markn

Lucky to have plenty of ELR tournaments within an hour drive here in Clermont Florida. I remember when I first moved to Florida a guy asked me if I knew the difference between a Record tournament and C tournament in Florida. His answer was $100.00. In may cases in Florida, you can register for C or ELR at the same site/tournament. You get the same judges/drivers regardless. I drove and judged many C tournaments as a Senior Driver and Senior Judge while also doing the ELR portion.

The older I get, the less susceptible to marketing hype I become. Skied on my lake Monday and used the optima rope...ran 38. Went to Swiss on Tuesday, used a black Masterline...ran 38. My boat is a 2004 ZO Rev S. Swiss is a 2019 Rev S. I just like to ski.

Holy smoke Horton!! What is your time worth? Pull the re-bar and you could have the course in place in less than 2 hours ready to ski. Don't step over a dollar to pick up a penny!

The phrases "used a few days a year" and fast and dirty" tells me RC is not required....accu-float and just pull the old re-bar.

Have the opportunity to ski at Swiss a bunch and love it. With respect to the rope/carbiner set up, the reason for that is for the tension/pull load contest on the pro tour. For the other tournaments, they use HO ropes. I skied the Latin Senior Tour tournament earlier in the year and it was simply an HO rope ...felt good to me. FWIW, I did a comparison set after set, same boat, same driver with Master Line Optimized vs. Master Line black. I do think the Optimized rope absorbs slack line differently than the conventional rope. Less abrupt would be my description. Did 3 tournaments this year after 9 years off. 2 used HO ropes (Jack's and Swiss) and one used Optimized (Ski Fluid) and scores were within 2 buoys all three tournaments.

I agree. Listen to Chad!

Think Jody is very insightful on his comments....tons of variables. Same driver in 3 different boats and all three will feel different. That said, starting at 35 and then 38 and 39, the amount the driver "gives" becomes increasingly evident. While working up to senior driver, my mentor always said it was a "dance". The back of the boat will move, but the pylon should remain centered. How much the back moves is the "give" of the driver. No give and the pull feels firm, too much give and it will feel sloppy and lose at the buoy. A hard pulling skier or one who pulls long into a buoy can take too much from the "give" of the driver unexpectedly. Then when the skier goes into the pre-turn, the driver corrects and "pulls the skier into the buoy" trying to get back to center too quickly. Starting out, drivers (myself included) sort of drive gate to gate. This method results in over-correction and more frequent corrections...sometimes unnecessary. If one looks far down course, the line is easier to drive and far fewer corrections are needed. Thus same principle applies to driving a care too. Look just over the hood while driving. It will feel faster and you will correct your path frequently. Look far down the road and is feels slower and far few correction inputs are needed. I do think one handed driving is better, but my wife drives with two hands, but low on the wheel, not 10 and 2. Have videoed her path at 38 and pretty damn good.

Have to agree with Jody who is one knowledgeable guy when it comes to boats/driving. Older boats with ZO perform as well or better than the new stuff. As an example, the 1st and second place finishers in Men 6 at the Florida States trained behind 2004 and a 2006 ZO converted 196's respectively. A tournament skier does not need to ski behind the latest model to be competitive. From 32 off to 39 and 41 with ZO Rev S, other than some minor spray and slightly less tracking, nothing wrong with a 15 year old MC, Bu or CC. Yeah,my ZO display is not as "cosmic" as the new boats, but I love the pull and lack of wakes of my old 196.

Lakeside, you are too kind. Got up on 2 skis when I was about 12. When I was 35, we bought a lake cottage (in Indiana) and I was a typical I/O boater. When a buddy of mine and I were free skiing he asked if I ever shortened the rope. THAT question changed my life trajectory. Went to Florida to a ski school in 1994 and tried the course for the first time. 3 days and being sore beyond belief, I made my 1st and only pass on my last try. ( bet it was 26 mph and the driver had to weave!) I was hooked and still am! Keep at it. With desire and determination, you will keep progressing. Good luck.

Agree starting age has nothing to do with success. Being obsessed and tons of time on the water is the key. Bought a course and boat at the age of 39 in 1995 (after watching ESPN Hot Summer Nights) and ran 2 @ 39 in 2004 at my first Nationals. At age 63, have run 39 a few times this year @34 mph.

2 Skis: 12 Bought a course and a ski boat in 1995 at the age of 39.

Horton..and you thought you would never turn 3 ball...congrats! If you made it around 3, you can make it around 4!! Pretty darn goo skiing if you asked me. Regarding the gates, I tend to agree with you. Stick with what you know and possibly modify it if needed. Go back and watch Andy Mapple's slalom video...he runs 39 1/2 off starting in the white wash seeing "if I can make something out of nothing". Of course he is the all time GOAT. He always claimed gates are not "the be all and end all". This season, I am having more luck at 39 than I ever have. What I have noticed is you do need to create more speed through the gates and outbound to 1 ball and you cannot (at least I cannot) turn at the buoy. In the past, if I was late out of 1, figured I was done. In reality, even if down course, turn the ski hard and you will have sufficient angle to get to the next buoy. I feel later and further down course than 38, but getting used to it and not giving up thinking I am too late. I have been getting some coaching and for the gates, have been told to establish angle with an early, progressive turn in, then go hard. My problem has always been to go too hard too soon for the gates. The more you attempt 39, the better you will get. On a side note, watching you on that Denali, makes me want to give one a try. It is working well for you. Nice skiing.

My wife tried my old '66 1/2 Mapple T-1 and loved it. (currently on an older Radar Strada) She only skis at 26 mph free skiing and when she dropped, she said, "that is one hell of a ski". She thought it required less effort, turned better and was livelier and watching her ski, I agree. I think your hypothesis is correct!

Thanks for the reply! Knew he skied the Blue T-3 Mapple last year and was curious if he had changed. All the more reason to stay on my Mapple T-3!!

Anyone know what ski Jeff was on? Congrats to him for his 3rd BD title...2 back-to-back. Great skiing by all of the dawgs.

Even if the ski is light weight, depending on what bindings you use, they can double the weight of the ski. I agree with Liquid D...skier weight/strength and technique are far more important considerations.

Demo'd one in May. Had the ski set up by one of the HO team members.The way it was set up, best off side turn in the world. (could not make my opening 28 off, but from 32 down to 38 it was amazing) Did not have time to get it dialed in before the Traverse Grand Prix, but the ski is fast, solid and again, off-side turn was awesome.

Guess I am in the minority. Not a fan.

Second the recommendation on the Connelly Claw 3.0. Most durable, best fitting gloves I have ever used. The kevlar palm never shows any sign of wear. Great glove.

First tournament I did in 9 years. It was an absolute blast. The folks at Traverse worked incredibly hard to make a perfect week-end. You can go to the Traverse Grand Prix website and watch the video webcast. There are 3 different segments on the main screen menu. You can then watch all levels of skiing. Again, thanks to John Traverse and all the officials and support crews who made this possible.

FYI, not all tournaments use the new Master Line Optimized rope. I did 3 tournaments this year...2 used HO and one used Master Line. All the ropes felt great...after practicing with them prior to the tournaments.

Today's Wall Street Journal reported MasterCraft Boat Holdings stock has tumbled 33% and Malibu Boats has dropped 29% in the past 3 months while the S&P is up an additional 2.9%. Concern is enthusiasm for big ticket items such as boats is waning. That is a rather significant pull back in a short period of time. Hope no fellow Ballers own the stocks.....unless you shorted them. Just wanted to report current trends in the industry and hope it turns around quickly.

Because I believe in the rule of law and if there is no legal basis, there is no reason to sign the petition.

The conversion is worth it for sure. I run an old 196, now single puck REV S and have skied behind a 2019 Malibu, Master Craft and Nautique. All feel very similar. Make the investment without hesitation.

Sethro, you ask a very good question regarding potential disadvantage training behind older boats for tournament skiing. Did my first two tournaments in 10 years this season. Have skied behind my old ZO converted 2004 Nautique 196 the majority of the time over those 10 years. Have also skied behind the Nautique 200 and the two tournaments I did were behind the new 2019 Ski Nautique. Also just skied behind a 2019 Master Craft (first time behind any boat but a Nautique for 10 years) My boat has single puck REV S and I find the pull is very similar to the new boats. In my opinion, if the boat has ZO REV S, old boats are no disadvantage. I run C2+ on my boat and used C2 on the Nautiques and the Master Craft. I skied within 2 or 3 buoys of my practice average....skiing at Swiss, Eden and Ski Fluid...all different lakes and drivers. Jody Seal converted my boat in 2009 and it continues to work flawlessly. (Thanks again Jody!!) 2 years ago I had to decide to re-power or buy a new boat. I opted to re-power rather than spend $50K plus on a newer boat. My boat, with new engine and tranny has 300 hours on it, and is still, at 15 years old, a reliable slalom tug with great wakes and a ZO pull.