Skid

@Tim Vaio What you just described about your EVO-S is literally the exact same thing I feel on the EVO. Like you, I rode the ARC-S. I could run 35 occasionally on it. But I never felt like the ski established enough angle to create enough space to run the pass flawlessly. I always needed a big 3 ball to run it. https://www.instagram.com/p/BhVLrYUgNhB/ The 2018 EVO took care of the angle problem and 35 started feeling easy. I ran 4@38 a good handful of times in practice and thought I was going to run it once but went down around 5 ball. Tied my tournament pb of 2@38 a good number of times. (Hit the right arrow on the pic) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj-2UgyAN48/ The 2019 EVO will probably be the ski that gets me through 38. What I felt at stock was a crazy good offside and so-so onside. Just couldn't get the ski to dive into the turn. I moved my bindings back one hole from stock and went from stock in my length to 6.954. Wing is setup at 8.5 degrees and DFT and depth are stock. I'll probably stick with these numbers because the ski absolutely rocks.

@ballsohard keep an eye out for a description of that ski on the D3 website. The guys are currently writing it. Can't say when it will be done, but it is in the works. I will say that the new graphics look sick and Sean was ripping on it when we shot those images. @epnault that's a topic that to my knowledge has been tossed around. Maybe dropping the 64'' and adding a 69'' would work. I don't know. I'm not the guy making those decisions.

If you haven't tried any of the Stokes products, you are missing out. I hadn't tried any of their gear until I photographed their products last Spring. Vests are awesome and I got a wetsuit back in November from them. First wetsuit I actually really enjoy skiing in. Glad you guys are enjoying the ads :smiley:

@Wish I'll bite. So for me, I didn't compete for a very long time. Still enjoyed skiing a lot. Personal progress was all that I cared about and I didn't really care if I had a score on the books or not. But a few years ago I got the bug for taking my practice sets and challenging myself to put it down when it mattered. Not just when I felt like going and skiing. As a skier now, I enjoy working hard in practice knowing that I have a tournament coming up. If that tournament goes well, I leave wanting more. If it doesn't, I leave ready to get back to practice to prepare for the next one. I skied 4 different tournaments in June last year and it was the most tournaments I have ever skied in a single month. I got in a groove and my confidence was higher than ever before. That stretch made me want to practice harder, eat right and really dial in on my stuff because I knew I had another "test" coming. So I guess to answer your question, I think competition is healthy for any skier regardless of ability. If you ski poorly at an event, you simply go back to practice and keep working. And if you aren't healthy, you step away and regroup. Reading your first post, it sounds like you have already regrouped. Why not take what you have learned forward? My photography is kind of the same way as my skiing. If an image doesn't come out the way I want it, I regroup, research (practice) and find a way to make it happen. Sometimes I hit it out of the park first try and that's a really good feeling.

@BrennanKMN I was one of the skiers that you are mentioning for a while. Still know a ton of them. I finally got my Dad to go ski a tournament this year. His first since 2005. @Wish Webcasts have gotten way better and hopefully continue to improve.

@lpskier it is seriously one of the most annoying injuries in our sport. The sleeve you posted looks very similar to what I'm using. Maybe a little bit more coverage, but that's not a bad thing! Hopefully as the sport evolves, we can somehow minimize the block. My concern with filing it down is that it won't be able to take as much stress as what the block on there does now. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't say I really want to do the R&D on that!

I think holding steady is a pretty accurate statement too. As a younger M2 skier, cost has always played a factor in my skiing. Not so much on the practice side of things, but more so the tournament side. It's easy to throw in a few gallons of gas for a practice set. But when we are talking $100+ for single round regional and national tournaments plus travel expenses and time off of work, that's a tough one. @bdecker I would agree that websites like BOS have bridged the gap for us as a community. It's opened a line to be able to communicate with other skiers. I like that you mention throwing in some manual labor to gain access to a site. If you don't have the means to build a lake or live on a premier site, it's an easy way to get invited and keep getting invited back. @RazorRoss3 I hear you on the skiing with your best friends thing. My average set lasts 8-15 minutes. Tournament, probably more like 6 minutes. I skied a tournament this spring with a couple of buddies and I think we had the most fun out of everyone at the event. Just having friendly chatter in between rounds and pumping each other up. When we talk about holding onto the people graduating from collegiate skiing and the current state of things, I think it's important to note that 15 years ago, we weren't as well connected as a sport. That kind of left a missing link for the folks that were coming out of school. As of right now, there are more skiers in M1 than in M2 and M3. My thinking is that the M2&3 guys are the ones that just kind of left because they didn't have a place to go or don't get out enough to be competitive in tournaments. @UWSkier the South Korean model of skiing is just smart. It's practically identical to collegiate skiing here in the U.S and maybe over time, we will shift to that model. In saying that, I get why we do things the way we do here in the States. Some of my favorite days are spent skiing, kicking around the lake swimming with a few friends, having a few cold ones and calling it a day. But getting to that Korean model would be ideal and is just going to take some time as the younger group comes up. But overall, I think the sport is going to be just fine and on the tournament side, I think things will continue to improve. Maybe not as fast as we want it to, but things will evolve.

So I know the season is slowing down up north, but I haven't seen this topic discussed on here in a while. What is the current state of skiing? Are we growing or are we declining?

Love the binding, but hate the shots to the shin. I've taken several and they suck. I've tried using a sprayleg with a plastic shin guard under. That lasted about 3 sets before the shin guard fell out and was gone. You also feel it and it's just not normal for slalom. Might work for the trickers, but not slalom. This Shin Guard has been a life saver for me. It's not as thick as a plastic one, but hugs your leg like a spray leg and the front has a decent bit of protection. If you are trying to heal up a shin, but the spray keeps opening it back up, this thing will do the trick. -Spencer Shultz

@"Jack Kinne" 67'' Arc-S

@DanE I'm on the stock settings. Length is 6.935 (tips) Depth is 2.455 (flat) DFT is .755 And I have my wing just slightly off of stock at 7.5 degrees, I'm riding a 67.

Before I just say what I think of the new EVO, I will say that I was behind the lens when we were shooting the new ski. At the time, D3 only had two EVO's in the world. Nate had one and Ryan Canepa had the other. Nate literally had one practice set on the ski before we started shooting and I was told that he ran deep 41 on it. Not bad for a first ride on a new ski! As for me, I rode the ARC-S for about a year. Really great ski, and I wasn't sure I was going to switch to the EVO. It was especially tough because my last set on the ARC-S I ran 4@38. What made me switch was how much better the onside was and how well the ski holds angle. The new ski is extremely fast, but easy to get slowed down. It's predictable and you know it's going to be there when you finish the turn. On the Arc-S I was getting hung up at 3 ball in most of the tournaments I entered and had a lot of 2.5@35 (36mph) scores. I did have 3 tournament rounds last fall where I did manage 4-4.5 buoys at 35 all 3 rounds. Thankfully I did run one (my first) tournament 35 on the ARC-S earlier this year. Since the change, I've been running more 35's in practice than ever before and 38 finally seems like a pass I can run. My confidence on the EVO is so high that I recently opted up during a practice round (i've never opted up before) from 28off to 35off for the first time ever and ran it pretty easily. I usually open at 22off, so to start at 28 and then opt up second pass and run 35 the way I did was really encouraging. Currently, I'm running the stock settings on my fin, but have the wing set at 7.50 and the back of my front binding is 29.8750 from the tail and I'm riding a 67. -Spencer Shultz

Top photo is of my sister, Holly, from Saturday at the University of Missouri. Bottom photo is of a guy some of you might recognize. -Spencer Shultz

@JeffSurdej I chatted with him last month and he is trying to find a way to get his boys qualified. Would be awesome to get him to put on a show!

Such a funny dude! He definitely has a point about the Masters and the skiers having to pay an entry fee of $350 bucks.

Yes, awesome airline if the dates work for you to fly on. I'm actually flying them to Nationals this year. $172 r/t after the $40 to put my ski on the plane. If you don't care about where you sit on the plane and don't need a bag of peanuts and drink during the flight, they are the way to go. They let you bring on a backpack for free, so I usually throw my clothes in there. As far as taking care of your ski, I've never had any issues. Just put your gear in a sportube and protect the important stuff.

In all honesty, I don't think anyone at the magazine is really all that surprised. Just the cost of paper to print a magazine is high these days. If we are being totally honest, print media is dying. I've been a frequent contributor to the magazine since January of 2013. I started as an intern. Todd was definitely the right guy behind the wheel at the magazine and I was sad the day he called me and told me he was leaving. @Wish I get that you like seeing stuff in print, a lot of people do. Every photographer in the world thinks photos look better in print. But the world is changing. If you download Instagram, almost every pro skier is posting videos or photos of them skiing. I myself, post a ski picture almost everyday. FOLLOW ME HERE As far as income from the actual magazine, I have never relied on it as sustainable income. Imagine going out in January and taking a picture good enough for a magazine. Let's say the magazine doesn't actually print until April. That means you don't get paid for your work until probably late April or early May! It's nice when a check would show up, but you could never just do the mag and have that be it. I myself rely mostly on selling products, prints and picking up my camera and actually shooting. Feel free to check out my work HERE Also, here is my last full page spread in WATERSKI Mag -Spencer Shultz

@Kelvin Judgment is the key. The first skier I ever shot from this angle was Whitney McClintock and even then I was super cautious.

@swc5150 zoom is your friend! The scary part from these style of shots is having the rope catch your flash and rip the camera out of your hand and ruin your day. But yes, I was pretty close. @BraceMaker I would be running in the opposite direction :smiley:

story behind the shot Freddie Winter

+1 for the idea of dropping in a brick attached to a buoy. It will give you somewhat of a reference point. If that doesn't work, you could also do what I like to call a "2 ball start". By using the boat guides at one ball, it gives you a consistent point to pull out. Here is some video of a two ball start... https://instagram.com/p/BbVesaKDwNb/?taken-by=spencer_shultz79

Really not a bad idea to wear one in practice.

Photographed Nate Smith from the water for the first time. Skied more tournaments that ever before. 6 tournaments in 2017! Total before this year was 4 in my life. Ran 32off in a tournament for the first time. Nearly ran 35off in a tournament (4.5 buoys. Still mad I missed it! Little Mountain Ski club is amazing!) Hung on around 2 ball at 38 and got back behind the boat in practice. Competed at a regional tournament and somehow found the podium. Went to nationals and had a blast, even though I fell early.

I've used the pulling drill or "leaning drill" and it's helped a lot in my skiing. You don't have to run it in open water either. For me, 28off is a great length to do it at. Sometimes I'll start a set doing it down the 1,3,5 buoy line and then come back down the lake on the 2,4,6 side and then go right into skiing buoys. Great muscle memory! You can feel where the pull is coming from and figure out what the ideal position is going to be. Also +1 on free skiing. If you have the space to do it, do it.

http://www.waterskimag.com/2017-queens-cup