Quote Originally Posted by smokedog2 View Post
Well,

Lake house owners have lower hours for two main reasons. First, lots of friends with boats that want to drive. Second, lots of work to do on the lake house. My 05 LSV just went in to be winterized, a sad day. I spent 6 hours at the lake house doing chores. Still beats being home. I have a dry suit. I wish I had gotten one more set in - oh well.

It is a weekend gig. I added up last year, 36-40 days at the lake depending on how you count. Is a day of work "a day at the lake." (yes, yes it is). Total boat hours this year about 80 but we usually have 2-4 boats on any given weekens.
So here is my take on low hours on my boat - which is on a lift at lake 65 minutes away.
1. Boat is on lift - weekends only, but normally weekends are Thursday night to Monday night for me so I should get more time - but not...
2. I used to have a boat load of people to ski with. For a variety of reasons it is now down to me most of the time.
3. When I go - I slalom. Slalom runs are a lot more intense than wakebaord or tubing runs. I would be very surprised if the total time above water slalom skiing in any set exceeds 15 minutes, probably closer to 10. At 34 mph a pass through the course is about 18 seconds. When I was in training this summer (somone elses boat) 6 passes was about max in a set. That included coaching after each pass. That takes about 20-30 minutes max and the boat is only running half that. Almost impossible to get 3 sets a day - conditions, people, scheduling, physcial conditioning, wear and tear on your hands..
4. About 50% of my time is behind someone elses boat, and although I try to reciprocate, they prefer their boat.
5. We have ample opportunity but my driver refuses to pull me without a spotter, so the boat sits unless I can round up someone. That would be OK if the spotter was a skier, but despite lots of friendly offers, it is just wierd going door to door pandering for help.