jdarwin

My daughter just won the women's slalom event at the Uof Texas collegiate tournament at Lago Santa Fe in Houston. Ski skied 3 @ 35-off to win the event - a 5 buoy PB! Her hard work over the summer is paying off.  Tricks tomorrow.

John - w/ the bindings back, the ski finished both sides well. At stock, the toe-side turn was a bit sticky. Again, it feels a little small compared to my RCX and I haven't been cutting the line past 32. If I remember, the settings are: 6.880 tips / 2.500 / .740 flat. Pretty much stock with the exception of .020 off the length.  Could probably go shorter. I'll probably translate these settings to my 68 as a baseline and go from there.

I moved the bindings back one hole on the 67" demo I've been riding and like what it did at the finish of the turn. The ski felt like it stayed out in front better. Again, I think the ski is a bit small for me (68" will be here Friday) but I REALLY like how the ski turns with very little skier input. My RCX requires a bit of a "push" w/ the front foot to engage out of the turns. I'm excited about the 68" version - I think it will be the ideal combination of speed and stability. I love my RCX but wish it were a bit more engaged and quicker out of the ball. I think the Z7 will acheive this.

John - I have a 68" coming this week. I've been testing a 67" demo and like what I feel but need a little bigger ski. It seems the stock numbers on the web site are getting closer to what is being run in the field. What was your thought on moving the bindings back one hole? I've never considered that on a D3. Thanks. Joe Darwin

John - check your points: TBB/RTBB are 200 pts. each and W5F/W5B are 310 each.

We're currently at 33 skiers w/ 4-6 on a waiting list - there won't be much time for any extra activities but maybe we can get Chad to get a donation of Powerbuoys for some night skiing.

"Can you even trick 2000 on 2 skis?" Answer: Eventually, given enough time and long enough lake - but you're only allowed two 20-second passes. Very difficult. He needs to learn a flip (similar to the one he performs on his slalom ski going for 4 ball).

If scoke tricks 2000 pts, I'll run 39 on the CR7 - blindfolded!!

Dave: The promo program's primary objective is to move product for the manufacturers. The role it plays in our sport is driven by the approval process of USA Water Ski and the towboat rules that govern tournaments. I'm not discounting its effectiveness in either circumstance. I was on Nautique's promo program for 15 years. I understand the factors involved. My point was that the promo programs as we know them are changing and may possibly go away. I predict that if a club wants to have a tournament in 2011 and beyond, they better have a club boat to pull it. If you are fortunate enough to have a promo owner in the vicinity, you will probably have to compensate him for coming to your tournament (we already do this).  If it is a personal boat, compensation of some sort will probably be required - similar to "renting" the boat for the day.

With the recent extension for use of 2007 boats, I anticipate that the 196 will still be viable in the marketplace for some time. I predict that by next year, you will be able to get an exception to use a 2007 196 w/ ZO for tournaments beyond 2011. This would mean that any club that has access (club boat) to a 196 w/ ZO would be able to use it to pull their tournaments. I intend to keep my 2007 w/ ZO and use it to pull our tournaments when current year boats are not available (day is coming).  Going forward, I believe we (AWSA) should adopt a version of the IWSF rules that allow any boat that was approved to pull tournaments. You can set a world record behind a 2007 SN w/ZO in an IWSF event but you can't set a US Record behind one. USA Water Ski's "approval" process has perpetuated this system for way too long.

GMC - I went from double hardshells (FM / Powershells) to the Reflex front / HO rear (or Wiley's) w/o much fuss. The Reflex is well made, doesn't weight a ton (FM) and has does not have funky release parameters (Powershells). The system is incredibly popular in the SC Region and has a very good reliability record w/ those that use it. I thought I would miss a hardshell rear but quickly realized I didn't need it.

MS - the rankings do not require that the score occur in your "home" region. The rule you are referring to impacts a skier's ability to ski for placement at Regionals. "A skier shall ski for placement in the Region where he does more than half of his skiing, including tournament and practice, during the ten weeks prior to the Regional Tournament". Therefore, you could ski all your tournaments at my site and still qualify for MW Regionals due to your practice time at home.  You may be referring to a MW Region statute but I'm not aware that any regional policy can trump the AWSA Rulebook.

Oh, there was skiing.......

dress warmly!

First of all, you are WAY too long. Try 6.900 (tips). This is why you are getting great angle but no width. The moment you transition off your lean, the ski is tracking back toward the pull (boat) and into the buoy. Put the wing back on at 7 deg. I suspect that the extra length was to compensate for no wing - just a hunch. Put the depth at 2.505. This will assist w/ maintaining width but also will allow the ski to carve out of the turn w/ some speed. DFT is not as critical on D3's as it is w/ other skis (Elite) due to the large sweet spot. If you feel the ski "sticking" at the back side of the turn, move the fin forward 5/1000th's and try again. I would try and "dial-in" the length first. Take out tip 3/1000th's at a time until you feel the ski free up off the 2nd wake. Good luck. jhd