Dusty

Broken two- both at 22 off. Both hard on the hands- first time took a good rib hit- second time my right arm 'pinned' into the water and the deceleration caused a shoulder muscle tear. Can't throw a football much any more but couldn't do it well before either :-)

" Hold my beer and check this out... oops... ah... do you think your dad will notice?. You can stay at my place for a couple of days 'til he cools off a little"

IMO- I think there are two separate issues being looked at here- Safety and Accuracy. Safety- The buoy needs to be thin and light enough that it can move/displace and does not deflect or decellerate the ski. It probably does not need to be even 9 inches tall- a spherical buoy is now under 4.5" exposed diameter. Light closed cell foam noodles attached to a sub-buoy should work well- optically enhanced designs are a great idea. Costs are not going to go all crazy using noodle material and normal attachment systems et al. Accuracy- Is going to cost significant money and time. I see lots of technical obstacles to surmount, and others will be far more qualified to address them. In the interim, we should make it safer for skiers to strike a turn buoy without injury. Spherical buoys just can't move down, out, or down course fast enough- no matter how much more pliable they are- a skier at deep shortline speeds is the irresistible force bearing down on essentially immovable objects- the human part is what is going to yield, and it's going to to hurt when it does.

for @DanE- I am 63 now. I was 54 when he did the TKR- titanium, plastic, stainless, the whole deal. Doc looked at the remains of the joint and said I was young for the TKR but he had nothing else for me. I don't think it's holding me back- being 63 might :-) but the knee has been pretty pain free, has better range, and I do all the stuff I did before a little better, in spite of the age. I have even made a few more sky dives, which I gave up after the wreck. I don't go crazy stupid on the mountain and icy days are not my thing at all, but overall it's mo better.

I had a total knee replacement in 2005. I'm not really a shortline skier (3@-32 tournament pb), but have been able to waterski, snow ski and maintain all of my normal activities. My TKR was due to a motorcycle wreck in '81, eventually leaving no meniscus, and bone on bone. Rehab was not light entertainment and certainly not pain free, but overall I still feel it was worth it. If I can do it, anyone can!

Having re-tied numerous handles with Spectra- I would suggest that it doesn't really 'stretch' much at all. It will 'move' a bit as knots tighten and braids seat, and then stop. It is not really very springy then at all. Polypro has an allowable 2.6% +/- 0.4% elongation under a load of about 250 lbs. (per AWSA rules.) That elongation is not permanent and it remains a bit springy. Anyway- you can stretch handles and ropes all you want, but short line skiers can generate over 400 lbs of tension and whatever the handles and ropes are made of they will move some after they get 'broken in'. YMMV

Hope it works out well. Post video for sure! Only thing I can see to hold you back is that around here at least- the lifites/patrol et al will not allow you on a chair lift on 'boards' without metal edges. Might not be that way elsewhere?

A lot of us have posted our dissatisfaction(s) with the oppositional(?) direction(s) HQ often seems to take. I have seen a bunch of good ideas suggested on this forum. I agree that by-law changes need to be made. Maybe adding "ombudsmen" or "members at large" or whatever to Regional councils and the national board could infuse new energy, and a sense of purpose, and give some relevancy to how most of us out here perceive HQ's disconnect with membership. Decisions have been made that seem illogical, perhaps tyrannical, and fiscally irresponsible. As far as folks feeling intimdated by tournament skiing- I am sorry that we haven't done enough to welcome them at tournaments. They are great family 'functions'. Bring the family, the grill and watch. Tournaments around here often amount to camping in tents, trailers or RV's. The social part may be as important as the skiing in some ways. Most of us compete against ourselves, and are not headed to Regionals and Nationals. Ask to help and we will find work for you, and keep you involved. The officials are all volunteers and probably started just like you- If you have questions, please ask them- we will try to answer. We can do better and I think we will. We have to...

Ah @fu_man- that is generally the case- but with Perfect Pass classic we had to ask the ladies for their weight- with the running engine they had to kind of shout it out for us sometimes... Often the announcer could/would 'help' out and put it out over the PA system... With ZO it seems we've been forgiven- not so many angry glares, and I haven't been 'accidentally nudged' off a starting dock in a while either :-)

Thanks @slvrbulit, I will arrive there Monday, hangover intact.

Not plannng on bringing my ski- Are there any operators with good rental equipment? Will bring gloves, tape etc, maybe even a vest, but the ski would be a serious hassle this time...

I will be there for a long week around March 9. I hope to get a few sets/rides then.. VERY rusty though- no skiing for me since last August :-(

Q. Is making a large 'corporation' more transparent, best achieved by making it smaller and more accountable? I applaud @ToddL for taking the time to comment and raise these issues. Maybe we are all still pretending the elephant in the corner isn't really there? "Doing the same thing the same way... expecting different results is..."

FWIW- Somewhere in the AWSA rule book I think there is some discussion of a minimum distace of skier to shore of 50 feet. If the skier is in the very center of a channel around an island it needs be about 100 feet wide (edge to edge) then. You can then kind of scale your island size(s) from that. Offset islands do allow spinning and really do keep rollers out of the course. Without islands, the rollers can be mitigated somewhat by careful driving during drops and pull-ups. I have done a lot of skiing on a 1900+ foot lake with small islands. It can work if designed right. I've not skied at a 8 buoy course as suggested on shorter sites but that ought to work as well. As we all know, digging is expensive and end hauling material more so...

@ToddF- I will officially apologize for those skiers/officials/orservers who projected the attitudes you have encountered and described. Fortunately, for myself that was not the case. Even before I ever entered a sanctioned event, I was welcomed and started towards becoming a rated judge. I 've had a lot of positive help over the years allowing me to compete and officiate in a lot more areas. I have attempted to do the same for any new faces I see at local tournaments. I think we all need to do the same. (No it isn't always easy to do- especially if you happen to be Chief scorer or Chief judge, tasked with putting out all the inevitable little fires that seem to start up.) Class F may be the way- It is obvious that we (and the AWSA) have been doing the same old thing the same old way and expecting different results. At best disingenuous and at worst a complete waste of time and resources. But... FWIW- I also don't think pissing off all the Class C 'lower level' skiers will work though. They are the 'farm team'- They still perform the lion's share of the work around here anyway. They are still the group that will pay for the tournament's operation, officiate it and in general make it happen. Without a 'middle class' of skiers I just don't think it's going to work.

@Horton- I really dont't have a dog in the fight here- (my chances of ever even reaching Regionals being slim to none)- I tend to agree with you in principle- The path to Nationals should not be so difficult- Perhaps set the qualifying criteria for Nationals, at whatever level(s) needed to attract a target number of competitors. Make the qualifications relevant by allowing skiing at Regionals; or skiing an appropriate average score over maybe 5 Class C?, or 3 ELR?, or placing in the top 5 of last or current year Regionals/Nationals, or whatever rational method makes sense. i.e.- It seems to me that Class E has become kind of irrelevant- they cost more, are harder to staff with qualified officials, take more prep, require more logistical support, and are overall more draining on the hosting party(s). Unless I misses a rule change, they now have no real value more than a "C". If they became qualifiers for Nationals might they gain some traction and prestige? I know that my days of going to 15+ tournaments a season are long over- I might be able to manage getting to 6 or 8- maybe there are others who could qualify who are in the same circumstance- but would like a shot at attending Nationals? I think some changes need to be considered, for all the reasons mentioned. Without some input from us- I don't see the decision makers making any progress for the benefit of skiers, and the tail will continue to wag the dog. Someone said- (paraphrased) "Doing the same thing, the same way, over and over, and expecting a different result is the definition of ...? Just saying.

Glad you're OK! Defintely better it was not behind the boat. I have seen a few skis break over the years and the most violent falls I have ever seen were the ones when skis broke when fully loaded mid-wake.

Try to learn where the skier is all the time- and don't counter unless they have the handle in both hands- before and after the buoy... Less IS more. Learn where your offset is and keep driving the boat to center. You'll do fine.

I am over there maybe once a month from May thru September, sometimes twice. Have a cabin east of Tonasket. I mostly ski like crap but rumor has it I am an OK driver and once was a coach as well. Would love to get a pull when up there.

Superhuman! And a pretty nice guy too! Can we send him some ibuprofen through Ballofspray just in case?

Another way to tell if you need a new rope... Measure it periodically throughout the season. I have found that at first they get longer as they "set" the knots etc. Then they are stable for a period, still with some give. Then they start to shorten- I suppose because most all plastic hardens over time- when they start to shorten they make my elbows hurt, and they break easier-sometimes a lot easier. Adjusting the length of a year old rope is possible, but it is a major pain and it will need to be done again, and again at shorter intervals. Hang your hammock with it way before then, then the fall will only be a foot or so... As I have gotten older and lazier, I've found I'd rather drink beer than fuss with old, out-of-spec ropes, or at least watch others do it and offer 'sage' advice and 'helpful' tips ;-)

When new ropes show up for tournaments, they get measured, recorded and skied before the events start. Then measured again. Even though 30 minutes under tension at 44# will somewhat set the knots etc, 44# is only about 10% (or less...) of a typical load for a short line skier behind the boat. There is supposed to be some give in them, but I have seen 6-10 inches of 'stretch' in new unset ropes. When a chief judge, I don't think it is fair to the skiers to send out 'unset' ropes.

The rules were written that multple rounds in one tournament is still only one tournament. You can only have a max three rounds per tournament (nd I think only two per weekend at a single site.) With record events things get even further restricted. One thought to consider- say all three rounds did make three submittable scores, and say the second two rounds got so blown out everyone was mopping rounds 2 and 3... You'd likely not want a couple of 0-6 scores to 'average' in with your best- especially if you had only a couple scores to use...

31 reps today... goal now 40 by September. @mopowpow- how much do you back down the weights for deep squats. With my bionic knee, I only go to thigh parallel, and the trainers advised that most everyone should not go much deeper or risk knee injuries-especially taller people they said. Definitely want to avoid that...

To work back muscles better, I do pull-ups with wide grip. 20+ strict, (30+ is the goal before Sept.) Haven't skied a lot this year so can't say it helps much there but it does enhance the sore muscle recovery and makes tying my shoes a little easer on the days after skiing...