skihard

@Kelvin if you can pull it off I will be more than happy to come have some fun!!!

I'm still a firm believer in handicapping skiers abilities so they ski against ability based competition. It then becomes just that a competition that is both challenging and fun. There are so many great minds involved in this sport both competitively and recreationaly and what I see is everyone so based on the current format and forcing people to this or you're not taking part. To quote OB1 and yes I copy/pasted from another thread: I didn't enjoy skiing against guys running 32' every tournament round when I wasn't running 28'. If I wasn't so passionate about the sport, that may have intimidated me enough to stop skiing tournaments...and I know those who did stop for that exact reason. I know plenty of skiers who don't ski tournaments because they aren't competitive. I ski with 2 skiers that run 38' in practice and don't ski Regionals or Nationals because they know on their best day 1 or 2@39 won't even get them on a podium and maybe not in the Top 10. If AWSA wants to grow, and it seems they do, why institute this only at the top level of skiing. It seems they realize this will group the elite skiers together and if that's the goal, why not separate all level of skiers in order to instill competition at every level as well as grow the sport at every level. Old school wants age divisions. Old school is failing miserably. I can see age divisions for juniors, but if AWSA wants to grow or even just survive, they better jump out of the old school box and go the ability based route so skiers can compete against other skiers working on running the same loop. Thanks OB1 and now back to my comments - When are the people that run this sport going to actually wake up and pull their heads out of their A***S and realize this? Lots of skiers have passion for the sport but it's hard to follow OB1's model when 98.78653% of the population are intimidated and won't ever come back after having being thoroughly killed on the water by the current model and division they are forced to ski in. I'm 50 years old, fairly new to course skiing, and love this sport, the camaraderie, and even the support I see at tournaments from great skiers to hacks like me while giving it my useless best out there. But I will be damned if I will drive even 20 minutes away to the next lake and pay $50 - $75 plus travel costs and expenses to ski a few passes when it's me vs Bruce Dodd coming off the dock. Guess what just happened in that comment..............support and sponsorship just left and won't be showing back up again. I'm only one guy saying this but apparently my single numbers are growing and that growth is showing decline in the numbers. No thanks I will stay at home and ski my site with my ability based friends and we will have our own tournament and enjoy our beers at the end of the day on my dock with lots of laughs. Because really .... it was a true tournament because we all ski to somewhat the same ability. And we also challenge each other based on the speeds we ski. We don't all ski at 30, 32, or 34 mph. Oh and I forgot - WE HAVE FUN!!! I keep my membership active for reasons other than tournament skiing. I ski in my community held sanctioned tournaments to show support for the sport but I won't be going down the road to show support there isn't any reason for me because I will never challenge anyone in the top 300 in the country based on the bracket I am placed in because of my age and not my ability. Ok my two cents worth and rant over! Happy skiing friends! :)

I'm still a firm believer in handicapping skiers abilities so they ski against ability based competition. It then becomes just that a competition that is both challenging and fun. There are so many great minds involved in this sport both competitively and recreationaly and what I see is everyone so based on the current format and forcing people to this or you're not taking part. To quote OB1 and yes I copy/pasted from another thread: I didn't enjoy skiing against guys running 32' every tournament round when I wasn't running 28'. If I wasn't so passionate about the sport, that may have intimidated me enough to stop skiing tournaments...and I know those who did stop for that exact reason. I know plenty of skiers who don't ski tournaments because they aren't competitive. I ski with 2 skiers that run 38' in practice and don't ski Regionals or Nationals because they know on their best day 1 or 2@39 won't even get them on a podium and maybe not in the Top 10. If AWSA wants to grow, and it seems they do, why institute this only at the top level of skiing. It seems they realize this will group the elite skiers together and if that's the goal, why not separate all level of skiers in order to instill competition at every level as well as grow the sport at every level. Old school wants age divisions. Old school is failing miserably. I can see age divisions for juniors, but if AWSA wants to grow or even just survive, they better jump out of the old school box and go the ability based route so skiers can compete against other skiers working on running the same loop. Thanks OB1 and now back to my comments - When are the people that run this sport going to actually wake up and pull their heads out of their A***S and realize this? Lots of skiers have passion for the sport but it's hard to follow OB1's model when 98.78653% of the population are intimidated and won't ever come back after having being thoroughly killed on the water by the current model and division they are forced to ski in. I'm 50 years old, fairly new to course skiing, and love this sport, the camaraderie, and even the support I see at tournaments from great skiers to hacks like me while giving it my useless best out there. But I will be damned if I will drive even 20 minutes away to the next lake and pay $50 - $75 plus travel costs and expenses to ski a few passes when it's me vs Bruce Dodd coming off the dock. Guess what just happened in that comment..............support and sponsorship just left and won't be showing back up again. I'm only one guy saying this but apparently my single numbers are growing and that growth is showing decline in the numbers. No thanks I will stay at home and ski my site with my ability based friends and we will have our own tournament and enjoy our beers at the end of the day on my dock with lots of laughs. Because really .... it was a true tournament because we all ski to somewhat the same ability. And we also challenge each other based on the speeds we ski. We don't all ski at 30, 32, or 34 mph. Oh and I forgot - WE HAVE FUN!!! I keep my membership active for reasons other than tournament skiing. I ski in my community held sanctioned tournaments to show support for the sport but I won't be going down the road to show support there isn't any reason for me because I will never challenge anyone in the top 300 in the country based on the bracket I am placed in because of my age and not my ability. Ok my two cents worth and rant over! Happy skiing friends! :)

Pictures not showing up for me - anyone else only see a funny looking icon?

Pictures not showing up for me - anyone else only see a funny looking icon?

There's benefits to the program if you do more than just compete. As someone mentioned above they are covered for practice sets and other things. I don't get any other insurance through them like boat liability but I still pay my fees and I'm not much of a competitor.

Rode mine last night for the first time after being off the water for sometime due to injury. In the past I have owned a 14, 15, & 16 Lithium Vapor's and will tell you that none of them compare. I was completely WOWED by this ski last night. I'm not a shortline skier like most on here but I can tell you it was very easy for me to feel the ski hold angle like no other ski I have owned. It will give you what you want - question is can you hold on? I see a new PB fore me this year :)

@BoneHead - do you even ski anymore? Seems to me you're just trying to rediscover your youth by riding bikes fit for 10 - 12 year olds! :)

I picked up a new to me temporary ride too. Ski is almost brand new. Rode it yesterday and need to move the bindings around. Will try again today or tomorrow!

Bought my daughter a Lyric a couple years ago and she loves it! Very versatile all around ski. Put double set of bindings on it for her and she's a happy kid.

Does anyone on this site ride one other than Terry Winter? Is there a try before you buy program? @Horton have you done a review on the ski? This ski has me wondering....................hmmmm maybe?????

I have always believed in skiing against the same level of skiers for better competition and fun. 18+ for adults regardless of ability and same for youth. I've posted in here on this subject numerous times. I can't and will never compete against people in my age bracket as the current system sits. Matter of fact the only reason I ski the 2-3 tournament I ski here in a year is to donate money to the success of the tournaments at friends sites. Oh and those sites are less than an hours drive from my house. I'm hard pressed to even think about traveling anywhere to a tourney when I'm beat before leaving home and can't even compete with the others when I get my ski out of my locker to travel there. Unfortunately this feels like beating a dead horse. It seems as there are many posts on this subject. There are skiing events running successfully (Wednesday Night Ski League, Buckeye Tour, INT) to name a few. They just aren't in my area and also not viewed by many as good for the whole sport in general. We can't compare our tournaments to Malibu Open, Masters, Moomba, etc. Because they are actually skiing against the same level of skiers - dang I just shook my head there realizing what I'm rallying for actually does happen - you just have to be able to ski into 38 off to find a tournament where you can ski against your own level of competition. :)

I'm a CP owner and love my boat. My previous boat was a 196. The industry needs affordable new tugs just as the auto industry sells Hyundai Accents and Porsches. People will buy new what they can afford and upgrade as they become more successful. I'm hard pressed to imagine very many people on this site graduated college and went right out and purchased a lake lot in a private ski community,, built a $500K house, and then dropped a $75K ski boat in the water in front of it. If you were able too do that please remove the golden spoon from your mouth! :) Point being progression is needed for the whole industry and if 3 event skiers and manufacturers don't start seeing that it will help keep the sport at it's current state. I know there are people that believe it's ok so they can protect their little self ski bubbles but I for one see it declining.

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Taken before we moved here but our site Phase 1 (3 lakes on right) and Phase 2 (2 lakes on left) We are on Phase 2 - love this place! :)

I got mine and hooked it up. The very first skier on it had some slack in the line. When it loaded it trashed the rope guide by bending the one guide over. Needless to say I sent it back. Positive note I was treated very well by the shop I purchased it from and was refunded my money in a very timely manner. Friend got a wake eye and it's pretty shaky too. Best video still comes from someone holding the recording device in their hands in the observers seat.

Ours never come out. :)

Great music! The Crue still kicks a**! :)

When I start my balls are green but when I'm done they're red

Looking for some Physical Therapy help recovering from my broken foot injury last spring. Spent 6 weeks in walking boot and slowly started my return to skiing. This summer has been full of challenges that have been very saddening to say the least. One day I feel good and 5 days I don't as both my foot and ankle hurt. Is there a specific set of exercises I can do that will help me strengthen the tendon on the top of my foot (which by the way is now worse than the broken foot) as well as help keep the pain in the outside of my foot from continuing to come back after skiing? The tendon on top is what is the worst currently as when I am crossing the wakes my ankle actually compresses and it hurts! I find that strange because I can point my foot out like a diver and it doesn't hurt. Yet the compression of hitting the wakes or even walking down a set of stairs can be killer painful. Summer is almost over. I do ski year round but this injury doesn't seem to want to go away and now I seem to have by product pains if that makes sense? Any help greatly appreciated!

Mine arrived yesterday and is already mounted. Will give it a go today and see how it works.

TFIN & Brooks will get you squared up!

Pulled the pin this morning and ordered one of these mounts. Have done some research and have seen some good things reported on it! Stay tuned for the update! :)

I used to winterize my own boats when I lived in Canada. It's simple as stated above. I would run antifreeze through the intake system 5 - 10 gallons. I also removed plugs in manifolds, engine block, and pulled hoses off water pump. Someone mentioned shower and yes ensure that it was flushed and remains open. One thing not mentioned here that I learned the hard way was if you have a intake filter make sure you unscrew it and drain it as well. I learned that one the hard way one year. Basically get antifreeze through it and unfasten anything where any ice can form and expand and you will be fine.

Great ski still miss my 68. Some guy in New York is skiing the hell out of it! :)