Thomas Wayne

"I shook his hand & gave him a hug, I think the hug made him a little uncomfortable (the British don't like that)." Wow - a blanket assessment of 58 million people. Are you sure it wasn't the overwhelming smell of... um, fertilizer that made him uncomfortable? TW

It's hard to analyze a YouTube video because of the difficulty to study it frame-by-frame, but just hitting the pause/play button a few times convinces me that your edge-change and the release of your off hand are pretty much simultaneous. A quick review of the Bruce Butterfield article on handle control will show that this is not the best technique for shorter line lengths. I have lots of video of great skiers the I personally shot from the boat, and - to a man - the release typically is delayed until 5 - 7 frames after the ski has switched from the accelerating edge to the turning edge. At 30fps this amounts to about 1/6th of a second, which is quite a bit of delay (relatively speaking). Here’s an example of Chet Raley at –39’, which I shot last year: http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/ThomasWayne_2006/Chethandlecontrol.jpg http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/ThomasWayne_2006/Chethandlecontrol.jpg In the frame immediately before #1 his ski was dead flat – not on either edge. In the frame immediately following #6 he has released his right hand from the handle. It might be noted that similar results occur (with Chet) at ALL line lengths from –32’ on. So, while I can't dissect your YouTube video frame-by-frame, there’s no question your edge-change and handle release are not separated anywhere this much, if at all. Regardless of whatever else you might need to change about your skiing, this is definitely one of those things. TW (PS: In case the photo sequence doesn't pop up I included a direct link)

EDIT: For whatever reason I currently seem to be unable to post any photos to the forum, so I deleted my comment - since it's useless without the from-the-boat Chet Raley photo sequence I created... If I can figure out what I'm doing wrong (posting photos) I'll bet I can point out something that will greatly improve your skiing. TW

"I think I am going to wear a speedo to the cottonwood tourney in a couple weeks." Yeah... maybe try this one. TW

"I like the look of the Quattro, reminds me of a better quality GOODE Wide Ride." Great. Now who's gonna clean up this coffee & Bailey's I just Danny-Thomased all over my keyboard? TW

"Careful...you could get put on probation for that!!" I've been on permanent probation for months. Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds. In bed by 11:00, report in every week, pee in a cup once a month... No biggie. TW

"BTW Thomas, that girl has "man hands"" But a heart of gold... and a wallet to match. TW

We had a '73 Nautique that seized up its starter, and we replaced it with a Schuck's special. This before we knew anything about "reverse rotation", so we were baffled when the damn thing wouldn't start after numerous attempts. Finally, when it actually started squirting water out the carburetor (not kidding about that), we realized something was wrong... We managed to retrieve the old marine starter from Schuck's core pile and took it to an auto-electric specialty shop for a total rebuild. The shop owner let me watch the process, and later I rebuilt the starter myself (minus the "new" spray paint) two more times before I sold it in 1980. We did nothing about the water in the engine except remove the spark plugs and crank it over and over - until the battery needed recharging - while spraying fogging oil into the carb and spark-plug holes. New plugs and crossed fingers and it fired right up. As far as I know it's still running somewhere... TW

"That looks [like] one ugly ski..." I had the EXACT same initial reaction, but then I did this... http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/ThomasWayne_2006/Quattroimproved.jpg ... and the world became a much better place. TW

Air 65 - 70; water 59... (Monday, Sept. 6) TW

Yep. Just got that message on my service. I was out of the office, and Chet called on that line (instead of my cell). So that brings my total knowledge regarding the upcoming A2 back to zero. Oh no, wait... I do know it'll be an HO - I guess that's something... TW

Just spoke with Chet on the phone (regarding an unrelated matter) about ten minutes ago. I mentioned this thead, and asked about his current ride. He did try out a prototype A2, and thinks it will be a very good ski when it's released, but he's currently skiing on a Goode Mid-Ride. True to his tweaker nature he's modified the bevels and changed some other things about it, but that is what he's currently using. TWÂ

December through May of this year Chet was on a Warp, with no mention of any interest in changing skis. TW

I'm old enough to remember when the cuffs on plastic snow-ski boots began to get higher and higher. Pretty soon the general opinion was that the change had simply moved the point of "boot-top fracture" from the upper ankle to the tibia/fibula. TW

I wonder what the World's Most Interesting Man would have to say about it... http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/ThomasWayne_2006/StayTuned-1.jpg TW