Ilivetoski

I never take more than 1 crack at 22 off (opener). There is absolutely no similarity between 22 off and 35 off, so while I do see value in spending time working on fundamentals, everything is different at short line vs 15 or 22 off. Also I wouldn't use your easiest pass to build muscle memory. If I need to get out of trouble at 22 off, I just pull a little harder or turn a little harder. Not quite that easy at 32 or 35.

I've always wondered this, I'm sure all of the boat paths I've gotten from drivers have not been straight. But I've never had an instance where I got to the other end and said to myself "wow what a bad path", that said what will a skier experience with a less than ideal path?

@Ralph Lee so would handicapping make you ski more? Or do you want people who are literally running +\- a buoy from you

I've had coaches tell me for the longest time to ski a gate pull that's not taking everything out wide and getting more progressive on my pull in. Never clicked for me. Skied with Zane Nicholson this week he told me "you're hitting the boat too soon! Hit me white wash to white wash!" That day ended with me running 35 off and getting 1@38 for a 3.5 buoy PB

I got mine from Miami Nautique as well, that said they sent me the wrong size plate (which resulted in about 8 OTF before we figured out what was wrong), an incorrect front linear, and when I tried to warranty out my front shell because some screws rusted and came out (2 months after I got it), it took them over a year to get me a new boot... I personally would go through Seth Stisher if I had to do it again

@Wish My argument is not that we need official scores to say how we are doing. I am a skier who can get into 35 off. I ski at a private lake with a course that is surveyed, with a senior and a regular driver if I ever feel the need to ski with them (I ski with my dad 90% of the time who isn't a tournament driver but can drive me straight no problem). Outside of being in a fraternity tournament skiing is the biggest social scene I have ever seen. Ive met 2 of my best friends though tournaments and eventually the plan (very poorly planned, btw) is for us all to live on the same lake one day. I wouldn't ski on a private lake if not for tournaments, I wouldn't even have an inboard if not for tournaments. If I get to see some skiers I don't see a whole lot, and get a tip or two on what I did wrong in round X, its a successful tournament for me. I agree that the numbers are lop sided towards people who don't ski tournaments. We have a boat on a private lake where pretty much everyone skis tournaments. We also own an older boat on a public lake not far from us where 5 of about 30 active members ski tournaments (not including us because we rarely ever ski there). If we got that whole ski club to ski in tournaments (unrealistic, I know but just for arguments sake) we would more than double the number of tournament water skiers in KY

@Horton I agree with what you say, but I also think that attitude can drive some people away from the tournament scene. Saying "It doesn't matter what you can do daily, on different sites behind different boats with different drivers. It only matters if its in a tournament" personally if someone told me that before my first tournament I might not have gotten into it. I don't really know a better way to say it either, but I would never tell someone I am trying to get into tournaments that their practice scores don't count. I tend to say more "you just ran 3@32 off, no reason you can't do it behind a new boat and a senior driver"

@Wish I understand, but almost every tournament skier started there. Not a whole lot of skiers start getting into tournaments when they are skiing into 35 and 38 off. I know I didn't, and ever since my first tournament when I was running 28 mph I, personally, was hooked. Also when you go to the tournaments, especially starting out, A LOT of people who are advanced skiers are willing to give you very good advice. My first nationals Chris Rossi made a point to stand on shore and watch me and give me feedback after I got done skiing. I wasn't at all in contention for being on the podium, but I had a pro skier taking time paying attention to where the running order was and watching me ski and give me his opinion. I was 13 or 14 at the time and thought that was the coolest thing ever.

I was talking to some friends of mine last week when we were skiing in the morning. Two good skiers who can get into 32 off, and one of them can run it on occasion. I started talking and asking why they don't ski tournaments, not trying to get reasons and tell them why those reasons weren't valid, but really trying to understand why they thought tournaments weren't for them. Because personally I couldn't dedicate this amount of time to skiing and not compete. The answer I got from both of them was "we don't get into 35 and 38 off so there would be no point.". So I did some digging on USAWS ranking list, of the nearly 400 M1 slalom skiers (400 could be slightly off but its pretty close), only about 45 have a buoy average of 1 or more at 35 off. Move up to 1 @ 38 off the number is closer to 20. I want to share this with not only my friends, but with anyone else who is thinking they "just aren't good enough" to compete who might be reading this. I don't have an impressive buoy average, but I hate missing tournaments and I'm positive that 90% of tournament skiers share this view. Plus its really fun to watch those few who do get into 38 and 39!!

This sport does this to everyone. But it feels so good when it all comes together. Ive run 32 off hundreds of times in practice and only once in a tournament two years ago at my home site behind one of the guys who regularly drives me. That was two years ago, thats two years straight of not running in tournaments until yesterday, and when it all clicks and it finally goes well, theres no better feeling

Heard the same today at a tournament from a woman who said she was riding it with ARC graphics

The more I think about this the more I remember how much "advice" I got from this specific coach. One other bit of coaching I got was "look, if you wanna ski well in the tournament on Saturday, take the week off. Practicing will do nothing but wear down your body." This "coach" was not in the boat 90% of the time he decided to give me "tips"

My friend Ryan Harris.. can go deep 38, can also take a nasty OTF at 28 you never know and he always keeps you on your toes

Prayer. A lot of prayer.

@oldjeep I skied this morning with the local MC mechanic and we discussed what happens if one fails and it's not under warranty... closer to $4000 instead of $1800 at least for the MC

"We need more ski in the water, well just put your boots as far forward as possible, give me your ski." *did not give him my ski* "Pin your chin to the bottom of your neck" at this point I just let everything he said go in one ear and out the other "Just lean harder! That's all you gotta do at 35 off!" *ended in an OTF with a shoulder injury that kept me off the water for 2 weeks. This was when I decided to stop listening to him*

Oh, one more. "Turn so hard that you stretch the rope enough to create more distance between you and the boat" I'm not even sure what the idea behind this one was.

"The course isn't symmetrical. The distance from 1 to 2 isn't the same as 3 to 4 so ski it that way." Also "I believe you need to be able to run your opener on a wooden disk before you can consistently do it in a tournament. You need to try 34 22 on a wooden table top and see what happens" These are serious ideas from the same person. I have more but I'll leave it at these

I've seen 3 syndicate hardshell boots and all of them had broken moldings. That said all of the skiers also had replacements they just hadn't put on the ski yet

There was an interview with Nate and he said at one point he had run 41 something like 8 record rounds in a row. He said 41 was just coming to him from confidence

@Horton Seriously?

Are those the syndicate legend gloves? Looks like them because of the palm. If they are mine didn't last long at all, had to just buy a new pair of gloves.

Our boat has the same issue

@jcamp I'm sure the trip was planned well in advance, but taking trips to North Korea (for any reason) has a fairly high chance of ending very very badly. It would seem that jailing visiting foreigners and returning them pretty much dead, would deter people from going there for any reason

An American died while being held there for ripping down a poster, and the first thing to come to the IWWF's mind is we should go over there and teach them to water ski....