Laz

My: $0.02.

I want WS in the Olympics so I get less confusion and less resistance when I put a slalom course in the far corner of a public lake.

The effect of the driver on skiing is minuscule compared to the complete fixing of boxing and *gag* synchronized swimming.

The number of people who have ever tried skiing (like I first did when I was 12) is way higher than many of the sports in the Olympics (such as Judo, which I used to compete in nationally and is in the Olympics).

WS in the Olympics would shift the whole sport. More would try it for the first time, more would try a slalom course, more would join a club, more would compete and more would buy expensive skis and boats.

I may have to go to Calgary for two days in mid Sept and will likely have some free time.

Any suggestions for a ski site? I emailed Predator Bay but have not heard back. Does anyone know a contact there that might get me in for a set or two?

Thanks.

Laz

@killer Them thar's fightin' words.

We have the same coach and I'm not sure all this shadowing at short line is so good all the time. I, like you, am trying to make 28' off a routine pass. I can shadow the buoys at 35' off and look like a pro. Then I can run the course at 22' off and look terrible.

I think shadowing is okay for working on specific things, but it sure can lead to a false sense of security.

It's a challenge to go from shadowing at 32' off to running a good 15' off and maintaining all that great position you had while shadowing.

For now, I'll do a little shadowing to warm up, but spend most of my time trying to run buoys.

@killer My latest issue is that I can run most 22's with horrible gates and a lousy approach to 1 ball. I guess the longer line makes that possible. With 28, it's all about the gate and 1 ball (for me, anyway).

At the club from 2-5 tomorrow.

What I learned in the course this week: a good gate is crucial.

This year I decided to completely rebuild my technique (I say this every year). It's been going well shadowing the balls, but fails apart by 2 ball every time I try to run 28' off.

This week I spent all my time working on a progressive turn in at the gates with max pull right behind the boat leading to an earlier edge change. This made all the difference and has let me run 28' 4 times. Slow progress, but at least it's progress.

I wonder what percentage of skiers who buy a Moomba, or any other dedicated ski boat actually ski at anything shorter than 28' off. I bet it's < 10%.

In cottage country north of Toronto, there are plenty of ski boats that have never been through a slalom course.

@crashman For PPSG, you can get a little switch you can put on your dashboard instead of magnets. You just press the button as the driver goes past the gates and it will start timing the segments.

We use this always for our portable course.

15 minutes is pretty fast. Takes us about 20 and a extra couple of minutes to make sure it's tight and straight. You need a 4:1 ratio of anchor line length to depth. We wrap each arm separately to speed things up.

Ed will get you everything you need.