Ryno

@SteveMilano Thanks heaps for checking out prices for delivery to Australia. Is there any off the shelf product or chemical that I may be able to find here in Australia that could do a similar job? The results from your product seem amazing.

@SteveMilano If you start shipping internationally please let me know. I am in Australia and am keen to give you my money!!!

I always rinse all my ski gear with "Salt Away"... Though I often ski in brackish (semi-salt) water. Corrosion is enemy No. 1 for me!

Nice vid... just squeezed around 6! I'm torn - I'd love to try the new Vapor but my Sans Rival is too pretty to sit on a shelf!

I've skied both... I skied on a Sixam for around 5 years and loved it. But in my opinion I think you should go for the Senate. It can still go very well through the slalom course, but should be easier on your body than the Sixam as I found it to carry more speed through the turn due to the extra surface area. At your age, you don't want to be working harder than you have to to generate speed!

@foxriverrat awesome mate! I have to have an outboard due to the shallow nature of the lake I live on, but I must admit I have always had a love for outboards. I cannot think of a boat I'd rather have than my Barefooter, it's a shame you moved on from it!

Hopefully this link works... This is the video of my Malibu Barefooter to show you the wake at 58kph. You really don't notice it when you're skiing through the course. It seems that because of the flatter table the ski settles better after crossing the wake (when compared to the Flightcraft) but there's probably not much in it. Don't be too hard on my skiing, I've been away from the slalom course for 18 months! http://vid1059.photobucket.com/albums/t440/RyanJMcGill/IMG_2978_zpsxwwpvtrx.mp4

@Jibbo I'm happy to pass on any info he needs, as I've now done this install on two very different Mercury outboards. Just click on my profile and pass on my email details.

It's only taken me 6 months to read this and now I have to chime in! I'm a big fan of outboard slalom boats and the right boat when properly setup will rival most of the best 3 event boats of the previous years. I have used a Flightcraft 18XL with Perfectpass (and z-box) since 2010... ... and I've now just upgraded to a 2000 Malibu Barefooter, and have installed Perfectpass and swapped the Z-box across from the old boat. This boat has a direct injected Optimax outboard, which is unreal. The torque would rival any inboard and the throttle response is instant, so it performs very well with the Z-box. I've only ever seen times through the course between 16.08 and 16.11s. You can also hear the engine surge to compensate for the skiers pull, similar to the inboard z-box videos I've seen posted on here. I expected the wake to be worse than the Flighty as the hull is essentially the same design, but it is a heavier boat, however it has a flatter table and I actually prefer it. When I get a chance I'll put up a video of me running through the course behind it, so you can see what the wake looks like.

@GOODSkier and @ozski are on the money... Get beside your little ones on the disc - it's even more memorable... this is my eldest at 2 years.

I've often thought it would be great to have a social ski comp where everyone uses the same stock combo ski... Though I haven't been brave enough to try one through the course yet. Also a practice run on the combo would be cheating and not in the spirit of the game, so you'd have to be careful in selecting your opening speed.

I ordered two singlets from New City (because they are advertising on here) three weeks ago and haven't heard a peep for them, or received the singlets. So unfortunately they haven't arrived in time for my wifes birthday. I am in Australia though ~ worst case shipping takes 10 days.

@6balls Yes quite tight in the Flighty, but you're right; by having the ski pole at the rear and no engine box helps quite a bit.

@SkiJay Ha, I didn't see that! Good pickup

My first born has been on the boat since 3 weeks of age and absolutely loves it. Though since we had twins second time round, it's a little harder to manage and a little bit more of a tight squeeze!

@Simojo Great to hear there's another outboard getting round with perfect pass!

@Brady That is true, but it is very hard to teach a kid to cut through the wake (in a stacked position) when they are terrified, and don't want to generate any speed for fear of the consequences. It's a hard balance. I personally think it is easier to teach a young kid to get stacked behind a boat with a small wake and then when the technique is correct, move to a different boat.

True... All this discussion about changing the gate rule (on here) started after Nate missed the gates at Moomba. But Nate's done it a few times since then at other tournaments - Other pro's don't seem to have this consistent issue, so it seems like the problem is with Nate and not with the rule or judging. It seems as though most on here think of Nate as the next Andy Mapple, so can't accept he could make mistakes, but it has happened and probably will continue to happen if he keeps cutting it so fine with the right hand gate ball.

The travel is too great to get back into tournament skiing here in Australia... it was much easier when I lived in New Zealand, there are tournament clubs all over the place.

I have used the O'brien ski trainer with my boy from about 12 months of age. We started off by leaving it inflated in the living room and he would climb over it and get comfortable with it before putting him on the water with it. By 2 years of age he has progressed to a Platform Trainer. I recommend the O'brien ski trainer because it doesn't have a plywood base, so when it's not inflated it doesn't take up too much space in the boat.

Isn't Emma Sheers still riding a Sixam SS??? The Sixam is a great ski - my wife is also riding a Blue Sixam 2.0, though she has a RADAR Lyric binding, so that makes it look a little 'girly'.

I've taken some motivation from this thread. My Fluid Motion E-series top buckle is fiddly to use, and the cheap metal has rusted pretty badly... So the thought of swapping to a snow ski buckle makes perfect sense. Unfortunately the recommended website above of: http://www.ratchetingbuckles.com has very expensive shipping to Australia; a single buckle was going to cost me $60 US once landed in Australia. So instead I managed to buy a set of used snow ski boots on eBay for $20... It's a bit of a shame to cannibalize these boots for one buckle... but anyway this is the finished result... They should be much easier to use with wet gloves and hopefully will be more resistant to rusting.

@Horton Have you ridden a Quattro? If so, how does it compare?

I'm very happy with using my barefoot boat (Flightcraft 18XL with 200hp Merc) as a slalom specialist. As @6balls says the wakes are superior at all but the very shortest lengths. Once you rig it up with Perfectpass there's not a lot your missing. My boat has superior tracking through the course than most inboards I've driven. The only thing I wish I had, is the full length ski platform you get on the back on an inboard (as I use double boots).

I'd buy them in a heartbeat if the price was reasonable, but asking $300 for a set is probably going to drive me to having a crack at making my own.