david_ski

Back to the original question, for me the answer is Yes and Yes. It is an intentional move that you have to make happen, but it becomes a natural muscle memory move that just happens along with handle control. When I am working on a new line length, I have to really focus on my early edge changes as an intentional move to start getting consistency. However, after that new length starts to become easier, I think less and less about the edge change and it just happens.

Once per season, unless signs of early wear. Masterline or Brenda's ropes. 75-90 ski days a year. $80/year on a ropes is a small price to pay.

I have seen a few skiers use ear plugs before their sets. I have not had a chance to talk to them about their experience (pros/cons). I have road biked and waterskied for years without any hearing protection. Speeds above 30mph, there is quite a bit of wind pressure on ones ears. I am concerned about my long term hearing loss from high speed wind noise, and trying to prolong any further hearing loss. I am also concerned that a hard fall with hearing protection could cause eardrum damage. Thoughts?

@skispray I too use an FM guard. I too have been using a guard for ~10 years. I use larger tie warps than what comes with the guard. I drilled out the holes on the FM guard to support slightly larger tie wraps. I use Brenda's handle with plastic tubing over the rope. I cinch down the tie wraps really tight and they never get pushed around and they don't blow off.

@eleeski. I agree with you on all points. 40+ years ago my future father-in law and his father introduced me to anti-seize for engine parts. Exhaust bolts, water pump bolts, anything near heat or moisture. I will pick up a small tube of silicone for the oil filter to aluminum remote mounting bracket. I don't want another oil filter gasket that sticks to the remote filter block.

@eleeski & @oldjeep What are your thoughts to using silicon/ptfe grease? "Silicone Lubricating Grease with Syncolon® (PTFE) has a wider operating range than petroleum based lubricants; Excellent water protection and moisture barrier. Use on Plastic gears, plastic threads, as a damping medium for Dash Pots, lubricate O-Rings, electrical motor bearings and rubber components."

@Bruce_Butterfield @LeonL I feel so lucky today, I avoided the perfect storm. @UWStoutSkier Very interested in learning what caused your failure. I am super careful and I usually very anal at checking where the oil filter ring is when I take off the filter. Years ago my ski partner missed the double gasket a filter on his Toyota truck. He got 1/2 block before the oil dumped onto the street. Anyway, back to the story. I usually drain my boats oil when it is on the trailer. Put the oil drain hose through the water plug drain and let it drain overnight. In the morning when everything is cool replace the filter and add oil. This year we have the boat on a lift and we hit the 50 hour mark. Time for an oil change. We finish our sets, put boat on lift and pump out the oil using a vacuum pump. So far everything is great. I decide to tackle the filter when it is hot. Get the zip lock bag and unscrew the filter, play hot potato, drop into zip lock bag, and seal. Screw the new filter in and make it tight. Add 4.5 qts of oil. I was done, it was time to get out from under the boat canopy where it is ~100 degrees. On my way home from the lake, I drop off the oil and filter at a oil recycle station. Evidence is now gone. end of story.... not yet.... Yesterday, was the first day after oil change. I start boat and everything is dry in the engine compartment. We ski 8 sets, and the boat goes back onto the lift. Open engine cover to pull drain plug and there is a sheen of oil in the bilge. There is evidence of oil escaping from the filter with oil spray on the inside of the engine cover. Yesterday it was hot and humid, and I decided to deal with the problem this morning while everything was cool. This morning, I started to troubleshoot the problem. 1. ) Check dipstick for oil. Dipstick had oil and showed that I was just 1 qt LOW. Whew! 2. ) Next figure out what is wrong with filter. 3. ) The filter was loose, and could be tightened 1.5 turns. I loosened the filter and could see a second rubber gasket in addition to the one stuck on the filter. 4. ) I removed the second gasket, reattached the filter, and added 1.5 qts of oil. 5. ) Run engine until everything is hot.... No leaks. With the filter that loose, I was probably 1-2 sets from a catastrophic engine failure. Lessons learned. 1. ) Always deal with the filter when it is cool enough to handle. 2. ) Double and triple check that the old filter gasket came off with the filter. 3. ) Wait a couple of days before recycling the filters and oil. 4. ) Check for that oil filter gasket one more time.

Camaro full or a Camaro top. Today the first set in the morning was with the full, and the second set was with just the top. Tomorrow it will be just the Camaro top for both sets. The O'Neil drysuit gets only used now for really cold days (early March and late November)

if you were on the left side of the plane you would of seen Pleasant Oaks. On the right it would be Liquid Zone and Redwood Shores. We watch the planes approach almost every time we are skiing.

@Jody_Seal. Good info. I will spend some more time weaving through the boat electrical spaghetti. Mine is a 2003 Signature SN196 5.7L with a 2007 DBW engine wiring harness and ZeroOff. Signature Series has the Farina analog gauges and no keyless ignition. I don't think I have the gateway box in mine. I have the engine electrical and the dash figured out. I have not sorted out the engine to dash wiring yet. Picked up this boat in October. Still a new to me boat.

I have been using the FM guards for the last 6 years.

@jetpilotg4 Questions on your Faria conversion. Did you replace gauges with like gauges? Who did you buy through? I have a 03 SN196 and the gauges are sticky, you have to occasionally tap them to read correctly.

In the last 2 months, I found my current boat and sold my previous boat through craigslist. Current: 03 SN 196; previous 93 MC ProStar 190. We were looking at all of those sites listed. I had the MC listed on craigslist, SIA, and MC teamtalk. Craigslist- I had 4 people contact me; SIA - 1 response; teamtalk - 0 responses. The MC sold in 30 days. Purchaser lived 650 miles away; The SN we found was 180 miles away.

My ski partner and I picked this one up right before the end of the 2016 ski season. 2003 SN 196 with ZeroOff

R-style. I had double Fluid Motions prior to the change to Reflex withR-style.

My soft contacts opened up the door to being able to ski a course and get better. Prior to contacts I would just ski with everything a little fuzzy. I could not ski the course any faster than 30mph without everything becoming fuzzy. Contacts opened up my ability to see the course, increase speed to 34mph, and shorten the line. I have not found that I needed to wear goggles to protect my eyes/contacts. Googles are only used when skiing in the rain. Before my first pull-up, I put my face in the water to get my eyes and contacts wet. Dry contacts with me cause things to blur. I have never had any problems with my current contacts (Air Optix). Air Optix are monthly replacement lenses. I never have had to discard a pair after skiing. A couple of years after I started wearing contacts (a different brand that is not made anymore), I took a good fall and one contact ended up getting folded back way under the eyelid. I would of hated to have a pair of safety goggles on with that fall. The contact lense took a long time before I could get it out. Those first contacts were a little thicker than my current contacts.

I ski with contacts. I use clear safety glasses to ski in the rain.

Here you go. Western regional scores

Great pics, thanks from those of us not there

@303Skier last year we tried the Liquid Image EGO as an alternative. It is like the GoPro with a fixed focus and digital zoom. It is somewhat of a pain to turn on record and drive at the same time. It only lasted a month before it would not power on and off. It went back to Amazon. We then tried a Sony action camera. It could be turned on and off remotely with your phone. That helped, but video was not any better than the GoPro. We really want to use iPhones 6 and 6s with the Wakeye. The wakeye new isolation mount looks interesting.

@ThePantsManCan I sent you a PM

Wife and son doesn't ski. My failure in there somewhere. I get my ski time in on weekdays before work. Weekends I am usually home with family except for a couple of tournaments a season. If wife has other obligations on weekend, I usually get a free trip to the lake.

I went from double boot hard shells with a 3/4 inch heel insert to R-Style rear boot. adding in the heel lift into the R-style boot left me feeling like my foot was already 1/2 way ejected from the boot. I added a wedge between the plate and the binding. I need the heel lift to compensate for limited ankle flexibility from a previous injury in rubber bindings. I used HDPE for the wedge. Very happy with the final result.

@Horton you are working on getting a lot of mileage from @Dirt 's stolen (borrowed or rerouted) ski.

@Horton Camaro top until it too cold for just a top. Then O'Neil hybrid dry suit. When water gets colder then the Camaro top underneath the O'Neil dry suit. Comfy warm without any surprise cold leaks.