gregy

Soak you toes in bleach see if it goes away.

@wish I looked at some of Caldwell's videos, yes that look more like what I've been working on. It's the extending my arms out like Cord does - I have a really hard time getting the ski to come around underneath me. I usually end up with about 3/4 of a turn and no angle doing that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ5JqU0AqI4

It just takes commitment. You may have to backup some to go forward. Work on passes that you run easy and commit to proper form. I was in the same boat just a few years ago. I sought out coaching and watched a lot of videos. I also use visualization, when I have extra time during the day I close my eyes and visualize running a slalom course with perfect body position etc. I've also set up a short rope and handle in the back yard and step through runs. I once was an aspiring Olympic Archer and was taught this by an Olympic coach. She would close us off in a dark room before matches and have us visualize the perfect shot over and over as well as doing dry shots where you hold the bow out and do dry shots by going through the motions without drawing the string. Basically you can do 100s of visualized runs without expending the strength and energy. There are people here who say this is useless but it helps me. I've had some top coach suggest free skiing or shadowing buoys so you can focus more on technique than just getting around buoys. I tried the Gut gate but I can't get it to work for me exactly. Just my opinion, seems like the LFF dynamics are too different. I pull out and try to get in the best stacked hips forward position I can in the glide. I keep the handle low and while staying in that stacked position let the boat dictate the turn in on the gates so that I never loose connection with the boat. Adam Cord talked about this in another thread that tension in the rope helps keep you from falling back on you rear foot.

Get wider at the gates, your actually get fairly wide its just too early and drifting back in. Start behind the boat hips more forward and weight biased on the front foot. Try to keep the handle lower from start to finish of the pull out into the glide and keep your hips up with the front foot bias and come up into the glide stacked. Its hard to get stacked if you don't start out that way. Your a LFF like me, the turn into the gates is like an offside turn so you want to engage the front of the ski more. Check out some LFF skiers on youtube. Chris Parrish, Seth Stisher, Samantha Dumala come to mind. Nick Adams but he does kind of a hybrid one hand gate. After that its like you say your back on the ski. It keep the ski from coming around so your getting long exaggerated turns. Try to get more balanced on the ski. Sometimes when I start getting on the tail into the turns its because the tip of the ski is getting too sensitive. In that case you need make some adjustments so the ski comes around like you want it too.

The 197 are bad. 200 is wider I'm thinking it has to displace more water and float a little better. Like someone else said, I'd look a TXI. There some pretty good deals on TXIs out there.

Are you using a wetsuit or Drysuit. My wetsuit I'd guess adds at least 10lbs. For me seems to be more of a problem than the colder water as far as setup. If you get a chance post up some video.

What kind of funding do they have, school or mostly external? Scholarships? Seems like something other schools could model their teams after.

@balls I'm 170lb on a 67". I tried some different settings when I got it. I ended up about 1/4" forward with front boot of the original stock settings. I ran right up to my PB first day but consistency was not there. It was randomly dumping me in the turns just about the time I was getting really frustrated people here were talking about going way forward with the boots. It's working pretty good as is. I was getting slack at one ball. I tried adding wing but the problem was with me not the skI. I tried a 17 Probuild that Brooks setup. He had the boots slightly forward of what I had on the 16. It felt really different. When you set in at the start of the pull the Probuild had a feel of locking in like it was on rails. After a few passes I started getting used to it. I'm definitely a fan of Fin Whisperer, it sets next to my bed. I'd be interested in comparisons of 18 Lithium vs 18" Probuild. Lot of good skis out there right now. Wish I could find time to try more.

When I first got back into skiing 7 or 8 years ago I pickup an older American skier. Pretty quickly realized I wanted more. I ended up getting a 99 malibu reponse lx with fuel injection. The Malibu is such a nicer boat. Don't be afraid to drive some to get a good boat. Think about what you want. To me fuel injection is a must, some kind of cruise control big plus.

@6balls I'm running the 16 Lithium with 8 degrees on the wing. When I try more I can't get on the front of the ski coming into the turn and end up with long drawn out turns. At 9 degrees the ski bites overturns if I get on the tip. At 10 degrees the ski is shutting down and I'm having problems getting out to the ball.

I skied an early CP a few times and it had a noticeable bump at 34mph at 22 and 28off. The next time was at the BOS tournament in Austin last year. Didn't notice any bump on the newer boats. They must have move the motor or made some hull changes changes?

What did you replace it with?

I usually slow the boat down about 1 mph and just work on staying in shape and technique. Don't worry about PB's much. I moved the fine back on my 16 Vapor because the tip was getting sensitive.

If it doesn't have ZO it should be easily converted.

What Vapor? I tried a 2017 probuild. I thought it was less stable than my 16 lithium. I actually didn't get up the first try it felt so different. H2o pro shop has some good deals on Connelly gts on ski it again.

I've used an old eagle, one that just barely floats you.

The new ford V6s are kind of a pain to work on and require a slew of specialty tools. The GM 5.7 and 6.0s are hard to beat for simplicity and reliability. Cheaper too.

I'd go with carbon upper end in Senate or Connelly V. They're good through 32off. You've got a long ways to get there. These skis are design to be stable and inspire confidence. The Upper end versions typically have fully adjustable fins. You definitely want that and Invest in Skijay's Fin Whisperer book if you haven't already. I wasted several years on poorly setup skis. Once your start getting into 22off and your body position and technique is improving a properly setup ski gets to be more important.

@Wish teak platform rehabilitation

Why the 66" is it wider? You've been pretty religious with sticking with 67" before?

The releasable bindings like MOB, Reflex, HO, newest Goode. They take some getting used to but theoretically they are safer if adjusted properly. They do take some maintenance of Check them and spraying some lubricant on them from time to time. What level is your sking right now. What's your goals?

Is there any adjustment in wide. I never tried it but there was multiple holes in the plate on my old D3 T-factors that looked like you could adjust them. The Reflex super shells have a lot of value and I was told the HO hard shell boot is roomy too. With the heat mold liners My supershells are really comfortable.

If this is legit it looks like a killer deal. 2008 Mastercraft

@skihacker I had a Eagle spring suit. The Camaro stuff has the outside coating that acts as a windbreaker. I don't know if Eagle has this yet but mine didn't and it make it worse than not wearing anything at all because of evaporative cooling effect. The skin are a little delicate on the Camaro but very warm. I have a shorty Camaro now but my back leg fills up with water when I get up so if I get another Camaro it will be full length.

Map the course if you haven't already. I ski on a boat that things were feeling strange, turn out the boat hadn't been mapped.