Portable Courses

[guitarcarr]

Ok, we ski and Live on a publice lake. No courses on the lake. Thinking about using a portable course.

 

How hard are these to setup?

 

In our case it would have to be setup and taken down as soon as we are done. We would have at best a 2 1/2 hour timeframe to get the course in, ski, and take it down due to boat traffic. It would be setup at first light.( on week days we would probably have much longer time frame but most of our skiing would be done on the weekends).

 

Is this feasable?

 

Does anyone else do this on the weekends?

 

Realistically is the setup easy enough once we get the hang of it to make it worthwhile to do this on the weekends?

 

Any tips, comments are greatlt appreciated!!!

 

 

[The_MS]

Contact EZ Slalom. Ed is a member of BOS and he is honest and can answer all of your questions.

 

Depending on the # of skiers, lake bottom depth and type, you could do 2.5 hours no problem.

[guitarcarr]

We are talking about 3 skiers normally and the 2.5 hours time frame should be enough to get us through with our sets. I think the depth in the cove we want to put the course in is 18-20 feet but have to check the depth map. I'll e-mail Ed!

[MattP]

@guitarcarr you should be just fine. I used to drop one in all the time, it took up about 15-20 min to put it in and 25 to pull it.

[guitarcarr]

I just spoke to Ed at EZ and this is looking very good. Very promising!!!!!

[rodltg2]

I used to do this with my homemade course and we were able to do it no problem with 3 skiers. One thing you may want to look into if its legal . I was cited once by a clueless sheriff who cited me for installing obstacles. At least he waited and watched us ski first and waited till we pulled the course ! He even wanted to test us for alcohol! He must if thought we were crazy to be skiing at 6am. Dumb a$$!

[MattP]

I had a boat with 3 of Sheriffs for the county I was in pull up and told us they would call off DNR ($2500 fine) if I gave them a pull through the course. So I gave them a pull.

[guitarcarr]

I checked up on the legality and as long as its temporary its fine. They setup temporary courses for the sail boats so this should be fine!!

[MattP]

@guitarcarr what state are you in?

[guitarcarr]

New Jersey.

[boarditup]

Once we got into practice, we were able to install in about 15-minutes and recover in about 20-minutes. Get some laundry bags for the buoys and sort by color. We had a heavy duty cotton tarp that we lined the boat with and made it easy to collect the arms. We also numbered the arms so we put it together the same way every time. I know they are all the same, but it helped for speed.

[Laz]

15 minutes is pretty fast. Takes us about 20 and a extra couple of minutes to make sure it's tight and straight. You need a 4:1 ratio of anchor line length to depth. We wrap each arm separately to speed things up.

 

Ed will get you everything you need.

[Bigblue]

I do it all the time. I have insta slalom which I think is great.

Set up in 25 minutes is standard. You will run into longer times if you get some wind. The more you set it up quicker you will be. I would not use the anchor provided especially the first one you drop as slides. I got a small danforth and it works great. Matt you skied on mine with Jodi a few summers ago in Ct.

[jefflyman]

We set up our insta in 15 minutes or 1 beer. We use a ski boat for the main line and 2 guys and a 12 foot boat with a small outboard for the poles and bouyes 2 more guys. Put in every friday night and removed by Sunday evening as specificly stated in our permit for our semi public lake NY. We have approval for 2 weeks per summer to leave it in. Great course never a problem, HINT pull it tight!.

[pjirsa]

we used to have a portable course on a public lake up at our cabin. the setup time can be done with 3 guys in as little as 30-45 minutes if there is no wind and you guys have really got your method down to a science. taking it out is easier since you are just pulling things back in. when we would go to the cabin for the weekend we'd usually try to get there on friday night and get things installed. then, we'd just remove all the buoys except for 1 green ball at each end. the course would then sink and rest on the bottom. we had pretty sandy smooth bottom for this. then, in the morning. just start at 1 of the greens and pull yourself along the mainline, attaching buoys as you go. we found that easier than taking it in and out all weekend. DNR didn't give us any fuss over that either.

[savo]

what lake in NJ. last time i checked it wasnt allowed (on hopatcong). also thought about setting up and taking down before lake got crowded.

[boarditup]

I use a tag line with a green ball at each end for the anchor. I also use 6' of anchor chain at each end. The last anchor that goes in is a large one - 30 lbs danforth. The tag line is large and nylon. It is really long and allows me to pull the course tight and let the anchor down on the bottom while keeping it tight. Nylon rope sinks, so it won't catch on the prop. This is the real secret to quick installation and removal.

 

The other secret is keeping the boat path straight during installation, so you don't waste time pulling it straight.

 

Get a very high quality reel - a metal one with a good handle. The plastic ones tend to bend a lot under recovery strain. The larger air-hose reels work the best - but they are expensive.

[guitarcarr]

Savo, it is Hopatcong. But as far as I can see there are no laws against temporary courses. Do you know something I don't?

 

Thanks for all the info all!

[Bigblue]

I used to set mine up in Ct. Without a permit but was told by the state I needed a permit even if only a temp course. So 9 months and 60 pages of info along with a public hearing officially approved. The way I understand it is anything on a state owned water body needs approval.

Good luck.

[savo]

i heard from a marina who asked the state police. they said no. the law governing the lake are very vague about the use, was looking it up in the fall. i would think if it was taken down by 9:30-10:00 it would be an issue.

 

if you need a partner in this let me know, very interested in skiing coarse

[behindpropellers]

You can email me and I will send you the permit I wrote up. Make a ski club with your 3-5 guys and ask for permission to leave it in the lake.

[swc5150]

Our old insta has seen better days, but is still functional. With that said, does Ed offer a BOS discount?:-) The compact EZ looks sweet!

[Ed_Obermeier]

Would a tee shirt and a couple koozies sway you?? :>)

 

Ed

[gregy]

I bought a EZ slalom last year. Works great. Our lake has a lot of weeds in it (like 15 to 20 ft of it). We were having problems with stretching the course out. To solve this we tied heavier ropes on to the achor with a turn ball on the other end. This really helped.

[guitarcarr]

Again thanks for all the replies. We are just going to do it. If someone says anything we will deal with it then. There is nothing in the lake laws that says you cannot put something temporary in. The sailing clubs on the lake put in huge bouys in for thier races....but they are temporary. So I am willing to take my chances and if I run in to problems I will then go for a permit if I can!

[guitarcarr]

Savo, replied to your message. Yes, I would get it in at first light and get it out before 9am.

[swc5150]

@Ed Obermeier

 

It just might! I'm going to check out the condition of our insta this weekend, and go from there. It looks like we'd only need you $750 package, as we have anchors and buoys. The compact arms you use look freakin' awesome btw! Do you know anyone who's tried to fit them in the 200 saddle bags?

[Ed_Obermeier]

@swc5150 Haven't heard of anyone trying to stuff the buoy arms into the side pockets on a Nautique 200 (I'm assuming that is what you're referring to) but I'd be very interested to hear if that's possible. FYI each individual colapsed arm section is 79" long, full bundle is about 8 - 8 1/2" diameter.

 

I do know that both arm bundles (3 arms plus end gate and pre-gate per bundle) fit real nicely into a 3-event bag. When we travel I throw my course arms into the 3-event bag and strap it to the luggage rack on my SUV, works like a charm. If that's helpful at all.

 

If your arms are still serviceable but the mainline is coming apart (pretty common) our mainline will work with those arms. Just a little more FYI.

 

If you have any questions on anything or just wanna chat feel free to write or call, I'm happy to chat and answer any/all questions. 800-216-4461 toll free US or ed@ez-slalom.com.

 

Ed

[boarditup]

What works well are the bags that the pop-up tents come in. Use 7 of them. This keeps the interior of the boat free from damage and the arms don't stink if they gather some growth. We had each one labeled for each arm and the 7th for the pre-gates and entry-gates.