mwetskier

@epnault -maybe something like this could be adapted to slalom training -

also i buy totally into their ' gut ' concepts. just in applying them to my own skiing on an entirely different ski brand i can see the honest improvements in my own skiing. that leads me to believe that if their radically different ski design meshes with their outside the box skiing theories then the ski and the theories together might help carry me into my fast approaching old age. and, financially speaking, hope is cheap -so why not indulge myself?

i don't know about the ' risk ' of $200 but as soon as it looks like they have settled on a production version big enough for a big guy i intend to take a trip to wherever they're located and try it in person. getting away from the pnw winter to some place sunny is never a risk so test driving the denali would simply be a mostly free bonus.

@dthate -+1 on t-mo.

@nam1975 & @oldjeep -regarding pull over vests i've seen them get partially peeled off such that your arms are wedged upward above your shoulders and your face is buried inside the semi inside out vest. so your arms are useless for any kind of swimming and your face is jammed up against the chest area of the vest. if you found yourself face down in he water like that in you could end up in real trouble. the last pullover vest i had was an obrien elete from several years ago. i took it to a upholstery shop and had them add a seat belt type strap with plastic buckle to prevent this kind of potential disaster. i can't remember for sure but i think that vest is now living in a landfill.

@UWSkier -I would point out that if you can't turn the ski into enough angle to get onto your edge to begin with, so that you *can* edge through the wakes, then maybe at least a little ' turn form ' might be good to learn first. regardless of boat speed a flat ski is a flat ski. just sayin

there seems to be some handy types on this forum. that 3d printed part would make a perfect plug for sand casting a replacement part out of aluminum and being flat backed there would be no parting line. so it would be as simple pressing the plastic part up side down into a sand mold tray, striking off the flat surface, pulling out the plastic part, and pouring in molten aluminum. youtube is your friend for learning how to do this. i don't have even a basic ' home foundry ' so i would take an even simpler route of making a rtv silicone mold and then pouring it full of glass filled resin. one silicone mold could make dozens of replacement parts before it would deteriorate enough to need replacement. i know i know, a big waste of time and guys should just wait until the company gets around to improving the quality of the base and then ships them one. but some guys on here are handy and skilled at fabbing stuff they need so they can have it right now, and those are the guys i'm talking to.

personally i think a lot of the advice you are getting is a bit advanced for where you are currently at in the sport. here is a drill i never see anybody on this forum suggest but it *can* improve your skillset if you approach it with gusto. 1 -pull out wide from the wake just like you are already doing. 2 -turn and cut toward the wake but *do not* cross it. 3) -instead of crossing the wake, as you get close to it lay over into a turn that will whip you back out wide again. 4) -repeat several times and then switch to the other side of the wake and repeat there 5) -when you become more comfortable with this drill you can get more aggressive in how hard you cut toward the wake -this will force you to be quicker and more aggressive in how hard you crank the ski back out wide again. What this drill does is teach you how to lay over and *carve* into and through a turn, and it does this without risking the dreaded out the front off that monster wake. the turns you will be working on are the ones right next to the wake. the rope will be holding you up the entire time so you will have the mental security of feeling totally in control. You can become very comfortable in how hard and smooth you can carve your ski around a corner, and that is a very good skill to develop. later, when you have the opportunity to ski behind a boat *without* a titanic-sized wake you can work on the wake crossing skills described above. just one mans opinion but i bet if you try it you'll like it.

@jipster43 -are you sure you didn't mean ' lysdexic'?

i have both 2016s and 2017s, as well as the masterline version. i like the radar 2017s best even though visually they look much ' cheaper ' than the earlier radars or the masterlines. they are a lot easier to get on and time will tell if they are as durable as the others.

the op's photo tells *me* that cp had been advancing his left hip forward during his approach to the ball resulting in his left arm retracting in what looks like a biceps curl while his right arm wrapped further and further around his torso as it carried most of the rope's outbound tension. Then right about the time this pic was snapped, in order to continue advancing his left hip and open up his shoulders, he had begun releasing the handle with his right hand and was starting to reach with his left. a tiny fraction of a second after this picture was taken his right hand would have been completely off handle and his left arm would have been reaching forward as his ski cast out toward the apex of the turn. anyway, that's what i see... but there's the distinct possibility i could be wrong.

we keep a small 6 pack cooler filled with steaming hot water in the boat at the cold end of the season. you can ski 3 or 4 passes before your hands become almost too cold stop and soak them for a minute or two in the small cooler of hot water right on the platform and then your good for at least 4 more passes.

@Horton -back in the day we used to say the first ski ride behind your new boat cost $25k but every ride after that is free. theres a difference between just solving a problem for yourself and trying to make a profit from it. many of the ski related gizmos i see guys making on this forum could also be called financial dubious but if all you want is a solution that solves your problem maybe profit is not such an important thing. based on some of the posts above i'm not the only one who thinks this way.

find a machine shop with technology developed in this century. have them probe the factory part to get machine code and then machine them in delrin (acetal homopolymer resin). order enough to sell to your buddies so that yours are free.

@Horton -your probably only screwed if your also a heavy smoker and worked in a coal mine for 20 years but every time i buy any graphite related raw material it includes a bunch of safety warnings and disclaimers so i thought i would pass that on.

eric lee says he heats up a nail an melts small holes into the webbing to make it grip better.

be a little careful with grinding or cutting graphite plate. in the circles i work in graphite dust is being called ' the new asbestos '.

one advantage to the foamex type cylindrical boat guys is they make a loud thump when the boat hits them so a driver will learn pretty quickly on their own how to split the guides.

i see a mechanical conflict between the set screws and the fin clamping screws. one is going to have to sacrifice its optimum performance for the other to be reliably effective. the configuration dictates they probably can't both achieve complete efficacy.

one of the first man-made tournament lakes in this country was a catfish farm that some had turn balls you could change out while standing on the bottom in waist deep water. i know because i did it.

@"Pat M" -i think i found my audience and it looks like you're it.

yeah, but did MS come in through the bathroom window?

@ScottScott -re: flailing arm, two words: mike morgan

@Stevie Boy -i'm sure the coast guard has a protocol for petitioning introduction of new regulations and / or modifying existing regulations. also a while back the coast guard ceded many regulatory duties to individual states for their own inland water ways so you might take a look at your own state regulatory agencies.

i timed the video with a stopwatch and the individual buoy times were way slow.