New PB!

[iwaterskihard]

It was a sweet day here yesterday in south Texas. I came home from work with really no intention of skiing yesterday as it was a long day and I was tired. Got home changed out of my work clothes and into t-shirt & shorts.
Sitting on the back deck with my wife just chatting and out of the blue she just blurts out - you want to ski? I will drive.
So into the boat we go - progressive rope set at 22 off. The end of the set resulted in a new PB for me at a full pass of 28 off. I got 5 @ 28 on Friday but yesterday ran all six with room to spare. For me it went like this off the dock:

4 @ 22
6 @ 22
6 @ 22
6 @ 22
6 @ 25 (progressive loop)
6 @ 28

The winter skiing practice is starting to show some rewards and I couldn't have been happier that it was my wife driving the boat. She got to share both my excitement and be a complete part of making it happen!

Can't wait for our coaching clinic with Trent down here! Better things to come! :)

[kaneboats]

Congrats! That is outstanding.

[mikenehrkorn]

Nice job!! Sometimes you do much better when you have little to no expectations.

[deerfield]

It was a sweet day here yesterday ...practice is starting to show...rewards

Fantastic! Keep up the good work!

[BensonWdby]

Very nice - was that 34mph? Perfect Pass? So you liking the A3?

[rca]

I see you are in Rosharon. Where do you ski? We are down on the San Bernard pretty often, although we live in Sugar Land.

[iwaterskihard]

I see you are in Rosharon. Where do you ski? We are down on the San Bernard pretty often, although we live in Sugar Land.

I live at the far east side of the county in Rosharon. We live in a ski community called Ski Texas on RR #121.
We have never been down to the river. Matter of fact our boat has only been out of the water on the trailer twice since we moved here. We wouldn't have a clue where to put the boat in or where to go to be honest with you.

if you'd like to come take a rip at the 6 orange balls and enjoy a cold beer on our dock some day let me know. Always enjoy meeting new people and sharing the fun! :)

[iwaterskihard]

Benson - I really really like my A3 however I think it's a tad short for me at 67". SO I thought I might try something an inch longer! And I'll be damned look what showed up at my house yesterday for a test ride..............

http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k612/iwaterskihard/IMG_4571_zpss8cmqyog.jpg (http://s1118.photobucket.com/user/iwaterskihard/media/IMG_4571_zpss8cmqyog.jpg.html)
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k612/iwaterskihard/IMG_4572_zps9rxphljv.jpg (http://s1118.photobucket.com/user/iwaterskihard/media/IMG_4572_zps9rxphljv.jpg.html)
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k612/iwaterskihard/IMG_4573_zpsgidexlao.jpg (http://s1118.photobucket.com/user/iwaterskihard/media/IMG_4573_zpsgidexlao.jpg.html)

Called Trent Finlayson - set the bindings up as per Radar specs and hit the water last night! First set was junk. I was all over the place. Back in boat pull bindings off and move plate forward one hole (1/4") and back in the water.

Ran 22 off successfully but whoa this is going to take a little getting used too. Rocker is completely different and ski really rips the offside turn. Almost tossed me out the front a couple times as it really digs in.

I can tell this ski is going to force me to keep my shoulders open to the boat and up course. Any mistake in dropping your shoulder inside will result in me being sent ahead of the ski.

[kaneboats]

Gotta love a guy who gets 6 @ 28 and decides he needs to change skis. :cool:

[iwaterskihard]

Gotta love a guy who gets 6 @ 28 and decides he needs to change skis. :cool:

LOL The irony in it all Kane is I ordered the ski to give it a try and I ran the 28 pass while the ski was en-route to me. The ski might not be staying in Texas if I don't like it or can't figure out how to ride it?
In saying that I struggled some moving from my A2 to my A3. Once I was able to find the right binding placement and proper body alignment I started to see better success. None of my success wouldn't have been possible without the help of good coaching aka- TRENT!!!! I could go on and on about him and his support but that would be better represented in another thread.
One thing about this sport - we will never be perfect and we always always strive for that little bit extra. Some days that means just getting to the next ball even if you don't get around it!!!!! :)

[fu-man]

Nice work.

Sounds like I am about the same level as you. Got to 3 or 4 at -28 last year. Be darned if i don't run it this year. I am also starting to think of upgradiing my ski. Currently skiing on a Radar Senate. Lots of options to upgrade: Senate C (graphite), Lithium Senate, Vapor graphite, or lithium vapor. I'm curious as to your thoughts about why you chose the graphite rather than lithium. I would think that your A3 has a PVC core but your Vapor has a PU core. My understanding is that PU is more "damper" than pvc which makes it less responsive but more forgiving. Looking forward to hearing more about the ski as you have a chance to ride it more. By the way I have seen some threads about "magic" numbers for Vapor set up on BOS. Might want to have a look as you try out the ski.

[Mikey]

Nice, still itching to try my new vapour lithium... Once I decide what boots I want.. Hopefully ,my changeover will not be to drastic, I skied my buddy's vapour,lower level that helped me decide I wanted to get a new ski,in the first place. We ski similarity and we both had to adjust to the way his ski reacted, but once style changed we both were skiing better and harder than ever before.. That's what sold me...a couple more months then hopefully I can pas on a little more feedback.i usually ski 22 28 offs as well but only seldom get a course to ski in. Will mostly just have open water feedback

[iwaterskihard]

I went with the Graphite Vapor mostly because I wanted to try a Radar product. Won't lie either they gave me a deal on it that is substantially lower priced than it's big brother the Vapor Lithium. That said I can send it back and upgrade if I so choose?
@fu man - I talked to Trent Finlayson, my coach and former Radar team skier and he helped me dial the settings in. It was me who moved the bindings ahead after riding it. The ski is an inch longer than my current ski and I just felt off with the bindings where they were on my first set. The small adjustment made a world of difference.
@Mikey - my current set of bindings is Radar Stradas on a Radar Sequence plate. The beauty of these bindings that I like is you can tighten them right up yet you release safely from them in a crash. You can also pull the plate off and set the bindings up on any other ski as a set. You don't have to worry about the spread between bindings as they are set up already. I have been riding the bindings since I had my old HO A2. I have a second set in my boat house waiting for the set I am on to be worn out. I have had the Stradas & Sequence plate for 3+ years now and still good to go. I will post some pics of the bindings and the set up.
Last night was day 2 set #3 on the ski. I ran down the line from 18 off to 22 off and a last pass at 25 off. I didn't want to challenge 28 as I'm still getting the feel for the ski. One thing I can say is my ski partner can't say enough about how much better my offside turns are. His comment yesterday was "There is no difference in your turns now. Your 2 & 4 are the same as 1-3-5." Water conditions weren't perfect yesterday but I am riding this ski well. I will ride it for a few more days and then maybe do a swap and try the Lithium Vapor.
The ski did force me to change how I ski but the results so far are seeming to be positive! :)

[Mikey]

I have thought about the plate set up and maybe thats what will happen for me as well. You mention the off side turns. After both myself and my buddy whos Vapour i skiied last summer. We both had a little trouble adjusting to his ski. Once we both did though We both noticed a dramatic improvement on offside turns almost to the point of offside becoming the better turn..haha
You may wonder why i skied his ski? .I wanted to ski his for demo purpose so for a week straight thats all i skied and i was SOLD... Now i have a ski just no boots yet. Maybe even considering a RTS?? Soon i will decide then soon maybe we will be skiing and hopefully i can post more comments. Just gotta find access to a course so i can really try to tell how my skiing is really coming along.

[iwaterskihard]

Mikey - just get a membership @ Predator Bay. One of their members is coming down to ski with me in May when Trent is here.
Just a short drive south and honestly one of the nicest ski sites I have ever seen. It will give you access. There is another or was another ski club just north of you when I still lived in Canada called Spruce View Water Ski Club. Been a few years since I looked them up on Google.

The Lithium Vapor has yet to arrive but I ran this Graphite Vapor passed 28 yesterday and into 32. Shattered my PB again yesterday with 1 1/2 @ 32. If I keep improving at this rate I will see 6 @ 32 by the end of summer! Pretty darned happy with my current results and can't wait to ride the Lithium when it arrives.

Yes offside turns are killer now. Ball 4 on my 28 off pass yesterday just confirmed it for me too! :)

Happy skiing all! Get iout there and set personal PB's for yourselves! :)

[iwaterskihard]

This bad boy showed up yesterday! Didn't ski it last night but will slip bindings on it and go for a rip tonight!
Let's hope we can find another PB in this one too! :)

http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k612/iwaterskihard/IMG_4655_zpszy6cluop.jpg (http://s1118.photobucket.com/user/iwaterskihard/media/IMG_4655_zpszy6cluop.jpg.html)
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k612/iwaterskihard/IMG_4656_zps8yesnnyl.jpg (http://s1118.photobucket.com/user/iwaterskihard/media/IMG_4656_zps8yesnnyl.jpg.html)

[Mikey]

Would love to get a membership at Predator. 2800 ish though and a waiting list. I'm still trying to work on getting in a couple times as a guest, but thats tough as well. I have a buddy in another ski club near Chestermere who promised/owes me a couple sets as a guest at there club. Last season they had water level issues and the club only used there course for a couple weeks then got shut down. Hoping to get some course time in , but if not lots of openwater skiing. We got a seasonal campsite and bought a trailer, that we will keep down in Sandpoint Idaho. This summer i am hoping to get WAY more waterskiing time in down there. There are a couple courses just quite aways away and not always wind friendly...keeping my fingers crossed. STILL undecided what boots to go with the Radar Lithium ski.

[iwaterskihard]

So here I am again responding and glowing because another PB was reached by me on my ski. I'm fortunate to ski with some good skiers and their help has made a lot of this possible.
New summer goal is 6 @ 32 off! :)

[skiyaker]

Wow awesome skiing. I can't see your pics for some reason- blue vapor? Let me know how it compares with the graphite. I'm about to upgrade my vice. I'm leaning toward graphite but I'm not as accomplished as you!

[iwaterskihard]

I cannot see the pictures in this thread anymore either? Not sure why as it looks like the whole site has been reformatted. I rode the Graphite then the Lithium Vapor. I was fortunate enough to have both skis at the same time to compare them.
To be honest I rode both skis into PB's for me at the time and into 28 off. The Lithium seems to react better for me. It's a softer ski and reacted better coming out of the turn. Again for me! I ski with a guy that runs the line from 32 to 39 regularly and he liked the Graphite better.
For me it's the turn and I felt the Lithium allowed me to get to the finish of the turn in a better position for the load. I'm stacked and can create better angle at the exit of the turn when the line loads.

I skied again last night and went yet one more buoy deeper than I have in the past so again another PB! :) This sport is like golf in the fact that it can be so frustrating at times and the next day so rewarding. Last night I run past ball 4 at 28 off at increased speed. On Wednesday I ran 2 passes at 22 off and couldn't run another one for the life of me.................take the ski off go to the dock and enjoy a cold beer or six in frustration. Last night off teh dock 22, 22, 25, 25, 4@28, 3@28. Ski off climb in boat with a big smile on my face!!!!
One day I will run 32!!!! :)