sunvalleylaw

A little smoke hanging over and within the Sawtooth mountains to the west but clear and sunny toward the viewing area.

I ended up not bringing the boat up north. I came south today for some coaching at Black Butte Ranch and am now on the way back up to Fisher Creek to camp for the night and then enjoy the eclipse tomorrow along with a mountain bike ride.

I wanted to add that Kristin was an excellent driver and skier. I was fortunate enough to be able to watch her ski from the boat also, (not part of the lesson) which was also very helpful. The two make a very supportive and encouraging team. And also just great people.

OK, so I just got to witness the Black Butte unofficial lake record being set by Terry Winter with a very clean 41 off. And received two excellent sets of coaching which saw me achieve a personal best. And improvement in technique and course timing which will really help me transition more into course skiing. Plus I had the honor and enjoyable experience of watching Terry ski from the boat into 41 off in windy conditions after the wind picked up. Truly amazing to watch. It was a privilege and an honor to meet Terry and his wife Kristin and to enjoy the experience. If you have the chance to receive coaching from Terry, take it! You will not be disappointed!

I have ended up trying to simplify and will not be bringing the boat for the weekend. I am getting our camp set up tonight, then mountain biking tomorrow. Won't have a boat driver til too late for a good ski, and selfishly don't want to spend my day giving people boat rides or pulling tubes, besides the potential traffic. Also, I have ended up booking a lesson I have been trying to book for Sunday, away from camp (Black Butte). It is inconvenient timing, but if it doesn't happen Sunday, it won't happen for another month, if at all this year. So, going to go for it. Then back up to camp for Sunday night, and the big event on Monday! Probably another mountain bike ride on Monday, as long as we are there. We won't be driving anywhere very soon after the big show anyways. And we are staying in the mouth of Fisher Creek, so can go back in there and check some stuff out that I normally skip as part of the loop. May as well take the day at that point.

It is additionally a real bummer as it is an urban event that people could attend without having to get to a private or more remote site. MB's FlowPoint podcast discussed the value of that a couple months ago, and also referenced Moomba as an example.

And @ScottScott , I could stretch out the useful life of my handle by getting a couple of your sale lines, in between replacing the whole thing every couple years.

@ScottScott , I have always gone for 1". Have tried a little larger but like the feel of the 1" in my hands. But good thing to point out on the combo deal. Way back in the day, we used Connelly line and rope combos. But I don't think they even had sections. Then I started buying rope/handle combos from Wiley's after I got my first Kidder there.

Thanks @MattP . Wiley's has carried that combo for as long as I can remember, or something very similar. And it is what I and my brothers have always purchased when it was time for new line. Which we will now do more often. But now, maybe I can replace must the line section more often. We used to go at least two, and probably 3 seasons before.

Any reason for a 15' offer not to use the Masterline combo? https://www.wileyski.com/product/ml-rope-and-handle-package/ The handle seems to work fine for me, and 8 sections vs. 11 sections doesn't really matter for the people using my boat as no one is getting that far down the line. Unless there is another reason to have the additional sections. The reason for the question was I was reading the "How often do you replace" thread, and decided to start replacing line more often. Was also considering whether I should start buying handle and line separately, but the standard handle has always worked fine. Also, asked over there but will ask here. How often do you guys replace your handle? I see people replacing line twice a season with a lot of use, and most seem to say replace line at least once a year.

I get a lot fewer sets than you guys, and have never replaced so often, and luckily have not had problems. Will start changing yearly now. Two questions: 1) How often are you replacing your handle? Seems like it would wear too. 2) I looked but did not find a "how to" on this "trimming the ends" thing. Is there one? I am not understanding completely what is happening here. May not be super relevant to us given the relative much less use, and if replacing each year, but good to know what to watch for and do. And I will be advising to my brothers who maintain the boat we use for salt water that we start using new line. We only use that boat a few times a year other than one week, and have certainly skied on a line that should have been retired, luckily without incident. But even for that limited time, better to be safe than sorry for the price.

Wow, what a bummer!

@skinut , yeah, ridden it many times. Not this year yet. I have seen pics where the road up is pretty washed out from run off, but no worries for a mountain bike getting up. Big, huge ditch though. @eleeski , you will be coming up into the mountains from the other side probably. Not likely we would connect, but fun to have another baller in the vicinity. I will be doing some skiing down at Black Butte the day before, as it turns out, after hopefully skiing or riding on Saturday, then back up Sunday night for eclipse party and the big event the next day.

Huh. I just saw the two ski trick.

@skinut , We have a spot on private land that we were invited to for this occasion. In Fisher Creek. We will be bringing both the boat, and the mountain bikes for the weekend. We normally camp at Redfish, sometimes at Alturas, mid-lake most often, though I would love to score a spot near the nice soft sand on the inlet side. I love boating off that beach with the nice deep drop off and soft sand. Though the far end of Redfish is probably my favorite spot to ski up there.

Your daughter is so dang cute! Fun to see the ski too.

My usual open water ski lakes are right in the path. Redfish has dead center running through it. Alturas is right in the totality too. And Petit between those two. We will be camping up in the area and plan to ski if the lakes are not too crazy. Not actually during the eclipse, but over the weekend. The area is expected to be impacted by quite a few people. I am hoping it won't be quite as big as expected. Our infrastructure up in the mountains is not really built for what they are planning for. But I believe they are over-planning to be safe.

And an older Malibu can sometimes be found in that price range. And advantage is there were a lot of them, so one can find them for sale in decent shape. I just bought mine lastyear. I think the Response is a great all around boat. Regarding ripping the handle from the hands, yes, that can be done. But the throttle can easily be applied less severely so that does not happen. You do have to watch the bow if it is open bow, when approaching wakes and larger rollers, but that can be learned. And it is not a comfortable long ride over bigger chop. Same as with any competition style direct drive. No better, no worse than the other brands. Last, regarding a boat that is better for open water that can get rough, my choice is an outboard over an I/O. If skiing is a priority, the slalom wake is typically better than an I/O. Look at 90's to early 00's Glastrons and similar for example. The disadvantage is the lack of really effective swim step. But I personally would choose the wake over the convenience. And outboard will need to be powered properly to give a good deep water start, so no 115's. A 140-150 and up bare minimum on an 18' boat. My family has a family boat back in Puget Sound, and the anti-growth bottom paint my brother put on it (salt water) slows the boat down so it could use more than the 140 Johnson that is on it. And of course, it is not nearly as good a ski boat as a direct drive. For example. But otherwise a very versatile open water boat. IMO an I/O is not better and IMO worse. Mastercraft used to make a pretty cool outboard boat, but they are hard to find, and may be out of your range. I personally am glad we purchased our Malibu Response LX used last year, as the compromise works best for us. I just know I need to take it easy across the lake if the wind blows up big at all. I am not skiing or pulling wakeboarders or even tubers if it is blowing up much anyway. And the ski experience is just better. But it is all about what you prioritize most.

@JGray , not that it matters that much. Seems like most of us are just going to move on. But just curious. If it is any sort of hassle for you or your wife, don't worry about it.

@JGray , did any information ever come back from your wife's contacts?

@oldjeep , yeah thanks for that in the other thread. The Delo is in my Amazon cart for the end of this year. The only other thing I will add, is that in the other thread, I got the impression the issue with the backward compliance had to do with catalytic converters, which I don't have on my older Malibu Response. But I am no mechanic, so I would not rely on my impression. But bottom line, it was not necessary for me to replace the oil I had just changed in until after this season as per normal, but going forward, best to stick with mfr. specs as per the updated manual. (my manual originally called for 20/50). And the Delo qualifies with the updated specs. Therefore, Delo. Here is a link to that thread if anyone wants to read through it to draw their own conclusions: Rotella No Longer Qualifies

I ended up deciding not to change out the Rotella mid-season, but will just go with the Delo next time.

I have heard the Radar Katana can do both. I think HO makes one too. The guy in Boise has some in stock. I was interested in trying one for free skiing when the lake was not so great, at slower speeds for goofing around, when I don't want to be up at speed on my D3.

I switched over to the T-factors and have been happy. Stiff and responsive laterally. Made the ski feel "edgy" to me at first, but then I got comfortable with it. You might want to try that.

This one from our recent vacation makes me happy. My brother skiing with me driving, and my 17 year old son shooting the pic, in front of "The Brothers" of the Olympic Mountains, out at Seabeck, Hood Canal, WA.