One_Ski

John Cox - impressive write-up - Congrats, John, and compliments on keeping with the program, both in fitness and skiing -- I saw you at Little Mountain last week, but didn't hear how your skiing went. I checked into John DeFendis - his website discusses how he's seen hundreds of folks do relentless aerobic exercise, with no visible benefits. What stuck with me was his statement that aerobic exercise slows your heart rate/metabolism, and the result may be weight gain. The idea of resistance training to build lean muscle makes good sense to me - I think I'll back off on my aerobic training some and focus more on resistance training. Thanks for the pointers.

One airline crushed the tip of my slalom ski, so I bought the SportTube. It's awkward to handle, but it does its job well. I agree that TSA will open it every time; they'll reclose it correctly about half the time. Because of the risk of TSA losing my stuff, I only put my ski in the tube. To improve the odds they'll put the two halves together right, I bought a D-shaped ring at Discount Marine (sailboat section). I put this ring through one of the holes in the smaller section, so it ensures the tube will only close as far as I want it too (won't compress and crush my ski). I use a bungee that clips to this D-ring, which makes the whole system easy to reassemble. Since I've done this, TSA hasn't screwed it up again. Here are some pics of what I did. I also put some holes in the end and attached a handle - it's easier to roll around this way.

I learned the hard way that, for me, bindings that release are best. I used Enzo bindings for a couple of years - they clamp down firmly, and make it nearly impossible to come out in a fall. First bad fall, I got stood up on the wakes, came down and caught the ski tip in the water. I did a face plant like you wouldn't believe, and my feet stayed in. I think I bruised a rib, and my knees hurt for weeks. Second time was around five ball, I hit some small rollers and my the front of my ski skipped a couple of times. The skipping seemed minor, except I took three hits from my front binding on the top of my right foot (again, bindings stayed on) that had me limping for a month. Now I use Radar bindings; they fit snug, but my feet come right out in a crash.

I like these prices - all seem fair and reasonable. I travel a lot. Recently, every time I've looked for somebody to pull me, they ask for $40 bucks for 6 passes. At that price, I leave my ski at home.

If you're interested, there's the Houston Ski Club at 15200 Nautique Way in Houston. The owner is Cliff McInnis (713 920 2157). I skiied there last fall - the site/conditions were very good. His slalom course was in need of repair, but I'd guess he's fixed it by now.

Thanks Mac. I zoom in some, but leave some margin for error. The error is worse at 1,3,5, but if I rotate the camera, I'll lose some of the 2,4,6. Before I zoom back, I want to try the shock tube attachment to see if it helps-seems like it should. After seeing Ed's suggestion, I think I'll try the tie wrap approach first.

I used the JVC GZ-HM650 yesterday evening, and the video was perfect. No evidence of vibration at all. I used my Trakker 4 bracket as-supplied (plastic spacer between the pylon and the clamp, metal-to-metal contact between the clamp and the vertical bracket). Nothing different than my original setup, except for the camera. This camera solved my video vibration problem. My only remaining issue is that I move out of the picture frame at the apex of each turn - to fix this, I plan to bend the loop in the trakker arm to open it up, and put my shock tube through the opening. To summarize this discussion, you can build a bracket that is more stable than a Trakker and avoid vibration-related problems. If you use a Trakker though, some boats (due to inherent vibration) and some HD cameras (due to their inability to handle vibration) won't work. The JVC Everio GZ-HM650A worked best Others have had good results with these cameras: Kodak Playsport Flip Video Sony HDR 1080 The following cameras did not work well with the trakker : Any camera with a hard drive Canon HV20 Canon VIXIA HF M301 Kodak ZX5 Playsport Panasonic HDC-TM80K Panasonic TM90 Sony Cybershot DSC HX9V Sony HDRCX160 Xacti From my view, this problem is solved. Thanks for the help.

JVC camera arrived today. I should be able to post some results by this weekend. I'll try it first with with metal-to-metal connections (as supplied by Trakker) and see how the video looks. I'll bring some rubber along to put between the clamp ring and vertical bracket, just in case.

Phil - These are impressive -thanks. I agree that more mass will fix the problem. I bolted a 5 lb. disk under my camera, and it didn't help. So weight isn't enough - it's bracket mass too. Mac - the video you sent shows exactly the results I want. Based on your email and Brian's comment (and to get my money's worth from my Trakker), I got an RMA to return my Panasonic camera, and ordered the JVC. It should arrive Wed, and I'll try it out. If my results match yours, I'll be happy. Thanks to WSki and Live2ski for your comments. I'd already tried a camera with a hard drive - waste of time. The HDD protection shut off the drive as soon as I powered up the boat. I was using an older cam with tape, but picture quality was too poor to be useful. Live2ski - that's a nice video for an inexpensive camera. Thanks; I'll keep it on my list. Chef23 is right about that fall - looks like one where they have to drag you back in the boat. I appreciate the help. I'll post a new comment next week, after the JVC arrives.

Water was like glass. Vibration gets bad when the engine reaches slalom rpm, and stays that way until I power down at the other end. Vibration in the boat is not abnormal, and there's no noticeable vibration in the pylon. I think the trakker vertical bracket hits some harmonic frequency that exaggerates movement at the camera. I'll try some rubber insulation and see if that dampens it. I read a few positive comments about Sanyo cameras, so I might try that. Thanks, and please send any other ideas/suggestions you can think of. I know other folks have had this problem, based on feedback from Trakker.

I have the newest Trakker camera mount installed in my Nautique 196. I want HD videos, but vibration makes them unusable. My first attempt used my Sony CyberShot DSC HX9V, which vibrated so much the skier looks like a ghost. I emailed Michael Gonzales at Trailer; he said it was probably my camera, and referred me to a YouTube video called "CMOS vs CCD heavy vibration test." The video showed a Panasonic camera had much better vibration performance, so I bought one. I tried it out yesterday - its a little better, but still sucks. I've searched the Web for vibration solutions - no help. Can anybody recommend an HD video camera that records to memory (NOT HDD or tape) that works?