JackQ

I do not feel comfortable for someone that does that, they will not be concentrating on the pass, but thinking about what they are going to text at the end of the pass. Either they put the phone in the glove compartment, or I would not ski behind them, period.

The N1 is a great ski, not significantly different from the XT and XTR. I have had or have all three. Too much work? I am more concerned with the performance, I can rest after my set. I would recommend it, I would prefer an XT if the same or close to the same price.

The 6L, is a more modern engine and lighter than 5.7. Everything being equal, and price I would prefer the 6L. Ski's better, not so sure. I ran 39 in tournaments behind both last year, couldn't tell a lick of difference. I upgrading my 196 from two puck, to a one puck system predominately because of a dead puck. Does the single puck ski better? never felt any difference. If you expect a difference, you may "feel" it, but if you just ski...it don't think it does.

Looks like s dozzie boat lift. I had my 196 Nautique on that lift (in salt water to boot) for a decade without issues. The owner (Lewis Fields) is an active competitive skier and his wife is a Senior Driver. If you question contact them at: https://doozieboatlifts.com/

I have a 196 and prefer how it handles outside of the course in comparison to the 200, PS or new Nautique. In my opinion the PS tracks (in course) much better than the 196, not quite as well as the 200, but better than the new Nautique.

Some of the wood ski worked fairly well, both LaPoint's had some great scores. The biggest challenge was if you 10 identical ski, they would all behave differently. If you didn't have Bob's & Kris whittling talents you were screwed. I think their experience with Wood skis is why they are so good with working with the "new" skis.

I still think that essential no difference between rope, i may ski with a In tow, Lou Alcomo and ML ropes in the same week or day. No difference to me, though Lou’s seem to last the longest, ML the biggest pain to change loops, In Tow, colored sections.

InTow. Can get rope with only the loops I need. Is cheaper, loops are easier to change, are completely colored(less likely to have wrong loop selected).

I have always been curious what you heart rate elevates to during a slalom set. I doubt in the end we burn that may calories per set/ 50-75? but would be interesting. Have you Apple watch owners gathered any data?

Marcus! Finally someone else that agrees on ZO settings. Around the 2nd year of ZO, I had Lee Mershan drive me, and change the settings between A1 and C3 randomly (without telling me) between back to back passes at 35 and 38. Even going between these extremes I wasn't sure if I can tell the difference other than the passes that what I thought were C3, I felt I was getting more effective acceleration out of the buoy, if I had didn't rush the turns. I have at times skied with my wife's setting of A1 vs B2 which I use, and never knew until I got in boat and the driver told me.

That is correct the binding is the determining point to determining the crossing point for 1/4, q1/2, etc. but it is not for determining if the ski was around the buoy, IE width. You can have ski go around the buoy but part of the binding be over the buoy, theoretically over the mid point.

I am with Horton, the how skis on whatmay influence what I try, but how the ski works for me is the only thing that counts, don't care if was purple pock-a-dots graphics. I completely disagree with S1Pitts, there are significant difference between the various top end skis and how they work with your individual style/tenancies. My belief is that you need to find the ski that best forgives your weakness, more than one that complements your strengths. Personally, I have poor turns but strong pulls and pre-turns. So for me a slower forgiving ski, works for me, the ICONN in the past, and now the XTR. I don't care if I have to pull hard, long I can always rest when I am done.

I will have more time to ski. However the effect on tournaments is unknown, at a minimum we will have to have less than 50 at a tournament.

Bob LaPoint, "Turn hard, but pull harder"

I was a mechanic at a Porsche restoration shop before and during college. I don't see the utility of some of those boxes that you would have to have a ladder to see the contents. The only real utility of a box is saving time accessing your tools. For some it is a beauty contest. I was paid 50% of the labor bill, so speed was everything.

Thomas Tuffer, "a fool and his money is soon parted"

I estimate I get 90-100 sets a year, I seem to get 3-5 years. Sometime I sell the ski and get on a new one, sometimes I break them in half. All passes at 32 or shorter, at least half at 38 or 39. I am feel that 300-400 passes is a reasonable for me, I definitely pull/lean, and turn just not always well

Body position, Body position! If you have good body position (Horton's stack) you can have a plethora of short comings. If you cant run at least mid 35, you need to work on your 32s, not to run them but to run them in proper position and with space at the buoys, not wide but space ahead of buoy. No, you don't have to start as a child, I never ran a course until 23 yrs old, and in three years time could run 35@36, but very rarely. I didn't find 35 a major barriers, running it consistently was a considerable barrier. For me 38 was the brick wall, where you need to graduate from algebra to geometry, its all about the angle.

There may be some repercussions that are in work that we are unaware of. Jeff Surdej monitors comments on this forum and should be able to provide some enlightenment.

Not at great mystery as there was only one R tournament held on that day. Maybe I should have attended, maybe I could have gotten good score. :wink: )

Horton, I agree but on some of the subsequent videos, there appear to be some poor executed timing, on attempts to move to next side. On thing that is not in doubt, it was purposeful.

The setting in ZO is not as much about "a large tolerance around times" as it is about when, how aggressively and how long the throttle is applied to maintain tolerance. Why the hard** on having only one setting, you most likely would not like the setting that I do, and I would like not like your preferred setting. In a future world where all manufactures use the same engine, and similar hulls, one setting would likely be more practical. Though as I don't ski like you, I may like still want a different setting than others.

Horton, I just reviewed your attached video's, Yikes. Looks like generally bad driving, wrong siding the skier as much helping the skier, in an poorly executed attempt to help the skier. I think skier would have better performance if the boat just stayed in the middle.

lakeho26, Innovation? What useful innovation have we experienced in the last 10-15 years? I have a 11 year old Nautique 196 that I ski with 95% of the time, I ski no better or worse behind any of the new boats, with one exception, where I would much prefer the 196. The wake is s good or better behind the 196 that all but one new boat, tracks close to all but the "old" 200s, spray is good enough at 39 to be a non factor. Maybe you are referring to the proliferation of sea deck, that is more expensive, harder the maintain in the long run, and provides less sound deadening. Or the advanced the dash displays that add cost, and are less reliable. In the future even the $1K replacement parts will be unobtainable. Fuel Injection is a fantastic improvement over carburetors, but DI will likely be a long term maintenance nightmare, it has in many instances already proven so in the automotive world. I am afraid we (skiers) must force USAWS to relax the tow boat requirement for E, L and R tournaments as promos become less available. The requirement should be it was a certified boat (if we don't cease this non value added activity) in the last X years, and has the latest ZO version, and is in good mechanical condition. The condition of "the" boat is what concerns me, I have single puck ZO, latest version, well maintained boat, replaced steering gear, head, cable, mounts etc every 3-4 years. I know the better my boat tracks and drives the more likely I will get a good pull. With the promo boat programs condition was never a concern, most were fastidiously maintained. At my ski site there are older boats that range from poor (engine constantly misfires, leaks continually, steering cable requires herculean effort, with excessive play, etc) to another boat re-powered with PCM 6.2, new running gear, etc. I would not want to and likely would refuse to ski in a tournament with all but the re-powered well maintained boat. So how are we/should we determine when a older boat is not good enough to pull a tournament? This will prove to be a sticky wicket! But it something we may quickly have to sort out.

I have no scientific data to prove my anecdotal evidence, but I think usage is much larger factor than age. A one year old ski with a 100+ passes at 39 off with a 195 pound skier is much closer to death than a 8 year ski, that has been used a dozen time a year at 15’ off with a 160 of skier.