Does anyone ski anymore?

[Tryathlete]

I never knew how to do a deep water slalom start until I turned 54. I learned to wakeboard when I was 53. I'm seriously looking to ride slalom hard this summer, working on technique so that I can run the course by the end of the season. I bought an 88 Supra Mariah which is a pretty decent ski boat, but it never really drove a flat wake and as a wakeboard boat, it was only meddling. I traded up for a 96 Super Sport which I've yet to even have in the water, but hoping to get a reasonably flat slalom wake at 30 mph or so. We will see. My son, the boarder has committed to slaloming this year, and agreed to be my go-to driver. One good thing about being old is having kids old enough to drive!


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[swankster]

I would rather be on my Connelly F1 than anything else, but not behind my current boat. The G23 is for the kids...when they are grown it's back to a ski boat. But surfing is growing on me.

[azeus17]

I have been thinking, for a while, that there seems to be more focus on G series on this site. No problem with it as I have always been able to get whatever information I may need from previous threads, or by starting a new one if needed. Just not a whole lot I can contribute to most threads these days.

I started skiing and boarding in the 90's and still love both. The speed and physicality of slalom, and the fun and freedom of boarding. We have the vdrive for the added room more than anything.

[Double D]

Like the question says. I never see posts about the 200 or any Ski Nautique for that matter. Has slalom officially died? Gotta say this site feels more and more like a wakeboard only board.

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It's amazing how I feel the same way over on Teamtalk. I notice more and more its all about big v-drives, surfing and ballast. Wakeboarding is almost secondary now, let alone skiing.

[swc5150]

Definitely two different worlds. Decades of R&D to create nonexistent wakes, to how big can a wake be made.

[skiinxs]

It is almost impossible to ski on public water these days, too many huge boats making huge wakes. Slalom skiing is alive and well, we are all on our own private lakes where the public doesn't see us. This doesn't exactly promote the sport though, as many kids have never seen a slalom skier.

[BrennanK]

It is almost impossible to ski on public water these days, too many huge boats making huge wakes. Slalom skiing is alive and well, we are all on our own private lakes where the public doesn't see us. This doesn't exactly promote the sport though, as many kids have never seen a slalom skier.

This is pretty accurate. While I ski on public water it might as well be private. The only other boats I have seen there are 1 or 2 fisherman.
Whenever I do hop into a more public lake I quickly realize why I hate it. I usually only go once per year and that is more than enough.

To add on to the point about kids never seeing a slalom skier. That is unfortunately very true. There is a pretty big difference between the kind of slalom skiing that goes on behind a 3 even tow boat and the kind of skiing that happens on a pair of combos with your I/O. I think if more kids saw what real slalom skiing was it would be much more popular. Everyone that I have introduced to true slalom skiing has fallen in love with it. There is just no representation of water skiing to kids anymore because most of those that could represent the sport have left the public water.

[swc5150]

That is a great point. I grew up on a lake and was never overly interested in learning to ski, until the day I saw a Mastercraft pulling a slalom skier ripping it up. I was about 9 years old and it was the first tournament boat I ever saw in person, along with the best skier to the date I had seen. I couldn't wait to learn to ski after witnessing it, and the begging of my parents to buy an MC began.

We're pretty lucky here, as far as decent public water for skiing. As soon as the wake boats are dropped in the river, they head straight to the sandbar to be beached for the day.

[nwelch]

I also think one of the biggest factors is that if your really looking to Slalom well, you want the minimal number of people in the boat, while wakeboarding you can bring the whole family and friends and love it.

[mcinmylo]

21 years old and love slalom. The speed you get slaloming beats out wakeboarding for me any day. I think people today dont realize how much fun skiing is. They think two skiing is as best as you can be. While they seeing wakeboarding and immediately it looks "cooler". Once people try slaloming, everyone i know has loved it way better.



Still dont understand why someone would by a $140k boat if they aint close to a pro level boarder.

Sport Nautique 200 is the best boat around. Amazing for slalom, wake and surf.

We have 10 people out no problem, can still do backrolls, 360s, grabs etc.. Wakeboarding

[4th ski-doo]

Slalom? I was born and raised jumping, try to find a ramp on a public lake that's within tolerance. Once we left a private facility the plans changed, the bigger v-drive offers a much better ride on Saturday afternoon tubing.

I just couldn't take the pounding anymore, started boarding and fell in love with surfing. I'm almost 50, learning tricks surfing are so less impact than going out the front!

I thought Jeff was going to open a 3-event page? It's really funny to me the best surf wakes come from the same company providing the best slalom wakes.


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