lundberg

You are right. I'm hurting right now! In the bright side it is a continual reminder of a fun day yesterday.

Thanks everyone for the advice. It was all spot on. I skied slow and got a bunch of things to work on. I got in 6 sets (maybe 32 passes) and made a handfull of 15 off at 30mph. My hands lasted untill the last pass (I'm glad I picked up the pro locks). Now it is back to open water to work on things. I'm sure that will not be my last time on a private lake. (In the morning Phil was helping me and the afternoon it was Justin).

I grew up skiing on Lake Sammamish, but now I ski mostly weekday mornings before work on Lake Washington (between Bellevue and Mercer Island). If you see a blue 92 nautique between 6 and 7 am while driving on I-90 that's us. Now I'm off to the lake!

I'm headed up to Bow Lake in Washington. I'm not sure who the instructor will be.

Thanks everyone for the words of wisdom! I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

I am a long time open water skier (and lurker) who has finally decided to see if years of free skiing can work in the course. On Monday I'm headed to a private lake for an all day lesson (great birthday gift from my wife). What should I expect, any advice? (I'm 37, normally ski 15 off @ 33-34 mph)

I'm a longtime lurker, (and mainly a free skier) but as one of the giveaway winners I thought I'd share my EXO thoughts after most of a season using the boots. First of Greg Nelson (marketing manager at HO) was great. I live close to HO so I was able meet him and get a sneak peak at the 2011 stuff. I also have one of his DoubleUp wake boards so it was fun to say that I met him. Anyway I ended up getting the double cuff Forms and while I was saving up to get a new ski I decided that I would put inserts for the EXO system in my F1x. After about ten sets on them with the connelly I picked up an S1 really loved the set up. I skied the best I've ever skied this year (I even made it into to a course this week (after 20 years of free skiing) and made my first full pass 15off@31 (You've got to start some where)). I've had lots of falls and two releases.  The first was otf at the first wake and the ski came off just like I thought it would. The second was weird little tail spin out and the plastic tip of the rail broke (I understand that I'm not the first person to have this happen). HO was great and got me replacements right away (a couple extra in case it happened again). My only other caution is not to use them in salt water. The rivet for the buckle will rust since the liners are still salty after you rinse them. If you must use them in salt water I'd suggest taking the liners out when you are done. At any rate the whole experience was great and has inspired me to see if I can't ski well enough to deserve the setup I have. I took my 4 year old son out to a watch part of a tournament at Hilltop Lake in Marysville WA a couple of weeks ago and had a ball watching good skiers and pretending I knew what was going on. It was pretty intimidating but everyone was really nice and who knows maybe I'll get my act together be one of the skiers in a year or two. Andrew