GaryWilkinson

Radar Senate for sure. And the SIXAM 2.0. Most forgiving ski ever, great for starting the course thru -28 off Although many have gone to 39.5!

@MillerTime38 I ski on a large Canadian lake in FAR from ideal conditions. In fact I was in chop today, in a dry suit, with 8° C air temp. And I had my best set of the summer this morning. But I digress. I guess where I'm going is that I heard from a coach privately, and saw Freddy's FB post talking about how bad and inconsistent the conditions were, which included backwash! Backwash is not the same for everyone. Dependant on which way you want to take your "money pass" because of the wind chop, you may have backwash in the course or not. Different parts of the slalom course may have different levels of backwash for different athletes based on where recovery boats, starting docks and where the wind is blowing from at that moment. I've even seen b-wash from advertisers signage buoys at major events that were moved based on the time of day! I guess my major point is that we're better than this. Sites are better than this Our sport Deserves better than this! The athletes that train for 2 frigging years! deserve better than this. And I guess I could lump it all together but our sport has evolved way beyond skiing in frigid temps on large public lakes with no protection and significant chance of chop on the water. Ya gotta think there are many more sites ready to host with great conditions and athletes can hit their mark and shine to their potential.

I believe if you were to ask every one of the competitors a version of this same poll worded to get their preference on if they'd like a site that is less than ideal, probably not going to serve up any PB and may dump some champions early, versus pristine conditions where the water is consistent, no, or at least greatly dimished chances of chop and backwash and that allows each skier to reach their potential,... I'm confident they'd go for good and consistent conditions. I have a fistful of medals where I beat national champions in sketchy conditions. These dont mean near as much to me as those I won where we all skied close to or beyond personal bests. In my humble opinion, I'm believe the winners of this years worlds would agree.

Full honest testimony: skied yesterday 2 sets and could get on side as smooth as I'd like. Put the washer in last night, check fin setting and Wow. Big difference in onside smoothness. Ski didn't bite, yet I was able to put more of the front foot in the water. Probably my best set at -32 this year. That, and good coaching from Pierre T. But no placebo effect. It was a noticeable difference.

Incredible during this time that they picked such an unworthy site. When competing in the 90's we had our nationals at Brandon Manitoba. We woke to gale force winds and could not run the finals at all. No disrespect to the really great people of Brandon, they were fantastic hosts, great time, terrific venue except for one thing. The lake was not suited at all for waterskiing. I recall the CWSA at that time deciding to never have another nationals at an inferior site. Our standing in world rankings, athletes bursaries, and endorsements contracts are contingent on performances at big tournaments and at this time we took a big in those areas. There are enough great, world class sites out there that we should not have to see this level of poor (sub-par) not even average results again. How would we even be considered for tv broadcasts again? I was the colour commentary guy for our nationals one year in Sherbrooke and Susi Graham skied a national record in slalom! That's how it should have went, Nate Biting 3 ball and turning for 4! Not seeing who could survive past -39 off.

Have I got it right that Nate fell early and ended up almost last place in the finals? Crappy site.

Doubt very much there's a distributor cap and rotor. CC phased those out not long after 1997 I believe.

Anyone know if the mounting screws are the same between fin blocks. So that they'd be interchangeable?

Me after my first 2 passes to Andy at a clinic: "so? What do you think? Andy: stands, wipes his face, smiles, "where should I begin?" And laughs like Andy laughs! Awesome moment.

After 40+ years of slalom trying to get to shorter line lengths while thinking about 3-4 thoughts in the course, I started last year especially to listen to my good friend and informal coach Pierre and did a lot more free skiing. In the course I count balls and try to score. If I botch 3-ball I try and reset but really never commit to getting back to a good rhythm. In free skiing, I work one thing at a time 20 times! This gives me the feeling in an overall body sense what doing it right feels like. Essentially building muscle / body memory to make it more of a habit. I'm not good enough to be thinking of one thing like trailing arm pressure in the course. I have too many things to correct starting with hips to handle. But free skiing allows me to really practice and work on that one aspect to get it right and commit it to my DNA. Then move on to the next thing. But I must admit, just doing a great job of hips up, handle low in a stacked position really makes -32 off feel better! I used to coach minor hockey and just like the contributor above said, you can't be thinking about technique etc game time. That's for practice. Game time is proof of good practice habits. Now where the heck is my COM?

My Fav? George Athans As a young lad with zero coaching and just starting to compete in Quebec, George was a resident at our lake and used my course often. Silky smooth on that old Saucier ski. Loved watching him swerve.

3@43 just adds another 1/2 ball to the impossible that is what us mere mortals can aspire to. Not alone thinking this,... Where is the video of this awesome performance? Towboat, magazine, Random iPhone from the shore ??? Anyone?,... Anyone?,...

Geez sounds like a party. I broke my neck 3 yrs ago, 5 cracks over 3 vertebrae C5-7, had brief left arm paralysis. No surgery but it has affected my body, last year in august "complex tear of the medial posterior meniscus". I'm 57 yo, skiing the best of my life and dying to get to 1 legitimate ball at -38, (aka get all 6 at -35) and now it's really hitting me that this life long goal I have might not be realized. Bummer But still, I train 4x a week a time the gym. Can't run anymore but I'm still in Great shape. A very smart lady told me "don't worry about it, if it's not slalom it'll be something else". You still have the drive and desire to push hard and excel so do another sport and do the best you can. I know it sounds like BS but for me it hit home. Staying fit is an important part of the formula but if we're that intense to push into short line and that capability goes away? There are lots of other places to put that intensity. It's more about the person than the sport. He, your BIL, and I, will do ok. We'll find something and struggle a bit at first, but inside we'll push with the same intensity and drive to have fun, achieve a good level of performance and move on. Talk to him about his personal qualities that got him this far and how they'll take him still yet further no matter what he chooses or does. For me, It's the person and their heart, more than their leg, knee or shoulder. Best of luck @rockdog

@Wish had a servere bout of medial epicondylitis a few years back. #1 cure I found in here and experienced, was stopping what was giving me the pain in the first place which was taking hits from the boat at a short line with my hands and forearms in close to my body to absorb slack line. So,... I got a bent handle, this helped a lot I got a thicker handle, this helped a bit I gave it some rest, this helped the most, but was the most frustrating I got a cortisone injection, painful as hell and helped only a bit. I changed my technique so as to not take hits from the boat caused by slack line: Huge improvement. Check your technique, (brave of me to say skiing at -35off to a guy that runs -38!) @cragginshred can chime in here, but if I recall, its the hits with grip flexed, that causes this condition and pain. Best of luck, try everything and stay away from slack line. GW

@ToddA yessir going to check it out. I'm giving it a couple of months first without any injections to see if I can go without it but it think it's inevitable.

I think who cares where they come from really. They look great. I think the base and boot mating design is a great innovation. Should have great feel and edging ability on the water

I'm so clueless and maybe naive but I put my name in where I guess handle was supposed to go. I believe and trust posts that have a true person behind them. I have no patience for those that criticize, insult and run. What do we call them?,.... um. Cowards I think fits best.

Total keeper. Congrats and merry Christmas !

Great info, great people, great advice Wow ! @Horton : great job man. Thannks for all your hard work.

Medial posterior meniscus of rear leg knee (left) Surgery October 17th Had a decent 3 weeks in the middle of that time but lately really bad. Can't put almost any weight and painful as hell. Worried I'm done in this sport. Arthritic knee, I'm 57 and skiing some of the best of my life. Tore that damn knee at -35 off. Doing physio, excercises 2x day. But if I miss a day or work too hard?.. ouch! Any advice fellow meniscus yankers?

ACL tear while free skiing at -35 to get a rhythm. Oh well, better now than in June!

@oldjeep. You are indeed that guy! Or let's say "the man" Thanks so much. Ordering a new one.

My awesome and well running ride has an original pump that is difficult to change the impeller due to a bent bolt and bad nut. And we all know how important changing that part is to a healthy and long life for our boats. Any ideas? New or used.

@Horton so John, yellow/blue, or Vapor lithium? Which is better at -32, -35. What say you oh goggled one?

Did I read correctly that this will release from the toe? Backward twisting fall?