buski

@eleeski I don't trick so bear with me. So it sounds like you go with no-release on hands, but release on toes? Are the falls that much different that you're not worried about a 1 foot in fall on hands but are on toes? Or do you also run a heel strap on hands to keep your back foot in? Or is it a just in case type of thing, since the release from the ski might mitigate the release from the pylon being slow?

I tried a double rubber but had little to no heel lift and that made starts quite a bit harder. I switch to stradas (more for my feet not cramping than the starts) and since you can move the heel a bit and I ran them loose anyway, starts were easy and I really liked the feel. Occasionally the bungee would come undone and I didn't like that feeling at all so figured RTP wouldn't feel right either (at least without some getting used to). I recently switched to a reflex and r-style. I'm liking the r style so far. Some people said they like to wear it with a tall liner and strap to make it feel tight and more like you're in a boot. Some people modified theirs to put another bungee to make it feel a bit tighter. I tried both, but then just started using it it as-is and like it just fine still. The extra bungee feels good but at least in dry testing, it felt like a little more potential for a partial or non-release for me (plus it's harder to get the liner in). I skied just fine without it so I'm just leaving it off. That said for the cost of it I wonder if I couldn't have just gotten used to an RTP, but c'est la vie.

@jhughes thanks for starting the thread the discussion has been very helpful. I'm not quite where you are yet but just started making a handful of 34mph passes at 15 off, but certainly don't own it yet. I don't ski tournaments so I don't necessarily have to stay on top of my 15 off passes at higher speeds, but do want to get up to speed and down the line to 28 off or more. @ the rest, I wonder if I (or others in similar position) wouldn't be better served dropping speed back again to 28 or 30 and start cutting and try to improve technique in order to run 22 and to start running 28 at the slower speeds before speeding back up?

I broke my ankle skiing a few of years ago and after all the reco's I ended up on Stradas. Most comfy bindings ever & super easy to get into. I'm not all that great a skier to begin with so there was no real transition and I always felt they skied fine. It must be my big feet though (I'm in 13-14's) because even with no tension on the bungee & just closing down the cord lock, almost all of my OTFs were partial releases. I didn't pull the bottom tight either, just snug. Finally I had a string of 3 of them within a week or two while trying harder passes, one of which tweaked my ankle for a week or so but no real damage. I decided I had to move on to something else before I got it worse. I miss them already from a comfort standpoint but didn't want to risk losing another season. I know nothing is perfect but I just felt I had to try something else.

Just got a new reflex. The release mechanism to measure tension in the back has a a big white plastic piece, not a red line as pictured in the documentation. Where on the white piece do I set the release from? I assume the bottom?

I had some large ho empires that felt pretty good. I wore a hole in the palm so ordered some 41 tails. Love the gloves, but the sizing was way different. Larges were huge, mediums are bigger than my old larges. I could probably wear a small even with liners underneath, but didn't want to send them back again to try.

Let us know what you try and settle on. I'm skiing about the same and starting to crack 34. My ski is opposite though and a little wide & long, thinking about a change once I'm more settled at 34.

@ShaneH what/where did they actually change for the TXi? I knew it was small but don't think I ever saw the details anywhere. This is probably a stupid question but if it's that small is there something that could be done to the existing LXi hulls?

http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index.php?/topic/29283-ssp-plate-for-response-lxi/ Don't think there were direct reports of it on an 07-11 lxi for slalom but seems like every other hull, even those it was designed for made the wake a lot harder. It was for footing anyway. If you try it though let us know.

For a weekly league, on the recreational side, what about something like Entry gate optional 2-3 rounds depending on time/# of people, 4 passes per round Everybody picks an "honest" opener Sum total # buoys rounded (even incomplete passes, so 24 max per round) Winner is the highest total If you hit win, -6 next week then move opener up a pass. Might also add a -3 or something if you hit max on any round but don't win. This way even somebody who doesn't ski a full pass consistently could put up a score each week and potentially even compete if they have a good day once the openers start moving up. I'm thinking mostly of my site where it's mostly people everyone knows (so no heavy sandbagging), and most of the people are at 15 off at 0-2 full passes (26/28 mph or something). They could potentially compete with the handful of 22-32ish off skiers once their opener has to be 28off+. What doesn't work or could be better?

@skijay @rico how do you like the technobutter vest? How does the fit/floatation compare to other comp vests?

Anyone know the size on the lower bungee? It's a smaller diameter than the upper. Or do you just replace them both with 3/16"?

I'm at 15 off and have played a little at 22. I love my LXi (07-11) and don't really regret not paying for the TXi since they were brand new at the time and out of budget. I've skied a few though, and they're a nicer wake where I'm skiing. If I were looking again and could find one within budget (or pretty close), TXi is the way to go.

@crashman nice report. What was your wife riding before? My wife is the same way. I picked her up a closeout off-season P6 this year to let her ride around pretty slowly but she hasn't made it out on it yet. So, how was the spray? I thought the Freeride's spray looked a little wimpy in Marcus' videos and if even he can't make a wall with it there's no hope for mortals like us. If the satori is better spray that's a good selling point for this kind of ski, hah. Get any videos?

What's the difference to the standard reflex boot? Or is it just another rebranding?

What did you think of the eagle suit? I guess I always figured at 1mm (and same concern about the blacktec) that it wouldn't be significantly warmer than just wearing a top & neo shorts which I already have. About what temp ranges did you use it?

For what it's worth I free ski at a similar level, am even slower in the course, and am also on public water. I have an S2 and really like it. Haven't tried the other skis but presumably the carbon one's would be fine, and if you can find a good used one would be comparable costs or maybe less.

@crashman interested to hear your thoughts. Thought about replacing my 'boat ski' with one at some point so I could also play around with it sometimes.

This is my second season in the course. I worked up to 15 off/30mph last season, like anybody else I want to improve consistency there and work up to at least 34, then start shortening. My local course won't be in the water until sometime in May, I hope to get out a number of times before then. The conditioning by itself is nice enough but I'd like to have some sort of focus to make the most out of the time between now and then. I'm familiar with a lot of different drills (Seth's whips/videos, Gordon's videos, holding a strong position on either side of the boat, etc etc). My issue is I'm not sure how best to really implement those. Sounds dumb, but what happens is I go out with the intention of working on specific drills or focus points on my body position,etc. I start out ok but usually just ski two long sets where I lose focus, get tired, and just end up skiing for the sake of skiing. That's fun but I don't feel like I accomplished anything. I'm also not sure of a great progression. Ie, do this drill to perfection before moving to the next one, etc. (Unless I just stepped through Gordon's videos in order). Anybody have the outline of a plan to follow? Should I still ski for roughly the length of a course or two and drop for each 'pass' so I can rest/re-focus or just ski long sets of wake crossings, whips, etc and just try to get better and focusing and sticking to one thing? Like most people at this level I need to improve my position and try to drill that in before the course gets in.

@Chuck_Dickey what would you say are the rough temp ranges on the 0.5 & the 2mm Camaro suits, or when do you use which suit?

@ShaneH 6'4", not freaky tall but up there. @lakeaustinskier thanks that's a good point of reference.

Thanks. I'm not looking to specifically but I only got that low (or a bit under) after I caught a bug in the spring and lost like 10 lbs. Maintained it for a bit but will probably creep back to a more steady state of 175ish (I'm pretty tall). I'll probably just stick with the 66.5 I don't think that was really holding me back as I've got a lot to work on.

I got on a used 66.5 S2 this season. I was about 170 or so this summer so it's probably about the right size, but I was skiing 28 &30mph still. I made great progress this year so I can't really complain but I'd say I never found tremendous consistency, at the peak my 28mph passes were maybe 3/6 or 4/6 and 30mph passes less since I was just learning them. (first season in the course). I like the ski and it was much better than what I was on, but I'm wondering if I shouldn't try picking up a 67.5 in the off season when things are a bit cheaper, and then just sell whichever one I don't keep. I hope to get up to 32mph at least next season but before that I really want to be much more consistent at the slower speeds. It was probably mostly technique related but I seemed to have trouble keeping speed up so the ski would finish the turn, and a lot of failed passes ended with a big hit after a turn and breaking. 170 is a bit light for me and I might be closer to 175-180 next year depending on how the off season goes. Do you think the 67.5 would be better but still be not a problem when I get up to 34? Or with another season under my belt will it not be a big enough difference to worry about? Also I'm kind of only considering an S2 so it doesn't look like I got another ski if you know what I mean :)

For what it's worth this was posted by Sully (the radar one) on teamtalk some time ago: