dbutcher

I make my own to fit the V of the particular handle.  I cut them out of the hard plastic that is made for office chairs to roll on over carpet.  I drill three or four holes on each side and put brass grommets in/over the holes.  I round the edges of the plastic V so that it does not cut the rope; and, if the plastic has carpet grippers on its bottom, I grind those off so they are no longer sharp.  Before attaching the guard (with zip ties) to the rope V, I fasten clear plastic tubing over the rope for further protection of the rope.  Obviously, I do all this before mounting the guard on the handle.  You have to have the guard far enough from the bar so that you can get your hand(s) on the bar even with a little miss-grab, but close enough to the bar that your head can't go in.

Whatever you did looks great to me right now.  My only question is will it be slippery when wet.

Please forgive my ignorance, but does it cost anything to renew Safe Sport?  My AWSA membership and Safe Sport training both expire this month, and I am evaluating whether to renew either or both.

Do any slalom course skiers prefer their driver(s) to look up course and focus on straight, centerline pulls rather than look in the mirror(s)?

Or buy some gum rubber at a rubber supply company and cut one out yourself.  It's not difficult if you get the right thickness rubber.

I agree with BGrow76.  The tab should be angled to the right.  That may even reduce the play in the steering wheel some when underway.

I'm no expert, but try mapping the jump course (even if you aren't sure it's right).  Maybe that is how ZO gets its info on if, when, and where to respond to the jump switch.  I assume the jump switch is plugged in with a good connection (and it works).

Consider what the manufacturer says its vehicle's towing capacity is.  A short distance tow may reduce some risks, but lots of things can happen even in a short distance.

You have access to three trailers already.  Surely you can find a 200 trailer to borrow.  You might get lucky, but using a trailer not designed for the boat is risky, potentially costly, and might keep you off the water for days. It wouldn't be worth the risk to me.

Did you notice that the post from the Mastercraft team member that Jody posted is an "anonymous" team member and when you click on his web address you get nothing more than is in the original post.  Unless I am missing something, it makes me wonder and question.  Last I heard buyers still had to wait months for a new ProStar.  

@Bruce_Butterfield I am going to forward you an email that you may find interesting about the history of line lengths, the metric slalom course etc.  There is a reason we Americans think in "feet off" to this day.  It is too off topic to post here.

I looked on AWSA's website (3Event) for clinics.  I think that is where any sanctioned AWSA 3E driver clinic would be listed.  I found none.  I am unaware if clinics would be listed on Ball of Spray.  I don't know where else to tell you to look, but a phone call to AWSA might he helpful.

Why do you say it is time to change?  It is easier to get up with just one foot on the ski; but in my experience, that is the only advantage.  I learned to slalom with a rear toe piece 50 years ago.  After a few years of my back foot occasionally coming out in the course, I switched to double boots and never looked back.  A rear toe piece is more likely to break at an inopportune time than a full boot.  I always changed the toe piece much more frequently than a full boot to try to prevent that.  Some skiers say that using a rear toe piece allows them to move their back heel around to assist with edge change etc.  I was never able to do that.   Bottom line (IMHO) - save your money.

Those skiers were really pretty talented.  They must now be 70ish.  I hope they are still skiing.  The video almost validates the stereotype of what the rest of the country thought southern California was like in the 70's.  That's a good thing I think.

Many, many years ago I lived in Baton Rouge and then Slidell, Louisiana.  Bennett's (Tri-Lakes) in Zachary, LA is top notch and was always accommodating even though very busy.  Ski Ranch near Covington was then owned by David and Claire DiPol.  It may still be.  There is a Lake Bon Temps (Lake Good Times) on the west side of Slidell, but I haven't heard of any recent activity there.  There is another lake maybe 10 miles farther west of Slidell, but I am unaware of any activity there either.  Bennett's is the closest to Baton Rouge.

I don't see Razor Ross 3 posts anymore.  I hope he is still skiing?

Iowa City is the location of the University of Iowa.  It has a collegiate water ski team (or at least did at one time).  That's where I would start.

Chubb's refusal to provide the H2O Ski Plus endorsement on renewal may not be as bad as I first thought or as bad as it first seemed.  Even absent the H2O Ski endorsement, Chubb's policy may still provide tournament coverage in many circumstances.  From Chubb's letter that Kelvin got, Chubb may not want to cover tournament boats, but that letter is not the insurance policy.  The only exclusion that I can find that potentially takes away coverage for a Chubb insured boat is the "commercial use" exclusion.  Commercial use is mentioned on the H2O Ski endorsement, but Chubb is removing that from its renewal policies.  No where in my Chubb policy is "commercial use" defined.  Chubb's policy has  2 1/2 pages of Definitions, but commercial use is NOT defined nor is it defined in any of the coverage sections of the policy (ie. liability section, property damage section etc.).  In the opening paragraph of the Definitions section, Chubb says that in this policy, we use words in their plain English meaning.  Words with special meanings are defined in the part of the policy where they are used.  Commercial use is not.

Since Chubb does not define commercial use, I looked at a Webster's dictionary to try to understand the plain English meaning of commercial use.  There are four descriptions of commercial in the dictionary I used.  In my opinion, use of a boat in a tournament is not commercial use, especially if one does not accept compensation for the use of the boat.  Even if compensation is accepted, no boat owner is making any money.  The compensation at the prescribed level in the AWSA towboat policy manual is reimbursement for wear and tear, depreciation etc.  There is no profit or profit motive.  Nobody is making a living pulling tournaments as one tries to do in commerce.  How is tournament use commercial use???  I don't think it is.  But this is only my opinion, and I claim no expertise.  Use your own judgment and seek the coverage you want/need.  Promo boat operators have a different situation than people like me.  I would allow my boat to be used in a tournament only if promo boats are unavailable.  

Again, no one should rely on this, but it is worth thinking about.

@Kelvin I wanted to send you a private message, but I cannot figure out how to do that on this revised website.  I too have Chubb boat insurance, but Global Marine is not mentioned anywhere on the policy.  My actual insurer is Ace American Insurance Company which is one of the many Chubb companies.  The agent is shown as Specialty Program Group LLC.  My policy has the H20 Ski Plus Program endorsement.  It is up for renewal 6-3-23.  I expect that, in May, I will get the same letter that you got notifying of the coverage reduction.  It is  likely that all Chub companies will take away this endorsement.  We are both in Texas.  I believe that the Texas Department of Insurance has a requirement that insurance companies must give policyholders at least 30 days notice before renewal when the carrier is reducing coverage (and of other things).  Removal of the H20 Ski Plus endorsement is clearly a reduction in coverage in my opinion.  So, did Chubb/Global give you 30 days notice?  It probably did, but it's worth looking into.   I don't know, but I assume that the penalty for not giving timely notice would be at a minimum to force the insurer to leave the H20 endorsement on the renewal policy.  

It sounds like you lose more than just hull coverage.  Liability coverage may be excluded too, and that is more worrisome than hull coverage to me.  The letter is not the policy however.  Actual policy language will control.

The Ski It Again ad says 5.7 L (350 cid) engine with 330 HP.  The PCM 343 uses the same block so it may very well be that this engine is compatible with Zero Off.   It sure would be worth inquiring.

I believe there used to be a 3E club in Corpus Christi which isn't too far from SPI. However, I'm not sure it still exists.

@Kelvin, question: If the 5.3L and the 6.2L have the same size block, would not the cylinder walls on the 6.2L be thinner in order to get the additional displacement? If so, is that important?

Indeed we are. I have known and been friends with Jay Bennett for decades. Before he was forced to stop skiing many years ago he was an outstanding skier in all three events.

I clicked on this thread planning to watch only part of it at the time because I was short on time. However, I ended up watching the whole thing in one setting. I found it very interesting and well done.