wife and I were wedding planning.

I will second what @webbdawg99 said, fondant is nasty. A ski or boat cake would be neat (I am not very creative). I would also add the following: http://cdn.cakecentral.com/d/d6/900x900px-LL-d6d624b3_gallery7249871257891356.jpeg http://www.yenerscakes.com.au/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/img_3628.jpg Also, do not forget: http://cf.chucklesnetwork.com/items/8/1/0/8/5/original/eat-all-the-cake.jpg

Beautiful place to ski! We took the plunge and purchased a lot this winter and could not be happier.

I time just over 3 seconds of hang time, AMAZING!

My favorite memory of a ridiculous spring collegiate tournament. Skiin' Freezin', early April 2004 (I think) on Lake of the Ozarks, MO. A portable course was stretched across a cove in front of a major bar/restaurant and marina with many gas pumps, on a Saturday. Friday night we arrived in MO, and within a few hours were told that we were not allowed to come back and stay Saturday night. Saturday morning, the tournament began with a lakeside bar as a staging area. If you were early in the morning you only had slight wind and rollers to worry about. As the day went on, the wind started howling, whitecaps were plentiful, and there were many pauses in the action for 40 ft yachts to plow through the middle of the course on the way into the cove. The guy who won was one of the first skiers of the day, normally skis into 38' off, and won with a full pass at 22' off, if I remember correctly. I think he was the only person to run a pass all day. Most everyone else fell between gates and 1 ball. We found a new place to stay Saturday evening and spent Saturday night at the lakeside bar laughing at our attempts to ski in such a ridiculous situation. Off the water, it was a fun tournament, but that was the lowest ski-time to travel-time ratio I have ever had.

Ski Safe for the 5 years I owned my boat. Never made a claim, but the price was right! State Farm for everything else. State Farm does not seem to know boats very well.

:ast year there were 4 M2 slalom skiers in GA and 2 M2 jumpers. Even when we were at the same tourney, they are all significantly higher skill than I am (I did take the state jump title though, by default). There really is no competition, so I just want to move up the ranking list and continue to get better. The social atmosphere makes all the difference. We went to 6 tournaments last year, looking at 8+ this year. Without some friends and other good people we met last year we wouldn't be as interested in more this year.

I have some knowledge of metrology, 0.001" or even 0.002" using a pair of calipers on a series of curved surfaces would never be considered in a manufacturing environment. 0.003"-0.005" is a reasonable accuracy/repeatability target for a pair of good calipers used in this way, perhaps you could get a bit better with practice. Start using Harbor Freight calipers and all bets are off. That said, 0.010" is a lot. I know I can't feel 0.010" but my skill level is pretty low, I can imagine it may make a difference for higher skill skiers.

Congrats, huge milestone! Been there, have a t-shirt (at least metaphorically). When 18.25m is dialed in 16m seems to come without too much struggle. 14.25m, is a different story...

@Ajskier, this is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for, thank you. So you put your skis with tips toward the trunk?

@oldjeep I want to be able to fit 90" skis...like I said, tall order. The thickness of the rack was a concern too. Have you tried to put a slalom ski in one? I feel like I can engineer myself a solution to rocks and debris from the road but I don't want to even consider the racks unless I know things will fit. the boxes are a good idea, I will just need to dig around some more. If someone has used one for jumpers it would be good to get some of that input. I have also considered strapping the three event bag to the roof and accepting that it will just get dirty.

@oldjeep I am not opposed to one, but cannot find one that comes close to fitting jumpers edit: found a couple of Yakima models that would probably fit medium sized jumpers. I will consider this, but I would rather be able to fit it all on the roof. That may be a tall order.

2009 Jetta TDI. I am tired of burning silly amounts of gas with the truck to get to the lake. I am hoping to fit a pair of jumpers and two slalom skis, jumpers at a minimum. This looked like it might work: http://www.thule.com/en-us/ca/products/carriers-and-racks/winter-sport-carriers/roof-mounted-ski-carriers/thule-universal-pull-top-92726-_-92726999 I am concerned it is not wide enough and the padding is not thick enough to get a pair of jumpers locked in. Any experience?

The hp rating is given at some speed, rpm, that is also typically peak hp, which is not the same rpm as peak torque. Imagine two engines a 6L and a 3L which we have magically been able to make identical in every way (all of the inefficiencies, heat losses, leakage, and etc.). If the 6L generates 409 hp, peak at some rpm, the 3L would need to spin at twice that speed to generate the same hp. In reality this does not happen for a variety of complicated reasons (e.g. the friction of a piston oscillating at twice the speed would go up dramatically). Additionally, It is far more difficult to get something to reliability run at 6000 rpm than 3000 rpm. It is not an impossibility, but I suspect the cost of this is far too high at this point for such a low volume market. The auto industry has the massive advantage of volume which allows them to incorporate more advanced systems, engineer the cost out, and amortize that cost over the many millions of units sold annually. The marine industry, particularly the inboard marine industry, does not have this so they have to be a bit more risk adverse. Pure speculation, but I suspect the marine engine industry relies on the pre-engineered solutions that trickle down from the automotives to make big changes. Smaller displacement engines would be a good place to start. Technically, a diesel solution would be a good one but it seems like that is an even bigger cost hurdle to overcome than spark ignition.

@Broussard, where were you a few weeks ago? The boat you posted is my old one, just sold Saturday. Good luck on your search, those are great boats!

SOLD! http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/attachment.php?attachmentid=107155&stc=1&d=1394326715

@DooSPX and @Jordan, me too and I hope so! My wife gets jealous of the amount of attention I give this boat, someone will get a great machine!

bump.

bump.