santangelo

I agree in the concept of competition vs trials. Most tournament are trials, or what I would call qualifiers where you are trying to achieve a goal for future 'competitive' tournaments or simply trying to gauge your progress under controlled conditions. Ask anyone that has been in a 'competitive' tournament like States, Regionals, or Nationals and has been in a run-off. Those moments stand out as the most fun you can have at a tournament, win or lose. It's more 'me against you' than anything we have in water skiing. It's the same concept as structured head to head formats such as the Big Dawg series which has made it so popular. The point is, there is a structure in place to bring about the competitive environment with a reward at the end. Changing the aggregate of skiers from age based to ability based does not solve this problem alone.

@Mark_Matis 0 confirmed gators, 1 confirmed Nile Lizard.

Yes, all 130 of them...spoiled.

Don't forget that you, as a skier, are the input to the driver. The skier, in large part, determines how well the driver does. Two ends of the spectrum: 1. easy to drive: loads later and progressively, has rhythm and stays connected out to the buoy 2. difficult to drive: loads early and inconsistently and comes off handle quickly/releasing line tension. There's obviously many cases between these two extremes. In the first case, you're letting your driver know where you are the entire pass and allows for smooth steering. In the second case, he's guessing and driving will be erratic. In general, I gauge every pass I drive by how much my hand moves on the wheel. If you're searching with the wheel, it's not good for the skier. Whether it's you or the skier is for you to decide based on what it felt like in the seat of your pants.

Plan for tomorrow is to start the 2nd round of the BD over again at 7:30 if, and only if, it looks like the forecast says we can run the FULL round of skiers. If not, scores for the top 16 will be used based on round 1 and we start at 8:30 am. No dual boats in Main. BD skiers will stay on Turnpike and US Open will have the Main lake to themselves to help catch up. If we do run the 2nd round, we will go straight into the top 16 on turnpike. An incredible amount of work goes into these events. It's unfortunate for spectators and skiers, but the weather was really dangerous. Hope to get it done tomorrow.

@Lorien, I've been on the ARC S ever since switching to it. I did go back a try the same length Yellow ARC and the only real difference I felt was that the ARC S finished the turn a little smoother. I attribute this to the fact that I'm on a 67" ski at 165 lbs. If I were 10-15 lbs heavier, I think I would prefer the yellow ARC. With that said, there seems to be a lot more skiers on the blue vs the yellow for whatever reason. Hope this helps.

@Mark_Matis , I don't have any pictures of that, but you are correct, the county put up a temporary roof days before the event for the Main Tower.

Thanks @Edbrazil . We found one of the sonotube anchors.

@Edbrazil , that is correct. Jeff Kepchia, Mike Ise, and Lee Mershon spent Monday afternoon diving to find the anchors for the jump. They were 55 gallon metal drums filled with concrete and they appear to be in about the correct location.

@LeonL, that's actually the Main/NS lake. The ramp was pulled in there for the US Open. We will be doing the same again this year.

With all the recent discussion of ROI, nationals attendance, and viewing some of the great pix and videos of the 'good ole days' this seemed appropriate. Below are some screen grabs from a 2 hour video that Boz, one of the Okee founders, gave to me of the 1986 Nationals and 1986 US Open among many big tournaments at Okeeheelee over the years. Interesting side note I learned while watching the video with Boz is that we received the Certificate of Occupancy from Palm Beach County for our Club House the day before the 86 Nationals was hosted. This remains one of the best examples of a local government working with an organization to build something great. We have two other major tournaments coming up shortly...hope many of you can make it down to watch. A HUGE thank you goes out to Correct Craft for making these events happen. They have been a great partner over the years supporting events for us and many other sites. 2016 US Open of Water Skiing 2016 Big Dawg World Finals

Nice. I want to be 17 again...but with my current bank account please.

@Ilivetoski , there has been no bid put in by Ski Club of the Palm Beaches. I too have heard nothing but great comments about Broadside Harbor. Sounds like an incredible site with a great crew. Congrats to Broadside.

@bchmbrs got bit hard by the bug this summer. Had never really skied a slalom course before. Started about 8 weeks ago at -15@28 and is now getting into -22@36, setting a new PB nearly every time he goes to the lake. Thanks for all the help this summer at Okee with our many projects and dock starting at tournaments (he dock-started from 8am-5pm at the BD qualifier...yes, all day long!) I'll hook you up with some rides in Virginia!

I recall the the driveshaft was off center in the first year or two. Those did drive a little differently and didn't respond to user input as symmetrically as they do now. I've had many skiers drive my boat with various levels of driving skill. Most tend to initially over steer the boat because it does move more than the 200 which the large majority of skiers drive at Okee. However, they settle in after a few passes and say it feels fine...just different. It requires surprisingly little counter to correct. It's very responsive and you can feel the rhythm of the skier which is difficult in the 200. The better drivers really appreciate and enjoy this part of the boat. It's @Roger's favorite boat to drive and he can attest to it's abilities. He's got end course to back it up! As for skiing, it's as good as any boat and probably has an edge with the longer lines/slower skiers. In general, I don't recall a time in the past where all the boats have been as good as they are now...it really comes down to personal preference. Agreed the SN 196 was an incredible boat and one of my favorites, but the wakes and pull are not up to the level of a properly tuned CP in my opinion.

@whitecaps, funny. Talent and dedication will make you a 32 off skier, the ARC S will just make it a little easier to get there. Try the Demo team, or Demo program.

FWIW, @whitecaps, I've ridden the Helix, Q45, ARC, and ARC-S. Personally I found all these skis to be very stable, with the Helix being a bit more aggressive everywhere and sacrificing some stability. You can surely expect to gain stability with the ARC(S). It will be wider from mid front foot forward and if I recall correctly, about the same width mid front foot back, so you gain surface area up front. As for size, I would definitely go with the 68" ARC-S. I think this will be skiable at both speeds for a person of your size. The ARC(S) is a rare combination of speed and stability...not quite sure how they pulled that off but there's many skiers on it that feel comfortable on it the first set.

See the list of Centurion Promo Drivers. I'm in South Florida....welcome to ski my 6.0L Carbon Pro anytime.

Thanks @ToddL. I understood and agreed with your original post, but wanted to clarify with different language. I also agree with your last summary, including the last sentence on the opt up scenario. One of the better forum discussions. I had never considered the case for 6NC on an opt up before, so this has been beneficial.

@ToddL, are you explicitly stating that the skier can ski back to the boat guide line, drop the handle with a slack line, and get a score of 6 NC (not take the hit) before the exit gates?

Like many, I was on double hard shells for about 20 years until about 3 years ago when I decided to switch to a kick-in for a few reasons: I think a rear kick-in is a safer system My onside was much worse than my offside in double hardshells I spent a full month/about 25 sets on a rear rubber kick-in. Two observations coming off of double hardshells for me: On side was incredibly better. Rear ankle lateral flexion is so important for my morphology, and suspect it is for most. Off side was horrible. Even after 25 set's I struggled to make my 2nd pass which I would occasionally start at ( -32 ) If you are on hard shells and complain about a slow ski, go to a rear kick in and be prepared for lots of speed. I didn't realize how much forward pressure is applied to the tip of the ski from the rear upper cuff even when your just riding down the lake (which explains why my off side was so good on doubles). I kept overshooting my gates because the ski was more efficient. I had to move bindings forward 3/8" to get the ski to feel closer to normal, but was still faster. I think you have to be a more technically correct skier to use a kick-in. Double boots was a band aid of sorts for me. After that month, I gave up on the rubber kick in and put my old double boots on but removed the rear upper cuff (now basically an R style). Much more familiar and skied very well on this system. I still had considerable rear ankle lateral flexion so on side was very good and lost very little to the off-side compared to double boots. I think this is why the R-style system is so attractive. In the end, I customized a hard plastic shell into a kick-in. It's asymmetrical so I get lateral support on my offside, but open on my onside so I get lateral ankle flexion comparable to a rubber kick in. Most importantly, I think I'm a better skier as a result of the change.

@LeonL, eccentric. ( @Razorskier1 ,or any there gym rat will get it. )

5 days a week in the gym during ski season of about 7-10 ski sets per week. Monday is always an 'assessment' day and will focus on restoring range of motion from weekend skiing with light weights and plenty of stretching on whatever is tight that day. Otherwise, resistance training focuses on the stretch phase of upper body pulling with higher reps/lower sets, and any upper body pushing is my normal routine with whatever is left in the tank. Cycling and few sprints here and there depending on how I feel.

@Horton, agree this is the best D3 to date. @SunTenAgain, what speed are those numbers for? What bindings?

Your @Wish is my command :)