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@brent The ones like that, that I have seen cost more than $7.00.

With kids that grow each year, it is tough to beat Wiley bindings. Each year I send both jump bindings, front and rear slalom bindings, and two trick bindings (hand & toe ski) 6 binding total. They replace all the rubber and size them to his correct size and send them back. Usually less than 150.00 with freight included. Send them in late Feb or early March so there is no rush. Best deal going on bindings and they fit the way they are supposed to. Wiley had to replace his jump bottom plate hardware, and they asked him how long he had the bindings. The plates were marked in size XXS, XS, S, M, and L. My son laughed and said about 8 or 9 years. The hardware had gone from his first jump of 34 feet to over 165 feet. Pretty good value. They replaced them with Pro Jump Bindings and gave him a great deal. The guys at Wiley are great to work with. We stayed off the hard shell stuff till his foot stopped growing. I don't think his performance suffered any. Now he is in a EXO Form set up and loves them for the comfort. Performance did not really go up with the switch to a hard shell. Tricks near 6000 slalom mid -38@36mph and jumps 180 plus

Freddy has some great key points. Spot on with everything he has said. Good stuff. Who would have thunk it....... I guess maybe his wife might listen to him

@livetoski Sounds like you can be a big fish in a little pond, or a little fish in a big pond. Keep in mind that the most important part of your collage life, will be your education. Make your school selection based on what fits your future job goals. NOT what team you want to ski on. Make sure to research your selection. Some schools have a history of telling you one thing, and things turn out VERY different in the end. Right now to ski "A" team at bama, it will take a slalom score into -35, jump over 110 or trick at least 1500 in a single pass. Good luck and I hope you make a choice that works for your future plans.

There is HUGE range of scores in college. The top four or five schools can post scores with five skiers into short line lengths. After that it drops. FSC will be tough this year. They added a top 22 year old three event skier plus KC Wilson has put the trick and jumpers back on. They look to have depth. Looks like bama may be headed in a downward direction. ULM & ULL will be tough as always. Not sure what Rollins will have, they added a elite women tricker and short line slalom. One of ASU top male gun is hurt and out for season. They also lost top female from last year due to graduation but did add a male and female slalom stud. Miss Greenwood when she gets 100% plus Dylan next year will help ULL. Haw going to ULM will add ANOTHER elite 3 event skier to ULM and Kolmann may give them the best 1,2 trick tandem in the country. Should be a FUN year.

Most likely got bent going on or off the trailer. About 100.00 installed +/-

Class R. All judges must be senior (5 req) plus boat and gate video required. Class L. 3 sen judges & 2 regs. Boat and gate video is optional. End course video is required for both.

In the scorebook, it looks like his score was class "L" World records have to be set in Class "R" Minor judge requirements between the two classes.

My guess about the 35mph may be that the set up is short. It will be 4 balls due to the short lake and maybe they feel that they can't get boat to speed. Just I guess. I DO NOT know this for a fact.

Loved the exterior colors. Not crazy about the interior. Silver or grey inter would have rocked it. Looked awesome with the cover on.

Go to usa waterski web site home page. Upper left go to 3event waterski. Then on left side click "events and registration" under that check registration status then us nationals. From there you will need to select a report type and display report.

I would suggest that before you "scoot" down to Chet Raley's you call ahead. In the past he is always full and $$$$!!!!!!

Go to youtube and do a search for "12buoy madness" Watch Kevin Melnick run -32 off @ 36 mph at Firebird lake. Pretty awesome

@shaneH Did you make that last comment as the guy standing on shore looking for a crash? If I am not mistaken, kfennell recently posted that he was just STARTING to jump. I am not sure that even Jimmy can take a beginner to 135/150 in a year. And if they do, they most likely won't be jumping for long before they do crash and tear up a knee. Beginner to 135/150 in a year. If it was that easy, they would call it wakeboarding

@kfennell In each age group, there is a record score, and a median score in each event. The record score is equal to 1500 NOPS the median score is worth 500 NOPS. Go to usa waterski home page and and click the 3-event tab. On the left go to the scoring section and you can download the current year NOPS excell calculator. It will change each year.

@bigtex2011 Now THAT was funny. LOL

Plus, he has some GREAT stories. Well worth the cost of a beer or two.

@skifreak. Cory has plenty of room. I have jumped and slalom at both Cory and SMRR. He has much more room than you guys have at the ranch. You should not be afraid to go there.

The best way to check if it needs to be cleaned, is to put it in the water. When you pull it out, if the water beads like a waxed car, it needs to be cleaned. If it lays on the ski without beading you are good. Most people carry the ski between the boots and wrap the fingers around the bottom. This is the area that will show signs of oils from your fingers. I use cleanser (ajax or comet) with a sponge. Check your ski the next time you ski. You may be surprised.

@Than I guess I don't understand. With the exception of regionals and nationals, does tournament placement even matter? You are skiing against yourself and to get a score that qualifies you to ski regionals and nationals. Who cares what place you finish in a class c tourn that has 30 skiers and 6 age/sex groups. The rankings list gives you a indication where you fall against other skiers.

@Than If you feel the same way about OM and OW, you don't get to see Nate(M1) -vs- Chris(M2) How many M2 don't walk to the dock if the tower is standing there?

@ MattP. Really, you think any one of the three of them planned to ski age group this year at nats? That's what I would consider a sandbag. I think each of them are outstanding skiers and would have skied open against the best. All of them have proven that in the past. They are not afraid of the skiers in open. If you ski a pro event you should ski open. Plus, I think Michigan skiers of that talent level would step up and ski open. LOL They have in the past. I think Cal ran into 41 this past weekend and Trip has been on here in several places talking about running 39's

@mattp Looking at the list for malibu, I am not sure I saw any M1 or M2 skiers from the midwest that I would have expected to ski age group at nationals. I would think anyone who skis in a pro event would ski open. I did not see any under 21 or under 17 skiers form the midwest who will be forced into open because of malibu. If you are talking about Tyler Lorenz, he skied open last year and in fact won open overall. Who from the midwest that is sking at malibu wanted to ski age group? You are correct in your statement that if you ski open at nationals, you are NOT required to ski regionals. But, you must be open rated to do that. There are a few skiers on the open rankings list in slalom that are not open rated. I am not sure how that happens. Maybe a scorer places them in open at local tournaments, and the scores show up on the ranking list??? There are several that are not open rated in a single event, BUT are open rated in overall.

No real benefit except skiing and competing against the best. My guess is that next year, KC for sure will ski open.

webbdawg99 It really is up to the skier. But, if you ski open at regionals, you also have to ski open at nationals. KC and Zane are both great slalom skiers, but as B3, should they have to ski against Nate and Chris at Nationals? It also looks like KC is starting to 3 event again and a possiable overall title may be important to him. My guess is that he might be tricking and jumping to get ready for college tournaments in the fall. Another thing that comes into play is when groups ski at Nationals. Open this year skis on Tues and Wed. that may or may not play into travel plans. MM slalom skiers do the same thing. Ski BigDawgs all year, but then drop to age groups for nationals. I don't think anyone from the west region was a B3 skiing open. Other factors that play into it is how much time you have to train. A open overall skier that I always respected because he did ski open went back to age group this year. He is done with school and has a real job now with reduced practice time. That does not make it wrong. It may mean that he does not have to miss as much time from work if he skis age group. Not all things in life are fair. Work hard and skier better so that you can compete With KC and Zane. They should not be forced to ski open because they are good. Let them enjoy what they have accomplished.