Stevie Boy

One Big Fat Zero "0" but I am not a certified Judge.

when you get older, you do not bounce so well, bin the barefooting, go ski.

@dave2ball, Yes you are right, guess I live in the past, hanging on in there, have to say when I was in a restaurant in Orlando, the water ski capitial of the world, the waitress asked me what I was doing there, when I replied, I had travelled to do some water skiing, she did not have a clue what I was talking about. Guess that sums it up.

@Horton a different format is what I was trying to say, watching 20-30 skiers going up and down the lake does not interest skiers until it gets real short, let alone Joe Public, Yes when it gets to the Head to Head we are all there. From Joe Publics view if you were to have Ten skiers getting down to the nitty gritty straight away, you might get interest. If you watch other sports that can be just as monotonous, they only televise the top 8 or 10. ie: snowboarding, downhill skiing and so forth, even when, I watch Formula One, I am only interested in the top 10 fighting for Pole Position, I am not interested in what goes before it. Extremely hard to capture the Public, they have so much to choose from, not sure the average couch potato will ever be interested in any alternative active sport.

@Horton OK , I know it,s a bit off the wall, like I said in a previous post, perhaps I live in a fantasy world. I just feel something different has to happen, what ! who knows, agreed I think TWBC has made a huge impact, with potential to move the sport in a positive direction, their content is so good. I,m done now, so if a Panda is on offer, Feel Free.

Agreed but I was thinking something along the lines of the Big Dawg but for the top Ten women and men, but not a whole day of it Women one day and men on another day, it does not have to be Ranked etc, it could be independent and the skier,s would be be seeded within that competition. Officials could be trusted people within the sport, no need for level this and level that. Would be awesome if a sponsor, like Red Bull or other would get behind it, it's just got to be sold to them, if they can put on Cliff Diving, surely there is enough content in water skiing, if you do not have to trawl through 20 skiers or more going up and down the lake all day. Starting line length could be 35off or 38 off , I am sure something could be put forward, a totally independent series run by a totally independent organization or group of people.

Andy Mapple thoughts were that the sport, needed more personalties and it was one of the reasons the sport was struggling to get traction, most sports have the nice, the bad, the crazy, the unpredictable competitor. Who skis in bright orange or luminous green, who is immediately indentifyable by what they are wearing. Shoukd the #1 ranked skier wear a particular colour and so fourth, should it be about making the top ten and trying to stay there. Should the top ten be rewarded with no entry fee or appearance money. Should there be broadcastings of just the top ten competing in a series of comps for Mens and Ladies maybe seperately, bite size for easy viewing, would be great to get a series of documentries following those comps covering the dissapointments, drama, lows and highs. Yes i know it won,t happen, but unless there is a change in direction and thinking the sport is done. Skiers give yourself a name like"The Bear" slogan "If You Are Going To Be A Bear Be A Grizzly" Lol! Forgive me I live in fantasy land.

Perhaps , I am a bit Naive, but where does the abuse etc ,occur when a Judge is either in the boat or in the judge tower, I do not get the concept, yes team officials and coaches are in a position to abuse, because of the ability to favour and choose team members, coaches work closely with students and may get thoughts that are not appropiate if they get too close. So why are Judges, considered to be potentialy more likely to abuse their position ?

Apart from the issues stated by other people , it is expensive, if you ski where it is likely you could ding your prop 5K a time, No Thankyou ! At least the tried and test props, can be straightened out, I don't know the price difference, but I reckon you could probably buy quite a lot of Gas, it just doesn't make financial senses, can you imagine spending 10k so that you have a spare.

When a long standing member of a organization, who has contributed so much walks away. Something Is Wrong ! Somebody within that organization should be taking notice, it is not a good thing, easy to bury your head in the sand, but somebody needs to own it and somebody needs to be working on a solution. All organizations become bogged down with unnecessary junk and dead wood, that's when it needs to be restructured, taken back to the bare skeleton and put back together, with the minimum amount of junk and dead wood.

@Ipskier have you heard of the term "Desperate" have you not been asked before ? Maybe they are trying to get ahead of the rush.

CP's hands almost touch his knees when he puts them down by his side.

Not all water skiers are blessed, with a ever expanding bank account, yes the people who have shed loads, can afford to buy one, two, three boats and place them in different locations, I think this is where the sport has lost it's way, when you talk about making it accessible, the truth is you can't, it costs money and it is getting more expensive all the time.

Forgive me, but I have to throw this one in there, surely most abuse is likely to take place, at private or non affiliated lakes, I can understand the need for control of official water skiing coaches, but there are many people out there coaching, that are non regulated, I would have though the opportunity for grooming would start at grass roots, how would this strategy prevent this happening.

@Bruce_Butterfield , surely in the case of the Gymnastics, other people knew or had suspicions, that something was not right, but nobody was prepared to look deeper into it it. People looked the other way, for what ever reason, perhaps other Minors were targeted by other officials, but have not been called out. Generally if you have contact with somebody over time, intuition tells you they are not right, there are times when that intuition is instant.

Zero Off, Surepath, Marine Autopilot , More Gizmos on the boats and we want watersking to be more accessible , adding to the cost all the time is going to kill waterskiing fullstop. All this stuff is going to become so expensive, due to the fact that so few will buy it, this is not encouraging people to buy into waterskiing. However the Future of Cable Skiing is looking Bright ! You do not need Zero Off/Surepath/Marine Autopilot, the Tow is the same for everybody. A large Lake is not neccessary, there are systems that go from one end of the lake to the other in a straight line.

The Liability Risk is going to be Significant ! unless you program it with some sort of predictive code for wind/water conditions, in my mind it is always going to be Reactive, which means the skiers is going to get pulled all over the place. The only reason you get fairly smooth airline flights is because the radar and other parameters on aircraft predict what is going to happen and is already moving the flying control surfaces to compensate for it , before it happens, how are you going to do that on a boat.

Over the years, I have seen lake owners and various organisations organise and hold water skiing events, I have seen the enormous amount of work and expense of putting on such events, I have seen participants rip into the organizers, if something wasn,t quite right or the score wasn,t what they thought and I have often asked myself why put yourself through all that, you must be bonkers. But I do know the answer, they are passionate about the sport, after reading this thread and looking at the direction things are going in. How passionate are these extraordinary people, how far will they go before folding their hand.

Sad Day ! if we all have to walk around thinking everybody is a pervert, there are plenty of odd people out there, that are not perverts, yes protect the kids, but use your intuition and act accordingly, talk to your kids as if they were adults, you will get a whole lot more from them.

So this thread, has received just over 900 comments, various points of view have been made, some people just moaning or bringing up the battering of women or abuse of children, all valid but where are we going with this, the obvious route is, that if you suspect something is not right report it to the Police or Parents concerned, for me this thread keeps going around in circles. The Truth is that Governing Bodies are not very good at dealing with these situations, nobody wants to stick their head above the Parapet and get involved, instead they come up with other ideas to shift the responsibility else where, they are truly not that interested and in some ways, I understand it, they want to Govern the sport, not get involved with alleged allegations that might be true or false, they are not equipped to deal with it, on the other hand if somebody is prosecuted by the law, they can step in and act accordingly. It's easy to criticize, but it really is more complicated than what people imagine.

Different skis fit different styles, Freddie Winter, went through a whole lot of skis before settling with D3, he has ridden all of their range and ended up on th Ion-S. Another factor is the mental game, if you are up there competing with the best for a podium, it,s going to be hard to change your ski, if it isn,t broke, don,t fix it sort of thing. When it comes to a manufacturer developing a new ski, graphics mean nothing, they can apply any graphics to any ski. Caviat: Do not buy a ski because your favourite Pro is on one, buy a ski thats fits you and the way you ski. Thomas Degaspri is a shining example of staying with a design that fits you, one of the most consistent skiers out there.

So much more, to the story of Andy Mapple, that people will never know, in my eyes, he done so much for the sport, for me he is the G.O.A.T for so many different reasons.

Personally, I think that as a Driver you develop over time, it's more about feel, obviously there is useful information and tips that can help, even when not in the course, where you position the boat and how you approach the the course, is just as important, throttle control, feeding that throttle in, so that Zero Off engages smoothly, before you nudge the throttle forward so zero off has full control. Small things, but they make life easier for the skier, if you position the boat, so the skier is on the left before you go, this means they do not have to move across the wake to setup, a good thing if the lake is short, when they drop in, give them a little bit of slack line, so that they can relax in the water and gather their thoughts.

So here,s a idea, three bits of material the thickness of your fin, one to go either side and a piece to act as a spacer rivet the three pieces together and you have wing angle gauge that does both sides at once. Just a Idea