fu_man

@6balls Yes! It was. I just googled zip sled and saw a picture. Wow brings back memories.

1985...fifth grade. My family would rent a little cottage at a "resort" outside of Montello Wisconsin on a small 90 acre lake. I had learned to ski on a blue plastic sled trainer and would follow the natural progression combos, drop a ski, deep water start, etc. This place was unique because you could rent the boat by the hour....boat, driver, and equipment was included. Basically you just show up for your time slot and ski. I learned to slalom on a wood Obrien comp because that's what they had. Because the lake is small there was a 70 HP limit do we learned behind a small 17ft orange fiberglass Lund. The driver was a local teenager named Dave Rowe and rather than pull skiers (tubes weren't really around yet) he actually taught people to ski. Great teacher, great motivator. On friday nights after the resort patrons were done skiing, he would ski with his buddy and look for the lightest spotter around which happened to be me. Keep in mind, I'm 5th grade and these guys were juniors or seniors in high school....very cool. They would slalom...big spray...drench the chicks on the raft. Then they would barefoot...bomb outs tumble turns all behind a 70HP motor. I was hooked!

Prior to last year access to the course was sporadic at best. However last year I met a new buddy and ski his course pretty regularly. After one full year figuring out -15 I am now chipping away at -22. Got 2.5 @ 34mph and got 5 when we slowed down to 32mph.

I just gotta say the Big Dawg events are really really cool. This is a stellar lineup. Get Drew Ross in there and Jeff Rodgers, maybe even BLP? Wade Cox? This field is only going to get better in the next few years.

@JetMcCoy Nice collection. Those are in really good shape. I'm assuming those short square ones are old trick skis. I've never seen trick skis that shape before. What about the really short ones...are those shoe skis? I didn't realize that concept was that old.

Here is what worked for a scuff on my ski.... http://ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/comment/127265

I have never understood how those closed bow 3 event boats could be rated for 8 or 9 people. I guess their formula does not include all the practical data....such as # of seats.

Funny you mention Moomba...I have been looking at the boat market lately too. For us on public water with kids to consider, it is a tough choice. Would like a nice 03-04 LXi but those are still out of my range. A bunch of early 00's outbacks are in my range. Some early 90's sport nautiques available, but not sure i want that. Lots of 91-94 MC's popping up and mid 90's nautiques too. Problem is those those are too small without the open bow with the family. Starting to ponder getting one of those 90's MC's or Nautiques and with the money I save buy a pontoon boat for tying up to the floatilla, swimming, etc.

Stacked. Adjective: Best aligned body position for crossing the wakes behind boat. In the slalom ski world it is used for both males and females. For the average joe, only used for females. (Wife just saw this, laughed, and said I need another hobby.)

@ShaneH I bet a lot of skiers were telling them their PB was 2 passes less than it really was.

Thanks guys. OK here is what I learned. Goo Gone and Goof Off didn't do squat for the scuff (nor did damage to the topcoat). I used a product like the Nu Finish. It's called Meguiar's ultimate compound. Said it was for clear coat scratches and it did a pretty good job. Got out most of the scuff without really damaging the top. It's not completely out but you REALLY have to look close to see it.

If you saw my thread from the other day, I also am dealing with the tendancy to let up and flatten out and "jump" the wake. Here is what I learned and it echos much of what has already been written. If you leg lock in an attempt to slice through the wake but let up early, your ski will flatten out, hit the wake with locked leg, and get launched. Been there done that...a lot. If you bend knees to "absorb" the wake, you end up not pulling through them efficiently and you get dragged down course and don't make the ball. Been there done that...a lot. Tonight's sets were proof for me...slice all the way through those suckers! You'll maintain direction and speed and won't stall out in the turn.

In rearranging the equipment in the boat the other night my ski (Radar Senate) rubbed up against another or vice versa. I now have a long scuff mark on the top of my ski. Not sure, but it appears as if the scuff could be rubbed out. Any suggestions for what to use?

Gates by Lucky Lowe. "Everybody thinks you're supposed to go through them....YOU GOTTA COMMIT!" Translation: go balls out...if you miss them so what, just re-calibrate your "go" spot.

@than_bogan and @wish I also noticed that. I stop pulling just prior to the wake as oppose to pulling through them to the whitewash. It got worse as I got more tired.

@Texas6 The front leg thing is something I continue to work on. My old habbit was to have both legs way too straight. Then I started bending at the knees only to have my hips trail too far back. Not sure if this will get me anywhere but I'm going to try to approach it with the thought of back leg straight-ish and front leg bent with knee over foot. Might help keep hips up while avoiding getting too locked. Still trying to fing the middle ground.

Here is video of last night's sets. Although I hadn't slalomed in about 10 days, I would call these average. Please forgive the camera work. It was done by my 10 year old and there were 6 people on the boat. My thoughts: Hips were up better than they had been. This will remain a focus. Leverage out of the turn was better, but still a bit sporadic. I think the 3rd pass on the video was my best even though I missed the gate and didn't make the pass. If you notice most of my falls come on the back side of the ball. It seems as if I was biting off too much angle. Would like some feedback if you have any. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ust39gkNUTw&feature=player_embedded

I can totally relate to this one. Was pulling out of my garage one time to go to a gig......realized I had everything except my guitar.

@eleeski that is exactly what I have been looking for since I pretty much had no idea what those appreviations meant....this coming from a 39 y/o that rode the trick skis for the first time one season ago (which means I can only visualize 70% of what you wrote). I second the motion for video accompanyment with the descriptions. Want to see this so-called coolest trick ever.

@Edbrazil, I rode one of those models a few summers ago as well as a squareback. Very interesting. The squareback felt like I was skimming across the water even though the fin had to be a good 4-5 inches deep.

I am on a Senate. When I first got it, I moved the front Vector up all the way because that was more in line with the front binder on the ski that I was coming from. Felt great right away. I eventually moved it back to stock and it feels fine now.

Started as a pharmacist and decided there was no way I was going to be doing that for the long haul so now I teach high school physics. I'd rather work with teenagers any day of the week rather than standing behind a counter....one of the best moves I ever made.

@XR6Hurricane Yea, we were worried about not being able to get boats out of channels last year because they were too shallow. In fact, one of my buddies had to paddle his MC out of his channel and park it at my place so we could continue skiing. He knew if he waited another day the boat was not going to make it out of the channel to the lake. Now it is flooded everywhere. Use to go to Bangs every summer as a kid....Sunny Hill Beach. Tons of old school metal slides in the water and the monster J slide. The Blues Brothers was filmed there....where they are driving across the beach with the giant horn speaker on the car..."Tonight is Ladies' Night." http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GTHWPTTfz3k/Tnncc2Wm-6I/AAAAAAAABGc/NsPU5CK0LN8/s1600/phils-beach.jpg

@XR6Hurricane...you must be up by the chain of lakes too. It's pretty bad. I have a handful of buddies who have to leave their cars on high ground and canoe to their house...looks like you are in the same situation.

@skijay....great pics!. Very cool to see that.