WBLskier

SkiJay--any chance you can post a pic of how you have it mounted? I'm not quite following from the description.

So the surf mount will work on a slalom? I want to avoid the adhesive if I can, as I have heard once they are on they are there for good. Will it hold up to a whole set? I had mine fly off after 3 buoys last year when I came up with my own mount…you can tell how poorly it worked.

I ski behind a 98 malibu echelon and we have guys in our group with a 97 SN 196 (I think), a 91 PS 190, a 99 sunsetter…the list goes on. The sunsetter has a much larger wake…to the point that many of us don’t really ski it anymore. You can fit quite a few people in the closed bow more recent boats. If you are going for a step over open bow, I would say skip it…you don’t gain much in the way of room. If you are going for a walk through, they are probably safer and do give you more room, but you won’t have the same skiability as with the other boats. Always trade-offs, I guess. Good luck.

Ski 100% on a public lake. 2500 acres, so we ski at 6:30 or 7am, depending on sunrise. We get surprisingly good water, but obviously have some unskiable days. I love to be on a bigger lake for everything but skiing, so we take the good with the bad.

Hi all. I ski a radar strada with a front left strada binding and RTP. I have been very happy with it…and the binding has released when I needed it to. My dad (going to be 65 this year) just bought a senate C with with a vector front and RTP in the back. He’s always skied with rubber bindings. Does anyone have any thoughts on how well the vector releases compared to say a strada boot or an old school rubber boot? Thanks.

41 tails are good...but the strap across the back of the palm comes undone a lot, which is kind of a pain. They are the most durable and best gripping gloves I have had to date though.

Thanks. I'm skiing on a pretty large public lake in the twin cities (MN), so set up distance is not an issue. I'm not currently skiing tourneys, but one of the reasons is that I haven't been skiing with speed control and I think I need some practice using it to be able to start back up with tournaments after 10 or more years not skiing them. In practice w/o speed control I ski into 35 off at 36 and 38 off at 34 if that makes a difference. Is an older PP system going to give me much benefit of getting used to the feel of ZO over just old school driving/timing?

Can anyone comment on what kind of speed control system would be available and worthwhile to add to a 98 malibu echelon with a 325 hp EFI monsoon? I currently have no speed control system. What would I be looking at for cost (assuming I can't install it myself). Thanks.

Oh--and what if you were say running 34, 32 or even 30? Any thoughts on what impact the drop in speed has?

Any thoughts on how gas consumption would compare on a 98 malibu echelon with a 325 Monsoon to the 343 '07 Nautique?

So I am going to be getting some coaching at Cory Pickos’ place in Florida in seven weeks. With our winter here I likely will have no way to ski before I get down there. Does anyone have any advice on what to do at the gym to be in the best possible shape and get the most out of it? It is generally my upper back muscles/neck that give me the most trouble early in the season. Thanks for any input.

Does anyone have a spreadsheet or something that you can plug personal bests into to compute the handicaps?

I ski a 66" 2010 Strada at 34mph and 36mph (i am 5'9" and 165lbs). My dad (5'10 and 200 lbs) skis a Senate C at 32 and 34mph. He likes the extra size of the senate C, especially since he is skiing slower. my two cents.

This may be a dumb question, but I am going to ask it anyway. We ski with a group of guys ranging from age 20 to about 75. None of us are currently competing. I would like to devise a handicap system that would factor in the age and boat speed differences so that we can compare how we are doing against each other for fun. I assume someone has already done this. If so, can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

Thanks to all who chimed in on the sportube questions I had. I found a used one for a good deal. Does anyone have thoughts on the safest way to pack a slalom into the Series 3? Thanks.

I have never adjusted the fin on my ski in my entire life. I ski in Minnesota where the water temperature during our ski season changes from 33 degrees to over 80 degrees. I often have times during the season where I struggle and feel like a fin adjustment might help, but in the end I think it is just a mid-season slump and I am doing something wrong that I usually work out over time. I finally switched over to a 66 inch 2010 radar strada last year. It I set to stock settings (as far as I know). Can anyone comment on how they decide when it is time to make a fin adjustment? I have read some articles about the benefits of adjusting to compensate for cold water, but I’ve never done it. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks...I guess I didnt' realize they broke down like that. Good to know.

Thanks. Can you tell me what kind of bag you found? Is the bag big enough to leave the bindings on?

Hi all, I am going to be checking my ski on a flight this spring. I can’t fit a sportube into the car we’ll have in Florida. I am wondering if anyone uses a soft sided bag (such as a downhill ski bag) and pad the heck out of the ski/use a fin firkin inside. Any thoughts on this…risks I’ll run. I guess I would think breaking the ski would be unlikely and if it is adequately padded it might be okay…but that does not seem to be the consensus based on what I’ve read. Any thoughts?

I just looked. Will a slalom with bindings on fit into either of the smaller "alpine ski" sportube's? I like the idea of being able to fit it into the passenger area of a regular size rental car and the sportube 3 looks pretty big for that. Any thoughts? Is there anything special in the sporttube 3 that is water ski specific, or is it merely a function of size? How do you go about packing the ski inside to protect it (i.e remove fin or bindings)? thanks!

Thanks. Where do I find a sportube? So even if you are traveling somewhere warm you have gotten away with telling them the sportube contains "skis" and just don't clarify that it is a waterski even if you are going somewhere warm like Florida? With a TSA lock, I assume they inspect it after you check it but the person checking you in does not look inside to see it is not snow skis? Thanks.

Thanks. When I say my cousin was a beginner, I meant he was learning to wakeboard there (his first problem) and he had never done it before. I only ask because he had some younger kids driving him and I guess they gave him no instruction at all. I will not be wakeboarding though, and it sounds awesome. I am definitely going to line it up. Thanks again.

Thanks!

Has anyone skied at Corey Pickos’ place in Santa Rosa Beach Florida? I am going to be down there for a week and I am hoping to find a little time to sneak a few sets in. My cousin went there and said he received very little instruction (though he was very beginner). I don’t want to haul my gear all the way down there if I am just going to get a pull through the course and no coaching. Any input would be great. Thanks.

I a flying on Delta. Anyone have experience with checking water skis? They do not have a separate category for them, so I just assumed they would fall into the $175/way oversize bag category. This seems dumb considering how light they are. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd love to be able to check it rather than ship it.