Radar Theory in INT Wide Ride

[Skihack]

Fellas,

I understand that the wide ride rule in the INT league dictates that the ski be 7.25" wide at a point on the ski 1 inch from the front of where the manufacturer places the front binding. Now the 67" inch Radar Theory is 7.28" wide at the point 40.27 inches from the tail. My question is: Is this ski legal for the INT Wide Ride? Thanks for any assistance.

[Jim Neely]

It's a little difficult to know without mounting the binding and measuring. A 67' ski typically has the front binding mounted about 29" from the tail and bindings are 11"-13" long. A 12" (HO animal) binding would put the point 1 inch in front of the binding at 42". I doubt that the width at 42" is significantly different than at 40.27" but it might be less that 7.25"

[Horton]

I believe that ski is infact legal. I played with it last summer and it was a blast! I was going to try for INT Nats but ....

[RichardDoane]

You better start saving your $$$$$, wasn't the entry fee $200. ?

[Horton]

yea that was part of the issue. I was going to do standard slalom & wide ride. The fee was $450ish.

[RichardDoane]

The fee structure shows that the INT is truly about making a profit.

[adamhcaldwell]

Hey Richard, I would watch the words you are throwing around on this forum big boy.

[kpickett]

Yeah, I'm not sure it's fair to say that INT is about making a profit.  I'm not a big INT skier, but my club hosts a bunch of INT tourneys, and it was through an INT tourney that I found my club and my group of ski buddies.  I'd say that the INT is about getting new people into competing.  I never would have skied an AWSA tourney - I still wouldn't.  I don't feel that I'm good enough, and the AWSA tourneys around here aren't particularly friendly to us lesser skiers.  The INT definitely welcomes everyone.  They may be about making a profit, too, but I don't think you can say that's what they're about.

[RichardDoane]

Adam - I'm not saying that making money off of water skiing is a bad thing, and I always remember the cardinal rule of the BOS Forum, - "No Bashing". I started skiing tournaments at INT events, back in 1998 at 28 mph.

 

KPickett - It's too bad that the skiers at the sanctioned events in your area aren't more welcoming. Shame on them, they are the ones who are missing out. As for being "not good enough" for an AWSA tourney, I'd disagree. In Washington State we strive to be welcoming to everyone. It's not uncommom for there to be M4 Skiers who are getting to -38 and guys working on getting to 34 mph at the same time. I try to coach people to plan their set so that they get into a 4th pass, whether they start at 55K/-22, or slower speeds @ -15. It's about having a good time at the lake, and if you ski well that makes it even more enjoyable.

[Horton]

First of all Adam, BallOfSpray is a free speech zone within limits.

I have always been under the impression that INT is a for profit enterprise. To make money INT needs to grow. It seems to me that INT had done far better then AWSA in that regard.

 I think it is pretty easy to criticize both organizations or any sporting federation.

[eleeski]

Hooray for INT making a profit.

If more people can make a profit in waterskiing, the sport will be better off. I want the tournaments, the ski manufacturers, the boat companies and the skiers to make money from the sport. I want advertisers to get real value from their participation.

Being rich is a good thing. Americans have been profitable and rich - that's a large part of what makes the USA a great country. Let's not jump on the anti profit bandwagon - especially since our sport is one of the elitist and irrelevant sports. I hope the biathalon (running and shooting - quite egalitarian) never becomes something we have to do. 

Off the rant, 7.25" is the dimension all my new skis will meet. Couldn't they spec it in metric? Hopefully they'll get big internationally.

Eric

[Jim Neely]

Back to the original post.

Skimech, have you skied INT wide ride or are you just considering it? What state? I skied INT wide ride last summer. It was a great way to get back into tournament skiing. When I skied AWSA, 27 years ago, I found the people to be welcoming and helpful, I just wasn't very competitive. The INT format give everyone the chance to be competitive.

 

[JacStocks]

Thanks to those of you with kind words for INT. 

Back to the skiing guys...

Here is what the INT Rulebook says about the wide ride divisions:

"Wide Ski Measurements

Skis used in the Wide Ride Division must fall into one of the categories,specified by the manufacturers: Shaped, Mids, Parabolic. Wide skis must alsomeet these measurement specifications: minimum 7 1/4 inches in width, (measured1 inch in front of the manufacturers original placement of the front boot) witha maximum ski length of 71 inches. Ski's that do not fit these specificationsmay not be used, even though they are sold as "Wide". The Chief Judgeand/or event director makes the final decision as to whether a ski can or cannotbe used in the Wide-Ride Ski event."

Wide ride is a great way to get back into competitive skiing or trysome short line. 

 

[Ed_Obermeier]

I own and ski a 67" Theory and used it last year for INT Wide Ride.  For the record, I dug it out and measured it (again) with digital calipers with my bindings mounted all the way back (one hole back from stock).  Measuring width anywhere from 1" to 2" in front of the bindings the narrowest reading I got was 7.26".  So yes, it is legal.  It's also one excellent fun-to-ride ski at 30 mph!  INT Wide Ride is what Eddie an the folks at Radar built this ski for, and it definitely rocks.

I'm also tempted to make a comment about the parochial anti-INT sniping that just never quite goes away; for now I'm sitting on my hands...

Ed