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swbca

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Everything posted by swbca

  1. We had the earliest "ICE_OUT" in 70 years. So we put in our dock with plans to ski April 1. This was this morning and 6 more inches of snow are expected today. Steve Nelson, our local M9 current world trick champion has been skiing for 2 weeks. He had to buy a new Nautique to practice for the last world tournament. I have his old Master Craft still safe in a heated garage.
  2. Ski Boat Owners, be careful not to operate your Ski Boat like a Wake Boat too close to shore. This is behind our 2004 ProStar. Two family members in the back seat for ballast.
  3. My only problem with the Titanium or most other skis is me. The washer is something I have never tried to see if it would help on either side. I just found it was MISkier's post where I saw this detail first. Always up for testing an idea ? Thanks
  4. As long as there aren't DEI activists that insist on and promote gender confusion among our children in sports.
  5. Master Craft advertised the 1986 Pro Star as the first NO WAKE slalom boat. The 86 was the first year with the Rainbow Graphics. I bought one because I had just had meniscus surgery on both knees from 10 years of skiing behind Nautiques. The 86 wake was like a flat bottom race boat. It also turned like a race boat. It turned with G's and no roll at speed. Everyone now says it had terrible tracking but I didn't know better at the time.
  6. @The_MS I believe you made a comment somewhere about putting a small washer under the center screw on one side of the fin block. I understood that would slightly reduce the fin area on that side but not the other. I don't recall if you said that helped your on-side or your off-side. IF you are RFF which side did put the washer ? Thanks
  7. I drilled a hole near the prop with a tube extending above the waterline. Please explain this. Any hole drilled -in the hull- near the prop would be a hole below or behind the fuel tank. I have no plans to copy your idea, but curious about what you did. I knocked down the prop wash on a 2004 ProStar with a replica of the Nautique Hydrogate. I quit using it because was a waste of fuel.
  8. I've been thinking about the "common solution" you describe above for a month.
  9. @Horton Thanks for the North American Moomba schedule. It prints out first 5 columns into 5 pages with no formatting effort . . . Very Helpful
  10. Regarding the phrase: "Wake sport mode" refers to operation of a wake boat with wake-enhancing equipment engaged. Aren't the hulls of wake boats designed to create a large wake even without the "Wake-enhancing equipment engaged" ??? I agree the language in the bill is very good, but these boats operated without the operator's consideration of his wake can cause more damage than a ski boat or most other recreational boats. Obviously Boat speed is a wake enhancing factor but not a feature unique to wake boats. Not sure how that can be addressed in the bill.
  11. @Drago you have a lot of thumbs down. Perhaps explain . . it appears you are against having a law that includes a definition of "Wake Sport Mode" The Michigan law looks good but enforcement and citizen complaints may come from confusion about the phrase.
  12. "Wake Sport Mode" is likely to be misunderstood by Wake Boat operators. They may think going 16 mph at 200 feet from shore is fine as long as the aren't using ballast or similar wake enhancements. Hopefully ski boat owners wouldn't 16mph with three people in the back seat at 200 feet from shore which makes a wake that could easily be considered a Wake Sport wake. The law should have a clear definition of what it means.
  13. If 3 meters (10 feet) is your high water mark, and the water drops to zero later in the season, have you figured out the minimum safe depth for running a ski boat with skier ? 4 feet would be my guess. If you end up using a second float to maintain tension, the two floats are going to seek the same distance from bottom when the water is down to 1/2 of maximum water depth = 1.5 meters or 5 feet. If you use a 2 float setup you would have to make a mid season adjustment so the 2 float system can allow for water less than 5 feet. Sounds like a good place to ski.
  14. Not a chance, but I placed 2nd in a Men3 Nationals on a 66" HO with this same tuning setup with over 50 skiers in the event. I believe Gordon Rathbun won the event.
  15. Now that I have this ski ready for testing, I see that it looks like a throwback to the 45 degree sharp edged bevel used on KLP's 1970s Maharajah but in this case its only on the last 16" of the ski . . . . leaving the larger radius modern bevels on the rest of the ski. The purpose of the 45 degree bevel is entirely different than the classic 45 bevel. Performance adjustments are by modifying the bottom edge from from razor sharp to not quite razor sharp. You tune the ski by dividing the back 16" into a number of zones and finding the best combination of bottom edge sharpness across all zones. The logic is parallel to tuning the metal edges on alpine racing skis. And, like with tuning alpine skis, the adjustments made on the bottom edges of this slalom ski are physically so small you can feel them but can't see them. Like dragging your thumb crosswise on a knife blade to see if it has the feel of very sharp or not so sharp. The very sharp bottom edge on the ski assures a straight flow of water away from ski . . . no trace of water wrapping the edge. This tuning framework gave me a competitive advantage when tournament skis in the 80's were not great. I'm Optimistic but not sure how it will work on this D3 EVO which didn't work for me in its stock form.
  16. Looks like someone found a solution to reduce the wake of this beast. Those little plugs on the bottom of the boat are only finger tight.
  17. The "Minimum Wake" signs work when we enter the narrow channels connecting bays on our lake. Imagine if we could put up 16" Maximum Wake signs everywhere. If our Lake Association took a vote for that I think it would pass. It wouldn't be legally enforceable but community pressure would have a big impact.
  18. @tjs1295 it also not a win-win for property owners or wild life. In Northern Minnesota, the loon habitat is being destroyed because they nest close to water level. Loons are the Minnesota state bird. On our lake the wakes are sometimes washing over the top of the stone walls built around the shore to prevent erosion. Wake boats should be highly restricted in some fashion to protect habitat and lake shore property. How can this be done ? the obvious challenge.
  19. Is there a sender's email address on your invoice that you maybe received when you ordered. Or any email address or phone number on your paypal or your credit card statement ? IMO the time and fuel you spend with fin settings with an aftermarket fin trying to get your ski to equal the performance you have with the original fin if not refundable. The asymmetrical fin from Denali is possibly an exception.
  20. I don't know that the polypro bridle is stiff enough to actually move the handle out of the way under this sort of situation. Each fall that involves the skier in contact with a handle has many variables. I believe in most cases when a skier dives into the handle with arms or head, the handle and the skier's "parts" end up under water . . the skier is slowing down rapidly and the handle keeps going. The tension applied to the two harness legs by the drag of the handle in the water would stiffen the rope legs of the triangle improving their ability to deflect the handle away from an arm or neck if the skier lands ahead of the harness, rather than landing directly into the triangle. The end of handle could still ding the skier, but bridle could be the guardrail that prevents it from being high force unyielding collision that breaks bones.
  21. I appreciate the innovation, and would be interested in trying the handle. However, as skier who broke his arm with a conventional handle putting me out of skiing for a season, and out of tennis for two years, I am uncertain about the tradeoff in risks with the traditional bridle versus your new concept. To be brief, when a skier falls, and his head or a hand goes into the water ahead of your handle, either end of the handle could do damage when it catches up to the skiers neck or arm. I am not certain the handle would spin away from your neck or arm fast enough to avoid injury. On the other hand, in certain falls, the two legs of the triangle on a conventional bridle can act as a guardrail to move the handle away from the neck or arm unless the neck or arm went inside the triangle as happened when I broke my arm. I don't like being a sceptic, but I wouldn't be comfortable being in the water when the open ended handle is being pulled past my hear, neck or arm. I believe there is a tradeoff of risks here and I am not sure which arrangement is safer. Has the bridle with the mesh been discussed here ? Isn't that the safest option ?
  22. If the rope connects to the T at the same distance from the handle as the location where the 2 legs of the triangle meet, it would act the same as the conventional handle. I wouldn't want that handle coming up behind my neck when my driver is picking me up. Its a bit like a detuned grappling hook.
  23. Another variation of edging . . Charlie Ross finishes his turn with and extreme amount of edging. His hip is inches from the water and his torso is almost upright similar to the position of alpine racers. His edging from hook up to the wake is more typical of most other great skiers. I haven't seen other pros with a turn-edging technique as extreme as his. I took some screen shots of Ross last season, but the screen shots are at our summer location and I can't remember what tournament it was. I do recall it was the tournament where he got a re-ride at 39off due to boat centering. Forget about the arms and poles, but this is similar to Charlie Ross finishing his turns.
  24. @chrislandy pointed out the big difference. You could see in the video when holding with one hand the handle twists your wrist so the free end of handle is pointed toward the boat - much more than with the traditional triangle. It puts weird forces on your wrist and the free end of the handle is further from your body than normal when you want to grab it..
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