SkiJay

@Greghind Nate skies all of his passes like this. And apparenty the key is NOT to take a lot of angle off the ball. The angle needs to be progressive, like a good gate, with the intensity and max angle occurring in the first whitewash. More importantly, the outbound connection and technique has to match this intensity.

Has anyone else found that the Velcro on the wrist straps wears out befor the $90 gloves do? My last three pairs have done this and Mary says she's never heard of this happening.

Thank you :)

@Than Bogan For what it’s worth, I’ve spent a lot of time with Drew Ross, working on an earlier edge change, and after 50+ sets with him, it’s finally coming together (great coach ... slow learner). It seems that when he is happiest with what I am doing, there is hardly any time spent “cutting” at all. In fact, it feels like the turn at the ball is followed by a longer more sweeping turn all the way into the edge change, with only a short hard lean into it for a brief moment as the ski passes under the rope, for an extra spurt of outbound speed. Hmmmmm, it’s just about as hard to describe as it is for me to execute. I’m skiing with Nate on Tuesday and want to talk to him about this. He has this move mastered:

If I want to notify "Big Guy" of a post, what is the correct way to type in his ID: @Big Guy or @Big_Guy? If you use @Big Guy, only "@Big" is highlighted as being a link with "Guy" seemingly ignored. If you use @Big_Guy, all of @Big_Guy is highlighted as a link, but does it work as a link since Big Guy's ID doesn't actually have a "_" character in it?

@Than_Bogan Okay, I'll take the bait. First off, very nice skiing, buddy. You have my respect ... and you have a really endearing crew in the boat! I have been watching videos of Nate, Seth, Chris, and Terry Winter every day, morning and evening for a couple of years now. What stood out as being different in your videos is that you are pulling longer than this list of pros. This tendency is most pronounced skiing towards 2,4,6 and gets slightly more pronounced as the rope gets shorter. This may even relate to Jamie's edge change related comments.

@Sunvalleylaw There shouldn't be too much "unlearning" need moving from cold salt water to warm fresh water. Since salt water is both more viscous and denser than fresh water, and cold water is both more viscous and denser than warm water, your having learned to ski in cold salt water has trained you to ski in the toughest conditions of all. You should really do well with warm fresh water once you get used to the different feel. You should be awesome in no time! Enjoy!

@sunvalleylaw Warm water displaces more easily than cold water so the ski rides deeper in the water, feeling more stable and more forgiving than it will in cold water. In cold water, the ski rides higher and feels more drag. This makes the ski feel less stable, and turn sooner and harder than in warm water. Even though cold water has more drag, it’s called “fast” because the ski turns towards the ball easier and earlier out of the edge change, and points you more AT the ball than wide of the ball. This narrow path at the ball combined with a less stable feeling ski makes everything feel fast even if the actual speed is similar. You will find the same changes between warm and cold salt water with the added effect of having more buoyancy (less ski in the water) in salt water than you would in fresh water.

@jedgell Ankle-to-ankle is the important measurement. However, foot size can effect front binding placement. Although the front heal would be over the same spot on the ski no matter how big your feet are, the length of your foot affects how far forward the ball of your front foot is on the ski, implying that really big feet might need to go back a hole if the tip of your ski is biting too hard (assuming you use the balls of your feet for balance).

@Jipster43 +1 for Skibug's remarks. Your height also factors into it. The closer your feet, the easier it is to weight your front foot, the further apart they are, the more your weight gets restricted rearward on the ski. The shorter the skier is in height, the more pronounced these affects are. In theory, the shorter the skier, the closer the ankle to ankle measurement should be ... tempered by personal preferrence.

@eleeski Special thanks for the heads-up on the color bleeding. I'm on my 3rd Powervest and hadn't learned that unfortunate lesson ... YET. The rashguard is a must and does the trick.

I ski four to five days per week and one or two of them are disappointing. I'm thinking I don't recover like I used to.

@realbigdawg Any chance you are a victum of over-training; too much skiing and not enough recovery time? It's that time of year.

@Swerveit I've had blue Loctite hold hard enough to back an insert out of the ski. If you are still a bit concerned about backing out inserts, Loctite offers a lower strength product than the medium strength blue found everywhere. Loctite 222 purple is rated as "low strength" and it works just fine for keeping binding screws snug. au.iloctite.com/en/loctite-220-290-242-243-248-222-262-268-271-272-277-threadlockers/25

@BRY @Double7s You can get the aluminum plate Chet uses from Miami Ski Nautique: miamiskinautiques.com

Predator Bay, Calgary, Alberta, Canada http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1530989/Waterskiing/BOS/aerial4.jpg Predator Bay, Calgary, Alberta, Canada http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1530989/Waterskiing/BOS/Photo%20Jun%2028%2C%208%2027%2051%20AM.jpg Isles of Lake Hancock and Lake Hancock, WinterGarden, Florida, USA http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1530989/Waterskiing/BOS/Hancock.JPG

@Than_Bogan Haha! You've gotta love what kids say! Swan is very cool. Maybe "Angry Swan" would net you that 39!

I’m a racecar driver/entrepreneur. Racing is what I’m best at, who I am, and the only vocation I’ve stuck with my whole life. Along the way, I’ve collected a group of small companies that my accountant calls diversified, but that I call “unfocused.” I’m late to the party slalom skiing, having only taken it up in earnest five years ago at age 50. I went from 28 mph to 2@-35 in the first two years and then shattered my shoulder at Predator Bay. After a long recovery, tons of physio, lots of excellent coaching, and thanks to the Goode Powervest , I’m back up to multiple 4@-35s, but with much better/safer technique. I envy those of you who got to start this fabulous sport young, but will be happy to meet my short-term goal of making a sweet 35 while 55!

I'm a road racing junkie. I’ve been racing formula cars and superbikes (and sailplanes) for 35 years (which explains why I'm a serial fin fiddler) and have won 12 championships along the way. On a more relaxing level, I enjoy golf and flying RC Helicopters 3D style. Lately, I’ve been trying to catch up to my wife in triathlon; my favorite part is the sexy TT bikes ... or maybe it's drafting my aerodynamic wife ...

@Stevie_Boy 1 or 2 degree wing changes are subtle but if you are skiing daily, you'll notice most of the difference from the edge change into and around the ball. More wing adds some drag at the tail of the ski which feels like more stability (think more feathers on the back of an arrow). It also drags a little more of the ski's tip into the water helping the ski to turn a little easier. This easier turning and stability comes at a price; you'll also loose a bit of width on the course, a pinch of speed, and get less glide before the gates. Less wing=visa versa.

All of these pictures sure highlight how important it is for your rear binding to allow your rear ankle to flex forward ... a lot.

By choice, I ski in windy conditions a lot. I'm not as driven by raw ball count as I am by meaningful progress, and tough winds are a fascinating challenge. 3/4 of my professionally coached sets are in high wind, and I get just as stoked by making a tough crosswind or high tailwind pass as stroking my toughest pass on glass ... well almost.

@Horton I've been using RainX on my Bombers so the water runs off a bit better, but they fog at each end. Do you do anything for the fogging or just rince and go?

Maybe not the ONLY person ... http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1530989/Waterskiing/Edge%20Change/Asher.jpg Beautiful onside example: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1530989/Waterskiing/Edge%20Change/Marc%20Shaw.jpg

@AB I used my old liners in the new boots for a couple of weeks, and the shell performance was pretty much identicle new to old.