estrom

@eleeski - can your wife call my wife and give her some pointers about supporting me so I can "work" on my hobbies more??

um...you do realize how wimpy it sounds that hitting that little white sphere sitting on a tee causes pain?? Maybe stick to pee-wee golf?

Nice - an early Christmas present to me! Good thing we can ski all through the winter here.

Dang. I thought it was going to be a screw in your binding or something. Are they replacing it or just leaving it out?

red tail ale and lagunitas ipa are what I use to replenish those electrolytes and other necessary vits.

Something occured to me regarding his handle control. This is more of a question, so any of you more accomplished ballers please confirm, or tell me I'm off my rocker here. It appears as though Matt begins the reach with a low handle and then raises it as he reaches the buoy. But I don't think that's the case. If you look at the handle's height relative to the water, it doesn't change. As Matt is lowering his body, he's keeping the handle at the same height all the way through the turn (making it look like he's raising the handle). And if we had another 1 or 2 shots in the sequence, I'm guessing that handle height is pretty darn close to where his hips end up after the turn. I think it's another testiment to a very quiet handle.

He has two good ankles.

Snapping turtles and gars - where are you guys skiing??

@gator1, how does the system work with double rubber boots screwed into the inserts on the ski? What releases when the gatormod is activated?

@Horton, the bindings would probably fit better if you turned the ski around.

And if you reach to the boat to initiate the turn-in, copy Regina and simply drop the handle leaving your arms straight. Avoid pulling the handle back in with your arms.

Well, you're right - crappy picture, but cool boat nonetheless! Congrats!

@Than_Bogan, yes, same for window stickers. If you know someone at a sign shop or anywhere that works with vinyl or decals, they may let you borrow a bottle of solvent that you just spray and wipe to get rid of residue.

Brilliant plan by the way of draining the gas tank the night before so that the boat conveniently runs out of gas a long ways away from anyone else leaving you two alone!

@TheBigHead, where is that? That looks like some serious wind protection.

true. lots of trial and error...or throwing stuff on the wall to see what sticks!

@Horton, I'll just provide a couple of comments from a lay man's perspective. First, I completely get what you initially set out to do and continue to do with this site. I'm 50/50 on the idea of somehow indentifying the skiing capabilities of each person. I'm not against it, but not entirely sure it's necessary. If a person takes the time to hang out here, it doesn't take very long to get some sort of idea who most people are and their skiing ability/coaching ability. I can read a thread having to do with technique and know who I will give more credence to with their comments. After a watching for a while, I don't need to see some form of skier rating to figure out whose comments I pay close attention to. Besides, most folks will begin their comments with some sort of qualifier like, "I'm at the same level as you..." or "I'm a -28 skier...". And to take it a step further, ball count doesn't necessarily equate to coaching ability. I think there's a couple of -35 guys who can identify and communicate concepts more clearly than some that get into -38 and beyond. That's true in any sport. As for the Advanced Topic idea, I really enjoy sitting back and watching "round table discussions" from those who are really advanced. I don't like the idea though, that the conversation is completely closed. Someone at -22 or -28 (I would not include these in this advanced category) might have a legitimate question as to how the concept being discussed will help them move to -32 or beyond. Having an Advanced Topic category is great and I think most of us who aren't qualified for that group will know that and would be happy to sit back and watch. I just don't like the completely closed concept because, although I wouldn't pretend to know enough to interject my ideas, I might have a good question relating to the topic for the advanced folks that are talking/discussing. Great site @Horton. It's working well and I know I've learned a ton from hanging here.

No worries @Horton. As someone who has never been in a tournament and rarely even gets on a course, I find this site very helpful and enjoyable. My regular ski friends and I are always trying to help each other improve our skiing, even if it is open water skiing. We don't have buoys to measure against, but we're a group of pretty good skiers and can help each other out with technique/form. I liken it to golf a little bit and this is where I completely disagree with @Avon. I will usually post a score of 80+/- on a typical day of golf. That's playing the ball down, counting penalty strokes, etc... My playing partners often request help with their swing and I am happy to oblige, but according to @Avon, I should keep my trap shut since I don't play many golf tournaments either.

I would check fuses as well.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner - @Wish!

So you're saying there's a chance???

It would be a struggle, but I think I could manage to live there.

I'm VERY impressed that you can pull off the tic-toc manuever while running the course. That's awesome!

That's a great looking site. Out of curiosity, where is that?

@Razorskier1, your handle control sounds exactly like what CP does. I don't believe he reaches or anything. Just moves the handle across from right hip to left hip as he turns in.