Jody_Seal

the national championship is and should remain the pinical of our sport outside of the world championships. getting there should not be done via some no pressure score from two class c tournaments or in a set up back yard record tournament. the championship level should be based on besting ones opponent or opponents on the field of play on a given day.. every successful sport has a pyramid approach to the finals. local,State,region and national or something of that nature. the current entitled ideology in this sport continues to permeate. Yes Open/elite level skiers should have to ski "A" Regionals to participate at nationals. notice I said "A" regionals. one area where we fall short is applying such a requirement where it truly benefits this level of skier or optimizes their desire to win a competition. I also believe that in order to ski under the US flag or on a US team one should be required to attend the US nationals to be eligible at world level championships.

who did ya run off??

@markn suck up! quit! he cant buy hats large enough now!

@Drago.... Now that's funny right there. 19-20 200s built by Bryant should be avoided period. they were clueless on how to build the product.

just another unrealistic anal rule in the sport!

good luck. all the ones I did were real nice boats so ripping up the floor carpet and grinding and cutting of the floor assembly was out of the question.. actually never thought about it.. disassembly is far easier and cleaner then cutting and grinding... also the storage box is part of the floor assembly that reinforce the floor as a whole cut that out you will have a soft floor.

@BraceMaker I would actually send you a panda LOL . No, there is a super structure under floor that incorporates the engine sub frame Assy. the fixture that's glassed in the hull is for an anchoring system, and is a very robust system. the first guy i seen break one of them loose after 15 years in production was Andy some time in the mid 90's. Seen and probably repaired 5 others since. Had to Repair Curtis sheers ski fly boat 5 days before Moomba one year, they said they were using the 502 boat to tow the jump into place or something and heard a crack!!

Big weekend for Anna Gay. first time skiing over 11000 points in tricks. Also on hand Adam Pickos sking up near 12000 points. Sean Hunter into 41 off. Great skiing in Axis Alabama (Ski Chaste Lake) AWSA president as well as southern region EVP on hand this weekend was a very good tournament experience for all involved.

yes that's not a good situation. seen it many many times. not a easy fix as well as inexpensive fix. engine package must be removed from the boat. pylon removed. bilge pump removed. then a grind out of the pylon base fixture to start with a clean hull surface to re glass. the fixture needs to be clean and grease free before reglassing into place. there is a system or correct procedure for glass layup and correct placement of fixture. I would bill that job out at nearly $3,000.

found one..

congratulations to the Masters overall winners!

better news! I go to my shop today there are 4 pcm blue oval engines ready for part out, complete sale or scrap metal. I'll pull you one off...

people move into the 21st century.. From my perspective, this years masters on the water event was still a very professionaly executed event. kudos to Rohni she still manages to create and produce the best waterski/wake event for in person participation as well as spectator interaction within the toad water'sports world. and she does it on a very limited budget, that's getting smaller every year. sadly the interweb deal that was called live stream or whatever live left a lot to be desired. the ramp cam interruption in jump was a distraction and as well did not due the audiences watching the sport justice. one min listing to commentators scream and then they go from a wide view of the jumper to this flash of color and have then have to watch the replay they missed the jump live with a flash of color. or skier setting down and they decide to cover the back hill corn hole event where two very over weight men shirtless were playing cornhole..like putting the Porta toilet right behind commentators kiosk ... seen that too!! anyway very hard to watch I guess I come from working the masters during the ESPN days! All in all from my perspective it was a great Red Solo -Cup weekend at callaway. Congratulations to all the winners...

The live stream production all weekend was terrible across the board. like watching with some kid with the remote control.... jumper on their counter and were watching cornhole live on the hill behind the Pavillion! TWC does it much better! Hey Sullivan your video production was pitiful!!

Not imprssed with 32 mph slalom skiing and with the idea that going slower requires a longer fatter ski. wakes at 30-32 mph are substantially bigger then 34/36 mph.. today's modern ski boats are heavier boats and make bigger holes the slower they go.. my contention is length of ski along with a more narrow full profile benifits slower speed with wake impact lessened in slalom. ski on left is a late 90's pretty much off the rack Mapple.. Ski on Right is not off the shelf but hand laid with carbon. both measure out 68.5" . had these rat holed away for 17 years.going to experiment with the carbon ski.

last weekends format: simple! medal divisions.. women: over 18-55k/34 max speed. women Over 45 -52k/55k women over 65 any speed. Men : over 18 36 mph men over 35 55k/34 mph men over 65 52k/max new 55k lake record 2.5 at 39... 3rds of slalom and trick $50......where were ya????

@HortonI gave you laugh because from time to time i get the opportunity to ski with that chick from SRB that has the WR... That has been her main coaching tip!! I just call it hold on to your ass cause 450HP/500fpt is about to light it up!!

it's funny , just got off the phone with a fella in Canada with an 03 and a naff mefi controller. either looking for a replacement or updating to E control. any one out that has done the conversion and still have their mefi controller hit me up I may have a home for it.. E control requires complete engine wire harness replacement as well as a few mounting brackets and ecm and sending units.

Getting people in? 20 entry's! that's all we have for a class C&E three round ,3 day slalom/trick tournament in Florida on a pristine man made lake, cost ? $30 ............? 20 entries that's all!!! No! slalom skiing is flourishing, USAWS/AWSA On life support..

@The_MS

@Hortonson you are missing one thing!! important thing!! The Masters is a professional athletic event ! they awward money to the winners of the event!!! they The US Masters/ Nautique and Callaway write the checks!!! IWWF DOES NOT! "The Masters Waits for no one."

@Hortonthe fuse is lit!!

@UWSkierthanks for the link!

here's my take. I can tell all that the decisions pertaining to a one year sit out was not taken lightly by the officials and title sponsors of the US Masters. these officials are some of the best in the world. these officials take pride in the work they do so somewhere there is merit to their decision in their assessment and final decision as well as recommendations by the title sponsors. most of you have never been to Robin lake so your Chrystal palace anal ideology about how tournaments are run as well as playing field acutraments are far from your glass house tournament site that many of you live in. where the slalom course is on Robin lake resides in nearly 30 foot of water. bottom anchored. the site only allows for a static gate camera on one side of the course. due to the distance to the far bank a human has to sit in a floating judges tower and videos manually the entrance gate, keeping that person awake in 100 degree Georgia spring can be a true chore. rock walls and rip wrap encircle nearly 2/3 thirds of the lake Making it a very rolling dicey encounter for both drivers and skiers. The US Masters is a professionally run towed water sports event. every one involved in the production and site personnel ( judges, drivers, secondary personal on down to the safety personnel) are paid or employed by callaway and Nautique Boats. this might be hard for many of you but Mr Lightfoot has been the announcer for the masters a number years ago. bottom line he did not do a good job and was not and has not been asked to come back. the video production crew at the masters do a very hard job and imop have a very successful track record for the Masters. I retired from working almost 30 masters and have seen the event change, morph or whatever one wants to call it into a well oiled machine. Roni has done an excellent job of putting all of it together. hats off to all the masters crew. keep up the great work! on another note I do think that the sit down athlete should still have the opportunity to ski and post scores in any off masters site lcq record tournaments . who knows he might break the world record! I think Liquid-D has the best response.

I think if you already have a great running and skiing ZO boat why repower? if your SBC has hi hours, long block base engines are still available through many outlets except Pleasure craft marine. as far as 6.0 in the 196 model. we'll! they ski pretty sweet! use a 668 ACME.... I am finishing up a 196 rebuild and had both a small block Excalibur and a zr6 on crates. I chose thr Excalibur due to the fact I ski 32 mph now, my wife 30 mph, my daughter a small women 2 overall skier and stephen,,,, well he seems to be able to ski behind anything and do well... we just did not need the 6.0 for what we do... I picked up a 89 Master craft that the 6.0 is going in...... more on that project next month...