Dusty

I don't do FB, but did wtite a short e-mail to her Friday. Hopefully she got it- Anyone/everyone on FB let her know we'll be missing her. +1 Tracy Baylon = total class act!

Especially for you technically oriented skiers- speed is only half(?) of velocity- velocity is speed with direction. Ski designers step in here, but I suspect skies are created to turn when moving within a 'window' of speeds. Too fast or too slow, seems to cause "issues"?

FWIW- I try to do most everything from the same semi-athletic stance- throw a ball, a punch, a fly line, swing a bat, shoot, I have a 'goofy foot' stance at throwing darts, but I don't know why...

I think it will get worse rather than better. For example, increased requirements/costs for wireless video transmission for 3-event record tournaments are going to have to be recovered somewhere... If we have to purchase the equipment to provide it, to amortize the costs will take how many tournaments at what acceptable rate? Heaven forbid we drop an EDM or theodolite- Repairs are pricey and not normally a one or two day reality.

I don't have the math to do the calculations any more, but I think most of the posters have a grasp of at least some of it. FWIW- I have watched a LOT of skiers from the boat. At 15 off there is line tension to use if your speed at the ball is manageable. At 38 and shorter there is little observable line tension at the buoy, and the skiers don't get significant tension until penetrating back to C/L. At 39 1/2 they need to be even further towards C/L. They have converted downcourse speed/energy at the ball to move across course. As they move across the boat then 'picks them up' at a much more acute angle, the shorter they go. That is the acceleration phase and it IS visibly shorter as the line shortens. How it's done I don't know but you can see the differences. The ability to manage that changing load 'vector'seems to separate the successses.

That's what I hear (repeatedly) from parents of junior racers. Appears selections arenot simply performance based- politics are often (usually) involved.

I'm sure there are others out there who HAVE seen skiers/boaters propped- I have- Not pretty. Yep, alcohol and choppy water involved, but still... Especially if there are kids around- an inboard is way safer. Uh, tracking... until you try it with a skier in tow, there might seem to be a lot of room in a slalom course. Fellow told me once- "Good skiers require better drivers. Great skiers require the best drivers."

Remove the fin and take a good look at the holes where the mounting bolts pass through. You can drill or file them larger towards the belly of the fin to allow it to move further 'into' the ski (fin box). You may have a mismatch of fins with small diameter holes/slots and could just swap out fins as well. Simple 30 minute drill/file job... Probably take anyone actually adept with tools about 10 minutes or less.

Contact Ron Warman or Matt McCuddy at Warman Lake. (Western Regionals 2005 may have photos) They are metal, have shades (biminis I think) and are even cantilevered over the water a bit, very nice.

Contact Ron Warman or Matt McCuddy at Warman Lake. (Western Regionals 2005 may have photos) They are metal, have shades (biminis I think) and are even cantilevered over the water a bit, very nice.

It works at longer lines too. To paraphrase a friend- sort of- "You can run 15 off w/ a 35 off edge change, but you wont run 35 off w/ a 15 off edge change."

It works at longer lines too. To paraphrase a friend- sort of- "You can run 15 off w/ a 35 off edge change, but you wont run 35 off w/ a 15 off edge change."

When the Formula/Indy type racers began to lighten and strengthen they had to go to a 'monocoque' (sp.?) construction. I heard the whole car (including the engine is a structural member?... I am told that the cars are now so light that driver/fuel weight differences equal about one pound per horsepower, plus or minus. Boats have way more drag but lighter should still be better?

When the Formula/Indy type racers began to lighten and strengthen they had to go to a 'monocoque' (sp.?) construction. I heard the whole car (including the engine is a structural member?... I am told that the cars are now so light that driver/fuel weight differences equal about one pound per horsepower, plus or minus. Boats have way more drag but lighter should still be better?

Sort of off topic but in line with Eric's remark about powerplant weight- I noticed that Ford is moving or has moved to no longer building (gas) V-8's... When/if the other manufacturors do the same? Will the engines weigh less and have enough torque? The Ford eco-boost V-6 appears to have beaucoup torque and decent fuel economy. Just asking...

I think you could modify several types of rear boots for a rear heel cup set-up, if you can tolerate the binding horsehoe raised around your footbed... Just remove the overlay/wrap(s) and cut down the heel piece to an acceptable height. I have seen a couple such solutions- that seem to work pretty well.

FWIW- I ski with, and boat judge a number of people capable of -35, and usually see one or more of the same things when they are having trouble at shorter lengths. I think you nailed it already- holding accelerating lean/load after centerline adds down course speed... Visualize you can hold direction at 90 degrees to rope tension (most of us can't)- a tangent to the arc of the rope. As the line shortens, past C/L, the tangent starts to have a larger down-course somponent. (At -38, halfway C/L to buoy, (45 degrees) assuming you maintain load at 90- about 7/10th of your effort would be in the same direction as the boat...) Watch video of the pros- their edge changes are very quick- almost violent, and are rarely much after C/L.

I have double H-O Animals using a rear D3 plate. Screws right onto the Animal horseshoe.

I have similar 'issues' at -32. Sometimes even -22... From the first video I saw at least one thing that may assist your pull out, and two things that I do, that I am working on like every pass. Prior the pull out I move left, up onto the flat outside the trough. It initiates the pull-out smoother than fighting up out of a hole first. On my off-side turn, I try to stay open and extend, then ski back to handle low. Add trailing arm pressure through the wakes and release the ski outwards with handle low to the on-side turn. I definitely agree with the others about slack at one caused by pulling past wakes with slow/no edge change. Especially at -32 and shorter arcs, it only adds down-course speed/slack, not width.

Had a System 8- same mold- Fin numbers posted look good. I found that the ski would not turn into angle unless I either moved the bindings forward, or increased distance from tail (kind of same thing.) Ski was very stable, and forgiving but could not be pressured in the turns, without 'porpoising' or worse...

If I remember correctly, I think the C-6 has a narrower tail than the Senate of same length. Was it Iconn's version of the CDX or whatever? (same generation anyway). It should be a deeper riding, slower ski- turns should be tighter and more in control. With the Senate, what I'd suspect is a combination of two things, tuning and likely you're pulling too long without positive edge change. Make sure it's tuned correctly for your skiing and try that bigger ski- They will slow down, and they will turn if you let them.

I suggest the point is that the 'big three' had finally been producing boats, with skiability similar enough to be a non issue. Denying an identified problem doesn't make it go away. I've skied behind only one new MC- it has a wake I'd call an anomoly compared to Malibu and Nautique. When MC brought out the 1998 boat, it was quickly nicknamed the "Deathstar"- VERY hard, large wakes. I personally saw juniors get slammed and hurt. With skier complaint/input they provided a band-aid fix, that at least made it skiable until the next hull series revision came along (in 2001?). We were all happy until the Infinity showed up- made the '98 MC wakes look benign. They 'fixed' it too. but it (thankfully) went away. If ZO needs a software revision to spare rerides in jump then we need to pressure them to provide it, BEFORE Nationals. Denying a Record because the speed control can not run proper times is unacceptable. Skiers have a lot of time and money invested in getting to Nationals, they deserve the best ride possible.

I've used most of them. So far InTow handles and ropes have held up the best. Great folks to deal with too.

Probably a lot of skiers with even better advice- but when I can't release the edge- first thing I do is move the bindings back. Sometimes needs a slight adjust to fin length too. You didn't say if it's both directions or only one- they are diffent problems and require different approaches to solve them re: fin adjustments on top of binding moves. Anyone else?

Nice driving. Looked to me like he was counter steering correctly. I did not see him "leading the skier". Driving skiers at really short lines is a little different game. Load comes on from a direction that can significantly alter boat path very quickly. Kudos are in order for both driver and skier.