bfreeski

Funny, I have been feeling the same way about her little redheaded step-sister, -28.

@Than_Bogan, I certainly agree with what you said, their does have to be a balance between safety and comfort/rideability. I have certainly skied a lot of sets on various bindings, falling more than occasionally, and often spectacularly......and until last week without injury. My curiosity and the point of the poll, as @Gator1 understands, is to attempt to gather information about other possibilities, other peoples' experiences, and see if there is something I can try or look at that makes sense to me. I may change my set-up, I may not, I am just trying to evaluate the options. I would love to run an in depth poll and/or study controlling for every possible variable.......but I am not sure that is a realistic goal. The one thing that does seem apparent is that you can get hurt on any binding system you can currently buy. The ideal binding system would be comfortable, provide you the perfect amount of control, and always release when you wanted it to yet never release when you were riding the ragged edge, deep at a ball, etc.,and it would do this regardless of skill, experience, ability, or operator mis/use. If only I could invent that!

A simple poll will never be able capture all the data and nuances, I get that. Getting into a true statistical analysis is well beyond my intent......people break an ankle every day just stepping into a hole, they don't even need a massive OTF. Mainly I was interested in a broad strokes look at what injuries were being seen and if there was anything that could be gleaned relative to the types of injuries occurring with different binding types, which may well be beyond the capability of a simple poll as well.

@gator1 I see how the mod would work in the event of an OTF, but I am not sure how it would work in a twisting type of fall where your front knee did not go far enough forward.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about injuries, bindings, etc this last week. The forces involved in the various ways we fall are complex and usually involve motion in multiple axes. What does seem to make more and more sense to me is that my particular injury would be mush less likely if my feet both remained connected either to my ski (i.e. my rear binding was actually on tighter thus possibly preventing the single-leg scenario), or if I was using a plate that either released or stayed in place on the ski. That does not mean I would not have somehow injured something else in the same crash. I would be curious to hear about any ankle fractures that occurred while using a single plate type system. As my fall was not really an OTF moment, I am not sure if the gator mod would have been activated or not.

Evidence says 4, the ball would not be visible in the wake coming off the ski had the ski gone outside the ball. The tip may well have hit the ball, but the carving edge of that ski definitely went inside the ball. In real time that would be tough.....and if he held onto the baton/handle back to the wake I would give him 5.

My recent injury, followed by some deep thought has led me to this poll. I have heard about a number of Achilles, or Lis-Franc (midfoot) type injuries which seem to occur in OTF type type falls. The ankle fractures seem to come from more rotational falls, or single-foot-release crashes, and seem to be most common in single binding release type falls which include more of a cartwheel motion than a the anterior/posterior motion of a true OTF. If you are interested please take the poll and feel free to add a description of your fall and subsequent injuries. I know these posts have been done before, but more of us seem to get injured every week, so anything else that can be gleaned for our fellow ballers' mishaps might be helpful.

About one week ago now I went out the front going from 1 to 2 ball on my opening pass of the day. I had a bad gate, pulled too hard and wide at 1. ball and nearly stood up for a mulligan at the other end........but I didn't. Instead My manliness kicked in and I decided to make a run at finishing the pass. So with terrible form, broken forward at the waist I pulled hard for two ball....hit the wake and proceeded to cartwheel across the water. My rear foot came out at some point but not the front. when I touched down again I felt a terrible pain in my left (front) ankle. When I finally came to a stop my foot was still half in the front binding and I was relieved to reach down and feel that it was at least pointing the right direction. After climbing onto the swimstep and idling back to the dock I was thought I may have only sprained it. Several hours later it was badly swollen on both sides despite R.I.C.E. and was more painful than any sprain i had ever had. So I was off to Urgent Care, where in short order I found out that I had a fracture, a small chip had broken off the medial malleolus, likely when the calcaneus hit the tip of the tibia, after tearing all the ligaments on the lateral side (outside) of my ankle. The next day I followed up with my foot and ankle specialist, and at this point he does not think surgery is necessary. I am in a splint till next week for follow up x-rays and then likely a cast, or hopefully a walking boot. The good news is that my fracture is relatively minor......but the bad news is there is a ton of soft tissue damage. What kind of timelines have other people with fractures and sprains had for getting back to onto the water? I am pretty sure the fracture will be long healed before the soft tissue damage has resolved And since I know people will ask, I use the uber-moderator's favorite bindings (and I always wear the laces pretty loose)......but based on my epic lack of form and judgement I am not sure the bindings would have mattered at all. B

I think Zero-Off would be able to change the startup process/screen in the next revision to tell you if one of the antennas failed. It would be nice not to find out that one antenna was bad only when your other one fails and now you have no speed control for several days. The downside of this for ZO/Garmin is that a lot of people may find out they have bad antennas that need to be replaced.

My new pucks should have arrived yesterday. But the fedex man decided he didn't want to drive all the way out here and gave a delivery exception. The best part is I was in my driveway brewing beer all day with a couple other people.....he never showed up. So now I have to waut until Monday. I am definately ordering a spare.

I am running an informal poll to see how prevalent Zero Off antenna failures are. This week I found out the hard way that unlesss you regularly check your diagnostics screen you may have one antenna that has failed. In and of itself not a big deal, until the other one fails. I suggest everone make a habit of periodically checking your diagnostics. Our neighbors have been kind enough to let us use their boat in the meantime, ('13 TXI) and on a whim I looked at their diagnostic screen and sure enough gps1_fail. So out of four antennas on two boats less than two years old, three antennas have failed. The worst part is that the manufacturer has still not been able to replace them despite being contacted three days ago. Today I found out thry have parts in stock now, but are not interested paying for Saturday delivery.

I left a message for Sunny on august 13. On august 14 I talked with Sunny and received and RMA to return the two broken antennas. By the time I got home and was able to extract both antennas, cables, and connectors it was too late to fedex them back. On august 15 I sent the two broke. Ante nas back and asked if they could send the replacements so they would arrive before the weekend. Zero Off apparently did not have any antennas to send. Today they seem to have found some but informed me they could not get then to me until after the weekend. Fedex delivers to my house on Saturdays and I have asked them about this........apparently customer service is not a priority since ZO has no competition.

Thanks!! Once you know what to do the connectors are not tough at all......crawling and contorting enough to remove the cable for the passenger side puck however is P.I.T.A. I had to go buy more zip ties just to keep the harness together. B

Has anyone had to change their Zero Off antennas. I am trying to find the best/easiest way to accomplish this on a 2012 MalibuTXI. Both of them have failed and I need to return them to Zero-Off but I am not sure how they are attached to the deck and the plug on the cable will never fit through the hole in the deck of the boat?

I have now talked with Timmy at Zero-off (whatever the parent company is now). He had me test the power at the pins in the puck connectors under the dash. Both registered 5+ vdc. He then said it appears both antennas have failed and gave me the number for Sunny in the warranty dept. I crawled from under the dash and ran inside to write the number down and then left a message for Sunny. When I returned to the boat to put away the test meter the left side of the zero off display is now blank. The first picture is from earlier this morning of the display so I could send the error codes and serial number. The second is what the display looks like now.

Yesterday evening during my 3rd pass Zero-off stopped working. Today it say "NO GPS", I have tried disconnecting the battery, checked the battery voltage, powered everything on and off, cleared the error codes GPS1_fail and GPS2_fail, etc but nothing works. Also the boat speedometer gauge, and the little digital display both fail to register speed as well. Everything else appears to be in working order. Boat is a 2012 Malibu, about 215 hours.

"Flotsam" the new name for someone (actually several people) I have been skiing with recently. The dictionary roughly defines flotsam as the floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo. My definition is the carnage I see after the boat turns around and the cloud of spray I was towing 5 seconds ago is strewn about the water.

Adam, I hope you are well down the road to recovery. I have been on the stradas for a few months now and have gone OTF on several occasions. I keep my laces pretty loose and each time I have released cleanly. In reality with nothing but the velcro strap I don't think you would pre-release, though it might feel weird. A medial tibial plateau fracture, typically results from either osteoporotic bone(not thinking this is your issue), or from a high velocity/energy axial load often involving a varus force. In order to alleviate this type of load a binding would have to release through the ski, something no binding system (incl dual lock) can do. If your initial fall (sounds like an otf with a tuck and roll onto your back) was not enough to release both feet, Biomechanically I don't think any binding system would have prevented the tibial fx once your ski hit the water again. It makes me think that all of us double boot folks might want consider how we tighten our bindings. The last thing you want is a rear foot only release (think spiral fx, tibial plateau, lis franc, or if you are lucky just a bad sprain). If anything you would most likely want your front binding loose compared to the rear to minimize your chance of a partial release........its not likely you will continue the pass with one foot out so you might as well come all the way out. I have yet to experience a front foot only release, nor have I seen one. I am sure someone has done it, but it has got to be rare.

In order to get a score of 1 ball the skier must pass from the line of the right hand gate, around the buoy, and return to the line of the right hand gate prior to the boat guide at 2 ball. To have a realistic opportunity to advance and score 2 balls, the skier needs turn 1 ball in a controlled manner and early enough to return to the right hand gate line within 27 meters of ball 1. (I imagine someone may challenge the notion that a skier can successfully score 2 balls while going from the right hand gate line and around 2 ball in less than 14 meters, but I find it highly unlikely) Thus, in order for a skier to advance to the next pass they should also have to make their way from the left hand gate line, around 6 ball, and back to the left hand gate line in a controlled manner, within 27 meters. This way, hypothetically at least, if the course continued they would have a chance at continuing to 7 ball......which I have tried a few times (usually on the rare occasion that a pass was so smooth my brain could not believe i was at 6 ball already).....and every time I tried this I was well in front of exit gates after turning 6 ball, even when running late. In my mind the purpose of exiting the gates is to demonstrate that you skied the course, including six ball, with enough control and skill that you could ski a 7th ball, or 8th ball. By moving the gates, or changing the exit rule you are essentially saying someone can ski 5 balls in enough control, and then through brute force, will power, dumb luck, or some combination thereof, get their ski around 6 ball even though they do not have enough control to continue skiing. Thoughts?

I don't want to start any rumors...... But i heard that @Horton was, "giggling like a school girl" before he saw the boat and then drooling and foaming at the mouth as he got in the water. When he turned in for his gate, like a slalom monster, he threw up "ridiculous big spray" which overwhelmed his goggles. Half blind, he pulled like demon hoping to shed the water from his goggles, but because of the non-existent wake from the Masterhovercraft he didn't know when to turn for 1 ball and ran aground......needless to say the review is still pending.

@Horton is using the new towing rig as cover. He is secretly testing new potential sponsors, Crystal Head? Tag No. 5? Moosehead? Labatts?

I posted this thought on another "gate" thread a while back but that thread is now MIA. Like any sport, there is an inherent danger in participating. Moving the exit gate further away might prevent people from taking a ridiculous hit at 6 ball. However, doing so basically assured someone they can make 6 ball if......... they can just get around 5 ball. At which point all we have really done is move the make or break moment to 5 ball.......so maybe our brilliant moderator is on to something......moving 5 ball in six inches will reduce the crack-ups at 5 ball.........especially after we move the exit gates.Perhaps buoys can be made safer, or handles can be made safer. The skiers mind however cannot be changed.....narrow the course? Move the gates? Get rid of the gates? All we would really accomplish is to change where the accidents happen...........vests, bindings, safer buoys, helmets, and handles you can't stick your body parts through may be the condoms and dental dams of our sport........but abstinence is the only 100% safe way to participate. The skier can always let go. If you are so late for six ball that the only way to get back to the gates is to literally risk your life.......let it go......I. the same way, when you are so late at four ball that you cannot make it to five ball (despite the moderator's request) we likely are not going to move five ball closer to the boat. Just my thoughtz

"augered in" or "spun the ball" Interchangeable terms which describe the phenomonon that when you turn a little too much and your ski tries to go back up the course while the boat continues down course. Spinning the ball or augering in commonly leads to "popping the handle", the phenomona by which the handle flies at high speed towards the back of the drivers head.

"Water snake"......not the "coppermoccarattler" (I butchered that). This "water snake" resides near orange buoys, or at the first wake and if provoked it will grab your ski. This elusive animal is also the second leading cause of "otf" among skiers. Only improper form and technique (see previous entries including "humping the dog", "bowing to the queen", etc.) Cause a greater number of otf's. It has been suggested that the water snake evolved from the equally elusive, yet ever present snow snake.

I am currently on a Goode 9400 (blem) and have been on the same ski since I started skiing the course in 2008. Now that I live on a lake (finally) my skiing has actually made progress, and it was suggested to me that the ski may be past its prime. Current PB is 3@28, 34mph. I am 6'1" 195-ish. I am taking suggestions for my next ski. I am hoping for an easy transition from my current ride.