One_Ski

It's great to see a small company do so well. The Adams (with your patient and persistent help) have clearly developed an excellent product - not an easy task in such a competitive market. Congrats to these skiiers, but also to the guys who have put their blood and sweat into building a great product from the ground up. May your successes continue - keep up the good work, guys!

@Bruce_Butterfield; I've ordered a CG fin for my 2016 Denali (I purchased this ski when they first introduced the Denali ski - it's the first production model). I've always had trouble getting it to finish the turn in my off side (RFF). From the picture, it looks like your CG fin settings are from one of these older Denali skis - is that correct? I'm looking for some settings to start with when my new fin arrives. Also, do you have the measurement for your front binding? My ski is 66.5" long, and I'd been using 30.5", which is as far forward as I could get it.

@foxriverat - I didn't know Nate had gotten hurt. What happened, and is there an info feed I can tie into for updates on how these guys are doing? I'm still wondering where Chris Parrish is...

I'm getting this:

It's working for me - I went to youtube and can see it from there. Their advertisements, though, cover most of the screen - I can't find a way to make that go away, so not much to see.

Nice webcast! So much more enjoyable accompanied by a pleasant voice, with (go figure) a sense of humor. Even my wife is OK watching this.

At first, it didn't work at all. Later in the evening it started working smoothly, but the continuous commercials were so annoying, I just shut it down. I mean, seriously - there were a couple hundered viewers, and they're going to pound us into the ground with commercials? Even network TV limits commercials to 20 minutes per hour or so.

I looked at and considered buying a pellet grill. The sales pitch sounded great, then I talked to a trusted friend who owns one. He said he loves his and uses it almost every week, but he warned me to make no mistake - the pellet grill does not really cook like a grill; it cooks like an oven. He said you might be able to get some slightly darker lines from the grates on your steaks, but that's about it. It will cook your steaks just fine, but it will cook them evenly - like an oven. For me, I like to sear my steaks on both sides first, then finish cooking them at a lower temp. You can't do this on a pellet grill, so I decided to stick with my Weber.

Somebody stuck a jump ramp in an otherwise nice picture of a slalom course.

We used 5 lb, bell-shaped anchors at each turn ball. First, we installed the course, then we attached one end of a rope to the anchor and the other to the end of each pole where the turn ball attaches, pointed the boat upstream, pulled until the arm was straight, and dropped the anchor. It worked when we put the anchor in the right place, but we hardly ever got the anchor in the right place. To get it right, you need a second, non-floating rope off each anchor, and you need to use this rope to drag the anchor into the right spot and set the anchor down gently. To eliminate guesswork, you need a second boat or a person on shore, so an observer can tell you when the arm is straight. When you're pulling upstream and guessing where to drop the anchor, you rarely get the anchor in the right place, and it will ruin your day. We did OK with this method, but it took so much time to set up and take down that we eventually gave up and moved out of the river and back onto the lake. We loved the isolation of the river, but set-up time, plus the occasional log floating through the course, made it more trouble than it was worth.

Mine backs the trailer into the water, parks the car, then hops in the boat and pulls me through the course - she's also become a pretty good coach. My unfailing waterski partner for the last 10 years. Couldn't do it without her - and wouldn't want to.

Total yard sale! This is hilarious.

I found this picture on the web, showing how various Zero Off settings affect how and when power is applied to maintain boat speed. Does anyone know whether these accurately represent the effects of each setting? Also (since I use a Z-Box), do these settings on a Z-Box do the same thing as the identical setting on Zero Off?

I've wanted to get more time on my ski before commenting, but after a summer on the new Denali, I want to add some positive words. I'm a 60 year old skiier and typically don't ski beyone 28' off, so I don't consider myself a highly skilled, highly technical guy. I bought a Denali this spring, and was originally unsure whether it would be too demanding for me. What I've observed is that it's the fastest, but most predictable and forgiving ski I've ever been on. The speed of the ski helps me expecially in and at the finish of the turns where, unlike other skis, it doesn't get 'stuck' at the finish. Even when I'm out of position, I can still get it around and get back on it, and its speed across the wake helps get me to the next ball. It seems to me that many of the high end skis are built to decelerate, and that works against me; accelleration is what I need, and the low-drag Danali provides it. Even with the extra speed, it still decelerates smoothly and predictably so I can finish turns that otherwise seem unmanageable. The original fin settings (those recommended early in the summer) made the ski less predictable and forgiving, but the new bindings forward-fin forward numbers on the Denali website are magic; they have made this ski a pleasure to ski on. I've taken fewer hits, done fewer OTF/face plants, and had less back and shoulder soreness than on any other ski. My hat's off to the Delani team for introducing a new and substantially different ski design to a small and challenging market, and managing to differentiate themselves from the herd. I love this ski!

I had a similar problem with my Powervest. Turns out that, in my case, the Goode 'best guess' vest sizing didn't work out that well. Vest fit was good, but the pull from the straps was too high on my shoulders, and made getting out of the water a struggle. Others said it was easy but, for me, it was making me work like dog. I finally decided it was because the straps were sitting too high on my shoulders, so the pull was coming from too high on my back, and breaking me forward. I pulled the plate out of the vest, and decided the best way to lower the pull was to move the belt up. The belt is attached with three bolts. I drilled three new holes as close to the bottom of the vest as I could, then moved the belt up. That fixed the problem - the pull now comes right through my shoulders (where it should be), and getting up is just a matter of laying back into the strap and letting the vest do all the work. I can send you some photos of what I did if you're interested. After that adjustment, the PowerVest has made skiing safe and easy - much needed for an old guy like me.

Glad to hear you're still skiing - I did not want to hear you were hanging it up!

@34mph - Just curious as to why you're selling your Powervest. I got one this year and have really enjoyed it - I'm doing more skiing and heading home without shoulder, elbow, or back pain. I made a couple of small mods to mine that made a big difference - you having trouble with yours, or just don't like it?

The toes of my front foot are in the middle of my ski in my onside turn and in my offside turn. The heel of my front foot is the same. I'm with you guys, this 'toeside, heelside' stuff does not seem logical.

@Orlando76 - She's your wife, not your mother. Tell her to get over it ;0)

This information has been a big help. I'll turn 60 this year, and quickly decided against the PowerVest several years ago after seeing the price. After reading Horton's review and hearing about your experience, I decided to buy one. First try (so far, my only chance to ski this year) was impressive. This was open water skiing, and the ubiquitous wakeboard boat meant I spent a lot of time hanging on the handle waiting for smooth water. Even so, my workload dropped by 70% or more, and I skied more than ever. I'm still working with strap length, but the vest does an impressive job of reducing arm/shoulder loading just when the pull is hardest. When I got home, I pulled the vest apart and did some heat-gun molding - mostly at the bottom of the plate to keep it from digging into my back at the base of the belt. The strap-loop rig on mine was poorly assembled - two different d-ring sizes were used to hold the strap (1st picture) and they did not fit properly into the slots; not the quality I expected from this $600.00+ vest. It's easy to see how loading is likely to crack the plate near this strap. I looked at the eyebolts and decided that might be a little too geeky, even for me ;0) So, I went to West Marine and bought some hardware that should improve strength and strap movement (second picture). This bracket is called a 'footman's loop'; I'm planning to mount two of them on the plate near the slots and run the strap through these.

I'm on the list for a Denali. Haven't heard any recent updates on how production is going or whether the May 1 ship date is still good. How is the testing/manufacturing coming along, and what changes/tweaks are being considered for the final version?

I'm getting a Denali ski. I've stayed with used skis the past years, but the Denali approach of building skis for those of us who aren't pro's really appeals to me. Very much looking forward to May when they start cranking out these skis, then giving it a run. My Sans Rival has never quite lived up to my expectations; I loved the one I demo'd, but the one I purchased was not quite as good.

I'm thinking you could eliminate the boat and the rail, plus shorten the lake significantly if you could just figure out a way to get the water under your ski to move at 34 (or 36) MPH. If you accomplished this, I wonder if you could just use two stationary turn balls (one on each side) and just ski from one side to the other - an endless slalom course!

@Wish - I've had the same problem with the D-ring digging into the bone at the base of my thumb. I fixed this by putting a slight curve in the D-ring; I mounted it in an anvil and tapped on it with a hammer. With this slight curve, the end of the ring no longer digs into my thumb. Other than that, I like the ProLock's better than Radar. I've tried both. The Radar gloves seem to be built better (more comfortable with a wider wrist strap), but the straps seem to be a little longer, making it harder for me to take advantage of the dowel. Using ProLock's and the Masterline Radius Ergo handle, I've never had a problem grabbing or releasing the handle.

John - Glad you're back. How's that biceps tendon feel after your first few sets back?