Waternut

@ozski I'm not sure that's the best comparison because the Helix is a more aggressive/faster ski and also has a wider recommended weight range than the Quest. I don't know your weight but I'm betting that you're inside the recommended weight for both sizes in the two different ski's.

They are awesome! I was struggling to do everything including sitting and standing when I was 25-28. Lasted for years with varying degrees of pain regardless of what I did. Bought an inversion table and used it a couple times a day for a few months and honestly haven't had much trouble ever since. I'd hang at first and then do some crunches which really helped my abs as well. Short of doing something stupid or using it inappropriately after having back surgery, I'm not really sure how you can screw anything up. Buy one! They are under $100 at most sports stores even if you don't wanna wait. Then learn how to use it! The one posted above looks cool but part of my recovery was aided by the ability to do crunches and sit ups which would be difficult without the ankle attachment.

Man I started watching these this afternoon and when I got back from the lake, someone apparently tattled about some music that was in the videos so they all got muted....weak!

You will get the things you're after with just about any new ski. No doubt about it.

Well I can tell you that 4 years ago, I talked to someone about a skiing lesson to help my free skiing. Told him I enjoyed free skiing and really had no raging desire to learn the slalom course. Since he skied the course, he convinced me that attempting it would give him a better idea of what I need to work on and in turn would likely make free skiing more fun. A year later, I got in contact with someone else who owned a course near me and barely could run the course 28mph. Now 3 years later, I'm up to 34mph and nearly running 35off. My recommendation is, go to www.ski-it-again.com. Pick up a 2013 ski or newer for fairly cheap and give it a shot. It will definitely change the way you ski and you never know....you may want to give the course a shot in a year or two because of it leading to a new passion.

Having been on a 2 different D3 Quests that were on both ends of size due to my own weight fluctuating so much, here are my experiences. Turning when in perfect shape coming into the buoy makes little to no difference provided you've tweaked your bindings and fin to suit your normal style of skiing. When you come into the buoy too fast and/or narrow, the shorter will be easier to get around the buoy but harder to make a smooth/clean turn so you will have to exercise some extra patience. The larger ski will want to keep going and requires more effort to slow down but will make a cleaner turn without wanting to stop. In this case, the shorter ski is more cooperative and forgiving IMO. When you get to the buoy really early, the shorter ski will be much more inclined to break you at the waist BEFORE the buoy because it starts to dive down into the water. The larger ski will keep you moving and will be more tolerant of poor handle control. In this case, the longer ski is more forgiving. Binding placement and wing adjustments can help bring the two ski's more in line with each other but inevitably, one will work a little better for you than the other depending on your style and your level of fin tweaking ability. IMO, if your fin tweaking skill is lacking, you're better off with the larger ski since the stock numbers will be closer to what you need.

Form over function... When given the choice between a passionate but ugly 200lb woman who loves skiing and is a good cook vs a beautiful woman who only wants to ride in the boat and can't cook, the choice is usually the hot girl with rationale thrown out the window. Granted for a reputable company it obviously takes a conscious decision to purposely degrade functionality for the sake of aesthetic purposes. Both cases are stupid.....but I understand. haha

Sounds like a cool book. Is there a quick reference chart anywhere in that book? Most times I make fin adjustments I have to go to 3-4 different sites because everyone uses different language which may or may not make sense to what I'm trying to accomplish. Some use the terms like this will raise tip or lower tip which is honestly a bit vague, some say that this adjustment will fix a skiing problem, some say this will change how the ski reacts at certain points, etc. edit: Just remembered @skijay was the guy who watched a couple videos of me skiing and recommended a few fin tweaks which improved my skiing more than any of the 5 pro lessons I've had. With that in mind, I think will be on my "to buy" list.

For a course/tournament specific boat, this might be ok but there is no way I would buy one. I don't know about you guys but half the reason for going out and skiing is friendship and if you isolate the driver to where he can't even talk to his friends in the boat, that would suck. Might as well advertise it as "the perfect boat for the married man who hates his wife and doesn't want to hear the kids". I joked about not being able to see the hot girls in the bow seats if the driver was in front in a previous thread but realistically, this style of boat would make driving a chore instead of a joy.

You've definitely got a solid foundation in open water but like most of us, that goes downhill in the course. A lot of that is because you're now turning where you have to and not necessarily where you want to. I'm sure others will coach better but here are my thoughts... Grip change feels really goofy but honestly it's incredibly easy to make feel right. Getting up and skiing straight is what's really awkward but once I started skiing the course or even open water, I would completely forget about the grip and it just became natural pretty quickly. Don't think "more weight on the front". Think about flexing your ankle forward and pushing your knee over your toe. If you do that, the only way to feel balanced is to push your hips forward and lean back. If you're overturning your onside too easily, try moving your back binding closer to the front and see if it helps.

For $500, if I hadn't just bought a 2015 model, I would've bought that.

2014 66" on the pink ski meant for women had a max weight of 170lbs. 66" for the men had a max weight of 180lbs. Could be that one is meant for 34mph and the other is meant for 36mph but either way, if you're on the upper limit of the weight, the ski won't be ideal. You've got double boots and if you wear a heavy lifejacket, you're probably even over the ideal weight. http://www.rideradarronix.com/2014_radar_brochure/ To help counter your weight, you can try moving the bindings back a little but either way, you should verify the fin settings. I seriously doubt the previous owner/owners beat the life out of the ski. It's either a weight issue, fin/binding issue, or you've altered your technique in such a way for a previous ski that doesn't work on the newer ski's.

USPS gets around the import tax somehow. I can understand when the Canadians ask for USPS for that very reason. I got some snow ski boots shipped a couple months ago from someone in Canada and paid almost 10% extra because of it. Really cuts into the deal that you thought you got....

If you strengthen your biceps, the next weak link is your elbows and that doesn't heal as fast. If you grip the handle in your fingertips rather than your palms, it's harder to roll your hands in and bend your elbows when you load up the rope. If you don't have the strength to do that in the course, at least do it before and after the course.

@Toddf I have a tendency to ride my back foot a little and that really causes the ski to dive right at the buoy or coming out of the buoy as I stand up and shift forward. So basically the lack of surface area of the smaller ski either causes the ski to dive and nearly stop before the buoy or overturn out of the buoy. It is funny because when I got the 68" ski, it was back to skiing well again. Then this year it was the exact opposite effect as I started losing that same weight of 7-8lbs over the summer. I started getting to the point where I could no longer turn the ski and couldn't slow it down until I pushed the bindings back up.

By handful I mean, very little forgiveness. Coming in a little too late, turning a little too hard, reaching a little too early, being a little too fast, etc. would all shut me down or put me in a worse position at the next buoy. I could still ski to around the same buoy count but it was much harder to get there and would often require multiple attempts to get through 28 and 32off. Caveat with me not being the best skier in the world but when I could get into 35off or at least deep into 32off at the beginning of the season and as I gained some weight towards mid/late season, it got harder and harder to get to the same place.

Yeah I did all of the binding and fin tweaks as the summer progressed but ultimately it got to the point where I felt the 67" quest just wasn't the right ski size for me anymore. When I went back down to 180lbs this summer, the 68" quest was still a good size but I had to push the bindings up.

I'm your same height, weight, and ski the same speeds. 67" vapor should be fine but you'll need a 68" Quest. 67" D3 quest will be too small IMO and didn't give me enough forgiveness. To clarify, I enjoyed the 67" Quest when I weighed 175-180lbs but as my weight reached 188lbs through the summer, it was a handful. The 67" Helix must have a little more surface area because the weight range is higher and should be ok for you but I never skied on the Helix.

Soreness at the base of the bicep is more from pulling with bent elbows. I know what you mean and I had it last night. It typically happens when I'm skiing more defensively due to rough water. It's not a soreness I get often when I ski on smooth water.

I think the right blue's look the best but I honestly think it depends more on the color scheme than the actual colors themselves. However, when the right boat comes around for the right price, I don't give a crap what color it is. I dislike my Malibu Response which is the tan, cream, and hunter green but I got it with PP, wedge, monsoon engine, and machined prop for about $4k-$5k less than what an optionless carbureted Response came with and would've bought it if it was pink and purple....granted I would've painted it immediately but I still would've bought it.

Honestly I think you should ski it at least 3-4 times at factory settings before you start trying to adjust anything. It's a much newer and more dynamic ski and will take a little getting used to. Just ride it out a few weeks and if it's still not doing what you want, then let us know.

I think it's a cool idea in theory but how would you implement it? Harder pull on your offside to account for your lack of angle which could pull you OTF. Softer pull on your offside account for your lack of angle potentially putting you even further down course? I just don't see how it could help. The only way I could see it being beneficial was if you implement a multi-stage pulling system that hits you softly at first and ramps up quickly. Although isn't that kind of what ZO does already with the different settings? Adjusts the ramp up time and intensity?

68" skis only come in the high end skis because they have a smaller window to work in. For a mostly open water skier working on different speeds, the 69 will be a great ski.

Maybe but hard to say. You have to remember you've been on the same ski for nearly 20 years. That ski will be very worn out and arthritic plus will also have very old technology. Now you're jumping on ski's that are much newer and much more alive and have the technology to help you ski better. You've also learned subconsciously what has to be muscled and what doesn't so if the new ski turns in easy and your old ski didn't, you're forcing something beyond your ability. You also need to measure where your bindings are going. Most people have their front binding within about 1/4" of what is recommended from the factory and if you put your bindings in the middle hole on the ski, it could feel like a wild animal because there is no telling where that binding really is.

When you're in double bindings tied to the same release mechanism, one foot is pulling up and the other is pushing down. Especially in an OTF fall, the ski is pushing into your back foot keeping the mechanism from releasing. When I was on the old HO EXO bindings where both bindings were tied to a stiff metal bar, the only time the bindings released (even after lowering the spring tension A LOT) was when I was on my side and the ski was dragging in the water. Loads of crushing OTF falls during that time since I was still learning and not once did the bindings release like they were supposed to. Thankfully, I was still going 28-30 mph so no serious injuries but I've still got a few nagging problems that sneak back up from those days.