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@chef23 Yes he went 182

Maybe the skier on the bottom should start working out as much as the skier on top. As lmfao would say " I work out" All the olds who don't get it, ask you kids Sorry......... it was a joke. Am I banned for life?

We had a B1 skier break his light rope at our tourn yesterday.

@scuppers Santan is about 30 miles south east of Phoenix

@cacman Depending on the part of country you are in. It can be done if your hose is about 4 inch dia. and can deliver about 120 gals per min.

@mattP Wish has the arguement that if they have no chance to win, they will lose interest. So a skier who jumps less than 40 feet, tricks 200 points and runs less than max speed in slalom will have a chance against a skier on the other end who slaloms into 32 off, tricks over 5000 points, and jumps 70 feet. Oh and by the way the two skiers used in my example are the same age. Now what do we do? Handicap the better skier. That's what I call a beat down. I would be very concerned for the kid put thru that. Again, are we at the everyone gets a medal stage? I am all for bringing kids into the sport. I have also seen some very good skiers drop out because of the "been there done that" you say "good for them for getting high enough scores and learning all 3 discipline" Did they really get high enough scores to compete are nationals? Local tourns and regionals fine.Beyond that, I am not sure.

@toddL So if I understand your plan, the top skiers in division 3 would not be allowed into nationals, even if they are better than a division 4 skier. What does that accomplish? At least now a talented skier in the first year of a div can still ski nationals. Bruce posted above that he has two kids that will move to a higher level next year. Are you going to tell them that no matter how hard they work they can not ski nationals. If that is thinking outside the box........... I will stay inside. Thanks. I will even go so far as to say that in a year from now, if you check, both of them will ski nationals next year in the higher div. They both work very hard and have some great coaching and have a true passion for the sports. The skiers that don't have the same passion are the skiers that will fall behind. I have said it before. In some div the requirement for nationals is set too low. This is supposed to be the best of the best. Do you know that every G2 overall skier can ski at nationals? They are all level 8 ranked. REALLY!!! Looks to me like we are getting close to the concept of everyone gets a medal.

@Wish. Look at the number of players in those sports. Total slalom skiers in the nation with a ranking score in b1 thru b3 is 313 skiers. And you want to break that up into smaller segments? Based on that, I would hope that golf and tennis would have age groups every six months to get a 100 per age group average that water skiers have. Look at it this way. Little Johnny has a 1 in 100 chance to win nationals. Give me any other sport that has that kind of odds. The odds get even better in the trick and jump events. Unfortunately, the sport we all love just does not have the numbers to support that many age groups. Many may say that we have too many now based on the number of skiers. That's what allows a trick skier who skies on two skis tied together ski at nationals. (that's a whole different mess) The great thing about this sport, is that you can set individual goals. You ski against your PB. With the exception of regionals and nationals, it does not matter where you place. I always told mine, that if he skied above his seed, then it was a good performance at regionals and nationals. Are you putting to much emphasis on winning? You say no, but your posts always come back to that. There are ways to enjoy the sport without the pressure of winning. Part of the enjoyment of nationals, is getting to see the friendships that develop of kids from all over the country. Yes, the first year going from g2 to g3 will be tough, but if the passion for the sport is really there, your skier will work thru it.

@ToddL Going from b1 to b2 and later b2 to b3 can be a challenge but the kids work thru it. I think it is a bigger deal for parents wanting the kids to be successful then it is for the kids. They understand that the time will come back to them in a year or two. As a parent of a "undersized" kid, it scared the crap out of me to see the higher speeds. It still does. LOL Moms are worse. My wife hates to see her son go 36 in slalom, but thinks nothing of watching him jump 160 feet. Go figure. After all, life is full of challenges. Let them learn and work thru them. The time will come again for them to be in the spot light beating up on the younger skiers in the age group. Just for grins. Look at the B3 overall rankings. The top two, are skiers that are in the first year of B3. They will dominate that age group for the next four years. AND, they have to ski big boy speed.

@todd Starting 36 at M1 puts you at HUGE disadvantage with international events. KC Wilson is still B3. You are saying he should still be at 34? 34 mph at 10 & 11 is not that big a deal. Many kids do. Lets not reduce things to the point where everyone is a superstar. After all " If water skiing were easy everyone would do it" Changes were made a several years ago to add a year to B,G/2 Lets not get to the point that we have SO many age groups that everyone gets a medal. Lets create a 15 year old age group of skiers born in the second half of the year. Its not fair that I have to ski against someone that was born in Jan and I was born in Nov. They are older and bigger and stronger. @wish You say you are not in the "everyone gets a medal camp" but it sure sounds that way. I found that going from one age group to the next motivated my skier to train harder. Knowing that they had to be that much better to get to and stay at the top. Depends on the kid. Mine would prefer to finish last at the highest level than to medal in a lower class.

@danE Why not just get the adapter plate? You can mount it to any ski and it works great. I also agree that the EXO system is top notch and getting better each year, They continue to upgrade when they find problems. (metel clips to replace plastic. better bar) and......... it releases when it should!!!!

The requirements are 2 class C or one ELR. Many problems here. Two years ago at Team Trials there were only two skiers for four spots on the U21 team. This year is a little better. There are a total of seven. Read that again. SEVEN in the entire country. Under the requirements for this year u21team, there are less than five male skiers in the country that have scores to get in. Pretty tough no matter what the class is. Look at what is needed. 190 feet in jump for a single event jumper. Really??? There is not a U21 jumper that has posted a 190 jump in the past year. Besides Adam Pickos, and maybe Dylan Schafer, not a single event tricker. Tyler Scott has a slalom score good enough. The scores needed to get in a as three event skier is set VERY high. If anything,the requirements need to be set to allow more skiers. See you this weekend at team trials. As Kelvin said, except for Flordia, ELR tournaments are VERY tough to find and expensive to attend.

@41 Greg ran 4@41 in a class R this past weekend. Jeff's was also in a Class R. (early June this year) You can check scores on usawaterski.org website. "You are only as good as your last tournament pass" Practice really does not count.

I think that some of the sites in the Midwest have Zebra Mussels. Went back to my childhood lake after about 15 years and it was infested with zebra mussels. Very sad. No way to walk in the water barefoot now without getting your feet sliced up. Its like walking on razors.

jdarwin. No Joe, I was not, and am not challenging the credibility of the event or the results. I was simply saying that they are events set up to do that. Provide the best skiers with the best conditions with the best chance to set a record. Nothing wrong with it at all. Most of us that have been at this a long time, know where to go to get the best results. Some sites ski better than others. Again, nothing wrong with it. I guess I used a term that was not very common. Sorry. No harm intended. On a side note, sorry to hear Joe that you are not holding your summer and fall tournaments. I understand the amount of work that goes into a event and sometimes ask myself why we continue to endure the MANY hours of prep work to host events.

@cotton & Texas6 Sorry if I thru out a term you are not familiar with. A backyard record, is a tournament set up to do what it did. Break a world or national record. It is at a private site (backyard) that has a history of producing good scores. Usually two sanctions, of two rounds, each over two days. Class R. Cedar Ridge has a history of producing slalom PB's. I have not seen the scores, but my guess is that some big scores were produced by some very good skiers that went with the hopes of breaking a record or setting a PB. There is nothing wrong with this and is by the rules. My comment to texas6 was that this was not a high profile cash prize pro event with a sponsor like Masters or Moomba or Malibu Open. It was a record tournament set up with perfect conditions with the goal of setting a record. This is how most records are set now. Not in high pressure name event but in "backyard record tournaments" Not a event that would lend itself to a webcast. I bet that with the exception of skiers and skiers families, there was not a single spectator there to watch the event.

@texas6 Really!!!! webcast?? It was a backyard record in Canton, Mississippi.

No matter what you run in practice, you are only as good as your tournament scores.

If the scores are not posted, did the event really happen?

@wish Usually just a few bolts to the brackets and a couple hoses. The biggest reason why it went undetected, was the fact that it DID NOT show ANY signs of wear. Visually it looked fine. It took about three month of trial and error.

I had a the same problem many years ago. The problem was in the impeller housing itself. After being at three dealers with no help or luck, I swapped housings with a ski partners housing and used my impeller. Finally found the problem. Wear in the housing.

With the adapter plate in front and back, it is needed in the middle to keep the entire system on the same plane. Without the middle adapter plate, the rail may sit lower on the ski. Also, keep in mind that as you adjust your binding forward and back, you MAY need to adjust the spring tension on the back release. I have had them for two seasons and have no complaints. Feel great and they have always released when I felt that they needed to.

@kelvin Yes you are correct. I was not thinking about class c.

Not even sure that is allowed. Is there not a rule concerning max number of rounds over 72 hour period?? At the same site?? I think it is 4

If I am not mistaken that is a site in England