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@escmanaze the Echelon would definitely fit the bill, but they seem to be either hard to find or out of my price range. I'm keeping my eyes open for one though. Thanks guys for all the feedback.

@escmanaze the Echelon would definitely fit the bill, but they seem to be either hard to find or out of my price range. I'm keeping my eyes open for one though. Thanks guys for all the feedback.

Looking at two older walk-through open bows ... How does the slalom wake on a 96 Sunsetter LX compare to a 94 Pro Star 205? I'm guessing the 205 is better, but curious how much worse the Sunsetter is. I ski into 35 off and am hoping to get into 38 in the next couple years. I know the Sunsetter LXIs that start in 99 are much, much better, but I just don't have the budget for one right now. And I really need a walk through open bow so that excludes the Response. I appreciate any and all input.

Lake Grew (USAWS HQ) is pretty close and Ski Fluid is located there ... although I'm not sure what is going on there these days because I heard Scot Ellis left. But he's only a couple miles away at his home lake in Auburndale. http://skifly.com/rocketman/

Why five fewer skiers this year?

I keep from getting bored between tournament rounds by judging, dock starting, rope wrangling, taking pictures to share with everyone who skis, etc.

AWSA did not pass an edict that required ZO. ZO and Perfect Pass entered a business agreement that gave ZO the drive by wire market and PP the throttle cable market, effectively making PP obsolete in tournament skiing as all the promo boats have transitioned to DBW. AWSA didn't want this and really couldn't do anything to avoid it.

I know the Elite rankings are based on payout or some other criteria like that, but I find it really odd that the top tournament, points wise, for the ladies was the MasterCraft Shootout. Winning that tournament was worth 324 points while the other tournaments were 300 (Malibu), 288 (Moomba), 270 (Worlds) and 260 (Masters) points.

Whoa ... http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1590976/000119312513473426/g621288g71f62.jpg

Thanks @jhughes and enjoy @andjules Need to add that to my potential list of family-friendly boats.

@andjules how is the slalom wake on the SS?

@XR6Hurricane Many tournaments offer what's called a fun division (also known as Grassroots division). The entry fee is usually a little less and skiers get a mulligan in one or more rounds. Eliminates the one-and-done downside for beginners.

I'd say runoffs for major events, like worlds, masters, malibu, and moomba.

I shipped ski earlier this year FedEx for around $50-60, I think. You can only insure them for up to $1,000 so many skis won't be fully covered. My ski made it 3 days earlier than it was supposed to and in perfect shape.

A little bit off topic but want to address a common myth @eleeski mentioned above that gets a lot of play here on the forum. The decline in water skiing's presence on TV has nothing to do with water skiing getting old, unpopular or uninteresting. It has EVERYTHING to do with ESPN growing from a small start up, hungry for any sports rights they could afford, into a huge behemoth that owns rights to all the major sports - even Monday Night Football! ESPN doesn't need water skiing any more to fill it's on-air schedule, or jet ski racing, surfing, arm wrestling or anything else the used to air. Still, it certainly hasn't helped skiing's popularity, but not being on TV isn't water skiing's fault. And coincidentally no matter what we do we probably won't ever get back on TV like we were again, unless another programming-starved network launches.

@Ed_Johnson I'm thinking that the housing market crash of 07-08 has more to do with Pentalago not yet being developed than everyone getting access to health insurance. Just a guess, though. If you are in your 60s you'll get some of that gub'ment Medicare soon so you should be good to go.

Yeah, and that stock market is tanking too, right?

The new snows skis on their way to me right now will help a little bit. But just a little bit.

Good news. Greg is a great guy. Wish him well.

@shaneh This isn't about safety, this is about AWSA responding to an edict passed down by the insurance company. It was probably a comply-or-walk type of thing. It stinks, but it is what it is.

"DISQUALIFICATION CRITERIA: 1. Conviction of a major driving offense in the past three (3) years including, but not limited to: DUI/DWI Possession of an open container Any drug-related motor vehicle incident Leaving the scene of an accident Assault (in any form) by use of a motor vehicle Reckless driving (willful or wanton disregard for safety of persons or property in any form) 2. Driver's license is currently suspended or has been suspended within the past three (3) years." Seems pretty OK to me. I wouldn't want anybody who has be convicted of the above to drive me, or more importantly, MY KIDS. I do think though that the cost for the MVR reviews should be borne by everyone skiing in tournaments (as part of the entry or AWSA membership fee), not the just the drivers themselves and I'd be more than happy to pay for my fair share of it.

This restriction is only for media. Still interesting, but it's not like athletes and/or spectators won't be able to tweet.

Lots of snow skiing and my biggest ever commitment to working out. Pre-season skiing in Florida in March and hopefully May.

PS - I'm looking for an older boat with an open bow to fit the family, so wondering how the Outback LS stacks up slalom wake wise against a 93-94 ProStar 205 ... Thanks.

Anyone ski behind it? HOw does it ski? How is it's build quality? The only Moomba I've driven and skied behind was a mid 2000s model Outback and it was very tough to keep in the course. But maybe that was just that individual boat?