dshock

I am a Nautique Promo Team member, so please know that I realize I am biased. However, I have an 11 year old competitive slalom skier and have spent a lot of time driving and watching skiers at slower speeds and longer line lengths the last 4 years. Here are my observations: 1) Nautique: The Nautique 200 performs really well at slower speeds and has a small wake with the hydrogate deployed at all speeds. The boat is the best tracking boat of the lot. It is not super sensitive to balance, though I am pretty anal about this. The new SN is very comparable to the 200. The wake is slightly different, but it is still pretty flat at all speeds. One advantage of the Nautique is that it is a superior trick boat to the ProStar. Between the hydrogate and the new ballast system, it makes a very nice trick wake. At tournaments, very few skiers choose the ProStar for trick. 2) Mastercraft: The Mastercraft has always felt very similar to the Nautique in terms of wake. All of the B1 and B2 skiers seem to post similar scores behind these two boats in slalom. At 34, I don't have any complaints about the wake on the Prostar, but have always felt the pull was a little softer - I probably should play with my ZO setting for the ProStar, but haven't done so yet. 3) Malibu: The Malibu is fine for 34 mph - I usually ski about the same behind it as other boats. However, the slower speeds are very tough. Comparing tournament scores behind the Malibu with other boats for the B1 kids there was consistently 4-6 balls difference in scores. This was really discouraging for the kids and several of them developed an attitude about the boat. There are different schools of thought here, but generally I lean towards trying to help my son enjoy practice and competing as much as possible and having this boat on our dock would be a deterrent from practicing. It is a solid trick boat and plenty of people choose it for the trick event at tournaments. As others have said, go test them and the relationship with your local dealer should be a major consideration. Thanks, Dan

@Chef23, we are fortunate enough to have over 10’ ceilings. It was an extra garage but because there is no driveway, and our yard stays really wet, it wasn’t very useful. The gym is constantly used.

Our home gym. I try to work out 4-5+ days year around. I find skiing only gets to my lower back within a couple weeks. Keeping my routine allows me to ski as much as I want.

That was my boat - for what its worth, it was difficult to sell. I got a lot of comments about the green. It is a love/hate thing. Far more comments about the green than the black bottom. But, it was also a 5.3l and had just had a brand new motor put in it because of some warranty work gone bad (by me). My last three boats have been black or black metal flake and reef blue (teal). They have looked great and the first one sold in a flash (I still have the other two and haven't really started pushing them for sale 2015 200 and 2019 SN). The 2019 will be on TNT's website, shortly, if you are interested. Thanks, Dan

@Cent - the PCM website is confusing because they still have the old information in the FAQ section. However, this came from PCM/Nautique this morning:

Can someone provide a link for the service bulletin? I searched for it last night without any luck.

I think it is likely technique. I am a big guy as well (220#) and I have broken skis, ropes, handles, pylons (x3) and boats. But, as I have gotten better, smoother and further down the rope those issues have lessened. I received numerous comments from tournament drivers about how much easier I was to drive for this season than last. If you have the weight to throw around, you can definitely break stuff and none of it will hold up if you are aggressive. But, as your technique improves it will settle out. I am on a Radar Vapor and haven’t had any issues at all. I did break an old HO VTX (the one with all the relief in the top deck). That design had a lot of stress risers built in but they have since gone back to a more traditional top deck. But HO warrantied it and they were great to work with on it.

As a parent of a skier that just went from B1 to B2, I love the idea of 2-year age groups. We are not a long-term AWSA family but are relatively new to competitive skiing (in our 3rd season). I can't count the number of families that we have met that had kids drop out in the transition from B1 to B2 (or G1 to G2) because they were uncompetitive for a couple years and it was discouraging to them. As said above, skiers can always ski "up" and be where they want to be. Ethan's shift to B2 has been pretty good and he has already put up a 22' off, 34 mph score in a tournament. But, if this rule change results in a fraction less kids dropping out then it is well worth it. I do think that there is some good feedback here on the older Junior age groups and I don't know all the answers. But, I do like 2-year age groups in principle. Dan

Has anyone skied behind the Nautique 200, yet? I think that the SN 200 was quite a bit heavier than advertised as others have speculated. It is very near capacity for my 4000# lift with a full tank of gas but that is a pretty imprecise meansurment. Thanks. Dan

I don't think that is prop wash. The end course camera removes depth perception (or at least distorts it). I think that is the roller created when the boat submarined. Notice that it extends basically all the way across the screen at the end of the video (both behind and in front of the boat). The buoyancy of the boat pushes it back to the surface and it heads to the left. Nothing conclusive there. I understand all the comments about engine seizure and was it cause or effect. My money is on transmission seizure if there was no damage to the running gear under the boat (which was @horton's original point).

@Bruce_Butterfield - I think we could recreate the situation by installing a driveshaft brake. Get up to speed, put boat in neutral and fully engage the brake in quick succession. The violent reaction is surprising to me however a buoy or poly line influencing the siezure of the engine would also be a surprise.

I am in the Old Hickory Ski Club. It is well protected except for the busiest days on the lake. We have a decent group of skiers - skiing all times of the day/week. Message if you would like to know more.

@Jchernyak, you should drop a ski to get the feel for skiing on one ski on the rope prior to attempting the deep water start. All the other questions above - or video would help more with your deep water start, but in my view, you need to take a few laps around the lake on one ski and you will be ready to deepwater start without any problem.

Have you tried to drop a ski or ski on a boom? Both can be invaluable in learning the "feel" of skiing before tackling the deep water start.

My son skied on a 59" obrien elite at last years nationals after learning to slalom on it at 6 years old. He then graduated to a 63" radar vapor. The 59" ski was fine at 17 mph and 19mph when he was getting started. He runs Wiley bindings - they are highly recommended. Dan