Edbrazil

@stevieboy Yes, there was an issue of Waterski mag depicting a monorail-type device. I will see if I can find it. It was part of an article about the future that I wrote, back in the early 1980s.

Watchdog: Every once in a while, you really need an M80.

Citing the @horton original comment: In the prime of my jumping career, I threw out my back in the AM, when I bent over to spit out into the sink after brushing my teeth.

Following up on the snow ski comments, even though getting a bit off-topic. This is a story from about 1959, when snow bindings were evolving and a bit primitive. A buddy had broken his leg skiing, so I got the "safest" bindings: Miller bindings. Where there was a metal lug screwed into the toe and heel of each boot. Before boot standardization. The company had a $1,000 guarantee (About $8,700 today) if you broke a leg with the bindings set by the shop installer. Got out of the car, and clicked into the skis (snow on the parking lot back then). Slid ahead about 3-4 steps, and walked out of the bindings. The ski brake flipped down and broke off. Cheapie white metal. EZ to make that guarantee when the bindings are set so light. At least, with waterski bindings, we are ahead of that era in snow ski release bindings. Side story: I used snow ski bindings on my jumpers in 1968--1969. Lange Standard boots and Look Nevada bindings. 3rd in the 1969 Eastern Regionals. Trivia Question: Who came in 4th place?

Happening now in Chile. Lots and lots of divisions of competition. To follow it and check results, go to: http://www.iwwfed-ea.org/classic/19CHI005/ Slalom, Trick, Jump, and Overall. Individual and team scoring. I couldn't find an appropriate category to post in, so called it "Jump". Currently, for some reason, the Live results is not keeping up to date.

Site is next to a race track, at least it was there last I visited. Where one of the events was figure-8 school bus racing.

Back around 1964, Al Tyll put together about 18 tricks in one pass. Lots of overwhelmed judges who couldn't keep up with Al. He used to hand out annotated trick lists.

First Picture, from TV. Amazing they get his name wrong.

The old Marine World site in Redwood City, CA was only about 1050' long. Pro jump tournament there starting in 1974. Had to do whip-style jumping. Later on, they even did 4-buoy slalom.

Current prediction (9:45am Wed) is for the storm to go to the East of these sites, so they would get a milder version of Michael, as the winds are discounted by the storm's forward speed. Big concern may be jump ramps, that they don't go flying away.

Such an event would certainly need big $$$ prize money.

Note that the Rules (Rule 18 IWWF. Rule 18.07) only time the first segment. And allow the boat speed to climb 8 kph in the 41m segment, although that isn't measured. I wonder if ZO can be set up for a 72 kph boat speed in jump, with the current software version. May need some special ZO software. Wonder what they did for Freddy's jumps at the Throwdown event?

In a word: NO. The Ski Fly boats circa year 2000 were special boats, such as the Mastercraft Beast and the Correct Craft USA1. Art Cozier and Rob Shirley would know more details, but they were probably in the range of 500 hp. Note: Men speed 72 kph (44.7 mph) Women 66 kph (41.0 mph). High-hp boats are needed.

I wonder if this event could get revived. Not as a regular event, but as a special event maybe just once a year. With a proper site and plenty of time for training. At least a week-long deal, with lots of practice and even coaching. Thinking of initially just for Open Men and Open Women. FYI, the ski flying records are 312' men and 228' women. An interesting comparison is with standard jumping and snow ski flying. Waterski Mens jump record: 254'. Snow ski flying record: 253.5 meters. Now, if we could only find a lake with a hill in it.

Getting a bit off the original topic, but is anyone aware of a gator attack on a skier in Florida, at any time? How about at Cypress Gardens on a relatively large lake on all the years since the 1940s? You'd think if there had been a gator attack, it would be well-known in the ski world.

In the Back When (~1965), I did an engineering school project on composite water skis. I made up a pair of jumper skis that had Aluminum tops (6061T6) and a foam core. Foam was 2-part liquid that was foamed in place. Skis turned out OK. Took them to Florida on Spring Break, and they skied well. Then tried them on the ramp, and they failed on the 2nd jump. Not the Aluminum sheets, but the foam core. The foam just had to adhere to the Al and hold the shear stress, but the landing shock did it in. Nice clean failure in the ski's forebody. Later on, I got a special shock-recorder cube and fastened on a wood jumper ski. There was an inked ball inside, and the size of the blob it made was related to how many gs experienced. Device typically used for putting in shipping crates. When I used it for a few jumps and then reviewed the blob pattern, it apparently was out-of-range, as in something like 400 gs. Realized just how much stress on on jump skis. No wonder that they now use a composite design like an airplane wing, with honeycomb Aluminum as the core. Project got me a good mark, anyway. I did more than just construct skis, but did math analysis, which also included the forces, accelerations, and velocities acting on a skier. So, I got the BSME degree and went off to Real Work. Saucier and EP did a better job on ski design, and wooden jump skis went out of use after a few short years.

A few years back, in 2009, I stuporvised course installations at a site near Halifax, sponsored by the Perfect Pass people. The site is used most all the time for rowing training & events, though, and I don't think the ski courses are used for practice. The idea was that the site would host a Canadian Regionals and then a Nationals later on, with thoughts about a pro event. I don't know if any events have happened there after we did the work.

Back in the Olde Daze, the Nationals used to be late in August, around August 20th. I like the Labor Day idea. Coming originally from the East, that maximizes the training time, which may not start until mid-May or later in the more Northern parts of the Eastern Region. Here is the story of one Easterns: I remember the year (1965) when the Eastern Regionals were the weekend before the Nationals. That tournament was unable to safely finish on Sunday. Note this was before there were more Men divisions (M1, M2, Open), so everyone 17-34 was in the event. And also when you had 3 jumps, 2 passes, and a fall out of course. The event also had 3-4 out-of-region skiers. Ended up with about the last 4 jumpers skiing in the dark, and I mean DARK, as in cars lining up on the bank to turn on their headlights. I don't think that the Chief Judge ever judged again. Lucky that someone wasn't killed or seriously hurt. The next year, 1966, the AWSA Rules cut down jumping to 2 jumps. Very unpopular, and lasted maybe just one year.

A bit off-topic, but I like the 'trick' that high-end skiers tend to use. Their personal towlines don't have 15 off or 22 off, and maybe not 28 off. Someone asks to use your towline? Oh, sure, here you go, heh-heh-heh. Think I remember Mark Crone first doing this with his personal line, many moons ago.

Back in the Tour-ing days, I was responsible for checking the towlines during the event setup, and keeping an eye on them for signs of significant wear. At one event, we were supplied with new lines. I checked one, and it was about a full meter long. Seems that the company supplied 2 types of lines: one with loops down to 38 off (11.25m), and their top one, with added loops at 10.75m ("39") and 10.25m ("41). Seems that one of those lines had gotten matched up with the leader section for their other type line. Fortunately, found and fixed before the event, or about everyone would have been running 41 in the prelims.

Night "live" video is at least one minute behind the live scoring. And prone to hiccups.

For subbuoys, you might look to Atlantic & Gulf: www.atagulf.com and type in a search for "floats". Quite a range there, including the standard-type ones, and ones with tougher(?) materials, such as the FLTYQE-6. See: https://secure.atagulf.com/catalog/english/24.pdf

When you have jumped all your competitive career, you feel like you are in Men6 long before your age says you are.

Some strange results from the alignment with the World Rules. I know a top M5 jumper who will have to go back into M4 next year, for one year, and then back to M5.

Added notes: I like to use 2 1/2 inch schedule 40 PVC for the gates (10' piece), and 2 inch schedule 40 PVC going out to the buoys, with a short piece of 2 1/2 where the 2 smaller pipes join. 2 inch fits inside of 2 1/2 inch. The latter size can be a bit difficult to find.