lpskier

Are there two dry lakebeds on either side of Ironwood Lake 2? Seems like one of them ought to be Lake 1.  Where did the water go?  Victims of the drought? Unused? WTF? 

Record or Class C? 

We all go back and forth across the wake, and we are all following the swing of the handle. It’s either that or let go. So I don’t think the skiing concept of swing is necessarily about where the handle goes. To me that’s a different concept. 
 

To me, the concept of swing is about the path you allow you ski to take while your hands hold the handle. If your ski stays underneath you, you ski a straight trajectory toward the buoy and have to try to slam a turn because you lack the space needed for a proper turn. Most likely you are also well out of ideal body position. This is the absence of swing.
 

If you allow your ski to “swing” on the new turning edge, your ski moves away from the handle, creating more space for you to turn, and in the process allowing your body to elongate from slightly compacted by knee bend while the ski moves beneath you in the edge change to tall and aligned while the ski swings to apex (some call this “standing up” but if you only relax your knees to change edges you should still be mostly erect and mostly still in alignment). Then all you have to do is stand still with the weight on your front foot, wait for the ski to come back under the rope at the end of the turn, and go. 
 

Check out a picture of @adamhcaldwellat apex.  Adam, like all the pros, creates maximum space between the ski and the handle at apex, and hence more room at the buoy, by letting his ski swing. You can’t run rope lengths where the handle can’t reach the handle without it.  I would say that by and large everyone that can run 38 knows how to swing and those that can’t run 28 haven’t yet figured it out. 

@Horton The answer to your question  is no. But Rule 1.06 provides that where strict adherence to the rules is “infeasible, “ the CJ with approval of the appointed judges, may “make the necessary changes.” Rule 6, and for slalom 10.08 , deals with officials. If you don’t have enough rule compliant officials on site when needed, what are you to do? Complying with the rule is, in that circumstance , infeasible because you lack qualified bodies. Your choices are: 1. Stop/cancel the balance of the tournament; or 2. Under the auspices of Rule 1.06, use what you have available, note it in your report, alert the rules committee and soldier on. Again, it’s best to consult with your Region EVP. It’s hard to imagine having enough judges to vote on the exception and not enough to judge, but if you have a CJ and three appointed judges, one of the appointed judges is injured and leaves for the hospital, the CJ is up to ski, and there are no other judges on site because it’s a turn and burn and they all left after the skied 2d/ 3d round, your choice is use a non-rated judge, or use only two judges, or tell the CJ she can’t ski.  None of those choices are good. 
 

I have had to do this once, followed the procedure above, and never heard a word about it. It’s far from ideal, but that’s one of the functions served by 1.06 if you are  CJ in a jam. 
 

Another time, we couldn’t get SP to work reliably when mounted on the pylon, where the applicable rule requires it to be. We had no choice but to try alternative locations and it worked fine when mounted on the windshield. So after consulting with the EVP, that’s where we put it, and so noted in the TC report . Again, I received no push back  

Sometimes a tournament needs to use unrated personelle when there is simply no other choice (other than calling off the tournament). While it is not permitted by the rules, if the CJ notes in his report probably nothing will happen. I wouldn’t recommend trying it in an EL, but again I’ve seen assistants working when it should be a regular or senior. If you’re CJ in an EL or God forbid an R and you use an unqualified official, pray no one sets a record. 
 

Once in a great while stuff  happens at tournaments over which you don’t have control and you have no choice but to improvise. Get a consensus of the appointed officials and note it in the CJ or TC report, and send a report to the Rules Committee. See Rule 1.06. Sometimes is best to check in with your regional VP to get his or her advice    so you are perceived as a rogue elephant and often they’ll have a better solution than the one you are considering. 

@APB You’re right. Next year could be the Glastron Open. 

@Rico I’m excited to back to Bako.  Thanks to your club for inviting us! 

The ski may not displace the buoy. Your binder and your body may. 
 

As the photos point out, there is a lot more to judging than “counting to six.” You need to know the rules, pay close attention and know what to look for  

if the photo’s of Dane were from the MC Pro, I’m sure that the TWBC cameras were designated as “official” cameras, and the CJ probably reviewed the call. If he or she awarded a half, then that’s the right call. The cameras are so good it hard to make a wrong call on video review.

A few years ago I was going to CJ a pro event  and I asked a more experienced judge for advice  He said “Put your best judge on video review.”

Re compatibly with other brands: Fins come in different thicknesses and one company’s thicker fin may not fit in another company’s thinner fin slot. 

You can’t tell from that picture. If you’re judging, you’d watch the skier pass the buoy in slow motion and make the correct call. 
 

To me, it does not yet appear that the buoy has been displaced and the ski does not follow a rail-like path , so it may never displace it.  If the buoy does get displaced, you can see it pop up out of the water behind the skier and above its normal height after the skier passes it.  It’s often pretty clear and easy to see if you know what to watch for. 

@KC 34 yers of marriage and my wife still laughs at my jokes, even when she’s heard them a hundred times before. That, I think, is one of the secrets to a log and happy marriage. 

In my opinion, the best double boot release system is Fogman, which are no longer available. Fogman has a releasable heel and toe.  If I were looking for new bindings, I go with MOB, as the release system is similar to Fogman with both a heel and toe release. And you can put any boot you like on the MOB plate. 

@BraceMaker Kyle Tate at Senior Worlds, he’s top seed, 2@41 is the score to beat: 32, 39, 3@41 for the win. 
 

Got to love the double opt ups. 

@DW You hit the mail on the head. When water skiing was in its heyday, there were few activities more rad than water ski jumping. Now people can do a double back flip on a dirt bike or snowmobile. There are a lot more activities to capture people’s attention. On the other hand, there are more people, so shouldn’t we have our share?  
 

@skialex I’m a Connelly fan and skied on their skis for years. And the new fin clamp is very cool, though I just haven’t seen it in action. 

But you don’t need a special clamp (or calipers) to make adjustments on the platform when you are experimenting. 

Hey, I got the new emoji! I’m a first! 

@ETskier Why cant you do that with a T handle Allen wrench? Folks I ski with do it all the time. If you are fine tuning, calipers are required for precise measurements, but if you’re just trying something, eye ball it. On my fin clamp, about 22 degrees of rotation is about .005 of adjustment. Get to know your gear and you can do a lot on the platform. 
 

One time  I was skiing with @adamhcaldwell   We were working on my settings. I climbed on the platform and Adam said “Why don’t you try moving your fin forward.” I said “Okay, how far” given that I run my fin kind of far back at .690. He said:”I don’t know. Try all the way.”  That was probably the largest single move I ever made. The move didn’t pan out, but i ran -32. Moral of the story: Don’t be afraid to make a big move and you don’t need calipers to do it. 

I pulled Jamie Beauchesne in a head to head with Rossi. Rossi went first, and we followed. When Jamie dropped at the end, Rossi started chirping at him. After listening to an earful, Jamie says: “I think I’ll save my energy for the skiing part.” 

@Horton exactly. 50 years ago. 

If slalom isn’t a spectator sport, explain the crowds at the pro events in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s?

When I was a kid going to McCormick’s Ski School in the spring and then working there for a summer, we skied six sets a day: two slalom, two jump and two trick. At that age, I don’t remember thinking it was too much. I just remember that my hands were usually shredded, at least in the spring. 

The Rule 13.3 requires that T&B is at the option of the skier and it’s the skier’s choice where to start. It requires that the T&B option be announced in the tournament announcement. 
 

In practice, it’s often announced on the fly , sometimes it’s mandatory and sometimes skiers are required to start at a particular line length or speed, such as last completed pass. None of these options are permitted by the rules and it’s sometimes done for the benefit of the tournament, not the skier. 
 

@Mastercrafter At least for slalom they ran a three blade prop, and that had a negative impact (vs. a four blade) for at least one skier. 

Arvin lakes must be glacial. They all run the same direction.