webbdawg99

Finished last year with 2 4@38's in the same tourney. This year's goal....39 or bust!

Finally starting to get the A3 dialed in. I had @OB watch me yesterday and he confirmed what I was feelin....ski wasn't finishing the onside turn. Mid-set, OB went to work on the fin and the next pass was my best of the season. Still some fine tuning that needs to be done, but here's where I'm at right now. 6.832 .793 2.498 The added DFT has made the biggest improvement for me so far

The most durable gloves I've ever owned are the Straight Line Classic gloves. They are very hard to find though! Every other glove I've owned I've torn up in a few weeks (including other SL's). The SL Classics have lasted me an entire season before needing to be replaced.

@MattP That pic looks nothing like today! That looks pretty calm compared to what I remember!

@estrom I think you misread my initial impression! I know what this ski is capable of, I just need some help figuring it out! @ShaneH Yea, its hard to make a judgement off of one day, especially in such crappy conditions. Also, it probably didn't help that @MattP was driving! (just kidding Matt) I'll give it a few sets in calm water before making any big changes. But glad to hear that you were experiencing difficulty getting angle through the gate and that it improved with repetition.

Took the A3 out for its maiden voyage today. Very windy and rough conditions....but planned on just staying at my opener (28 off) I scraped through the first 2 28's and thought to myself, "ok, not bad. You just need to get used to it". Well....I didn't run another pass the rest of the day. I felt like the ski wasn't finishing the onside turn at all. When I was getting in a pulling position, the ski wasn't between me and the boat, so I ended going off the back of the ski. I fell around 3 ball (my onside) 3 times in a row. Also, noticed that I had a very hard time building angle....it was especially noticeable through the gates. On the positive, it did seem to get out and up on the boat with much less effort on the gate pull out than I was used to with my A1. Ultimately, I need the ski to finish the turn and keep moving seamlessly across the wakes with strong angle. I never felt like it finished and kept moving. It was like the turn and the pull were 2 separate actions. Anyway, I'm pretty frustrated right now. I was on the same ski for 3 full seasons and I know I got very used to it. This is something completely different. I just need to figure out how to make different=better! Any suggestions on adjustments would be appreciated.

Out with the old and in with the new! Special thanks to @OB for helping me get it set up! I'm going to try it out this afternoon. Here are the numbers I'll be at for the first couple of sets: (67") 2.503 6.872 (tips) .775 9 degrees

Interesting. I'm coming off a 67.5 A1 and couldn't decide if I should go 67 or 68 on the A3. Based on what you just said, it sounds like 67.....but I'm going to try both.

I'm 6'4", 195. I have a 67" and 68" coming next week to try. I'm a 36 mph skier. Tourney PB is 4@38. Anyone have any numbers for 36 mph....or know where to get them?

This was posted by Shawn's sister on his Facebook page if anyone would like to help: "Thank You so much for your love and support you have shown towards my brother Shawn Eaton and Tiffany Russ Eaton. It has been a tough few days but Shawn is strong and progressing. Through all this, the medical bills have piled up though life flight and the ICU. So we have came to ask of our friends, family and buisnesses to reach out and donate what they can to help Shawn and his family. They are expecting a baby boy in the next few weeks and will need all the help they can recieve! If you can donate, you can send it to Eaton Towing @ 335 S. Emerson Shellley, ID 83274 or drop of at any Bank of Commerce branch in Shelley or idaho falls under Shawn Eaton donations. The Eaton Family thank you for your prayers and love. Please like and share this if you would."

Anyone seen this yet or know anything about it? The website is pretty bare right now but it looks pretty interesting.... www.axiomtool.com

Sounds like Shawn has made some good progress today. According to posts on his FB page, he woke up and was able to hug his wife this afternoon. CAT scan results show small bruises on his brain and that the spinal fluid is slowly going away. Wishing him a speedy recovery!

Shawn Eaton is a M2 skier out of Idaho. He owns a towing business. Yesterday, while working an accident, he was struck by a drunk driver on the side of the road. The driver fled the scene but was later apprehended. They are keeping Shawn in a coma as he has some serious head injuries. Shawn and his wife Tiffany have 2 children. Please keep Shawn and his family in your thoughts and prayers. And please remember, don't drink and drive!!!

Tabata training. Its a very specific form of HIIT

Forget standby! Thats for lowly S3B guys like me! All you need is the JUMP SEAT!

It's certainly news worthy that 2 of the 3 41's ran at Swiss today were on the A3 (Asher/Travers). That ties Willy's pb (and the world record) and is a new pb by 2.5 balls for Travers.

The A3 had quite an impressive day! My eagerness to get on one continues to grow!

I bet the folks over at HO are pretty excited. 2 of the 3 41's were on the new A3 (unless it's the prototype A4 that is). That's a pretty impressive showing for the new ski! Willly ties the world record and Travers improved his PB by 2.5 balls! The A3 is looking mighty tempting to this 36 mph skier!!

@jdarwin I completely agree. In my humble opinion, USAWS makes us jump through way too many hoops to advance as officials. I've pulled over 30 tournaments and god knows how many hours of practice but am still an assistant driver. Why? Bc I have to attend ANOTHER clinic (good luck getting one of those put on annually) and I have to be an assistant chief (AGAIN) for another 3 event tournament. With the shortage of clinics and 3 event tournaments....its difficult to get all the checks in boxes. I'm passionate about skiing and want to contribute. However, someone with slightly less passion than I could easily become discouraged with the whole process and just say "screw it". This is a volunteer based sport. We need to make it easier for volunteers to volunteer!

Maybe instead of the stars being based on total points....have it based on a percentage If a guy has posted 10,000 times and has 20 likes.....should he be higher rated than a guy that has posted 10 times and has 10 likes?

The true tabata method is 4 minutes. It's 8 cycles of 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off. The key is that during the "on"....you need to be at full exertion! Most people sell themselves short in this aspect. When done properly, you'll really be hating life only 2 minutes in. I prefer to do it on a rowing machine. I typically fall off and lay on the gym floor for a few minutes after. It's brutal, but turns your body into a calorie furnace for up to 72 hours after.

I second what @razorskier1 said. Increased lean muscle increases your BMR. Muscles are hungry for calories while fat is not. And remember this....large biceps won't burn nearly as many calories as large quads and glutes! If you wanna increase your BMR, you must increase muscle mass! The easiest way to increase muscle mass is to build the largest muscles in your body....your legs! I hate doing legs but I remind myself they are my "stay lean" muscles. I'd even argue that leg exercises, especially those like squats that engage your core, are better for your six-pack than crunches ever will be! Also, if you have to choose between resistance training and cardio....go with resistance training. But a healthy balance of both is ideal. And if you hate cardio like I do....try Tabata intervals 2-3 times a week. It's s 4 minute workout! Google it!

This boat was a total race car on water. The steering and throttle response were second to none. If steering was a chore, I'd expect something was wrong with that particular boat. Maybe torque on the rudder wasn't set properly. If you can convert a ZX-1 to zero off, I would totally buy one.....especially considering how relatively inexpensive they are.

In the late 90s, MC approached Rob Shirley about coming back and designing a boat for them. As many of you know, the late 90's MC's did not have a great reputation. Well, Rob came back with some pretty outside the box ideas....but MC decided they weren't going to produce them. So, Rob came back in the boat business in 2000 with the first Infinity ZX-1. The basis of design was pretty simple. A rear mounted gas tank is similar to a ballast tank in a wakeboard boat.....lots of weight in the back pressing the hull into the water. The idea was to move that tank to a more central location in the hull....hopefully to help reduce the size of the wakes. However, to achieve this, the engine had to be pushed towards the rear of the boat to make room for the fuel cell. With a traditional direct drive set up, this wasn't feasible. However, you slap a center mounted V-drive in there....and voila! Now you have a boat with AMAZING handling and acceleration....not to mention TONS of interior room. The ZX-1 was truly an outside the box desing and had lots of great features on it. There were complaints about the 22 off bump (it was very dense and hard)....but shorter than that and it was great. Due to the V-drive, the angle of the prop shaft was not as steep as a direct drive. This resulted in more direct thrust towards the rear vs the competition. This made the ZX-1 one of the fastest 0-36 mph boats on the market. This also gave the boat that "strong" pull that some of the others referred to. Many jumpers loved the Infinity b/c of that extra strength. I believe the factory caught on fire and most was lost. The molds and design were sold to the Canadian company Svfara. The ZX-1 is now the SV-1....I'm not sure if it's still manufactured. Overall, the Infinity was an excellent boat. If you're a short line skier, I think it would be great. But do remember that Infinity is no longer in business....I don't know if Svfara is still servicing or producing replacement parts for them or not.

I am curious about one thing though. What is the motivation of these schools to have top ski teams? There can't be much if any financial gains for the institutions....and the prestige associated with it on a relative scale is very small. So what's the motivation?