Nando

It's really cool but it doesn't fit most sites and it's geared too much toward elite skiers- we need to make jumping more accessible, not less.

As of yesterday, the ice on my lake was thick enough to skate on- and SMOOOOOOOTH.

Remove gate balls and pre-gates when tensioning. Pull it tight and replace the gate bouys and tension will increase significantly.

Skis tend to stiffen slightly when cold, as do binding shells. Not as much as knees, ankles, and backs, but enough to make a slight difference when compounded with the colder water. Put 'em all together with the more restrictive wetsuit or drysuit, and it all adds up.

Had a high school buddy that had one with the short-shaft Merc 50 and a racing prop- Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooo! Keep it or find it a good home.

When things start to get cold up in the Great White North, Bob B.'s mind starts to wander...

I find the R-style much more anchored than a loop. I had been on double highwraps forever and the transition to the R was much easier than when I went from a loop to doubles. After half a dozen sets, I was pretty comfortable with the buckles tight. I'm between sizes and could have gone with a 10 shell and a thicker liner but went 8 with a thin liner up front. I have no extra room but it's like a really tight, responsive alpine ski boot- great sensitivity to what the ski is doing. And now that the water temperature up here on the frozen tundra is dropping, I can unbuckle and keep the liners on between sets...

I also just switched to the Reflex, w/ R style, from double Animals, and the first few rides it felt like I was coming out of the R. Tightening helped and I'm getting used to it but have considered moving the top rear buckle. Has anyone tried this and how did it affect release? I don't really want to sacrifice my ankle... Anyway my first impression of this setup was that I had MUCH better feel for the ski without the thick, padded soles of the Animals. The next was that consistent tightening of the top, front-foot buckle is critical and over-tightening it will really make the tip bite, especially the off-side! (I re-watched Andy's fitting video and will remember what he said about that.)

The AM 200 needs a 1980s-style Mastercraft "roll bar" net in red to to match that sweet spoiler to complete the package.

I was driving a novice men's jump event, in the last days before speed contol, so sound and feel were as important as speedos. I knew the jumper a bit but his cut was pretty late so I expected a pass. Instead, there was a loud CRUNCH. I looked over at the judge and he says, "Gawd, he went right into the side of it." I spun the boat and blasted back to the jump where he was stuck in the side curtain, flailing away. (So far the safety boat hadn't yet budged- they couldn't see him.) As we pulled along side and the judge and timer jumped out, he plopped into the water. I yelled "XX are you okay?" His reply: "I'm fine, I just went through it with my hip and shoulder", like this was an everyday occurance. His helmet was cracked, jump suit torn, shoulder bleeding, but no other damage- except to the jump. The chief judge pulled up in the safety boat, saying , "Jeeze, XX, look what you did to the jump!" The jump was towed to shore for repairs. After the skier posed for photos peering out of the hole in the side curtain, and after a beer to settle his nerves, he was persuaded to go to the hospital, but other than the jump there was no damage.

I was loading up the equipment trailer to set up for a tournament- big tandem-axle flatbed, all alone, which was dumb. I was being careful, lowering the tongue onto the hitch, when the jack broke, dropping the hitch onto the ball. My hand was a few inches above, leaning on the bumper of the truck. The hitch bounced off the ball and squashed my thumb- bone sticking right out of the mutilated flesh. I wish I could have seen the look on my face, as I stood there looking at it until what happened sunk in. Then I dropped a series of the loudest F-bombs ever- I knew right then that if I had ever been woulded in war, my comrades would have shot me just to shut me up. I then had to use a dock post as a lever to get the trailer tongue off the bumper so I could drive myself out of there. I wrapped my hand in my shirt and started driving to the nearesr ER, I got about halfway there and and was losing it, so I pulled into a clinic. Amazingly fast service when you walk in with a blood-drenched T-shirt around your arm- good thing I had my insurance card. I was doing okay until the nurse lost her lunch but I did get to use my worst ever dumb patient joke by asking the doc if I'd be able to play guitar after it healed- he said that would probably be no problem. "Good", I told him, "I always wanted to be able to play guitar". He gave me a look like I was the oddest duck he'd ever worked on. Everything got stitched back together (28 small sutures is a lot in a thumb) and I was able to ski about 4 months later but the day I got cleared to do so, the wind was about 40 MPH so I went roller blading. At some point, I ran over a stick, which got stuck in my wheels and in breaking my fall, I broke my wrist (and nose). Worst summer ever.

Tom, one decent gesture may not make up for my long term general uselessness, but I appreciate the comment.

I have an unused, never been mounted, O'Brien Contact rear, size L, that has the same wrap (and heel piece and most of the hardware). From your post, I assume you're in the UK, which may complicate thigs a bit, but if we can make arrangements, you can have it for the shipping.

So, this gives me hope that the new Reflexes I bought that seem awfully tight will turn out to be just right. I'm stuck with them, so I'm trying them out tonight- I definitely feel connected to the ski with them...

I'm voting for -41, based on a vague recollection that there was a runoff with multiple ties. Unless I'm way off, the WR at that time was still maybe 4 @ -38.

Waternut's wisdom is the answer. Become the employee they hired you to be then work for change while building from within.

My whole extended family skied but for some reason I didn't want to- I think it was because one of my buddies had broken his leg skiing and missed the whole baseball season and I didn't want that. For several years my dad would bug me to try it, but I always refused. Then one day late in the summer when I was 14, I decided to give it a shot. Got up on my second try on an ancient pair of White Bear skis that had bindings that would cut into your ankle in about 15 seconds. Skied until my ankles were bloody, then got some band-aids and socks and went at it again. Next day I wanted to try my cousin's slalom ski, but was discouraged as I had only skied for one day. Got up on my first try and that was it- I was hooked. The next spring I got some time with a buddy that had an older brother in law who skied some tournaments and once I skiied with those guys, I was really hooked.

If Tha Krista can get Scarlet Arrow's first point accomplished- getting rid of the unobtainable Olympic Dream- then the assocaition could get back to running water skiing and forget kissing the IOC's cheeks. So much effort has been wasted over the last 20 years or so on something that JUST WON'T HAPPEN when if we'd have just focused our efforts on improving the sport, we might still have the numbers of members, competitors, spectators, that we had when the pro tour was actually televised. It's great to see a skier in this position- one that's still active and competitive- not retired.

My brother picked up some "Jet-Ski" skis- both a slalom ski and a pair of cross country skis- at a garage sale. They were made in Grand Rapids, MN, apparently in the late '50s or early '60s. Might have been able to sue Kawasaki for copyright infringement if they'd have lasted long enough- would have been more lucrative than making water skis. Here's a link to a web site maintained by the grandson of the guy who founded White Bear Water Skis: www.whitebearwaterskis.com. It has a pretty cool old video.

The hard cover for the open bow is brilliant- can't believe no one has done it before. The pickle fork is a little odd, but... We probably won't know until the official release, but when the SN 200 came out it was also a game changer in terms of price- a big step up that dragged 196 prices along with it. Given what MC's other boats are going for, I'm a little afraid to hear the price...

I knew I was having a good day last Saturday- got in a great early morning set, then my kid and his buddies wanted me to take them skiing- not tubing, not wakeboarding- slalom skiing, Then my wife got in the boat and said, "You know, this is getting kind of dated, I thik it's time to upgrade." So, I get to move up a category or two from my response!

WBLSkier- I saw Nick Adam's quote in Water Ski that he added a rowing machine to his workout. I just happen to have an AirRower that you can have for removing it from my boathouse. I upgraded to a Concept 2, but this is a good rowing machine. I'm in Shoreview,so I'm close to WBL-post contact info if you're interested.

Reminds me of the first course I surveyed in through the ice (in MN in mid-March)- we went out early in the morning and by the time we finished all the surveying, augering, and dropping the anchors (with subfloats) in and checking the measurements, it was mid-afternoon and there was about 20' of open water between us and shore. It was neck deep and I had to hold the theodolite over my head to keep it dry. Not just shrinkage, but full retraction! Good thing there was no wind- it was R accurate when we measured it after installing the buoys.

Once more proving that I'm indeed an old fart, my vote goes to the Hydrodyne I/O. I never skied behind one in a tournament, but they were still around when I started. No wake and even with the giant fin they used, if you got late, you could just pull yourself early.

LFF, right handed for everything else, shoot right in hockey, grip handle with right hand on top. I did once to try to slalom RFF and it wasn't that difficult- I think with about 2 years of practice I could achieve my regular level of incompetence. This reminds me of the only water skiing joke I ever heard, which I heard the infamous Dave Saucier tell at the first tournament I ever attended (and it's a groaner): A guy goes down to the local ski club and asks about joining. The guys there invite him to come out at 7:00 the next morning to slalom with them. "Sure", he says, "see you then- I'm never more than 10 minutes late". The next morning he shows up puts his ski on LFF and goes out and skis into -35 (this was many years ago and -35 was hot sh** then). They think this is great, and he's a good guy so they invite him to come back the next day. He gives them the same reply, "See you then- never mor ethan 10 minutes late". He shows up, puts his ski on RFF, and proceeds to equal his earlier performance. They invite him to come back again and, once again he replies, "Sure- I'm never more than 10 minutes late". Then one of the guys says to him, "Say, yesterday you skied left foot froward and ran into -35, then today you skied right foot forward and did the same. How do you decide which foot to put forward?" "Well, the guy says, if when I wake up my wife is sleeping on her left side, I put my left foot forward; if she's sleeping on her right side, I put my right foot forward". "What if she's sleeping on her back?", he's asked. "Then I'm 10 minutes late". Bah dum dum tsssshhhh. Well, that ought to get me banned... I warned you it was bad.