Ryno

I also use blue Loctite, without it the rear screws for my front plate always work their way loose.

@akale15 Yeah I can't think of anywhere better to live. It's the middle of winter here now, and my local ski spot still has a water temp of around 16 deg C, so with the help of a dry suit/long wetsuit you can comfortably ski all year round.

@MattP No the turn buoys are the orange ones... Not sure why the white ones have been added in between, they weren't there when I last skiied at Karapiro.

@MattP Those green buoys are the mini course, look again and you'll see the turn buoys outside them.

Lake Karapiro slalom course is my favorite... When I skiied there before Christmas we were going boat about with Aaron Larkin and Garth Milicich. Awesome day!

...and the secret location of my slalom course

Shoalhaven River, South Coast NSW, Australia

My little boy has been on the boat (held by his mum) since 1 month old. It would not have been possible with out the protection of a bimini. But in any case, with the risk of sun cancer these days, everyone should use a bimini.

I use a Flightcraft 18XL with a 200hp Merc as my slalom boat. I've fitted it with Perfect Pass Z-Box. It is an unreal boat for the money. If they sold for only $6k here in Australia, I'd buy a second in a heart beat.

This is probably the same as the handle guard argument... More that likely you will never encounter a problem - but why take the chance?

I've seen a boat blow the cover off and go up in flames because of not using a blower. Admittedly it was an older boat, however the outcome was pretty nasty; one child got burns over his body and one of the adults got burns on one leg. The only way we could put the flames out was tilting the outboard motor up on our boat and dousing it with water.

I swapped my front Strada Boot for a Fluid Motion E-Series a couple of months ago. Very happy with the swap. You can read my write up and see pictures here: http://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/5216

How often in the process of a review are you upping the speed to 58kph? Or are the reviews you write more suited to 55kph skiiers? I only have that thought, given the selling point of the S2 is a ski designed to best suit 55 kph. I purchased my Sans Rival almost solely based on your review, and have been more than happy with the performance of the ski (at 58kph). Reviews like yours are invaluable for me, as in Australia it is almost impossible to demo the majority of high end skis before you buy. Most of the top companies (Sans Rival, Razor, AM etc) won't sell enough product over here to justify having a distributor, so you have to take a leap of faith by purchasing it from overseas and hope it lives up to the hype. If by the luck of the gods your local dealer does have the ski you want to try, as they sell so few of the top models, most dealers would be very reluctant to let you demo the ski, as they don't want to be stuck with a second hand ski they can't move on.

Just measured my Carbon Sans Rival Fin... 2.08mm No I'm not converting it to imperial, you yanks need to get with the times! ; )

@SkiJay You've mixed me up with epyscs... I only weigh 70 kgs dripping wet, so I it would take the hand of god for me to bend a handle. I'm not finding slack rope much of an issue at the moment, just the offside bounce when the ski is loaded in the turn.

@AB Thanks for the clarification... To cure the off side bounce, my bindings were 13mm forward of stock. So now I've moved them back to the std setting, and added 1mm of length to the fin. Here's hoping next time I ski, I'm singing your praises!

@AB in the past I have cured the off side bounce by moving bindings forward (rather that adding length). Why is adding length preferred to moving the boots forward from stock?

I have that happen also with a Masterline Custom handle, though I believe it was caused by having weed wrapped around the handle. Unfortunately when the handle got to me I saw the weed around it, but didn't realise the rope had twisted up. The following ski then resulted in a few broken stands in the rope and a permanent twist through it.

Very cool... I must say I almost stumbled upon the 18XL by chance. I was looking for a new boat for slalom skiing that has an outboard, and a mate that does a lot of barefooting recommended the Flightcraft. Since purchasing the boat, it has exceeded every expectation. I can't believe you can get them for less than $10k over in the US, if I was over there I'd own five!

@DUSkier It's funny you mention Regal Marine, as their name is stenciled on the side of my trailer. Though as I'm the second owner so haven't had any interaction with that dealer down in Melbourne. I absolutely love the boat, especially now I have the Perfect Pass working well. The wake is awesome, and there's no pesky engine just using up space in the middle of the boat! I am putting on my E-series boots as you have advised - they are way to tight for me to fit them any other way. And because they are so snug, I'm not running the shims inside the boot, and have removed them. The lateral stiffness without them is still way better than I had with the Strada front, so I don't think I'm losing much by running the boot without them.

@ThePantsManCan You should be buying them up, I've got a few mates here in Australia skiing on Quattro's, and from what we've been told, it seems as though O'Brien will not be continuing to build the 67.5" due to difficulties in construction. If that is the call, O'Brien may stop the Quattro line altogether.

I'm at least a full pass better on my Sans Rival vs my old Sixam SS, and that was one of the top skis only 5 years ago. Surely the technology has to hit the wall somewhere and it will be just down to the skier. But at this stage ski development is definitely making steps forward. My SR2 is an obvious improvement over the Sixam - and I thought that was the best ski ever when I first rode it! It seems to me as though the top skis are getting wider due to the amount of guys skiing at 55 kph these days, where as a few years ago all the top skis were aimed toward pro skiers at 58 kph. If you are going to get a new stick, ensure it will suit the level/speed you are skiing.

I've been running Radar Strada Boots on my ski for the last 15 months, and although I've been very happy with them as a whole, a couple of things concerned me. Firstly the durability - the RADAR Logo on my front boot has cracked and fallen apart, which at first I thought was just cosmetic, however the seam where the rubber at the back joins the boot has started to split. Secondly the release - I like the control provided by having the front laces fairly snug, but in this state I was concerned about the boot not releasing. I've had a couple of falls where the front foot has only come half out and this has tweaked my ankle. Obviously the durability issue may have been addressed in the 2012 Strada boot as the logo has gone, but I've already heard reports of the front laces strap splitting, so I didn't want to run the risk of similar problems. I've also had no support when contacting Radar for a replacement under warranty. The two boots that looked like they would provide a better release in a similar design were the Fluid Motion E-Series and the new O'brien Elite boot. But unfortunately the later is not for sale yet. So I bit the bullet and contacted Paul at Fluid Motion for an E-Series to replace the front boot. I'm still planning to run my rear Strada, as that boot hasn't shown the same wear compared to the front boot, most likely because I don't run the laces as tight on the rear. After a few skis on the E-series, I must admit I'm very happy with the purchase. I'm much more connected to the ski than with the Strada and no longer have the fear of the boot not releasing. The boot is also built of materials that should last for many seasons, so I'm confident I won't be looking for a replacement in 12 months time. In fairness to an honest review, there are some negatives to going down the road of the E-series, these are: 1. Price... it cost me almost double the price of a Strada, though I did spec it up with the better plate etc. 2. Time to get the boot... although postage from Canada was fairly quick to Australia, it took a week or more to get the boot put together ready for shipping. 3. Boot sizing... There isn't a great range of sizes for the boots, so in order to get a tight fit I went for the SML/MED size which goes up to size 8 US. As I'm an 8 1/2 US I thought this would be a better fit than risking the MED size, which goes up to 10 US. 4. Donning the boot... The boot is more time consuming to get your foot in and out of than the Strada. Though this isn't helped by the fact I went for the smaller size as mentioned above. So overall if you're thinking of going down this road, I highly recommend the purchase, it's fixed the two big issues I've had with the Strada and had added much more connection to the ski.

@Dal Where are you in Oz? I ski all year round on the NSW south coast. Get a dry suit, no need to stop then!

He ran 3 @ 14.25m on his first day through the course.... I'm quitting this stupid sport!