Greg Banish

I'm interested. This is right around the block for me, so I'm familiar with Skier's Pier. I also have some experience in putting together professional training videos if you want to look deeper into that.

My goal for the season was 6@-22, 30mph and I ran 6@-28, 30mph on Friday. Granted, at my level, PB's seem to come a little easier. The weird thing for me is that it's been easier to go to -28 at 30mph than stay at -15 and run 34mph. Perhaps I should just skip the -15/34mph and work on -22/-28 at 32+mph...

What is the argument against just letting them use a wakeboard in trick competition at full score? Have them use the same boat (direct drive tournament boat), but allow reasonable ballast selection and wedges/plates/whatever to yield a more useful wake for them as long as it's readily available to all boat owners at purchase. If they can do enough impressive tricks in 20 seconds (at whatever speed they choose), they get points and stand a chance at better overall scores. I know a lot more people who slalom/wakeboard than slalom/trick.

Another one from that video, rounding 4 ball with a good view of the boat.

Ducks don't make good turn buoys, too mobile. This guy wasn't hurt, but he did catch the spray pretty good. Taken from a GoPro screen shot of this video:

Am I the only one who read the thread title and thought ".17 HMR, .22 long rifle or magnum?" Seriously though, here's hoping it passes you by unscathed.

I care not because of trick skiing, but I do wakeboard and so does my wife/friends. I still want to be able to go wake to wake with some air (not just 4" above the water). Adding a widget seems like a great idea since it adds zero static weight to the boat (less chance of swamping it at rest) and one can still add fat sacs later if you need more. I think if you add enough wedge/ballast, just about any boat is board-worthy. I haven't yet seen an I/O or V-drive that isn't absolutely punishing at -15/30mph in the course. If the boat can't be made to work for anything other than strictly slalom, guys like me have a hard time selling their wives on the purchase. I firmly believe MC will produce some option that makes the trick/wakeboard wake acceptable, even if it's not close to an X-star.

Don't feel bad @boarditup, I had Karen swing around and pick me up after screwing up 22off/30mph and 15off/32mph a bunch of times too. As you can see in my other review, I'm at the level where this boat's wake (or lack thereof) makes a big difference in my confidence at the crossing as well.

Our dealer had an event in Grand Rapids where we got to ski the new boat on Sunday. They brought the two exact boats from the Calgary facebook photos out to a private ski lake and had pros show us around the boat and drive for us. Karen Truelove was our host in the boat with the red deck. She was an absolute sweetheart and very patient as we worked in a tour of the 2014 ProStar around my 4 month old son's demands for attention. Having seen it on Facebook and Balls of Spray, I knew what to expect and the boat didn't disappoint. The interior is typically great Mastercraft quality, despite not being 100% finished yet. The new gunwale ski rack is super easy to operate and very convenient. Ditto for the digital helm and ZeroOff controls. At 96" wide, it's the same outside width as my PS214. It looks like they used the same exact observer seat from the 214 (not a bad thing!) and then added even more seating in front of the post with the jump seat. The flat fold into the walk-through is really nice. The narrower gunwales end up creating more interior space, even with the non-production engine cover that was 4" wider than the final piece is meant to be. This boat will have all kinds of room inside. Dual rear seats and another walk-through are clever. The dual rear storage compartments look to be about the perfect size for a 12 pack and ice, hrmm... The available color combinations are enough to make your head spin. It's going to take a couple hours on the build-a-boat to sort out just which bit and pieces one wants which color. There are certainly some fairly intricate patterns are possible. There is also supposed to be a two-point tower available that installs at the triangular pads almost in line with the pylon. This shouldn't get in the way of short line skiers and I can't see getting a modern boat for family use without a tower. The biggest thing we miss is the rear facing lounge seat behind the driver in the 214. This was the best seat in the house for when we had friends/family on board. If Mastercraft can resurrect that, this boat becomes a home run in our book. Oh yeah, the wake. Easy to forget because there ain't much to remember. -15/30mph, NOTHING, pretty much like the SN200 and TXi. I should have taken more passes here because it felt soooooo easy and clean. -22/30mph, much improved over all older MC boats, on par with the SN200 here and definitely nicer than the TXi. If you're a hack like me, you can still screw this up if you flatten out the ski completely and make it hop a bit, but it's less painful than before. If you stay on edge clean, you don't feel any bump, more like the rumble strip mentioned before. -15/32mph, just a cleaner version of 30mph wake at the same length. I'm not used to ZeroOff yet, so getting a different pull at the buoy made more difference than the wake to me. That's a pretty good compliment to the wake I suppose. 18-21mph (wakeboard speed), well... bring some ballast. Then get more ballast, you'll need it. There really isn't a defined lip at all with the boat at slalom weight. There was some talk of adding a wedge, gate, or some other widget to improve the trick wake. I can completely see how it's necessary. If it were an option, I'd get it and bring a couple fatsacs too for the times when I'm not on the course. The upside to this is that teaching new skiers or wakeboards becomes very friendly wake-wise as they have nothing to be afraid of back there at low speed. So my challenge to MC and my dealer: Find me one in Canadian Blue Metal Flake with bow seats, the tower, wedge/gate, and a rear facing lounge seat behind the driver and it becomes an easy sell as a killer slalom boat that is cleverly disguised as a family friendly platform. Checking those boxes would make me forget all about the 200 and TXi. Thanks again to Action Water, Mastercraft, and Karen for having us out and humoring a non-pro skier with a family who still appreciates a great wake. ~Greg

Last summer, I finally got consistent at -15/30mph. After a long winter, a late start, and a new baby, I'm happy to be pretty consistent at -15/31mph and have made -22/30mph a few times too. I'm hoping that my runs behind the new ProStar on Sunday bump the PB a little. I have to try and not look like a complete hack behind that boat if @MarcusBrown is watching.

Hopefully this boat is one of the catalysts that helps a lot of people get over that initial hump of either making the course at all or starting to progress beyond being stuck at 15off/30mph. There's a lot of frustration that comes with constantly fighting just to see any progress in the early stages of the sport. I see a lot of people give the course one or two tries and just say "screw it, I can't cross the wake like that.." Making the wake less intrusive should go a long way toward opening things up to more buoy chasers, which is good for the sport as a whole. @boarditup - I will see you there most likely. ;)

I got invited to come check out (and ski) the new boat this weekend at Action's nearby location. Depending on how the baby is doing after the ski session, we might swing by Millenium Park on our way out Sunday. I can't wait to experience the boat first hand.

Everything looks great so far. The modular front end is really cool. I'm hoping for functional rear seating (and a tower) so that it stays useful as a family boat too. Even better would be a rear facing jump seat behind the driver like the PS214 I currently have. That's the best seat in the house when we have a group in the boat. On the plus side, the beam is exactly the same as the current PS214 (96"), so interior room should actually be pretty good. Did I mention I'd like to see seating behind the driver? As a 30-32mph and 15-22off skier, I'm loving the reports on the wake. I can't wait to ski it for myself in a few weeks at my local dealer demo. I think making the wake more friendly to beginners will make it easier to convince other to come enjoy the course with me. I wonder if that guy ever got his jet ski started...

@MarcusBrown - you win the Chuck Norris brass balls hero award for skiing without gloves. Now everyone who sees that commercial will try it and wonder why they get a bad case of hamburger paw since they're not tough enough! :)

I would think that improving the <34mph wakes would open the boat up to a LOT more potential customers. One of the big intimidating factors about getting people to take up the sport is their fear of the wake. It also makes the learning curve a bit easier for those just starting to get beyond 15off/30mph (like me). This is one of the big reasons why the TXi and 200 are so friendly to beginning and intermediate slalom skiers. I'd like to see a similar beginner-friendly wake in the new MC.

I'm on Pine Lake in West Bloomfield. Shoot me an email/message.

I'm in if I can get a call back from Eric...

@ToddL - I can't believe someone on here dug up one of MY videos as an example of how to do something correctly! I came into this thread looking for tips for myself. I am humbled and proud all at the same time. Thanks! I have some work to do to recover from our long winter and get some semblance of form back again so I can shorten this rope.

Mechanical Engineer - I work for one of the big three as an engine controls calibrator and have previously done a bunch work in the high performance industry where I used to heckle Shane.

Depending on when you want to ski, make friends with access to a private lake. I'm on Pine Lake now, so email me if you want to run ours sometime. I usually ski in the evening with pretty much zero traffic. There is quite the lineup at 6-8am and my work schedule doesn't allow for time sitting on the gunwales in the morning.

I have worked directly with one of the ski boat engine manufacturers. They operate in a very different environment than my OEM automotive clients. The ski engine guys make one engine and sell it to several boat companies, who in turn are each free to claim a HP rating that is +/- some percentage from what the engine guy tested it at. Obviously, the boat guys lean toward the top end of what they can claim, with some pushing the envelope more than others even though they are using identical engines. For an automotive OEM SAE J1349 requires +/-2%, no questions as long as you test in the exact conditions specified. Aftermarket dynos don't usually come close to replicating these conditions. All of that said, I still firmly believe there's room for boost 4cyl engines in the tournament boat market. As long as you can generate the necessary prop thrust (combination of torque and speed), the holeshot should be identical to the skier. Making 270hp out of supercharged/turbo 4cyl is child's play today.

This isn't 1989 anymore, we have plenty of boosted 4cyl engines that now make good power and torque. Matching the torque curve of an old school chevy 350 small block isn't exactly difficult with a modern 2.4L engine, variable cams, an Eaton TVS supercharger, and an unlimited supply of cold lake water for intercooling. If you look at all the other crazy things people do to boats just to get 100# out of them, yet they still leave that iron V8 block and (two) heads in there. This is low hanging fruit, IMO if one wants to reduce mass, water displacement, wake size, and ultimately fuel consumption. As an added bonus, these engines are typically good for almost 7,000rpm on the top end vs ~5000rpm for many of the 350's. That alone means we have room for a prop or trans ratio change that can further aid holeshots without losing the ability to tow a barefooter. And while we're at it, who wouldn't like having a smaller doghouse in the middle of the boat? I have actually already floated the idea with my local slalom coach/guru. If someone on here is actually interested in taking this one step further, by all means contact and we can talk offline. I live outside of Detroit and work in the auto industry as a powertain control engineer. This stuff is actually not as far out there as some would think. It would be nice to apply what we have learned in another industry to our passion for buoy chasing.

How many here would honestly be interested if someone came out with a boosted 4 cylinder engine that made 280-300hp, but weighed 300# less? If you look at what we have done in the automotive industry, this is getting pretty common. Fuel consumption would be lower than your typical 5.7L and less weight should make pretty much any hull's wake smaller.