wlrottge

Any time!

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Her is an easy to install hull modification that you could try. http://rocamarine.com/index.php?v=KgEFCQwCbhQwKBcRBBhMNARGDgQBAhIkFQEXEQgYWj9HGw8WWSlfSVQ= If the link doesn't work, just google Roca Speed Rails. We've used them on what was already a REALLY good hull (not a "ski" boat, 23' power boat designed by Jim Wynn w/24 degrees of dead rise) and it made it even better. We installed the large set as suggested by the manual. It wasn't a totally different hull, but it did lessen port/stb sensetivity to weight distribution and generally improved stability. Boat picked up ~500 RPM on the top end (~400hp 454) and put it into the mid 80 mph range (+ ~5mph).

Her is an easy to install hull modification that you could try. http://rocamarine.com/index.php?v=KgEFCQwCbhQwKBcRBBhMNARGDgQBAhIkFQEXEQgYWj9HGw8WWSlfSVQ= If the link doesn't work, just google Roca Speed Rails. We've used them on what was already a REALLY good hull (not a "ski" boat, 23' power boat designed by Jim Wynn w/24 degrees of dead rise) and it made it even better. We installed the large set as suggested by the manual. It wasn't a totally different hull, but it did lessen port/stb sensetivity to weight distribution and generally improved stability. Boat picked up ~500 RPM on the top end (~400hp 454) and put it into the mid 80 mph range (+ ~5mph).

Here's a little something for a laugh. http://www.nipmucpoint.com/nipmuc/ultimate_pwc_repellent.htm Wish I could find this image in a larger version... used to have it saved somewhere. The text reads, "I love PWC's, at 9'oclock with a tone" lol There was a case in Ft. Walton (i think) a couple of years ago where a PWC ran into a Hobie 16 and the water patrol cited the Hobie for not giving way.... I've spent my entire life on the water and that is about the dubest thing I've seen law enforcement do. Sadly since I race high end catamarans, these are the kind of morons that we get to deal with regularly....

I'd suggest looking at the speed variable as well. Lift and drag vary as the sqare of the velocity. Do X degrees at speed 1, 2,3,4,5 then do Y degrees at speed 1, 2, 3, 4.... and so on for several foil angles of attack. I know quite a bit a/b this stuff as I also race high end super light sail boats.

Because of the regional last week (coach went and won his division) and a horse deciding that my wife and I taking him to the vet for stitches was more important than me skiing on Sunday, I didn't get on the water again till last night. Absolutely confirmed that I've been on the wrong stick. It was the second time on this ski and it was night and day difference. After a couple of passes to get comfortable, I was skiing better on the old Sonic C-6 than I ever did on the Senate. I didn't change anything a/b my style but every aspect of what I did was better. No upper body movement through the wake so long as I had a solid position whereas before I moved regardless of how strong I was. I wasn't throwing myself forward and breaking at the waist trying to force the ski to turn and was generally just able to relax and be smooth. About halfway through the set, Jeff said, "It's just totally different, I think we'll be able to do something with this ski". I backsided balls futher down the course than I have ever been able to and probably could have run a PB had I been after balls and not form. I think tomorrow nights set will be interesting. I was able to feel when I started to do wrong and was able to adjust unlike before. Ski carved a tighter arc w/o any effort on both sides and didn't feel like I was being pulled over the front. I was getting wide much easier, but was getting some slack and had to adjust b/c of it. The ski took the speed into the turn sooooooooo much better. He said once that he couldn't believe how much speed I carried into a couple of turns and just rolled with it. I know that someone said, "old shape", but.... When I got done we talked and best he can figure is that b/c of the narrower tail and its flatter shape, it turns better and suits me. He said, "I think your ski is just to 'dragy'" and we talked a/b width of the ski, stiffness and its effect. Frustrating to have spent nearly two years fighting it, but I did ask a/b playing with the Senate settings which resulted in the answer, "why?". It's generally setup stock, but we've played with binding position and taken tip out of the fin. He's slow to blame the arrow before the indian, but in his words, "just wild". This ski is unquestionably too small for me, however I've got two options to play with. I ran up to his attic to grab my 67 Sonic 2x and saw that he had a 68 C-6. I think for the rest of the fall I'm going to ski the 68 C-6 and/or the 2x. He figures that I should play with them both and see what I like better then stick with it till the end of the season. I may demo some this fall, who knows, but I think I'd rather see how far I can get before the end of the season than play with demos right now. Any suggestions on what to try? As much as I hate to, I'll probably get a set of powershells b/c he's got several Goode's in my length and flex that I can try.

Not that I ski well enough for it to matter yet, but.... from someone who has been in the boat world all his life as the son of a sales/service shop (been in business since 1962). Dad's also one of those, "it's got a V6, can I fit a V8 in there?" sort of guys, so I've done some high speed/performance stuff. I'd put a paycheck on the prop being the biggest factor. The change in shaft RPM by goind up/down a pitch will change the lift produced by the prop and therefore the size and shape of the wake. Changes in cupping and blade shape will also have an impact.

The boat that I race is 100% carbon and we have to be careful of a couple of things (20' long, 8 1/2' wide, 38' mast, 265 lbs!). Depending on the resin used, a carbon part could have issues if you get it too hot. Some resins will start to deform at 150F. If you apply any pressure and change the shape, it's changed and won't return on its own. Repeated heating to temperatures above the glassing temperature can/will cause changes in the crystaline and chemical structure of the resin. The carbon is your strength, the resin holds it in place. If you have a degredation in the resin, it can become more brittle and crack. You will also have oxidation and end up looking like the "clear coat" has hazed and is flaking off. That's the outermost layer of resin... NOT good. I have a pair of sandles that I left in the car this summer. The glue got hot enough to allow the sandle to come apart. I have no doubt that if you let a glass ski get that hot you'd have similar problems. I buy that if it gets too hot you can screw it up, but I disagree that it will return to normal after X number of passes or .....

I bought the 67 over the 69 based on coaching advice. I'll try a friends 69 next chance I get. When I went from the OLD O'brien World Team Comp as a teenager to a Concept, I loved the increased stiffness. I had a similar feeling today.

I was hooking up too early and too hard and doing what you described. I try to stay on pulling edge to slow down but have been finding myself too wide more often than not since not hyperaccelerating before the wake. Only time I find I have slack is when I force the ski to turn faster. I'll have to get more video, all the stuff from this year is on his camera. We've not done as much video since he bought an N200 and the tracker does not work as well with it. It will be the weekend before I can get on the water again b/c of the regionals.

There is a skier at the lake with a 69. I may try it if he's around some time soon.

I'd say turning issues are on both sides. I have no issues getting angle (one caveat). My biggest problem in that regard is being too aggressive and getting too much speed and/or width. By the time I have two slow turns I have to kill myself for 3, too much speed needed to get there then have to slow down to turn. I end up trying to force the turn and throw myself forward at the ski trying to get it to go, i.e. break at the waist. It feels like no matter what I do or how hard I try to stay vertical, it's trying to pull me forward on the off side turn. The caveat is that like in Rossi's article a/b "impossible line" if I hook up too early I get pulled off edge around the center of the wake and end up flat and losing all my angle. I've got that under control, but regardless of body position, lean angle or attempts to counter it, I get 6-8" of upper body movement through the wake. This morning one of the comments was that I didn't have any upper body movement. Attached is one of the only pics from this year that I can get to from here. Excuse the constipated look. I don't normally grimace; I figure I just took a face full of water. He had me move the bindings back one hole from the stock 29.5" earlier this season. That didn't seem to impact my turns as I progressed after that. We've talked a/b fin settings and did take 5/1000's out of the tip. That little bit did make the ski feel slightly more free, a hair less slightly less likely to be pulled out the front on the off side and a little less prone to breaking at the waist as well, all symptomatic of too much tip. Something that really bothers me is the upper body movement. If I didn't have issues the first time out on the Iconn.... It just makes me wonder if maybe it's not just the turns that are telling me I'm using the wrong tool?

Oh yeah, I knew it was old. It and the one that I have are WELL cared for. The one I've got looks like it's never seen action. I'd say that it's lighter and stiffer than the '10 Senate. This is kind of a temporary "try something different" exercise. My Senate just isn't working for me I guess. A S-C might feel better b/c of the stiffness, but I'm also trying to get away from the Vectors. Comfortable, yes, but with my ankles from running, I'm going with something stiffer. I was thinking a/b a Vice/Strada this fall anyway, but I'm less set on trying them and much less sure which way to go now.

(sorry in advance, long and wordy) So, I'm a -15 skier working at 30-34 mph. Skied all my life and started course work ~2 years ago. I ski with a coach 2-3-4x/week. I've been fighting more this year than last. Earlier in the season I was picking up 2-3 buoys per night on my PB. I was working to run 32 and here recently it's just fallen apart. I do work well above my level behind the boat but my issues are the time it takes to turn. My coach and I have been working on body position at the turns and started talking a/b the fact that maybe I'm on the wrong stick. I bought a new off the shelf 67" Senate with double vectors at the start of the season last year. Fin and binding numbers were checked when new, checked at the begining of this season and checked as recently as last week when we took .005 out of the tip. We've also tried going forwards and backwards with the bindings. I feel like the ski needs me to force it around which ends in me trying to force it around and breaking at the waist. It also feels impossible to get the ski out in front of me, kind of like it's slow and I can't overcome the drag. I'm not a small guy (6'2, 190), was a college runner, raced mountain bikes and activly race catamarans, so I'm not weak. As he says, either I pay the Out-the-Front gods well or am just lucky ;-). Truth be told, my agressiveness and lean is what probably saves me. I'm not trying to say that it's the tool, not the carpenter, but I've tried skiing light, I've tried killing it and I can't get over the hump (on to 34 and -22). While sitting waiting on weather Saturday we were talking about his ski dilema. He's been running -35/38 and moved from a 9700 to an Elite and is going back. I said, "some guys use chop sticks, some need a fork". As a result we decided that I was going to try something different. Only ski he has with bindings big enough for my 13's is an Iconn Sonic C-6. Funny enough, I bought a similar blank ski just before I started skiing with him but I've not been on it. I skied his this morning and after a pass or two it was feeling pretty dang good. It didn't feel like I couldn't push it out front or that it was trying to pull me out the front. I didn't get to my PB but I felt like I could given a couple of days on it. The ski felt more "physical", but I wasn't pulling any harder. Anticipating that this is due to it being stiffer. 1 - Does anybody know what plates fit this ski? I may just buy some bindings and ride it for a couple of months. The large bindings are killing my feet, so I've got one of my Vectors on the front only b/c they're too narrow for the back pattern. 2 - Anyone know the differences between one with a mostly clear carbon top with Red/Blue stripes and a clear with only a blue stripe with gold pin stripe? I have to go dig the blank one out to get the name off of it. 3 - Any recomendations of other sticks to try?

Myles, tried to email you last night and again today, the email address doesn't work. Sadly, my feet are too big. I'm a size 13...

I think it takes four -15 skiers to make a statistically significant data set.... I'll suffer this burden if I must. My address is __________ ;-) On a serious note Sully, how big a difference did you see? I'm on a '10 Senate now and on the water 3-4x/week.... I thought it was the carpenter, not the chef... Wait... that was a game... Oh, Indian, not the cowboy... crap... Blind dog buries a squirrel?... whatever....

I'm on a '10 Senate. I meant to say that before. I didn't want to mention what my coach was in when he torqued his ankle, but he's gone back to powershells in the two weeks since. I'm in the Vector's, but with my ankles/feet, I need more stiffness in the cuff. They're comfortable, but I have too much flexibility in my ankles. I like the idea of the dual soles, but would probably go with the single plate if I went with the quattro's. Not having velcro is a plus for the E's.

First, no I'm not skiing at an elite level, so performance doesn't matter "as" much. Skied all my life, am now 34 and started course work two seasons ago. Still breaking a few bad habits but am doing work at -15/32. Expect to be at 34 shortly (knock on wood, been making big strides here lately). I ski with my coach 3-4x/week. He injured his ankle in a set of hybrid bindings after changing from Powershells. I ran is middle school, highschool and college, so my ankles and knees are toast. As such, I'm aware that I run my boots too tight now b/c I'm trying to get them stiffer. I looked at going to FM's last year but decided to wait till my skill set improved. I know that I don't need them at this level, but I want something stiffer (and safer) than the bindings I'm in now. TIA!

I like my '10 Senate quite a lot, it's no slouch!

I live just north of Eufaula... at least I know when I need to keep the livestock locked up... ;-) (sorry, don't know ya, just felt like it was a good time to be a smart ass... wait... is there ever a bad time??) Off to get wet!

(Another Faith-laker here) Jeff got a new ride yesterday. Skied a set behind it and nearly didn't recognize him, all that "clean and shiney stuff" ;-)