Bdecker

Same here up in NH! Been a great month so far. It’ll be interesting if these colder nights start to cut into the buoy count. Great skiing guys!

@oldjeep - on cold days I sure like mine! My point however is people throw around the “stripped” word as it relates to the Carbon Pro, but aside from a difficult to navigate touch screen and push button start, I really can’t think of where you get that from. Sure it has SeaDeck instead of carpet too, so maybe it is that musty smell of uncovering a carpeted boat in the morning people miss:). It is the only one of the 4 you can balance in seconds with the flip of a switch- no options required... All of the boats that were certified to pull tournaments in the last several years ski and drive great. I’ll happily take a rip behind any one any day. I hope the 4 manufacturers committed to tournament skiing continue to bring innovation to this small market.

@oldjeep - I often find myself looking for the heated seats or moving weights around in other boats to balance them and really miss the features in my stripped down Carbon Pro:) I don’t miss a single thing from the 2011 lxi I had before. Looking forward to seeing what comes next for the Carbon Pro, although I kinda wish they would just put whatever name they want on the current one. The recipe seems pretty perfect as is.

I’d leave them on and give a good scrub in the spring. The state made me remove and sink to the bottom over the winter. Basically made the system impossible given the work involved in spring and fall. If the system is going up and down reliably now, don’t touch a thing.

A handshake deal with no other contingency is different than an agreed price prior to test drive. If the scenario was a handshake and you were just getting the bank check, then I think the seller should have called you. Doesn’t sound like that was the case here. Selling anything is a pain. Buyers flake out all the time.

Lots of firsts this season: Nationals, regionals, a tournament with both of my sons competing, a new PB for my 10 year old just about every time he got his ski wet (after yesterday we are both at the same max speed), and it sure looks like our first 200 hour season given the weather forecast. In addition to skiing our first out of state tournaments with Regionals and Nationals, we also caught our first “out of region” class C in Colorado. The crew at Laku puts on an awesome event.

@santangelo - thanks for pulling this together. It is awesome. This season is the first where I have really started to play with fin settings and I love that I can track where I have been, keep notes on the good and bad, etc.... I know notebook works too but this is so much more convenient.

Great explanation. I will say that the 05-07 boats do pretty well with the zbox. Maybe this is because they react quicker than a throttle cable. My 05 Tournament Team 197 with zbox seems to be well received by ZO skiers when it stands in due to the ZO boat being away. I’m not saying it is the same, but all boats feel a little different in my opinion and the Zbox does a pretty good job in this application. ZO retrofit is an expensive proposition in pre 07 due to lack of catalytic converters I think. Basically a repower project from what I have been told.

@jercrane - I could get you a ride on a 67 pretty easy, one of our club members is on one. Also a 66" and 67" Vapor (last year's model) for sale amongst the club.

Went short and deep this weekend for 3 sets this weekend with flawless conditions. Definitely comes around quicker. Scores were pretty consistent despite a pretty significant change, although I did have a couple earlier falls that I attribute to getting accustomed to the quicker turn. I assume I will settle into that pretty easily. In short, both settings seem awesome. In the spirit of end of season experimentation, I am going to try a little more length and less depth next weekend (aka Horton's numbers).

Very happy with mine at the stock settings, but I am curious if I should experiment with short and deep. Occasionally, I am getting a slight stall out of my offside turn (2/4). When it happens and I am patient, I'm back in the pass without an issue. Fantastic ski, now owns my practice PB and it is giving me more legit cracks at purple than I can ever remember.

I partially tore mine in a dislocation just over a year ago. If it isn't too bad, aggressive PT should get you back on the water. I have been wearing a shock doctor brace this season for a little extra piece of mind and I'm skiing as well as I ever have. I saw 3 surgeons and in my case they all agreed that surgery wasn't necessary. @cragginshred sent me some exercises that really helped. I also bought one of those Shoulder Sphere devices at nationals and that seemed to really help as well. Good luck getting back in the water.

@markchilcutt - awesome skiing! This thing makes that purple loop look really attainable.

Another vote for the R-style. My rear FM eseries cuff fell off and sank near 2 ball. I went back to the dock and bolted @"Pat M"'s R-style to the ski and proceeded to have the best set of the season as of that point. I ordered mine own on the way home and skied my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th sets on the r-style as tournament rounds. Works awesome. Keep an eye on the attachment screws though, mine did back out after 2 weeks of skiing and the hardware sinks...

We have anchored a couple of fake swans near the shore of our site. They have taken it from goose infested to completely goose poo free. Basically just pool toys that are $20-30 each on Amazon. I'd try them up course of the jump completely out of the skier/boat path. Obviously you'd pull them for tournaments but if positioned correctly they might provide the fear factor without needed to be removed for practice.

I do have a 67"- pm sent

@lpskier - did you try more than 2 rows? It seems like bigger pipe or more rows would be even more effective to absorb the energy. Mine was a rush job done the night before the tournament in a downpour. 4" was the biggest they had in stock at Home Depot.

I tried 4" perforated pipe this weekend at our tournament in double rows and was pretty impressed with the results. It was just a spot treatment, trying to soak up the backwash from a rocky part of the shoreline. Waves definitely go through but after passing over the pipes for the second time they are gone. Super cheap - $28 of pipe (4@10') and 8 swim noodles. I would try the 100' rolls If we had a larger problem section. Pictures are from the breezy day after, but they performed great in glassy conditions.

I've perforated my ear drums several times and now use vented ear plugs on a "leash" threaded the tag on my vest. It keeps me from losing them in a hard fall. Occasionally they do fall out, but having them right there makes it really easy to get them back in. Very little hearing loss with them in unless I get water back behind them.

@BeMorrNH - sounds great- there are two tournaments left in NH this season that I am aware of. Dubes Pond this coming Saturday in Hooksett, and the NE Slalom Champs the Saturday after Labor Day in Wolfeboro. Both are 3 round slalom only. Lots of kids competing.

@BeMorrNH - good luck in your search. If you can stretch your budget a lot I have a sweet Carbon Pro for sale that my 05 Wrangler Unlimited handles with ease. It has only ever been in the Back Bay at Winni. Having both an open (MC 197) and closed bow (carbon pro), you are less likely to swamp the closed bow but either will be a challenge out on the big lake. I've pulled the Mastercraft with the Jeep too. It'll handle a ski boat, technically it is rated for 4K with a 6spd. I rarely tow with mine as I have something beefier, but it'll work. As for boats, buy the best one you can. There is nothing worse than the boat being down for a weekend or worse during your vacation. The sub $10k market can be tough. Look for rotted floors, winterization damage etc.. Don't settle for an I/O. I'm in the Manchester area and pretty active in the local tournament scene. I can ask around at our tournament Saturday if you'd like.

We're making the trip for the first time this year. Just registered yesterday. My 10 year old son is incredibly excited.

I'm headed to Colorado for a week in late August. I'd love to coordinate some ski sets if I can. Will be in Denver some as well as up in Summit County.

Spend the money on the Wallyskier buoys! I am convinced they are significantly safer. Cheap out on the boat guides if you must but after hitting a Wallyskier and "skiing" away you'll be glad you spent a couple more $$'s. His new version in 2017 is a major improvement.

2005 197TT got great reviews standing in for the CarbonPro while it was pulling a tournament elsewhere. It mostly just gets kids and free skiing now, but the Zbox works really well on this boat. Most can't tell it from ZO. Just back from the detailer in these pics- still looks amazing after 12 years.