Justin_C

Awesome ski! I just went to one from a 2016 vapor and love it! I used to ski scared of my off side, now I'm making up time on it! What it lacks in visual appeal it more than makes up for in performance!

Do you test the release before you jump in the water? What I mean is that I have the older version of those boots (the strada) and before every set I snug the top laces then lean forward as if trying to step out of the boot. It amazes me how sometimes I can pull the laces (seemingly) more than other times and still the liner can pretty well come out with minimal effort and other times I have to back off the laces because it seems to limit movement too much. Also, it's a good idea if the boot and liner are wet when you do this for obvious reasons. Anyway, it doesn't directly answer your question but it is potentially a solution nonetheless. Side note, I also snug the bottoms up tight. I then tighten the top laces as tight as I can while still allowing me to feel as though they will release in a crash (by doing my previously mentioned test). I believe there is a correct way to position the tongue too. I think it's supposed to be on the outside, not the inside although I'm not sure and haven't noticed any difference between the two.

Full disclosure, I did read all of the other post so there may be some repeating. The biggest things I see is that you're skiing narrow. It looks like you're rushing to make your turns. I know you're not in a course but this is setting you up for slack line as you're often going faster than the boat when you turn. I'll come back to this in a sec. The other thing I see is on both sides (although more pronounced coming from your offside), you're not pulling through the wakes. If you establish your angle at the finish of your turn, work on carrying it through the wakes. Ideally you should be initiating your edge change at the centre line but just to avoid changing too early and hitting the first wake on a flat ski, I'd say pull through the second wake and then make your edge change. Now I'll come back to not rushing your turn. Once you've made that edge change, let the ski carry out till you're wider on the boat. I've even heard of people taping marks on the side of their boats where the rope needs to get to at each line length to be at "buoy width". I always tell people that slalom skiing isn't about the turn itself. It makes a big spray and looks impressive so people think that's the important part. In reality, the turn is just our only way to change our direction, the real work and hard part in slalom skiing is what happens behind the boat! Yes, you should always be working on your body position, even when you're not making turns or in the course. Even when you're sitting in the water or just standing on your ski, however, I don't feel that I'm justified to give tips on body positioning!

If you were in the market for a new ski and the sales person at the shop said "buy one top of the line ski from and brand and we'll throw the other 2 top of the line molds in for free" I'm pretty sure nobody would complain and they'd sell a boat load (pun intended?) of skis. Just a different perspective.

I must say, with the success of the whisper fin and cg fin, I'm surprised that this is the next "big thing" that a ski company has released. I thought for sure a company would be releasing a new ski using a radically new fin design to compete with the whisper and cg.

Would the easiest way for dft be to measure it with no tail on? It would give you a flat surface for your calipers and would be consistent. Just pop the tail off, measure and reinstall.

The RS1 was radar's top ski for a year or two then the moved on to the strada which lasted for 3 or 4 years and then onto the Vapor that they make now (albeit not the same ski shape and design as the current vapor). Wileys is definitely your best bet. You can probably even demo some different skis through them.

I'm surprised there's not more love here for the Miami Nautique gloves. That's what I'm using now. I used to use Straightlines gloves and really liked them but their quality seemed to start dropping (stitching, mainly). I like the Miami Nautiques. They're certainly thinner than others but I find they grip well and I'm on my second season with them. My only complaint is the Velcro. I'm always pushing it back down and usually if I crash all of the Velcro comes undone. Not a big deal. I usually have it fixed by the time my wife decides it's still worth it to have me around the house and comes back and gets me (some days this is a longer internal debate than others).

I know there's skiing in the Sebago Lake area in Maine but that's farther SW. Almost to NH.

I'm in NB, Canada. That is on the NE boarder of Maine. We have 2 courses on 2 different bodies of water plus I ski on another 3 or 4 courses in the area. One of my courses is pretty close to the Aroostook county boarder. You can look up the lake, it's called Davidson Lake in Dumfries, NB.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157275234843197&id=673373196 Not sure if everyone will be able to see this or not but here's a bit of a closer look!

Polyform and I ordered 24 so they did 11.50/ball. Regular price for singles is 12/ball.

For anyone following this or finding it in the future, Spartan Marine in Dartmouth, NS is where I ended up ordering from. Cheapest I could find and Garrett was great to deal with. Time will tell the quality but customer service and price was great!

Could they not just sit on the platform with their feet in the water and put the skis on that way? That is relatively easy for a parent or other adult to help them get the skis on then too. Then they can just push themselves of the platform.

@swaterkd Hahaha, well thanks... Googled that one on the work computer

@Zman my apologies. I thought you were meaning regular buoys, not Wally. I have no experience with the Wally's

1/2 filled with water. We put juice jugs with just air at the halfway point in the arm on just a short rope (maybe 6"). Just enough to take the bow out of the arms. @Zman filling them with water helps displace them easier. They sink when you hit them. Much better than 100% air filled!

Now that you're done thinking up all your jokes, I usually buy my slalom balls through Ez-Slalom and have them shipped in the States and then go across the boarder to pick them up. Unfortunately with the dollar and shipping cost to Canada, the cost would be a lot higher than ideal. Where do people in Canada usually buy theirs from within Canada? Shuswap is still pricey but maybe that's just the cost of maintaing a course now.

@adamhcaldwell two hands around 6 ball at 39? That's ok I guess

I'm a 10.5 shoe size and had one of the original Vector boots. I got the standard and it worked fine. Personally I'd tend towards a tighter fit than a looser fit but that's just me. I think you'd be fine with the standard unless his feet are on the wide or tall side. You might be able to find a good price on a clearance one somewhere though where you'd be more likely to come across a leftover XL. Good to have options I guess!

My '17 Pathfinder is rated for 6000 lbs. 3rd row seating and a respectable price tag. My only complaint it the trailer for my 97 Echelon isn't the original and it has a lot of tongue weight. It squats the back. If you have a proper trailer though, it won't be a problem. My old MB Sports sat fine. If your only purpose is for hauling the host, maybe something with a V8 but if it's also an everyday vehicle, I really like mine. One last thing, go for the SL trim. I have the SV and had to add an aftermarket hitch that sits below where the factory one comes out of the bumper on the SL's. It means I have a drawbar with a huge rise.

@TEL I don't think you're ruining a plug if you give someone else credit. That was my interpretation of the thread anyway. Acknowledge the value of pro coaching and start a conversation. I know in my experience with pro coaches in Florida, some really jived with me and others not so much. It's nice if people know their options! @Horton if I misunderstood the intent of the post, feel free to correct me.

What I find interesting for those at the longer line lengths looking at this is the angle of the skier at the buoy. It's virtually unchanged the whole way up to 41 off. To me this proves that the work in the slalom course is not done at the buoy but before and after the buoy. That big spray that attracts people to the sport is simply a by-product of the work that's been done to get the skier to the point where they need to change their direction. As for me, the jump from 28 to 32 is enough to keep me busy for a while!

We have two courses, one permanent and one cable. When we install the permanent one every spring we have a 55m rope (floating rope) and we have each distance marker with zip ties (I.e. 1 zip tie= gate to boat guide distance, 2 zip ties= bg to bg distance, etc). This eliminates the need for diving because when you hit the corresponding zip tie, your feet are literally kicking the sub buoys. When we put the cable course in, we do the same with the pregates. Our cable only goes gate to gate so we need to add the pregates. This was the first year for adding pregates to the cable course and what a difference from trying to ski without them when you're used to having them!

To my knowledge D3 and radwr have the same hole pattern so it should work. That's what I'm banking on to at the moment. I just ordered a D3 and am coming off of radar