Moggie

This time last year I asked the question, "How many buoys are you hoping to progress this year?", see link below: http://ballofspray.vanillaforums.com/discussion/8000/how-many-buoys-are-you-hoping-to-progress-this-year/p1 How did you all do against that plan?

As long as the ski isn't a limiting factor, I believe 95% of any performance gain is down to the skier improving. That said, I've not tested a range of skis so I have no idea how much different they feel.

Nothing wrong with it...although I wish I'd opened the picture at home instead of at work with my boss over my shoulder.

Skiing through winter means there very little drop in form, but I appreciate that’s not an option for many; nor will it be for me when I leave Oz for the UK.

Cheers all; there are only two places you can share your skiing achievements, your ski club and BOS. Everywhere else people either don't care or don't understand.

After 322 days and 109 sets I finally beat my PB and ran 58kph. On 5 occasions I’ve matched it getting 5@58, but the monkey on my back has finally been slain! I don’t care about getting your dream job, your first home or the birth of your first child; nothing beats getting through a pass you’ve struggled with for so long. Bring on 16m!

Thank you @waterskigirl‌, sounds like the Black Tec 1mm is probably the way to go. Just the conundrum of size; I’m 180cm, 80kg, and fairly lean so presumably that would be a large? Do you deliver internationally?

As we approach autumn in Australia, I want to get myself a Camaro wetsuit since I’ve heard nothing but good things. I’ve scrolled around the net but can’t find an online dealer. Can anyone recommend where I can get one, either an Australian dealer or one that does international shipping? Also is the Titanium the same as the Modetec? The designs look a little different. @danspense, you said in a previous thread that you had both a 2mm long and 0.5mm shorty. Since I’ll be back in the UK next year at what sort of temperature/time of year do you usually switch between the two? How cold can you go with the 0.5mm shorty? Winter in Perth only drops to about 10-15°C water temperature so I’ll only need a shorty but not sure what thickness.

While I don’t have the skiing ability to put this into practice, from a mathematical perspective I don’t get it. There’s an equilibrium between angle, speed and load. If you increase the speed then you need to increase both angle and load. If you keep the angle constant then yes the load will reduce, but this is because you are no longer in equilibrium. What I mean by that is that you couldn’t maintain that speed at that angle and load indefinitely, eventually the speed would reduce to Skier A’s who is in equilibrium. Essentially you could only have generated that extra speed by taking greater angle and load earlier in the ski path; hence you can’t omit what’s necessary to generate the speed in the first place. I could be way off with this, but that’s how I see it.

I’d like to be happy for him but all this story does is remind me of my own inadequacies. I've been stuck at 5@15 36mph for 6 months now!

@skier2788 thankfully I've not had that problem yet. I ski on a river so loads of time before the course starts. If its ever an issue at another site, I'll just have to do it very quickly.

Before every pass I always drop each hand into my spray to wet my gloves. They're already wet from the deep water start so there is absolutely no benefit from doing it. It's just a habit I can't stop.

For what it's worth: Fahrenheit B=((Air+Water)-100)x1.667) Celsius B=((Air+Water)-37.8)x3)

If you're anything like me, I get onto the back foot when I'm running late as I fool myself into thinking I need to get into a leaning position earlier to make up ground. It never works. Maintaining a balanced position and having patience to allow the ski to finish the turn does work. I find the big difference between 52kph and 55kph is that you have to have greater commitment to the edge change. Make sure you’re leaning all the way to the second wake before you start the transition. There’s lots of advice about how to get into a balanced position, ‘standing tall’, ‘hips forward’, ‘flexing the ankles’, ‘flexing the glutes’ etc. Everyone interprets these slightly differently so find the one which works for you and focus on it through the pass.

That’s ridiculous! She had no right to get back to the wake let along get 4 more buoys. Incredible.

@Waternut - Our slalom course is at least 600m from the dock (we're on a river) so there's plenty of time for some free skiing and a few drills before an opening pass.

@MattP, no agent involved. According to Water Ski Mag the story goes... When Thomas Degasperi emailed 5-Hour Energy team manager Justin Blackman about the possibility of joining the team, he knew his chances were slim. “But what did I have to lose?” Degasperi says. “The worst thing he could say was no.” And that’s pretty much what was stated in Blackman’s email response, other than he was sending him some complimentary product. Degasperi politely thanked him for the free 5-Hour Energy samples and welcomed Blackman to his ski school in Windermere, Florida, if he was ever in Orlando. It just so happened that Blackman was going to be in town within a week of their email exchange, and he took the two-time world slalom champion up on his offer. One week later, Degasperi was teaching several new people how to ski behind his Malibu TXi and was giving Blackman a glimpse of how spectacular shortline slalom is and how he would be a great water-sports representative of the 5-Hour Energy brand. And just like that, a sponsorship contract was signed, and a couple months later, Degasperi was swerving for a national 5-Hour Energy commercial.

That the skier I am in my head is much better than the skier I am on camera.

That's great, thanks for the help guys.

Hi Ballers I pinged the handle against my ski at the weekend and chipped the side of it. It doesn’t look like much but I can suck air from the core so it needs to be sealed. I live in Australia so sending it Radar to fix isn’t practical. What do people recommend I use? I was planning to just use a resin or strong glue to seal it up.

I've been away for a few weeks, came back and heard that Nate recently ran 2.5 @ 43 off and hence set a new world record, but if so where's all the hype. I couldn't find a single post about it on BOS.

@ozski same conditions here in Perth at the moment. I'll ski in almost any conditions, it’s a good work out and as you say, it makes it feel so much easier when the conditions improve.

Jealous doesn't even come close to how I'm feeling. Congrats.

I picked up a few more scuff marks this morning from hitting the buoys and my ski is looking a bit rough. What do people use to clean up their skis?

Just started so hopefully once a week in future.