XR6Hurricane

Not sure what lake he's on. It's either Tellico or Watts Bar I think.

I have to go to Tennessee for work in a few weeks and the vendor I'm visiting is an avid skier. He has already "threatened" to take me skiing, which would be great. Thinking of taking my own ski with so I'm on one that I'm familiar with. Was thinking of just boxing it up with some padding and FedEx'ing it down there a few days before. Anyone have any opinion about whether this is better/safer than checking it on a plane in a hard case?

1) 1-2 times per week, sometimes more if on vacation 2) Live 10 minutes from a river and 2 blocks from a lake. River is first choice. 3) More or less, depends on their schedule but one is retired and the other is an airline attendant with weekends and some weekdays off. Multiple boats available. 4) No club, just friends. 5) Nearest skiing 2 blocks away. Best skiing this side of Minnesota is 10 minutes away. 6) Best suggestion I can make is move as close to skiable water as possible, and just plain get out there and talk to some people. Don't overlook public water...I met several of my skiing partners by just pulling up and striking up a conversation one morning while I was out for a boat ride on the river. Skied with them the following weekend and now I'm one of their "thirds" that they rely on for spotting and driving. I had all but given up trying to ski regularly. Keep at it.

A stillshot pulled from the GoPro vid that I took this morning.

Gas may be more expensive than it should be but I don't understand the overall recent panic about prices. If you ask me they are relatively stagnant the last few years. Here in Chicago it's a good $0.80/gallon cheaper than it was in the summer of '08. I clearly remember $80 to top off my truck when it was empty and it took $61 to do it yesterday.

@harrison The attitude around here, even among non-skiers, is "A helluva lot of good THAT'S gonna do..." We'll see I guess. @foxriverat - No spotter, and you are able to tip each other off when the cops are going to be out there? You guys are my heroes!

@ToddL I couldn't agree more and was going to comment on the booze too, but didn't want to stray too far off topic. The heart of the problem, as I see it, isn't the inexperience, the idiocy, or even the drinking in and of itself. It is the mentality that boating is just another gateway to getting wasted. The people in question are not boaters and therefore they take no interest in becoming responsible or good drivers. They are partiers first and boaters a very distant second. It's gotten dramatically worse in recent years too - all you have to do is look at what types of boats are selling the best. Deck boats and pontoons are all people want. I'd hate to see things get to the point that nobody could enjoy a cold beer on a boat, but quite honestly an all-out ban wouldn't affect me because I don't drink anymore. It would also weed out those who don't have a passion for the water and are just using it as another means to binge drink. Your comment about them not thinking a trip to the lake is complete without open containers is right on. Since when was going skiing or just for a boat ride not good enough, and not enough fun? You can get plowed in your living room a helluva lot cheaper.

@swc5150 What can I say other than that was a good example of how a FIBs are treated in Wisconsin every day. Seriously though, the requirement is posted at most ramps but if you launched at a hole in the wall it may not have been. Back on topic, I agree with the notion that the flag's effect is lost by the fact that it's up all the time. More government intrusion with little to no benefit...but that is what they are good at.

@MS Chicago is a third world nation and it's time that everyone in this state woke up to that fact and booted it out of ours. I don't think the flag will make a bit of difference, but I guess after almost 40 years on the water I'm still not as smart as a freshman state senator.

The state senator whose nephew got run over by the drunk cokehead on Petite Lake two years ago got her way and our darling governor signed it into law over the holiday weekend. Flag has to be flown the entire time the skier isn't in the boat, starting next year. At any rate, the law is the law...my boat has a low Lexan windshield so now I need to figure out how to mount one to the pylon since it's the highest point in the boat and the only way to get it above our line of vision. The only good part is along with it came tougher BUI laws allowing the seizure of boats for multiple offenses, and anyone born after 1998 has to hold a certificate from a boating class to operate a boat over 10 horsepower. Unfortunately no new laws were passed to prevent politically connected attorneys from renting pontoon boats and towing their kid in the busiest traffic lane on the Fox Chain at 4 PM on a 95 degree Saturday in July.

While marine engines do see more rpm, and ski boats see a lot of starting and stopping, there is one factor that everyone ignores. The lake is the worlds biggest Buick Dynaflow transmission (as in, fluid drive) which absorbs the shock to the drivetrain and ultimately the motor. Not like tires biting into the concrete and shifting gears under hard acceleration. Pretty tough to actually wear out an engine on even the cheapest of today's oils if you follow the owner's manual.

Here's one more photo with the wall cut out. Shows how close the wall came to smashing the Vacturi carburetor on the 1936 Johnson. None of the motors had a mark on them. Definitely a lucky break as the 1928 Evinrude has a pot metal carburetor that is very fragile and the carb was facing the wall.

Western Lake County, IL got hit with some nasty straight line winds (probably 75-80 mph) plus a twister yesterday about 4:30 PM. Big maples looked like a giant hand was shaking them and it rained about 3-4 inches in a half hour - sideways at times. Pictures show what's left of the storage shed that my grandfather built in 1955. The fact that it was still standing at all is a tribute to true 2 x 4s made of Douglas fir. The picture taken through the window is the definition of what it means to "get lucky". The motor on the far left is a 1928 Evinrude, next to it a 1940 Elto, and the one closest to the camera is a 1936 Johnson. We cut a hole in the wall with my chain saw and got all of the motors out this morning with no damage. Could have been a helluva lot worse.

Agree with the clincher gloves. One of my ski partners has a considerably weakened hand that stemmed from a broken neck when she was 20 (she is now mid 50s). She was temporarily paralyzed but recovered, except the hand issue is one of the permanent results. She wears the clincher gloves specifically for that reason and I skied with her for a whole season before I even knew she had a problem.

Looks like it is swamped, the way it sits in the water. Good to see an entry level boat available though. Not everyone has 100 grand in their pocket.

Sorry John, that sucks. Especially so early in the season. Seems like body parts and boats never break down in October.

@clskier Yes, we had some heavy rain but the no wake order has been lifted now. It was unrelated. The proposal was opposed by 100% of the people in the crowd who spoke, and 100% of the board. Standing room only at the village hall. Link to the Herald article: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20140514/news/140519243/

Bumping this one to the top...see attachment. It is officially on the agenda for this coming Tuesday. Everyone and anyone in the general area who can help us exceed the fire code at the village hall is welcome to come (non-residents really aren't able to comment but we need BODIES there). If you are in the general area, this affects you. Restrictions on lakes in this area are growing like a cancer. Thanks.

Alligators are really no problem. I skied in Louisiana when I was there and would rather be there than Florida. Pretty much the same weather, but fewer people and fewer Buick drivers in the left lane.

Actually it is not where I do most of my skiing - but we own property with rights to it and do a fair amount of boating there. Mostly I ski on the river now because the water conditions are better. My beef with this whole thing is what it does to the boating in general there, and the principle of the matter. bojans- you have a private message.

I know the person very well, for almost 25 years. He is a former neighbor. The kind of guy who thinks that whatever suits him best at the time is what everyone should do. He has since gained some political clout. He and his cronies even voted themselves a two digit raise at the height of the recession. Despite all of this, I'd like to think that this hare-brained idea is truly a move at what he thinks is right for the lake, and just lacks reason and common sense. But knowing the guy I can't help but think there is an ulterior motive.

I am actually in the Socialist Republic Of Northern Illinois, but thanks...I have already suggested to a village board member that they may want to think twice before ramming through a village ordinance on a state-owned lake without their blessing.

Looking for some input and ideas from people who have dealt with this sort of thing. My 300 acre hometown lake is divided into a main basin that is ~200 acres, and a bay that is ~100 acres. The bay is an important relief for overflow traffic from the main part of the lake, and serves as an "out" for watersports drivers when the counter-clockwise traffic pattern isn't timed right and you need to take a wider pass around the lake. A proposal has been made to close the bay to high speed traffic and make it no wake only. Aside from the huge pain this creates for property owners who moor their boats in that part of the lake, the bigger problem is that it is a HUGE safety concern. This is a very congested lake and cramming the existing watersports, PWCs, and joy riding into roughly 2/3 of its former area will only make it worse and create a more dangerous traffic situation if a skier/tuber/wakeboarder falls. So far it is being done on the sneak and almost nobody knows about this. I am trying to help get the word out and these are my plans/thoughts so far: - Letter to the editor - Posts on my Facebook feed (or create a new Facebook page specifically for it?) - Print flyers explaining the poor logic and failed arithmetic of this proposal, and rubber band them to people's pier posts or slip them under the boat covers. Should be no problem doing that as people rubber band ads to my front door all the time. I'm thinking that if we idle around from pier to pier with my little fishing boat we can make good time and this will hit more of our target audience than going door-to-door. Also thinking of going around and handing the flyers to other boaters on the lake. - Possibly park trucks / boats / complete rigs in town with signs on them alerting everyone of the meeting. - Short video blog explaining the proposal in detail and its counter-arguments Any other ideas? Thanks.

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I'm in northern Illinois. A lifetime of boating, skiing, fishing, motorcycling, and hiking has taught me one very important thing: If you wait for good weather, you'll never go.