jwroblew

I think a good driver does more than just go straight. There is a tolerance on the boat path and a good driver will use all of it to make the skiers job easier. Skiing in my opinion is a team sport.

I've pulled some pretty short line stuff too and your right it's a whole different ball game the level of concentration is unreal. I don't know how the guys pulling pro events can sit in the boat all day and drive and not be exhausted at the end of the day. All though if you do it enough I guess it becomes second nature.

@webbdawg99 & @OB, I think we are splitting hairs when we talk about anticipate. I think anticipation is good as long as your not anticipating a hit from the skier and when it doesn't come, your away from the skier so much that they can't finish their turn properly. I wish I was a better skier so it doesn't matter, but I still need a descent driver to run 35' and a good one to run 38'

@rodltg2 I think it is easier to drive a short line skier, the pulls and timing always seem to come in the right spot, plus the boat tracks better at 34 and 36, were as long line skiers tend to be all over the map on pulls and timing plus the boat drives like a tank at slower speeds. @webbdawg99 and @jody seal, I think anticipate may not be a good word either, I think a good driver is more of a proactive one, rather than a reactive one. If a driver is ready for the hit the correction will be softer and when its needed, not hard and late. At my club it's interesting to see who is willing to let the new guy drive for them. It's usually the short line skiers that are willing to have the newbie pull them. After my set last I got back to the dock and the guy who skies at 32mph said "I will never let that guy drive for me" I'm always going to let new people drive for me for a couple of reasons, 1) they're never going to get better if they don't drive, 2) you never know what you're going to get at a tournament, 3) skiing behind a bad driver is better than not skiing at all.

How do you guys break in a new driver? We have a couple of members at our club and only two what I would consider good drivers capable of pulling shorter line skiing. I have talked to and road with a couple of other members and tried talking to them and they're better but not great. Do some people just have a natural talent while others no matter how much instruction wont get it? We had a new guy join last week and we decided to give him a shot driving, he skies 22' off and has been driving at other locations for about 5 years. I had one of the good drivers ride while he drove. I planned on just running back to backs of my opener and my next pass, while the passenger checked out his path and gave him some tips. He was so far away from me at 32' it was way harder than my 35's. So do you guys make new drivers pull long line skiers only, or what?

Ever since I broke my ankle summer of 2010, and spent my summer behind the drivers wheel with a cast on, any time I ski is a good day even if my buoy count isn't very good. I know that sounds cheesy but it's true, and I think that mind set has helped my skiing. My buoy count is higher than ever.

I love the old school HO CDX in that video. That was my first ski.

Seems like at shorter rope lengths your pre turn and turn would be out of the picture frame. And at 15' off your to tiny to make out any small differences in body position.

@DUSkier, I mostly have conceded to skiing at 55k, although I still will take a set or two at 58k every once and awhile, like I did this past weekend.

@usaski1, would it be possible to post a video?

Has anyone mounted a GoPro on the windshield to video them while skiing? Does it work? Wide enough field of view? I wanted a simple solution to video ski sets and didn't want the hassle of a tracker type system.

Yes, started skiing the course when I was 270 lbs, could maybe squeak out a couple at 22 off. 10 years later I'm 177 lbs and can ski into 39 on a good day. I'm sure the 10 years helped, but I think the 100 lbs helped more. I dropped 15 lbs last year and noticed a big difference and almost a full pass better on average. Lost another 8 this past winter and my skiing is already back to mid season form. So yes, less weight is always better.

@Zman, shoot me a PM or email, we can help out as well. Club web site is www.lakeswerve.com although there is not a lot of info on the site right now.

Weed killer works but you have to do it multiple times during the year, and every year its worse. The dead decaying weeds add nutrients to the water which makes weeds grow even better. Plus after years of decaying weeds the bottom gets real mucky

I was thinking of premixing a "concentrate" in my garage in two 15 gallon containers so wind is not an issue. The picture has just made up my mind.

So the past 2 years I have been dying my shallow lake to keep weed growth down, and it has worked very well. This year I guy I ski with says instead of buying AquaShade / Admiral, I know a guy who knows a guy that can get us the raw ingreadiants for half the cost. Reluctantly I agree. The other day he delivers the blue and yellow dye, I ask him about how to disperse it in the lake, he said just put the powder in and that's it, I than asked the ratio and he said 1:1. That's what I have a problem with, AquaShade has a blue : yellow ratio of 12.5:1 and Admiral has a ratio of 15:1. I know yellow dye is more expensive, but is that the only reason the ratio is so low in AquaShade and Admiral, or is it for other reasons? Plus if I go 1:1 I would think the lake would turn out green, instead of blue.

Got it all going this past weekend. The water is dropping at a rate of 1" to 1.5" inches per day. At that rate I should be at the level I want in 10 to 15 days.

So what's more important about the siphon? The inlet tube depth? or the outlet height, difference between the inlet and the outlet? What I mean is siphons don't really suck the water, they work because of the pressure drop across the inlet and the outlet. So the deeper the inlet the greater the water pressure at the inlet, so as long as the outlet is not higher than the inlet the siphon will work, because the outlet is always at atmospheric pressure regardless of its height. Or I'm I misunderstanding something?

@OB What kind of SDR did you use 21, 26, 35?

When I initially talked with him he just through out 12" as his idea. He has since priced it out and decided to go 4". Going the gravity route, and the drop will only be about 15 feet over the 500 foot run. After we get it installed, I would assume the initial lower of the lake will take awhile, 16 acre lake needing to be lowered 2 feet. But after its there I would image the 4" pipe should be able to keep up.

There is a creek about 500 feet away from the lake that is much lower than the current lake level. He is going to run a 12" pipe from the lake to the creek, obviously sloped from the lake to the creek. We will set the pipe in at the level were I want the lake to be for optimal rollers, which would also keep his fields from flooding.

Well, I have talked with the farmer, and he has a better solution for me. The current water levels are flooding his fields so he can't plant. So he is putting in a drain tile to control the lake level, I will be helping him put it in this coming weekend, and of course I'll put it at a level that is good for back wash. I wonder how long it will take a 16 acre lake to drop 2 feet through a 12" drain tile?

Yep I'm in the midwest, Toledo Ohio. The snow fence sounds interesting but I would have to take it out every winter, plus it would run approx $750 with poles and fence etc. Might has well do rock if the estimate of $250 per load is close, that would put me at $1000 to $1250 and wouldn't have to worry about ice. I wonder if I put an add in Craigs list that said free concrete disposal if I would get enough to do the shore for free. Used tire sounds good to, but I can't imagine the farmer would let me put it in his lake, that would be one hell of a mess he would have to clean up if I ever left.

come any time, but I would wait until August when the water is down and the rollers aren't to bad!

Here is the picture, believe it or not its the side with the trees, on the left, that cause the issue, the other side is to far away. So pulling the shore back won't work because of the trees. Rip rap sounds expensive. http://static-cl1.vanilladev.com/ballofspray.vanillaforums.com/uploads/FileUpload/96/216b4ceb17bf0001960348172e8c17.jpg