ToddL

I'm the evil twin.

This should be obvious, but just in case... If you have someone video, make sure they know to keep rolling for the instruction while stopped. I've seen students' observers video tape only the skiing and not the instruction - what a lost opportunity. Then, when you watch the video: View the pass, listen to the instruction, then rewind and review the prior pass again. Try to see what the instructor saw. Try to understand the opportunity that the instructor saw and thus the suggested changes. Then, during the next pass, see if you can perceive a change in your skiing from the prior pass. Did you change how you skied? Did you do what the instructor asked? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. People taking lessons, need to think about that a bit. Improvement is by definition a change. Thus, you have to do something different if you want to improve. After the instructor tells you to do something different, your next pass must feel different because you did something differently. If you always feel the same when you ski, then you aren't doing anything differently. (Now conversely, if you are skiing to build muscle memory of a good technique and set new habits, you are trying to ski exactly the same way repeatedly...)

First time on double boots - be very patient on your deep water starts. Focus on your front foot. Seems like everyone that I know who made the switch had to relearn their deep water starts. Also, some people prefer a larger rear boot. If your boots have laces, some people keep the rear boot very loose at first and slowly tighten it as they get the feel for the double boots. I still keep my rear boot a little looser than the front one. (Stradas)

Questions... (Just thinking about what if...) If boat "A" is undisputed as having smaller wakes for certain slalom speeds than boats "B" and "C", then are the scores submitted behind these different boats really comparable? Should all sanctioned tournament scoring require that the boat year/make/model be captured for every ride? If that data were captured and showed a consistent correlation of performance (good or bad) to a specific boat, would we want to go to some handicapping of scores to neutralize the boat differences?

Joe, I'm not biased on this topic for or against any particular boat. It just seemed that this body of skiers/drivers/judges is a resource that can quickly put this to bed with some knowledge sharing. The same type of discussion can occur in any given year for any given make/model. My thought is that if the solution is confirmed and known, then we can move forward. As to the thought of what expenses are considered promo owner setup vs. manufacturer promo fleet improvements... that seems like a new thread topic to me. Also, it is probably a business judgement call by the manufacturer as to whether to fund changes to their promo fleet to address concerns in the market.

There are a couple of threads about the current 2011 TT. There is a lot if impressions on the boat/wake/pull, etc. However, we should look forward towards solutions. Than said: "A lot of posters appear to be missing the one relevant observation that has come out of this, which is that *some* Mastercrafts seem to have *relatively* bad wakes under *some* conditions, but IT MIGHT BE FIXABLE." From the many comments it seems that there are three suggested elements of variance in the 2011 Mastercrafts appearing at tournaments. 1) Prop 2) Flash update applied or not 3) Engine The proper next steps is to document these two elements for a majority of 2011 TT's. For those who ski behind a wonderfully performing 2011 TT - please find out the status of these three elements for that boat. For those who skied behind or suggested/reported a sub-par performing 2011 TT at an event, please find out from the promo rep the status of these three elements. (Yes, you may have to do some work to contact the promo owner, and we hope they answer accurately as to the boat's state at the event in question...) If there is a significant correlation between any one or more of these factors and the assessment of the boat's performance, then we have the answer to the mystery and most importantly a solution for all 2011 TT's.

No relief in sight... /vanilla2/uploads/FileUpload/17/997.jpg

Well, I had gotten myself in a bad habit. A good while back, I was reaching forward and looking down at my offside turn causing the ski to stall a bit on my offside turn. I had taken out fin tip to the point where I could get away with this technique and still exit the turn in "ok" position. This appears to have been a crutch for my bad habit. The slot fin slapped me in the face and said, "Don't do that!" I decided to go back to the standard fin for now while I reprogram my offside turn. I've slowly adjusted the fin from very little tip back towards stock. I've got my head up and looking down course during the edge change and turn. And man... does my offside look and feel so much better. I still switch to my old habit when I scramble. I need more reprogramming!!! I can't wait to get through this transition and then put that slot fin back on. When I skied the slot fin, I immediately felt improved tracking across the wakes and width at the buoy. The onside turn was great, but it already was great on the stock fin. I think with the proper, heads-up position into the offside turn, the slot fin will reward me greatly. Can't wait!

For those who may have difficulty with changing their grip: Most people I know spend more time driving than they do skiing. So, put that time to good use. Take a break from holding the steering wheel at "10 and 2." Grab it at the top or bottom in the center using the desired slalom handle grip. Do this while driving down that straight, long road to no where... Eventually, this will feel normal. That feeling of normalcy will transfer to the ski handle.

Ooo! I love those bindings. I have them on my "back-up" ski (D3 Custom X5). They are Mediums. I also have a black Front Vision Lg. Not sure they are for sale tho... Sorry to be a tease.

Thanks, Roger & Skibug! I agree when possible, a skier should try a variety of settings until something just feels right. It is interesting that what you feel and what ZO wrote are backwards on the numbers. I can't claim to understand this, yet. One possible theory: Since "3" lets the skier pull the boat down further (ZO's explanation), then the "Hit" must be more extreme to recover, but recovers quicker because of the extreme action. With "1", the ZO system attempts to initiate recovery right as the skier starts to lean on the boat, but the recovery is more subtle and takes longer. So, I guess the ZO manual was missing a consequence of the trigger points: 1 - If the trigger point is shallow (meaning takes less skier force to start the recovery), then the reactive throttle is a small RPM reaction which then requires longer to recover. 3 - if the trigger point is deep (meaning takes a lot of skier force to start the recovery), then the reactive throttle is a large RPM reaction which then recovers more quickly.

Welcome to BOS. Here are a few articles on how to measure your fin settings. They all require that you use a caliper tool. If you don't have one and don't want to buy a new one, you can look for ones at pawn shops, etc. In no particular order, here are links on how to measure a slalom fin: http://www.d3skis.com/v/siteFiles/Tech%20Support%20Fin%20Adjustment%20Literature%20Rev%20A.pdf http://legacy.proskicoach.com/gear/fin_measurement/ http://slalomguru.com/articles.php?article=fin For men, the max speed in competitive slalom skiing is 36 MPH. If you are over 35 years old, the max speed is 34 MPH. When first learning, most people ski on a 60 ft rope (a.k.a. "15 off" for the 15 ft less than a full 70 ft rope + 5 ft handle section), and work up to their max speed. Then, they start to ski on the shorter sections. The stabilizer wing serves to help create a little drag when pressure is applied to the front foot during a carving turn. Typically, the wing angle is between 7 and 9 degrees. However, I believe that the wing is not really necessary until the skier has learned how to properly turn/edge change without it at max speed at -15 off. Most advanced slalom skis hate to be ridden perfectly flat and straight. Their concave contour on the bottom makes the ski want to be slightly edging on one side or the other.

I know the timing is not good given the SCR Regionals in NW Houston... However, we really need the rain here in Central Texas. In about a week or two we will be down to only 1 functional tournament ski site (with the three others too low or too dry to ski). /vanilla2/uploads/FileUpload/19/979.png /vanilla2/uploads/FileUpload/0/980.gif

I recently re-reviewed the ZO setting descriptions from the ZO manual. This got me to thinking that we haven't been interpreting those words correctly. Here is my take on what ZO published. From page 35 of Zero Off – RevQ User Manual: A – Slower engine response out of the buoy, but the boat will tend to move ahead as the skier approaches the buoy. B - Moderate engine response compared to A and C. C – Faster engine response out of the buoy, but the boat will tend to hold back as the skier approaches the buoy. 1 – Requires the lowest amount of load before the system initiates an rpm spread. This provides for a softer pull behind the boat. 2 – Provides for a moderate pull behind the boat as compared to 1 and 3. 3 – Requires the highest amount of load before the system initiates an rpm spread. There is no load variable in ZO (no force switch on the rope). Thus, "load" is simply a convenient term to describe the amount of speed reduction created by the skiers' force against the boat. We can restate this as: A = throttle response is delayed the most once the load trigger is met (feels like the slowest ramp up*) B = throttle response is delayed a little once the load trigger is met (feels like a moderate ramp up) C = throttle response is not delayed once the load trigger is met (feels like an extreme ramp up) 1 = speed reduction trigger threshold is easily met with the least amount of force from the skier (doesn't let you pull the boat speed down far) 2 = speed reduction trigger threshold is met with moderate force from the skier (moderate ability to pull the boat speed down) 3 = speed reduction trigger threshold requires the most amount of force from the skier (let's you pull the boat speed down the most) Thus, the extremes of these settings are: A3 = requires more speed reduction before triggering, so late trigger (3); and the corrective response is delayed (A) = This skier has time to pull the boat down a lot and the boat has to recover a lot and it gets a late start in doing so. The consequence of this is that the corrective throttle response may feel soft, giving the skier time to get into a good leaning position; however, the corrective throttle will likely still be occurring into the next buoy. C1 = easy to trigger, so early trigger (1); and quick, immediate response © = This skier doesn't get to pull the boat down as much and the boat starts to recover almost immediately. The boat is completely back up to speed the earliest. The consequence of this is that the corrective throttle response may feel hard, and the skier must be ready immediately for the "hit"; however, the corrective throttle response will be complete earlier, probably well before heading into the next buoy. [Note: One would have intuitively assumed that A1 was at one end of the extreme and C3 was at the other. This is not the case. (I wish ZO had reversed the letters. Rumor has it, they realized this reversed polarity, but thought that switching it would create more confusion than leaving it as is...)] If there is no skier behind the boat, all ZO settings will pull the same way. Meaning... the missing variable in many of these explanations of ZO settings is the timing and amount of lost speed due to the skier's force. The amount of load generated by the skier will cause these extremes to feel very different from one another. Thus, the heavier skier with a slam-dunk style will cause the greatest perceivable variation between these two extreme settings. The lightest, smoothest possible skier will make the settings less perceivably relevant. If you create extreme force against the boat, then the boat must take equal corrective action to recover. The settings allow the high-force skiers to balance the nature of that recovery with what feels best to them. Thus, the less you "hit" ZO the less ZO has to "hit" you. However, if you must occasionally hit hard, you want your ZO setting to result in timing that matches your style.. * Ramp up - I have seen some charts which depict the throttle as a progressive increase at different rates. I think this is not the case. Consider this fact. If ZO were to instantly jump the RPMs by a set amount, the feeling on the handle would not be instantaneous. The ZO manual says nothing about different throttle response curves. However, if the throttle reaction in ZO is "on/off", it will feel like a curve. The boat is already moving, and in instant change in throttle will not be felt as an instant change in speed. There is a lag for the mass of the boat to respond to the change in the thrust from the prop against the fluid nature of the water. But I do not think it matters. The key concept is that the area of the curve must equal the amount of speed lost due to skier force. If the system responds more significantly (more significant throttle increase) then the necessary duration will be shorter. If the system responds with a shorter duration, then the throttle increase must be more significant. Thus, whether we draw the pictures with rounded corners or square ones, the primary concept of the area under the curve should be exhibited consistently. Most charts only show only half of the total equation - the boat's response. We should consider the flip side under the ideal speed horizontal line (skier's force). Then, we should consider the combined result of these opposing forces (actual speed fluctuation). /vanilla2/uploads/FileUpload/18/978.GIF It would be nice to show a few scenarios (cranked turn and hard dig early, smooth progressive effort with patient start of the skier's lean, skier leaning late and too long) - each with the same area above the curve. Then, (and here's the tricky part) draw up how the two ZO Extreme settings would apply upon these three skier events. If the areas above the curve on the skier events are equal, if the areas below the curve on the two ZO settings are equal, and if the skier's force areas are equal to the ZO response areas; then the resulting curves would show how each combination would play out given the rule that ZO must fully recover to ideal speed between each buoy pair. Any mathematicians out there want to tackle these charts?

Slot fin arrived yesterday. :) Hope to test it out later today. Tourney tomorrow... not sure if I want to dive in head first with the new fin at a tourney! FYI: http://www.schnitzskis.com/finswings.html SLOT FIN SET-UP (warm water) LENGTH 7.116 = 6.542 w/tips (to the cutout where the fin goes up into the ski about 3/4" forward of the tail) DEPTH 2.5605 FWD-BK 7.932 (1/16" forward of tail) Wing down below the screws at 9 Degrees to start (file the screw ends flush). Add or decrease wing angle, and/or move binding(s) before deviating from these numbers. Adding wing angle is like adding tip. Moving bindings forward is like adding tip. For cold water, I recently skied Denver after skiing the hot Florida water. I moved my fin back 25/1000ths to get somewhere close to the same performance.

FYI... http://www.wileyski.com/shopproductdetail.asp?prodID=3726&catID=88 http://www.wileyski.com/shopproductdetail.asp?prodID=3774&catID=88 http://www.wileyski.com/shopproductdetail.asp?prodID=3869&catID=88 http://www.wileyski.com/shopproductdetail.asp?prodID=4400&catID=88 http://www.wileyski.com/shopcategory.asp?catID=34 Based upon their offerings, it appears that nearly all current skis have a consistent front binding hole pattern. There appear to be two standards for the rear binding: D3/Connelly vs. HO/O'Brien/Radar.

http://ballofspray.com/vanilla2/index.php?p=/discussion/1692/strada-binding-hole-patterns

FWIW, I have Strada sequence plate on a D3. I believe the sequence plate can fit D3, Strada, HO.

I'll add this... Hold your lean until it is time to turn. At speeds under 34 mph, you can't let off your lean early. You need to generate more speed across the wake by staying down in your lean longer. Think of it like this... "Bump, bump, smooth, turn" Be patient out of your turn, establish a stacked position to get ready to lean on. Start your lean in harmony with the boat's increasing force against you. Increase your lean and effort as the boat's force increases as you move inward towards the boat's path. Feel (don't look at) the first wake "Bump". Maintain your lean. Feel the second wake "Bump". Maintain your lean. Feel about a ski's length of the "Smooth" water past the second wake. Still maintaining your lean. Now, "Turn." "Bump, bump, smooth, turn" If you do this, you will have more momentum and an earlier path to the next turn. At first you will feel like you are going too fast, but you are not. That speed is your friend. With that speed, you can edge-change sooner and over to a deeper angle for the turn. You will have the speed to support a more aggressive angle in the turn. Thus, your ski will turn better. Also, you should be less likely to have slack. One thing to point out. You don't want to add effort/angle/lean past the center line of the boat's path. Simply maintain what you have. Adding effort/lean past the center line of the boat's path will make you sort of catch up with the boat and shorten the distance between you and the boat. This equals slack. Also, when you wait to turn by riding on top of a flat ski, you are creating slack. That's why "Bump, bump, smooth, turn" works. You don't have time to wait to turn. You lean until it is time to turn. The edge change is both the start of the turn and the end of the lean - nothing in between. Once you start to tackle 22 off and 28 off, you start to adjust to a different strategy and don't lean quite so long. But for now, 30, 32, 34... "Bump, bump, smooth, turn."

I was trying to find fin settings for my old ski. It is a 66.5" D3 Custom X5. The D3 flex sticker is blank, and simply states that it is a "factory test" ski. I could find fin setting info on the X5. I could find fin setting info on the Custom X. I could not find any information on the "Custom X5." /vanilla2/uploads/FileUpload/5/945.jpg /vanilla2/uploads/FileUpload/6/946.jpg

1) What's the most frequently recommended type/brand of epoxy for filling screw holes? 2) What's the most frequently recommended type/brand of epoxy for fixing old ski delamination issues? 3) What's the most frequently recommended type/brand of epoxy for fixing ski edge dings? 4) What's the most frequently recommended type/brand of epoxy for cutting off the end of a large ski to make a Jr ski?

Concerning ZO settings... I am seriously convinced that the number has everything to do with the skier's weight. To me it is this simple: If the skier pulls the boat speed down a lot, then the number has to be higher to recover more efficiently. When the skier's weight and the number are not matched, then you have problems. 1 = small increase in throttle is used to recover lost speed. 2 = medium increase in throttle is used to recover lost speed. 3 = large increase in throttle is used to recover lost speed. Thus, if a heavy skier pulls down the ideal boat speed a lot, and is using 1 in their ZO setting, the boat's throttle will have to stay up longer since the small increase in throttle is not sufficient to recover lost speed quickly. Also, if the boat's engine is stronger or weaker, then the number's effectiveness is impacted. A 6.0L engine with a 2 setting on ZO may perform similar to a smaller engine with a 3 setting. Regarding the letter setting... The letter is a matter of balancing your skiing style with the throttle reaction timing. When do you want the boat to support you? early, middle or late? C, B, or A, respectively. When you combine these factors together, you can see how a large skier who cranks hard right out of the turn skiing with ZO on A1 would feel like the boat's pull is soft (often desired), but gassing them down course into the next buoy (a.k.a. not free of the boat).

OMG - Jimbo!

Here's a pic of the 2009 drought. We may see this again by late August. :( http://www.waterskiaustin.com/Lakes/drought2009.htm/vanilla2/uploads/FileUpload/1/941.jpg

@eleeski - nice... "Wakeboarding is the gateway drug!" What does that make trick? Slalom? FYI - we had a junior skier in our area do all of the assistant slalom paperwork prior to her 15th birthday. Thus, when she turned 15, she was immediately a valid assistant slalom official. She has worked every tournament since. Get your 14 year old skiers an assistant judges checklist form and help them get the requirements checked off now! http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/TournKit/AWSA/Officials%27%20Applications/App%20for%20Assistant%20Judge.pdf http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/officials/awsa/AdvanRenewal.pdf (Scorer or Judge minimum age = 15)