Murrski

Skimming the tread but what stands out most to me is that many (maybe majority) of skiers will go to Nationals one time (the bucket list theme) and if Nationals is more locally hosted - maybe another time. I'm in the same boat on this one. I won't compete in Regionals/Nationals if it's not semi-local and I'd probably only do Nationals once too (if qualified). I'm a mid level skier (7 I think). If I were in the top level - I'd be more likely to want to compete (best-vs-best) at Nationals. My family and I are part time skiers at best - so attending Regionals/Nationals in the current format is not going to happen unless it's local. Long story short - I support the idea for change and I believe that bucket list objectives can not feed the sport for continuous growth. Final thought: I'd rather take my family to a pro event and watch the elite and continue to just ski Class-Cs. Love Badal's efforts on the ProAm to give the Western Region an opportunity to see these elite men and women compete. I just want to see more pro events out West!

Testing a lot of skis is simply not in the cards for me. Even trying 3 or 4 different new sticks each season would be challenge for me. I love my ski and it can take me where I want to go but I always have that curiosity of how other sticks would work for me. I am Irish and stubborn and have brand loyalty to the Kidder/KD/D3 family. That said my top-3 wishlist would be the Vapor, A3 and the new Helix. I'm currently on a Fusion.

Add $4k for trailer, bimini & cover which puts the boat at $47k. Still pretty good I guess!

I used my 2m BlackTec full last weekend for the first time. I echo the comments from previous users. These suits are awesome and I won't ever waste energy or money on a dry suit. @Marco - when the Camaro's are dry they almost have a silky feel on the inside allowing the feet/legs and hands/arms to slide easily. It's the easiest suit I've ever put on. My challenge was getting a snug Eagle vest over it and off when done. The material of the BlackTec and the material of the Eagle vest want to stick together - wet or dry. On sizing I'd recommend opting smaller if you are on the border of two sizes. They stretch and contour much easier than my 2mm O'Neil heater top. Snug fit is optimal for this suit.

Thanks guys! @Garn - No I had a pro shop do it - recommended from Waterskigirl.

A great weekend in the Sac area and our first look at the new look on the water. I'm sore as hell (first 3 sets of year) but happy with how the boat looks on the water. Gotta give @TWhisper another shout out for a very cool design and to @Horton for the BallofSpray photo on the transom. Other members out at the lake were impressed.

Yes, my first "dislike" - thanks @Jody_Seal for shooting the messenger! Now, if I can just up my game to a panda! JK Jody... I understand most folks stance on this topic.

Received a newsletter from Gordon Rathbun regarding gates at Moomba. Letter also includes comments from the CP. Many of you probably received the same newsletter but I thought I'd post it anyways. Gordon's newsletter: Hello Ski Paradise Friends In this newsletter, we'll talk about the Moomba Masters Water Ski Tournament in Melbourne, Australia. I was told by last year's winner, Chris Parrish, that 9 skiers missed their gates at this championship (including Chris in the final round.) That's a lot of controversy, perhaps. We know the Moomba Tournament is the toughest in the world when it comes to current in the river and for skiers trying to make it through the gates. Chris Parrish sent me an email today and here was his exact quote: "9 skiers missed their gates at Moomba, ridiculous!!!" It is undeniable that it's a big dissappointment when someone like Andy Mapple or Chris Parrish or the 4th seed, Jonathan Travers, miss their gates. I have the opinion that the best skier will win whether you judge the gates or not. I should clarify that a bit. In tournaments like the Moomba (and their isn't really anything quite like the Moomba Masters,) anything can happen when you have backwash and current, but on calm water ski sites, the best skier will usually win. The last World's was a good example. At Moomba they need to decide if they want to ask for an exception and not judge the gates. My recommendation is to try it for one year. What have you got to lose? Wouldn't you want happy spectators rather than confused ones when Parrish doesn't get the opportunity to defend his title. Why do we try and judge something that most spectators can't see anyway. They can see the turn buoys but most spectators can't see the gates. Here is what happened in the American Water Ski Association's meetings regarding rule changes after our enlightened push for the idea of not judging the slalom entrance gates in tournaments. There is a new 'Mulligan' rule where if a skier misses their gates on their opening pass, they get to ski back at the next speed or line length and if they make their second pass, then the first one will count also and they can keep skiing. This is better than nothing and it's a small victory, but why not have it for all passes. Parrish and Travers would have gotten to keep skiing. It's a bit of a Band Aid approach to fixing things. Also recommended and accepted by USA Water Ski, ski clubs who want to test and experiment with the idea of not judging the entrance gates, can ask for an X class tournament where let's say as an example, the last of 3 slalom rounds has the gates not judged. The round will basically be for experimental purposes and the score will not count towards your National standing. Hopefully a lot of clubs will ask for the X class for one round of a 3 round tournament, but that is usually pushed by a club member who is in favor of the new idea. It's a bit of a shame that in an X tournament, the round won't count towards National standings, especially since every ski club has the same opportunity to try this idea. However, these two small victories are about as much as one can expect in one year of pushing this 'No Gate Judging' idea. I think we did fairly well. Regarding Moomba, the pros who have gotten their gates taken or missed, need to get together and write the event organizers. This article is not really about Moomba. It's about a rule change that is progressive and needed. In the U.S. last year their were 6 proposals before the Rules Committee regarding not judging the gates. 6 Proposals!!!!!! This was interesting in that I'll bet there has never been so many different proposals about a topic before. We can take a bit of pride in this idea generating so much interest. However, the 6 proposals watered down the main one that I submitted. With all these ideas it's no wonder the rules committee didn't come up with one solid proposal. My recommendation for next year is this: Use the wording from the rules committee on the skiers needing to start from the left side of the boat wake, but do not judge the entrance gates, only the exit gates with the new below mentioned 'Safety' buoy. Allow a single yellow boat guide 'Safety' buoy on the right side of the boat path as the boat closes in on the entrance gates. This buoy could be used strickly as a 41 meter buoy exit gate when the boat is coming back. Here is an explanation: All boat guide buoys are 41 meters apart except the current exit gate which is only 27 meters. The current 27 meter space means that skiers when rounding 6 ball, do not have room to do a safe S turn or Zig Zag turn that they have at 1,2,3,4 and 5 buoys now in order to make it safely back to the wake. If you do not understand this, you are not alone. Go to the rule book and look up the diagram of the slalom course. My good friend, the late Brett Yager, died while rounding 6 ball at 38 off (11.25m) and trying to make it back to the wake in time for the 27 meters of space where a score of 6 buoys is scored. If Brett would have had 41 meters he could have used the safer S turn approach. I have Andy Mapple on video taking a huge 'hit' from the boat as he makes it back to the wake after 6 ball in last year's Dream Week Tournament. Andy had a full rope of slack (at 10.75m) and somehow he held on. He hurt is back a bit and said to me later, "If I would have let go of that rope, the handle would have gone through the boat." It's possible to kill someone with a flying handle. (my comment, not Andy's.) A minute later I have Andy on video rounding 3 ball and doing an S turn at 3 ball at 10.25meters and safely making it back to the wake in the 41 meter space we now have. What better example than that! What surprises me is that in our safety conscious country this would not be an automatic acknowledgement and rule change. I would think that everyone on the rules committee would be in favor of that. I think a lot of people are not aware that after 6 ball in the slalom course, the space to get back to the wake and score a full buoy, is less than anywhere else on the course. This safer exit "Safety" buoy should have been in all 6 proposals!!! Let's get back to not judging the gates. If we decide to not judge the gates, the competition is still the same for all skiers. The best skiers will still win. That is the bottom line!! Shouldn't we acknowlege that? I would like to propose that we allow X rounds at tournaments for the month of June in 2015 and these scores will count towards our National Standings. The idea is that once people realize that this is better and that the best skiers will still win, they will not be threatened by a new rule. (Threatened might be a bit strong, but I can't think of a better word at the moment.) With a new rule, tournaments will be easier to set up, and less expensive to set up with the video equipment required. Also they would be easier to judge. Easier to judge is huge!! My comment is why do we try and judge something that is so impossible to get correct when we don't even need it in the first place???!!! With regards to World Records, Nate Smith and Regina Jaquess would have an asterisk beside their names in the record books forever. They'll probably go on to score new world records anyway. What is threatening about that? Thank you for taking the time to read this. That's all at the moment regarding not judging the entrance gates. Below are comments on upcoming ski trips that I put in most of my emails. I've been sitting here for hours typing this. Pardon for any typos. I'm too tired to go back and read this again. However, I'm not to tired to go skiing. I'm outta here. Thank you, Gordon Rathbun

@Horton - are there any archive videos of round 1 & 2 Open mens slalom? I can't seem to find any of them on the Moomba or IWSF websites.

Thanks @Horton - Just ordered my Pro-140 combo. They must be honoring the free shipping without promo code. I entered the code and it said invalid but free ground shipping was the default anyway.

@richarddoane - Boat looks absolutely sweet. Curious on your mirror and I'm looking into the PTM VR-140 Pro-view. Is that a Pro-view on your boat?

I tried to upload pics but I think the file sizes might be too large so here's a link to my facebook album where I uploaded 8 photos. If you have any problems accessing please let me know. https://www.facebook.com/brian.murray.7583992/media_set?set=a.524016577710895.1073741826.100003076719871&type=3 Big thanks to @TWhisper for an incredible design, Chris and family @ GaltSigns for professional print and installation. Also thanks to @Waterskigirl for recommending GaltSigns. It looks like a brand new boat and I couldn't be happier with the results! Do the Ballers like it?

@MattP - I asked @Horton for it and he provided it... thought he was the owner. Hope it's alright.

She goes into the shop tomorrow to get her new enhancements... looking forward to the new look. The transom image on the back will be centered -- in case you're wondering, "what the..." Before: src="https://us.v-cdn.net/5017617/uploads/FileUpload/2c/f9d4c118be3cd8a4c1111a7ff896cc.jpg" /> After:

@Dacon62 - My opinion is to try a couple different settings if you can. Before I had PP/SG w/Zbox I would opt for the "general" setting of B2 in tournaments because that's what drivers recommended. With my skiing style - I don't have a nice rounded turn on my offside. I tend to pivot tightly and I would often get slack at the finish of the turn. Now that I have the zbox - I played with some settings and prefer C2. It picks me up earlier than B2 at the finish of the turn and helps keep a tight line. B2 is a good place to start but once water temps warm up for you and have more patience to trial and error - give a few other settings a shot.

Thanks all for clarifying the PP/SG with Zbox rather than Zero Off. I had the wrong info when I posted for our lake owner. The ski-it-again ads are updated with the correct info as well.

Our lake owner is selling his 196 to purchase a new promo 200. I can vouch that this boat is in great condition, skis great and drives like a champ too. Will Bush personally set up the Perfect Pass - Stargazer with Zbox. Check out the ski-it-again listing if your interested: http://www.ski-it-again.com/php/skiitagain.php?topic=Search&category=Comp_Boat&postid=26605

Simple concept for a public forum. Be respectful. Agree to disagree. Move on. I hope the tone of this debate is over!

@Kelvin - That end of the baller index should not be quantified numerically... should just indicate extreme shrinkage! I remember those days. My brother and I followed a snow plow to the launch ramp - no wetsuits. Just excitement about a new boat (our first tournament tug) back in the 90's. Our small town had us pegged as being extreme drug addicts...

Thanks Robbie @waterskigirl -- Keith @Keithbrewer is graciously sending us a small sample of the Sensient granules to test! Hopefully I can get Ron and the members on board!

@waterskigirl - sorry but I should have asked this too... was 12 quarts your initial application or was it what you added to an initial application several months later? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

@waterskigirl - Hey Robbie... have you guys had to add any more dye? Are you still happy with the product? Is this the blue lagoon product: < http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/brandt-blue-lagoon-ss-pond-lake-colorant-p-7468.html > ? I was going to talk to Ron about Pleasant Oaks and see if this was something we would like to do. The water chemistry & color there seems to be very similar to yours prior to the dye you guys added. Your lake looks awesome!

@londonskier - yep, 33

Cool idea! Logging for personal journal and comparing to the other ballers - I like it! Develop an iPhone app and boom... I'm using it! Good start @Horton and @Mattp

Done! Appreciate the heads up.