Slalom from tower, does it work good?

[BLong]

I am looking at direct drive with a tower. Usually I have enough people in the boat to fill the back seats. Of course with the pylon being in the middle of the boat, those people have to head up front or lay in the floor if I decide to pull a slalom skier. Has any body ever tried pulling a skier from the tower, and if so how does it do? Any info would be helpful!!

Thanks,
Zach

[scottrob]

RE: Slalom from tower, does it work good?

I would not personally recommend this for two reasons: (1) The tower is not made for this level of force in your turns and (2) the rope being that high will not really lend itself to any performance level of skiing (IMHO)

[Quinner]

RE: Slalom from tower, does it work good?

You can pull a slalom skier from the tower however the more advanced skier would probably not like the pull, then again with many people in the boat your wake would be pretty big anyways. If your skier is pulling hard through his turns the boat will rock and move all over because of the high connection point. For novice skiers the tower is fine and I also like pulling from the tower when teaching.

[efox]

RE: Slalom from tower, does it work good?

I too like the higher towpoint for newer skiers. I find the pull out on a slalom ski is much easier with the tower. These days I board a lot and never ski, so I need all the help I can get getting out of the water.

[Rick]

RE: Slalom from tower, does it work good?

I agree. If I have a novice skeir I pull from a pylon or tower. It tends to pull the skier up as well as forward. I would not pull someone through a course from the pylon though as Quinner says it will rock and roll. If you want to pull through a course with a full boat I think I would pull from the rear lift ring. It would pull the back of the boat around a little but not as badly as from a tower.

[ag4ever]

RE: Slalom from tower, does it work good?

Through the course on the tower might make the skier happier. They might be able to get a few more balls with the added rope lenth a leaning boat would give them.

[sv211wink]

RE: Slalom from tower, does it work good?

Pulling from the tower forces you to break at the waste. Bad Habits

[FMSKI]

I skied off my newly installed tower today and was laughing the whole time at the different dynamic it brings.

Deepwater start is so nice, no drag, no spray and it was like just standing up on the ski.
The pull out of the turn wants to stand you up a bit, so it's actually a bit harder to establish a good lean away from the boat. You won't be dropping elbows here as everything feels more vertical.

Going through the wakes was a surprise. It was like a magic carpet ride, because the ski is taking less of your weight and the boat taking on more.

Overall it was less stress on the body and if you are a rec or fun skier on a rolly day with a shaped ski, it's a good way to have some fun.

Pull force from a decent slalom skier is 400-600lbs (pros spike out at 900+ ish). A good tower should be able to handle that. The boat did rock but not too bad.