SocalWaterSki

Not a ski photo, but makes me happy. http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b9/Removeb4flight/905485_997029572978_919180824_o_zpsbe3392cd.jpg

I wish I was able to ski this time of year. Yeah, I'm hitting the powder back at home, but right now I'm stuck in Oklahoma for the next 3 weeks. Anyone in OKC or Dallas that feels like freezing for a bit?

@Skoot1123 - That's in Turnagain Arm south of Anchorage by about an hour. @jimbrake - I lived in Anchorage for 4 years, so I have a ton of friends up there. I fly free, so I get around as much as possible. This year I've been to Alta, Brighton, Park City, Canyons, Solitude, Deer Valley, Vail, Aspen, Taos, Mt. Rose, Kirkwood, Squaw, and of course Mammoth. Pulled 2 days with Utah's Powderbird guides, and am scheduled to go with Chugach Powder guides later this season. I basically live my summers at the lake skiing, on the mountain climbing or biking, and competing in ironman and half ironman events. In the winter, it's the off season, I'm skiing like crazy and off season biking swimming and running. I'm on the plane out to Salt Lake again as I type this.

Off season for me... Ironman Texas, Canada, and Arizona training... oh and I've pulled 36 days on the slopes so far.... Photo is from my most recent trip to alaska... no lifts where we were. That was all skinning.

Depends on when in the summer you come down this way. If you want a course, those are harder to find and further away... if you just want to get out and ski, marine stadium is right up the road.

done and done

For those of you in SoCal, recently we lost the last remaining great ski shop. I've been out of town a lot lately and I swung by endos the other day only to find that kent closed his doors for good. Kent, if you're still out there, you sir were an inspiration. I've been coming to your shop since I was born. Every ski related purchase anyone in my family ever purchased came from your shop and by your recommendation. My parents have been coming to you since you opened your doors. There was never a question of where I was going to buy any of my gear. No online vendor will ever be able to replace your expertise, nor do they have your love for the sport. I spent many an hour talking to you, picking your brain, letting you help me improve my skiing. I for one am at a loss as to where I'm going to buy next years syndicate.. 30 years of seeing your smiling face anytime I came into your shop. 30 years of the best customer service, the best advice, and the most love for the sport. Thank you for all you did for my family and I. Enjoy your retirement kent, you have definitely earned it. If you ever see me around the lake, make sure to flag me down. I owe you a beer.

Anyone up for some powder skiing?

My condo in Park City might be available when you go... message me when you know the dates. If it's open, it's yours. BOS pricing = leave beer in the fridge. good beer please... no pbr

Just got back from salt lake. Granted I'm a skier, park city was great if you wanted the "experience" your girlfriend would love it. Great town great people. The snow was incredible. I however like alta, which if you board, won't work for you. I'm a get out and get away from people kind of guy. Pow was deep, steep, and treed... It was also dead quiet.... Which I like

While I'm waiting for the students finish up with their report.... I compromised with the wife... I took off the tower from the Nautique..... and bought her a air boom. The tower will live the rest of it's life on some young guys 1988 Ski Supreme. Now I've gotta figure out what to do with these holes. While I like the idea of the traction pads, it just doesn't look right to me... I have the 3m strips on there now. What about putting a pop up cleat in the front location and a traction pad in the rear? Anyone in the socal area know how to gel coat for some pizza and beer? I'll even throw the avenger in marine stadium and pull you for a while if you so choose.

Sorry, a bit late to the conversation here. Usually I jump on these types of conversations. @mylemsky - To start with, the protein powder I use is Cytosport Muscle Mix with added L-Glutamine... Now, what do I eat everyday to keep up with all that I do? It will probably shock you to know I'm a pescetarian. Yeah yeah say what you want.. I've been doing this now for 6 months at my coaches request and I've never felt better. I always have and always will love fish more than any other meat. I don't really drink beer ( I can count on my hands the beers I've had this year.) Junk food is kept to a minimum although I love dark chocolate and really good coffee (I roast my own) more than you will ever know. I'm an Air Traffic Controller, so a big motivator for me is the stress I deal with. So, with that in mind... Average day of in season training for me, wake up 4:15, eat a bowl of oatmeal, get out the door to swim. Most days I hit the pool, the others I hit the bay. 3-5 miles a day. Jump out of the water and have 16oz of Cytomax. I work late to early (my monday I start work at 4pm... my friday 6am) so Sun/Wed I knock out a few miles on the bike. Those are usually lighter days (50-80 miles.) Tues/Thurs are my lighter run days. I usually run to work (7 miles if I take the scenic way) on thursdays. After the bike or run I have a protein shake. Lunch comes around at strange hours for me. We've got a bbq at work, so I usually bring a cut of fish with me. Grill it up with some rice and some veggies, and that takes care of that. Sometime during the day when I get hungry I'll have a bag of trail mix or a cliff bar. Then if I had fish for lunch I'll do some steamed veggies or soup for dinner, or reverse those meals if I want to change things up. As for Friday, that's the Brick day.. bike then run after work (painfully fun really...) Usually the wife and I will go out to dinner that night. Sat/Mon.... those are the days from hell. That's where I do all the distance work. 100-130 mile rides, or 13-18 mile runs. Those days I tend to tie on the feed bag. Lots of fish, lots of protein shakes, lots of cliff bars. Sundays are cross training days. Usually that's when I ski (snow and water,) rock climb, or mountain bike. I usually end up skiing on some of the other days as well... my Tuesday is a normal person Saturday... so I end up skiing or climbing then as well. Off season, I cut down to 4 days a week..and supplement cross training for the rest. I'm less stringent on the off season. Sorry for the long winded answer...

@DW - the students actually took my boat while I was skiing behind a friends nautique, so I have no idea what was done. They then gave me my boat back, and took my friends 99 to do the same tests on. We then pulled the tower off my boat, gave it back to them, and they did another round of tests. I will publish their findings and the whole testing proceedures when they come up with the report. This was their "project" for advanced hydrology class. I thought it was a neat idea and was more than happy to lend my boat to science.

Hello Ballers.... it's been a while... some fun quick stats since I was last here.... 98 - Number of hours I've put on the boat 9 - Number of lakes I've been to 288 - Bouys I've rounded on the EZ-slalom 12 - minutes it takes me to setup said ez-slalom.. 39 - new favorite barefoot speed. 35 - new personal record on the syndicate... 719 - Gallons of gas... used on the trip... OUCH 692 - Miles I've put on the Cervelo while I was road tripping with the boat (gotta keep training for the races this year!) 102 - Miles run... 45950 - Yards swimming... (gotta love the Garmin 910xt) So, now that those numbers are cleared up.... hello again! When I was last here I had mentioned I was going to break out the hydro gurus and head out to the lake... well... mission accomplished. I gathered up some of the students from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (I'm an Alumni,) and had them run their battery of tests on the nautique with and without the tower. I also had them compare my boat to another identical boat without a tower. While they are still working on the results in numerical form, what I can tell you with the "leg test," there is a rather large increase in wake size with the tower addition. More so with the boards up, and even more so with the boards faced right side up. So, considering the end of the semester is coming right up, hopefully some good numbers will be coming back from the hydro and aero gurus. Until then, looks like the most of my season is over. Time to get back on the bike and get ready for Ironman Texas.

Ok, running a new test. I'll be gone for a few days. I'm rounding up my Hydro gurus, we're going to the lake. Time for a test with all the variables covered. This should be fun...

I did take the boa out without the tower. Night and day difference. I ran it again without the rear seat as well. Even better. Stole a acme 422 from my neighbor. Wow. I'm impressed. However the boat still seems slow when I'm skiing. I have verified the speed is correct, it just seems I'm slower.

Ok, lets assume Florida for a minute... Do I really want to put the Nautique in Brackish water? Heck, can I even put the GT-40 in salt without a freshwater kit?

I do not have the plate

@jfw432 What pro should I use? I've been wanting to buy one. What's a wakeplate? never seen one before

I'm pescetarian... and I ski 28' off.... but then again I've only been skiing the course for a season.

Hmmm looks like a reason to upgrade... I really need to try one first though...

@6balls - You hit the nail on the head! If it falls out of escrow I'm buying it! Sounds like I'll need a "public lake boat" as well.... hmm...

Heck, I almost bought this place, sight unseen... http://www.redfin.com/TX/Lake-Dallas/716-Lake-Dr-75065/home/32993931 For that price I would've used it for a vacation home until we decided what we wanted to do. Too bad someone beat me to it.

Well, I personally would love a tournament ski lake. I've got the wife to think about, and I think she would prefer something that would be a bit more forgiving for our non skier friends that want to come out and enjoy the boat. I know she would love to be able to cruise the lake with her girlfriends out there. I do see her point.. occasionally...

Texas is sounding better and better. Wife has lived south of Dallas before. Loved it. Of course she's absolutely useless when I have questions about the area because she is completely directionally challenged... but she can ski and drive the boat... and puts up with my continuous work hard play hard attitude. So what's around the dallas area ski wise? Private vs non-private lake? I really don't want to have to use the HOA boat... I have a boat.. I like my boat. I could use the excuse to buy a newer boat. Assuming I'd be at Dallas Ft. Worth Airport... What's a commutable location? How's Eagle Mountain Lake for a public lake? Seems to have some nice properties on it, they appear to allow docks. Has anyone tried to get a permit from a public lake in TX for a slalom course? Sorry... lots of questions.