dbutcher

@Deanoski , I get the impression that you believe that if your guard had been stiff (inflexible), your head would not have gotten through? That is, the guard would have pushed the handle away? Is that right?

True, but number of pulls is arguably a more accurate measure of actual boat useage and wear and tear. A boat could pull 12 skiers in an hour. $25 per hour doesn't seem like enough for that. $5 per pull could result in $60 to the boat owner. No arguments about idling or shutting off the engine either. Nothing is perfect.

Keeping it simple is usually better. How about this: Give the tow boat provider $5 per pull that his/her boat tows (per pull, not per skier) plus free tournament entry for one skier. The comp'd entry fee is not cash out of pocket to the tournament sponsor. Travel and hotel, if any, can be negotiated as necessary. Many clubs can put up a promo operator in a member's home. Most personal boats used in tournaments will be local. Promo boat operators likely will have travel expense that SHOULD be considered, especially if the promo person would NOT have attended the tournament anyway. The hardest part of this plan is keeping track of the number of pulls for each boat. $5 per pull is not a magic number - it could be another number - but $5 seems reasonable for all. Efficiency and common sense can keep tournament costs reasonable for skiers, boat owners, and sponsors.

Check the list of Texas and Louisiana affiliated clubs on USWS' web site. There is a ski site on I-30 in east Texas, but I don't know if it's active. There may be one in Omaha, TX too. I don't know any contacts. There was a very active club in Longview, TX, but it appears it is no longer active. It's not on the list of affiliated clubs. There may be one in Tyler, TX too.

I forgot about that thread, and somehow I got the impression that the IWWF license was required for Class E. If it is not required for Class E (obviously it's not required for Class C), it causes me less heartburn. I can ski Regionals without having an international license.

Check out the IWWF licensing requirement described on the USAWS&WS website. I only read it hurriedly; but it sounds like if you want to ski in a record tournament, you must buy an IWWF license ($25 for a year or $7 for one tournament). This applies even if the skier doesn't care if he/she gets on the world standings list or not. You have to have it just to participate in the tournament. If I am interpreting correctly, we continue to make skiing harder and more expensive for ourselves in multiple NEW ways. So if we have a record tournament at our lake, I have to buy an IWWF license or not ski in our own tournament. I hope sponsors add a class C tournament to their record sanction application.

Many years ago I remember that sometimes there would be 4 or 5 promo boats at local tournaments. Mine was usually one of them. At that time we skiers didn't realize how good we had it boat wise. Promo boat owners always got their gas refilled or paid for. If memory serves me (and it might not perfectly) for a few years I had the option of selling my promo boat or turning it back in to the regional warehouse or dealer when I picked up a new one. There was a significant initial deposit, but no more cost if I turned the boat in and got a new one at the end of the season. It was a good deal for promo boat owner/operators as well as tournament hosts. The manufacturer bore the loss in value. Of course, there were no wake boats then. Three event tournament style tow boats were the manufacturers' bread and butter. They needed promo boats to get their products before the boat buying public. That is not so today. I could be wrong, but I perceive that three event boats are more of a nuisance than a profit center for manufacturers today - at least some of them. That's why promo boats are so scarce. Who can blame the manufacturers? As to payment to boat owners who allow their personal boat to pull tournaments, it is a necessity. The personal boat owner is bearing the loss in value, wear and tear etc. from the tournament hours. So, we tournament entrants are going to have to pay larger entry fees. Why shouldn't we? The cost of all other life activities goes up every day. Tournament water skiing can not expect to be any different.

Can someone tell me the history of and reasons for the rule mandating different scoring for different levels of tournaments (C vs record) when skiing above maximum speed? Is that fair? Does it skew the standings list?

An email from USA Water Ski came out today that muddies the waters even more. Member reactions will be interesting.

For me, 30 is easier than 32 except for the wake crossing. I don't think I would get a higher buoy count by skiing 32 since M9 scoring is at 30 (the M9 maximum speed) even if you ski at 32. Others may be different.

I have a 69.5" Senate and ski 30.4 mph. It is easy (albeit undesirable) to allow the wake crossing to disturb your body position. You may be too far back on your ski after the wake. It also could be that you are not hanging onto the handle with both hands long enough. Other than those two things, I have no thoughts as to why your ski would hop at the beginning of the edge change. At 30 mph and at your weight you could probably delay your edge change a little and then change edges more aggressively to see if that helps.

Legal or illegal, please find a better way. How hard is it to drag your boat to the gas station or get a bulk delivery tank at the lake?

Mike Corjay in Oklahoma, a fellow skier, restrings handles for a reasonable cost and does a great job. He has done many for me. Send me a private message if you want his contact info.

I have no knowledge, no experience, and certainly no expertise. However, is it possible to float the lift on a boat trailer, and move it by land. It could be disastrous to lose that lift in the middle of a deeeep lake, not to mention time consuming and possibly expensive. I doubt that you will have control of wake boats while you do this task.

Can the old style push/pull button be installed on current shifters? Or replace the current shifters? I don't recall ever hearing of a failure of the old style neutral button.

A new ski club is great news. Too many around where I live are dying instead of starting or growing.

@Dacon62 In your picture above, is that rudder bent, or are my eyes deceiving me?

Aggressive rubbing with coarse sand paper has always fixed a slippery handle for me. I don't worry about ruining a handle with sand paper. If it's slippery, it's already no good.

@unksskis I will send you a private message.

There may be water ski activity at Kaufman after all. I hope so, but I really don't know. It used to be a good tournament site. Like @bigtex2011 I'm not aware of any organized skiing at Lake Ray Hubbard.

@Cooper_Trelawney We were getting off topic. I sent you a private message.

I'm not sure about Lake Ray Hubbard, but some public lakes in North Texas have zebra mussels. Check into that and learn how to protect your boat before launching. And do not go from lake to lake without properly sanitizing your boat including its cooling system to get rid of zebra mussels. I understand that sanitizing is not an easy or quick process. I've heard that the sites in Greenville and Kaufman are not active ski sites anymore.

I owned two Mastercrafts many years ago. If memory serves, the first was a 1977 with a 1:1 transmission. The second was a 1981 power slot. The 81 had a larger diameter prop because it had the 1.5:1 transmission, and it indeed had a power slot in the hull bottom above the propeller. I always thought that the hollowed out bottom to accommodate that big prop was why it was called a "powerslot". The 1977 with the 1:1 transmission did not have the large prop or hollowed out bottom. For that reason I did not think it was a powerslot.

There is nothing wrong with our current system. Competition already exists to the extent possible. Local tournaments usually are small enough that it is difficult to increase competition with any system. The changes discussed above just seem (to me) to complicate things unnecessarily. Change sometimes is necessary and sometimes good; but change just for the sake of change is usually not good, especially if it complicates things. Most skiers are in this sport for enjoyment, fun, and the joy of improvement without having to spend hours reading the rule book. He/she who gets around the most buoys at the shortest line length within the current system compared to his/her last performance or compared to another in his/her division has the most fun. The National tournament is the best example (one of few) of true and fair competition. Absent a dramatic weather change during an event, conditions in the National tournament are as close to the same for everyone as is possible, and the winner can justifiably claim that he/she was the best skier in the nation that day in his/her division.

Stretch is good. Also, pull all the extra material in your baggy shorts to the back of your legs just before you start. By the time the extra material gets pulled into a position that will catch water, you will be out of the water.