JackQ

I never went to a one hand gate. Although if executed well I could see the advantage, but did not think it was worth the loss in consistency. I prefer to make my starts the same every time regardless of the rope length. Unfortunately my starts still have more variability than I want.

Most cars average about 35mph or less over their life, so 1,000 hours is equivalent to 35K miles. So 1,000 or 2,000 hours is not near end of life, in college we put over 1,800 on our boat in one year with no issues. Skiing does involve a lot more starting and stopping than auto use which could cause some increase wear but the type of use the boat may have a bearing on how you should view the hours, most boats used in a ski school type setting (vice a ski club or personal use) will have an inordinate amount of time at idle, as the engine is often at idle when the skier is given instruction. You can scan the ECU and determine how many hours were recorded at under 1,000 rpm.

But Leon you don't weigh 110pds.

I think the 200 has a more pronounced rooster tail/sharper wake at 32mph, 28 off. 22 off and 32 off does not bother her, others have had similar comments. I can even feel a bit more a "bump" when I dont start at 32off. However, at 32off and beyond I dont feel anything, the spray and tracking on the 200 is much improved. As everything in life it is a trade off.

markn, good point but I have already paid for the 2009 though I don't have it my hands yet. I thought about spending the 4K for conversion to ZO, but thought that would partially pay for the upgrade to the newer boat. Your and rockdog's recommendations on the price sounds reasonable, I think I will list at $21,900 so that I have a reasonable chance to move the boat during the winter.

I in the process of buying a 2009 Nautique, I wanted to have boat with ZO hoping it will help me practice at 39.5 off, and my wife does not like the wake at 28off (32mph) on the 200s so I was looking for a 2007-2009. Now that I have found a “new” boat, I am going to list my 2004 Ski Nautique for sale but have been struggling with what a fair asking price is. I bought the boat in 2004, and my wife and I have been using it at 34 and 32 mph, 850 hours, Perfect Pass, Bimini, cover, trailer, blue with silver/gray accent. The hull has never been damaged or repaired, no engine issues (oil changed 50 hours, impeller and transmission fluid changed every two years. No gouges, rips or tears, always covered or garaged. Recommendations on price? I will post on ski-it-again and onlyinboards.

I have not had enough time to practice different setting with ZO as much as I would like as my boat has PP. However it appears that an individual’s preferred setting is more personal than just how you ski and your weight. I believe that I would be characterized as an aggressive skier with hard pulls, and in theory should use an B or C setting, but I use A1 . I used A1 when I weighed 210, and I still use it now at 168pds so I don’t buy the hypothesis that ideal settings are weight dependent. I have tried other setting but gravitate back to A1. Next year I will have a boat with ZO and maybe I will find a setting that will help me get past 3 ball at 39.5 now that I have some consistency at 38. I wonder if this is more mental than reality based, I may be tone death but I cannot feel much difference between an A1 and B1 or B3 particularly when I am skiing well.

Just what we need is another rule and complication for something that could happen but rarely if ever has occurred. As a skier and judge at 75+ tournaments with speed control, I have never seen this occur.

For me 39 is the most different from the proceeding pass. 28 and 32 are the same just a little more critical, 35 is a big jump from 32 and requires more angle and intensity, 38 feel like 35 but with much less margin for error. I have been running 50% of my 38s, but 39 feels miles away. If I get a good one, I always pull just a hair too long for two and lose it. When I can get at least a turn at 2, I can barely get to 3. My challenge seems to force myself to just get the ski past the buoy vice trying to be early, but the margin of error for me is almost zero. I know I need to change my setup, and width but can't to find the formula. If it was easy everyone would be doing it!

I have been operating in salt water with closed loop cooling for about 20 years (3 different boats) other than a preemptive replacement the exhaust manifolds/risers every 5 years, I never have had any issues. Is the trailer galvanized? If not I would check closely for rust, I only use my trailer twice a year, once in once out, and have had rust issues when I had painted trailers in the past.

At least in my region going to a record, especially in our regionals you are not going to have the best drivers. All too often many drivers do not pull practice and only drive in a handfull of tournaments and are not prepared for shortline skiers. As Phil Adams (San Diego) told me a number of years ago, "If I am not pulling skiers at 35/38off and beyond, every week in practice I have no business driving in a tournament, a skier would not expect to ski well if he only skied in tournaments and never practiced, why should a driver."

The biggest difference for me is that skied 30+ round at C tournaments and 2 round in records, regionals and Nationals. My average of all Cs and the R is pretty close, but my best at the Cs in much better after having 30 attempts.

I have been using a NanoOne XT since the nationals and it does not feel any better than my previous NanoOne. I was running 38off 50% of the time, now hardly at all. As they say mileage may vary.. I cant wait for my old ski to come back from Goode it had four inserts pull out and bubbles on the bottome

I think many are missing the point. My first Nationals was in 1979 and I am still competing in 5-10 tournaments/year at the 38 to 39 off level. During this time I have had my gates pulled a half dozen times at the most, so this is not about me! Having a skier's gates pulled (often incorrectly) is a major demotivator for beginning skier and spectators alike. The major issue is that the current is too hard to judge even with the unnecessary expense of video cameras. It took over an hour at the Eastern Regional for one protest to be resolved and the top seed in Women's 1 should have protested as well! Way too often judges have the mindset of "I need overwhelming evidence that the skier made the gates," vice the proper call of I need overwhelming evidence that the skier missed the gates. This disproportionally effects women and children as they struggle to keep the ski in the water across the gates which make the gate call that much harder and more arbitrary! If after reviewing the video for 5 times, and you can not tell for sure, give the tie to the skier! I propose that we need to go to the previous rule, if the skier runs over, touches the gate ball on either side they are good, if the skier clearly missis the ball then they "missed the gates" If we cant go back to that rule than I say remove the gates as a scored event entirely, judges cant judge them consistently; so good riddance! I could care less if that is not good for the Olympics (the reason claimed for change the last rule) as waterskiing is not going to be in the Olympics in my lifetime, heck they just remove wrestling the original Olympic sport! I don't care about the IWSF either, only about 2% of skier need to ski under IWSF rules, they can use those rules at Pro and major events and let the 98% of skier who pay and support the support have control of their own destiny. Jack Mills

Lets see, LFF have three good buoys; 1, 3, 5 RFF have a good 2,4 and 6, in almost thirty years my good #6 has never helped me. When my son starting skiing I recommended that he went LFF if it was comfortable so he could have three good buoys.

John was the 1st skier to run 38 in a record tournament. Taperflex had a $10K (I recall) bonus if anyone broke the world record with their ski, he did but they never paid

I have been skiing in salt water for the last 15 years. The ski will accelerate a little faster and be a little hard to slow down. I use to take a little (.02) tip out at tournament but dont bother anymore. The biggest difference is mental, if you think it is harder it will be... if not, it won't be. I run mid 38 in salt water and mid 38 in fresh water.

I had this happen to my boat a few years ago. There is a brass screen at the bottom of the fuel tank and it was clogged. When I was between passing enough fuel would get to the fuel cell (next to the engine) to run one maybe two passes, then would die mid course. Easy to check, unhook the fuel line at the fixture at the bottom of the tank, unscrew the fixture the screen is inside.

I ordered a rope from her Friday and received it today.

I ordered a rope from her Friday and received it today.

If you are just trying to seal the hole, use a candle trip wax in the hole. Let it harden then use a razor blade to cut flush with ski top. Works great, and is fast. I have been using for 20+ years.

Unlike Dr. Michaels, Nate has been good and improving for some time. He does not only ski at his home site and avoid competition, so I think everyone should congratulate him for his performances. If he will have consistancy, time will tell. No one has stepped up to take Andy's place, as Andy replace Bob Lapoint, who eclipsed Kris.

Anyone using them thatg can provide feedback. My HO Animals are near death I am am looking either another set of Animals or the T factors.

I have been skiing a long time (my 1st Nationals was in 1980) and I maybe a luddite but, I think rubber binders are the safest. Sooner or later someone well come up with a better system that is safer, but I do not think any of the hard-shell systems or a safe as the old standby.  In the NE area, out of the tournament skiers, we have had about 6 serious injuries in the last couple of years; broken leg/ankle, torn Achilles tendon and knee injuries. It appears that less than half of the skiers are on hard-shells but all (yes everyone) of the serious injuries occurred on hard-shells. In the past years there were serious injuries with rubber binders but not at the rate I see them now with hard-shell binders.  My theory is most of the binding system do not release well for OTF and crushing forward situations. When you crush forward into the ski, and the binding does not release your ankle, leg or knee adsorbs all the force.  The initial flexibility of a rubber binder may be a factor in reducing risk in these situations.