Does anyone have any experience with portable slalom course (ex: Insta-slalom, EZ Slalom, etc.)? I've looked at their web sites and they claim that with practice they can be set up in 20-30 minutes, but I find that a little hard to believe.

Also, does anyone have experience with a system which allows you to sink and raise a permanent course? AccuSink made a system like this, but I don't think they are available now. Has anyone built a do-it-yourself version? Basically, it looks like you could take a large sub-bouy (ex: large cat-litter jug), partially fill it with sand and then also insert an air bladder (ex: lawn tractor inner-tube). Running a sytem of hoses (tubes) to the air bladders, you could connect all to a central tube that runs to the shore (or pier etc.), where a valve/gauge attachment would allow you to hook up a compressor to inflate the bladders and raise the course. To lower, you would open the valve and water would flow into the top of the sub bouy (through some holes inserted) and deflate the bladder, and the weight of the sand would pull down both the sub-bouy and the bouy on the surface. Sounds like it would work, but I'd like to hear if someone has tried this. Unfortunately we've had some vandals slice up our course this year and we're looking at some options.