andjules

Is Whitney McClintock back? I think I saw a tweet that she was going to be there... first tournament back off an injury.

Yes, if members only and the communication mode is private message on BoS. If an idiot starts to abuse it, @Horton bans them and we're not fighting spam for the rest of our (email address') life.

well, it's just an experimental program right now. But they mention using recycled Android phones (we'd need an android unit with a better gps for accuracy, though these are getting cheaper and more affordable all the time) and they're clearly using standard water filter housings. I can't imagine the little motors/props are too hard to find in the electronics-project-parts world. So I think the only expensive/laborious part is custom mouldings to fill out the case housing (and, of course, the programming). A long way to go, for sure, but we're getting closer... and interesting that they're programming with Android, which is a pretty accessible platform.

A few months back we had some threads on innovative ideas for slalom courses. I was leafing through the latest issue of Wired and saw that Berkeley is experimenting with autonomous, GPS (recycled cell-phone) based water sensors. One step closer to the dream of an affordable, portable course, where you throw individual buoys out of the boat and they put - and keep - themselves in the right spot. http://wsnblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/float-diagram.png?w=300&h=268 http://d3uifzcxlzuvqz.cloudfront.net/images/stories/content/projects/float/float.png Berkeley's floating sensor network

@londonskier, if I understand it correctly, Radar markets the Senate-C as being a slightly wider Strada (0.2"), built for 34mph/55kmh. However, while it's laid up with carbon, they don't put quite as nice a core in it as they do in the Strada. But when they were prototyping the Strada-based Senate-C (2011? and newer), they did put the same Strada core in it, and these prototypes became known as Strada55's. Basically a slightly nicer/stiffer Senate-C.

I can't recall, is this a 2010 prototype in preparation for the 2011 Senate-C, or a 2011 prototype for the 2012 Senate-C?

A spreadsheet would be great @Brady and is much appreciated. However, there are more questions than 'who can give me a ride when I'm in...' I'd love to - for example - ask other ballers from my province about other sites they know of (even if the people at those sites aren't on BoS). Similarly, threads start regularly about 'does anyone know if there is a course on such-and-such a lake', etc. In that spirit (as well as the spirit of this thread and your work on a 'baller hospitality spreadsheet'), I think there might be a place for a 'sites and locations' sub-forum. And of course I'm not asking @Horton to populate that sub-forum... just whether it's a good idea to have that sub-forum where we can all contribute to location-based discussion.

@Horton, I'd like to suggest a new forum category, something like 'locations and sites', where ideally individuals would start a master thread for each state, province, european country, etc.?

Actually @6balls, it's not going to be 'foreign oil' controlling the price so much. There's been a lot of advances in drilling/frack'ing... they say the US will be independent in 10 years, and a net exporter of oil in less than 20. But what North America really has a lot of is Natural Gas. Sells for pennies now. We should be thinking about running engines on that...

And let's remember that it's not fair for hardcore skiers to criticize recreational wakeboard drivers. Hardcore wakeboarders tend to drive almost as rationally & rigorously as hardcore skiers (except for thise wide 'double up' loops). Weekend skiers tend to drive just as badly as weekend wakeboarders (albeit with somewhat smaller wakes).

sorry to threadjack, but @bogboy I'm currently debating between the cox sl and the s2 (and the radar senate-c in 3rd place). Of course I like the price point of the cox sl, but I'd love to hear more of your opinion (sounds like you've skied both). I have a tendency to overturn my onside and get a little too forward on my offside. While I want to learn to be more patient, I tend to be a bit of scrambler and if that changes I think it will change slooowly. While the cox sl sounds a little less stable than the S2, I'm wondering if it still feels nimble enough for a scrambler? Does that make any sense? I'm a 55k, -28/-32 skier.

Thanks @Ed_Johnson. Drew and I actually skied together when we were kids. I think I met him @ my first novice tournament and I'm pretty sure it was his first as well. And if I recall correctly, I think I beat him. Of course, things went downhill from there - for me, at least ;-)

@Ed_Johnson, is there much of value in Drew Ross' (pre-zero-off) 'Shortline' videos worth watching? I've always been curious about that one, but never had a chance to see it.

@Horton, I'm sure you've looked at the breakdown of users, but it sure seems from here - as @tfriess said - that the 'baller' range is huge: 10-299 points (and I'm not sure why it's useful to have a 'solid baller' range of only 300-399). I haven't been contributing for very long, but if the point of these titles is encouraging the community - including the newbies - to contribute, 300 points seems a long, long way away.

Caveats: (i) We don't really know your expectations or budget (new or used); and (ii) I haven't skied either of the boats mentioned below, but I have been in this kind of discussion on other forums and 'knowledgeable-sounding' folks mentioned these boats: The Sanger 210/215 were known for being a bit better in rough water, but we're talking V-drives (hybrids that lean more to wakeboarding than skiing), so the wake is going to be hard compared to a 3-event direct drive, and if you're taking skiers in the 26-30mph range, it's also going to be a bigger wake. On the other hand, if you're hoping to comfortably take more than one-or-two people for a boat ride in a bit of ocean chop, you pretty much have to bite the V-drive bullet, both because of what @Brady said above, and because it brings the rear seat forward out of the spray compared to the very wet, way-at-the-back rear seat in direct drives. If you'd rather the skiing advantages of a direct drive, the mid-2000s Centurion T5 was also known for being a little better in rough water.

Me too, @Chef23. On both counts.

"The the Impotence of Proofreading" by Taylor Mali

@ShaneH I've also been noticing how much (especially in older videos) he leads the finish of the turn with his head on the offside. It makes me think about two things: - While I understand the downside of overturning/rushing the turn, I wonder if sometimes we talk a little too much about being patient and waiting for the ski to come around. It's important, but watching Nate's offside turn reminds me that we're not just along for the ride... - I wonder if we get too attached to universal theory/principles and don't talk enough about the differences between offside and onside. Anyhow, that's all a little off topic.

It's easy to abuse by people who want to be abusive. And since the stars have come up, I've only noticed one person abusing the system ;-) One of the things that makes this place great is that there aren't a lot of people like that (and in the rare-but-appropriate circumstance, @Horton is not afraid to be transparent-but-decisive in showing them the door).

The problem with stars is they create a harsh hierarchy. Those without stars feel unsuccessful and unacknowledged. By making the ordering a little less 'obvious' and adding a dash of humor, everything lightens up. The advantage is still there: you get a little context/hint about who is posting and how much they contribute positively to the community.

It's a "2001" Nautique, which means somewhere between 1982-89. It's a foggy memory, but I think he was a slalom specialist by the second half of the 80s.

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@Wayne, I think the warped mold/chine lock problem you're remembering was from some of the Toyota Epic 21s from about that time.

@SkiJay the phrase hurts my brain. and my feelings ;-)

maybe that deserves a star.