rodecon

Great lakes is awesome! I had one of the best days of skiing in my life at Great Lakes thanks to an invite from a friend who was a member there. Great memories!

A coach/ acquaintance struggling for anything positive to say after watching my first pass through the course: "well, you had a good 1 ball"

Aaaah yes, stupid work indeed! Looks like a tough job @web, thank you for your sacrifice!

That's funny, I didn't know what was up, just noticed my comment box was gone and I had no way to post, this explains everything!

Yes @Jaypro , Heady Topper!

That's awesome @RichardDoane , I actually learned that term from MY father as well!

So we had an unseasonably warm day today in the Northeast and my ski buddy @web and I decide to take advantage of it and go for a quick rip, I hastily un-winterized my boat for this adventure and realize the new impeller I ordered in the fall never arrived........No biggie, I'll install the old one....It's a bit chewed up but it'll do the trick......O crap, I don't have a gasket, not a big deal I think, were just going out for a quick ski, it'll probably drip a bit but no big deal right? WRONG!, we get out on the water and as soon as we hit 34 mph the motor starts sucking air and is water starved, water gushing out of the pump assembly, CRAP, what to do? Latex gloves to the rescue! Thanks to some quick thinking from @web he thoughtfully donated one of his latex gloves as a rudimentary on water quick fix and viola, worked like a charm! Where there's a will, there's a way!

@web, as requested, my boots easily bolted onto the reflex plate, they have a sweet adjustable SS stud mounting system routed into the carbon fiber of the plate. I hadn't skied in almost 2 months but it was actually a pretty easy transition jumping on that Reflex, it was a 69" proto type wide ride but it did not feel that big riding it.........It actually felt shorter than my 68" vapor.......I don't know why, maybe they measure/label things differently in Thailand?

Here's a sneak peak at an innovative new propulsion system coming soon to a promo boat near you. It's being tested at a secret site somewhere in Thailand, from what I could see there was almost zero wake ;)

Post ski smiles :)

Just wanted to follow up on this thread: I skied 2 sets this morning with Geoff at TE Wake and Ski which is about 45 min outside of Bankok, although it was a bit windy today the skiing was fantastic, air 91, water 85......Hard to beat for Dec 27th! Geoff was super accommodating and I ended up demoing a Reflex Wide Ride ski as all I brought from NY were my boots. They are the Reflex testing center as the ski's are made just outside of Bankok Thailand even though the company is based in France. They get mostly Korean and Japanese skiers there, apparently water skiing is exploding in Korea. The lake is huge, with plenty of set up time, backwash was not an issue. They have a 2015 Malibu Txi which apparently is Thomas DeGasperi's previous ride. If you find yourself in Thailand and wanting to ski, I highly recommend looking Geoff up!

I have that exact ski bag, as well as the 68" Connelly HP that goes with it, was my first slalom ski, ran the course for the first time on the old girl.......Great memories....Her nickname is "the electric banana"

I think some purists do not view open bow ski boats as "real" ski boats, my personal take is on open water a closed bow is nice protection, I've taken some serious rollers over the open bow in my boat over the years

Just another viewpoint from my perspective and the place I am at in life: with 3 kids and only having the luxury of 1 boat currently an open bow ski boat is the ticket for this family, can completely understand the closed bow preference as well, I am just not there yet, I feel that there are big markets for both.

Thanks for the heads up @Razorskier1 , will check it out, I am a big blues fan, currently into Delta Moon and RL Burnside

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I will definitely email Geoff at TE watersports and see if I can set something up, thanks for the pic @jipster43 , the site looks awesome!

Anyone ever skied in Thailand? We are taking a family vacation there over Christmas and I would love to sneak in some skiing if possible, any info is appreciated!

A huge thanks to @wskierman8 for putting this all together, what a great format, we had a blast! Also a thank you to @smilinjim for pulling our team (Roc City) At Hidden Pass Already looking forward to next year!

@Zman , we put in a portable most weekends on conesus lake, you are welcome to join us anytime. We also ski a permanent course on Irondequoit Bay (Rochester area) The permanent course on honeoye is gone (permitting problems) and they now use a portable as well PM me anytime!

Im pretty basic, first it's "in gear" followed by a simple "yep"

@Glydon , I too am LFF and had skied with the wrong grip for years not knowing, then a buddy of mine noticed and I made the switch, yes it feels weird at first and to this day I do my deep water start with the reverse grip and then switch when I get up. DO IT, it completely transformed my offside pull, much more comfortable and leveraged.

I will also recommend ty oppenlander, I havnt skied his site in MI but skied with him at Swiss Ski School and he is a great coach

I skied behind a '16 200 a few weeks ago with the new 5.3 and was intimidated just looking at that lump of iron! The doghouse is huge just to cover the thing up!

Congratulations @Howa1500 that is a sweet skiing machine!