jcamp

@ral Just a hunch after spending a lot of time in water skiing. I might be beat but I'd probably at least in the top 5 :-)

@E_T yes it can, but if we sell it with sex, we put ourselves in competition with everyone else who uses sex too. And those companies/sports/organizations have a lot more money than us.

It's also humorous to me that I'd probably be in the running for the most liberal person on this site and yet here I am arguing against girls in bikinis. Strange bedfellows ...

@E_T I have no problems whatsoever with 69 Slam being involved in the sport and am really glad that they are supporting skiers so heavily. If Reef wanted to sponsor skiers I'd be all for it. I was just talking about in general using sex as THE key to selling water skiing. I just think there are other things that are more important/interesting about the sport and that differentiate us better when compared to our competitors. I doubt many of us started or keep skiing because of girls in bikinis so I don't understand why we think that is the way we should position it. But girls in bikinis are awesome so I can see why people want to see more of it.

OK, I'll be the token naysayer. First, as the father of two young daughters who I hope to get into skiing, I'm not sure that focusing on girls in bikinis is the right message to send. Women do make up approx. half of the population after all. Second, why are we so addicted to slalom? It's not because of bikinis (although that is a nice side benefit) but because of the speed, challenge and stoke that skiing gives us. Why turn away from the real reasons so many of us are hard-core skiers? At lastly, we aren't the only sport that can show pictures of girls in bikinis. So can surfing, wakeboarding and others. And let's face it, we'll probably lose the battle of bikinis if that's what we chose to put as our best foot forward. I'm not saying that showcasing some of the attractive people in our sport can't be helpful, at times (no need to cover girls up with burkas in boat ads). But "is this how we should market water skiing?" I'd say no.

Make sure the adhesive remover that @Zman suggested is citrus based. I used the non-citrus on the black stuff and it didn't budge. Bought the citrus based and it came off super easy. I got mine online for $10. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ZHOZRO/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

M2 was the only time I had a lot of cash. Then I had kids ...

Striking Mocs!

I recommend the epidural steroid injection. I had one two weeks ago and so far it's been great. I was in a lot of pain and my season was in doubt, but since having it I've felt really good and actually skied once without pain.

Love your work @rwskier. Keep them coming.

That listing is in Galt, California, which got me thinking about Justin Seifried (sp?). Anybody know if he's still skiing, and if not, what happened? He was an awesome skier. I think won the Jr. Masters back in 2000 or so.

Might as well get in the groove and work out the kinks on the new ski. I'm so excited to get on mine there is no way I'm going back to the old one.

Ultimate Ski Lake in Estero, Fl - http://ultimateskilake.com/

About 15 years ago there was a ski club on a small lake by the water tower on Wendell Kent Road. According to Google Maps satellite, it looks like there are still a couple courses still in the lake. Just on the other side of 75 the county is developing a pretty large lake for rowing events, but I don't know if boats will be allowed on it.

Had to do a double take @Chef23. At first I thought you wrote that you wished he'd take some headers :-)

This sport has become too damn complicated ...

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@rwskier is the copter a kit you buy or do you buy it already complete? I'd be interested in getting one.

My fear is that if these dock-wrecking, shore-eroding boats keep getting more and more popular, regulatory bodies will react by just banning all activities above a certain speed limit. Skiers will get lumped into this category and we'll all suffer as a result.

Not to pull so hard and to keep my elbows into my vest longer. And probably more importantly, more than 15 sets a season.

Is @kfennel a citizen of the U.S. or Canada? If (it sounds like it is "when," fortunately) he's a citizen of U.S. then he should ski at the U.S. Nationals. If he's a citizen of Canada, he should ski in the Canadian nationals. Plenty of people live, work and pay taxes in the U.S. but don't get full benefits of citizenship ... because they are not citizens. That's the system. I don't blame a mostly volunteer-run organization like USA Water Ski for having rules that are aligned with that system. Not to say that I don't sympathize with @kfennel. I do. I get how frustrated he must feel. But the lines have to be drawn somewhere and I think citizen/non-citizen is a reasonable place to do it.

Are there any homes on site that you can rent for the week?

Marc Bedsole is great for kids.

@Chef23 you are right. I really regret jumping into the rat race as quickly as possible. Should have taught skiing at a Club Med for a few years. Of course, those student loans were going tick, tick, tick.

I voted for second wake because that is where the nastiest, out-the-front falls occur. But for sheer possibility of major injury, hitting the buoy is probably the worst. I've never bled falling anywhere else ...