ToddL

@ski6jones they're "Perks"

Robert, thank you for taking the time to share this information.

@klindy - can you tell me any compelling reasons to remain affiliated with USOC excluding the money? No towed water sport will every be in the Olympics. That should be the end of the discussion.

It isn't always intuitive, but young kids who are skiing very slow speeds need the support of more surface area than an adult equivalent. The bonus is that as the child grows and the speed increases, the same ski can remain viable for a longer period than expected.

Direct Connect = proprietary binding mounting method, only works for the same manufacturer's skis. Plate mounted bindings = more universal, due to standard locations for mounting bolts which match the insert locations on most skis. Taller cuff = stiffer connection. The stiffer the binding or the taller the cuff, the more the skier's motions will be transferred to the ski and cause the ski to react. This can be ideal for an advanced skier who's movements are very controlled and intentional. This can be detrimental for a beginner who's movements may be uncontrolled or unintentional. Typically, a "more forgiving" situation is desirable for beginners. A less responsive ski/binding setup is considered more forgiving.

Most of the controls, concerns, and lately the debates in our sport are directly or indirectly due to requirements from USOC. Since waterskiing will never be in the Olympics, should USAWS/AWSA stay affiliated or go?

I am still struggling with what my input to leadership will entail. I am a L1 Coach and trained driver, and I have been under both MVR and Background requirements for a long time. Thus, my personal impact is none. However, I am strongly opposed to our affiliation with USOC. I do not care how much revenue USAWS or AWSA have received as a result of that affiliation, it has bought more friction, difficulty, and problems to skiers, LOCs, and officials than that money is worth. USAWS needs to send an official letter of cancelation and sever all ties with USOC. There are much better ways to ensure the safety of youth and vulnerable persons at our events. There are much better ways to determine appropriate roles for background checks. Nothing from USOC and subsequent controls seems to appropriately apply to the context and nature of our LOC-driven events. This has to stop now.

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Necessary is subjective. It is very difficult for an entity to intentionally reject income. Before it can do so, the organization must prioritize its expenditures into must-haves and nice-to-haves. It must also evaluate the scalability of the must-haves. It must understand the ROI of all expenditures. When those are known, it is much easier to reject corrosive income for the greater good of the organization.

@Jared that is a good explanation as to why this poll exists. Different people focus on different functions based upon where they are working on skills. Their focus means that the different aspects of the impact of the temperature are also in or out of focus. Interesting. I still don't care, tho.

@The_MS said something about leaders having solutions. I disagree. IMHO, great leaders have vision and direction and the ability to focus the team to move in that direction. The solutions come from the experts whey have working for them. It is the individual contributors doing the work who discover, develop, and optimize the solutions which enable momentum and achievement of the direction and vision. Great leaders ask those whom they lead: "what do you need to be successful? What barriers can I remove?"

Since mandates are so popular these days, USAWS could mandate that for every competitive sanction event, the LOC must also host a Basic Skills clinics where free site access is given to any person who possesses or signs up for a GR membership or day pass. BTW, I don't support mandates. It's a joke.

How often do you revisit or explore the other ZO settings beyond your preferred one? Do you have different ones for different situations? If so, what and why? Do you ever recommend something other than B2 to a novice skier. If so, why and in what circumstances?

An all too common fallacy is to focus only on the final straw and not the pile upon the camel's back.

I am not a fan of the site. The Team USA headings just take up nearly 50% of the browser vertical space. Some of the pages are directly from the old site, just wrapped in all the new stuff. I figured out how to unwrap these. Here are the steps: 1) use the new site to navigate to the page that contains old site content. 2) use your browser's menu or right-click options to view page source. 3) use the find (Ctrl+F) feature and type this text to find: -- PageContent -- 4) look for the iframe src = and then the text inside the quotes which follow it. 5) if you see something the looks like a website with ".asp" in the link, then you can copy this link. 6) open a new browser tab and paste that link. 7) enjoy viewing the original site's page without all the new stuff. Ex: https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Water-Ski/Events-Items/Events-Search---3-Event becomes: https://www.usawaterski.org/rankings/view-tournaments_usoc.asp?sl=on&tr=on&ju=on&process=viewreg

IMHO, the 1/4 buoy zone should not exist. If it were my rule to write, both those shaded areas would award a 1/2 buoy. In other words, if the skier skied wide of the buoy line and past the buoy it would be 1/2 regardless of if the skier came back across the buoy width line or not. All existing scores with a 1/4 remainder could be rounded up to 1/2 to allow for comparison with future scores. Past competition results need not be reviewed since the "winner" clearly skied further around, even though going forward the 1/4 vs 1/2 zones would simply be a tie score.

When done well, they are a blast for all who participate!

My son recommended the Nautique for trick to me many years ago. He was right and still is.

OK. honest observation about the chart above... Clearly there is a point in the formation of the wake which appears at a specific distance from the boat's stern at certain speeds which the micro tuners are intended to address. I assume it has to do with the location and intensity of the prop wash hump or its resulting effect which would move accordingly.

Anyone else notice that they put in the R&D to determine the optimal micro tuner position for 43 off at 17.4 MPH vs. 19.3 MPH? LOL. (FYI, my son has run into 39.5 off at 17.5 on a trick ski.)

@Horton - remember the 1st ever BOS Cash Prize? Remember how I suddenly skied WAY above my then average? I was coached by an amazingly talented person who told me to make one action as I completed the edge change: move the inside hip forward as if to move it up over the front foot (inside hip is left hip to #1, right hip to #2). This in conjunction with handle control resulted in outbound approach with space to the buoy and better speed management into the buoy. I also think this would allow you more freedom to make those new upper body adjustments, too. Something to consider.

IMHO, the boats have been amazing the past 10 years. We have been pretty spoiled. When something changes there are always upsides and downsides to any change. Not all changes can be only upsides. At 34/-22, I feel a wider prop wash that is stout. If you are not expecting a "-22 bump", you could be caught off guard. It is still skiable, but it is definitely different than prior models. That bump diminishes with each subsequent rope shortening. Regardless of personal opinions, if a LOC hosting a tournament has multiple boat models to choose from, I recommend that division scheduling and boat scheduling be considered to optimize the experience for your smaller, lighter and your novice skiers. (I realize that leading up to Nationals, skiers will want to become familiar with their division's boat draw model.) I wish @Horton wasn't injured. He should do another video like this using the new Nautique.

...you own and host a website solely for the purpose of water skiing information.

Two things: 1) Each rope shortening benefits from reaching a pre-gate glide point higher up on the boat. And yes, the timing to achieve this will take some getting used to. 2) Don't over ski it. We all end to amp up too much. Lean the same amount and for the same duration as the prior pass. Edge change at the same point relative to the wake/whitewater/buoy. And so on.

@unksskis - you may have missed my question: So, if none of them support USAWS events, are the events in which they participate part of any other organized body or is competition something done as only independently at local parks?