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So I broke my Sixam last year, Obrien was good enough to warranty the ski but no longer offered the Sixam so they upgraded me to an Elite. The Elite is a darn nice ski, looks awesome in full carbon fiber finish, but never really felt that great while skiing. It skis hard but that's all it wants to do. It rewards good skiing position but punishes me when I get out of shape. In the year I rode it I took a few of the hardest crashes I have in my water skiing career.
A few weeks ago I ran into Horton at the Diablo Shores Pro-Am tournament (hadn't seen him in about 35 years but we remembered each other from the early days). Knowing he is one of the most knowledgeable fairly unbiased slalom ski testers in the business I asked for a ski suggestion. Once qualified his first recommendation for me was the D3 X7 followed by the HO A2 (over the S2 based on my intermediate skiing needs). A few days later a used X7 was on my doorstep after a successful negotiation on ski-it-again. With bindings mounted I headed to the river with a buddy and his late model slalom boat. The X7 was drastically different than the Elite and I immediately felt more stable on it than I ever felt on the Elite. A few days later I hit the slalom course and skied as well as I would have expected to ski on the Elite.
As luck has happens, the day after the X7 showed up on my doorstep, I noticed an A2 on ski-it-again at an unbelievable price. So, I grabbed it too. Today I rode the A2 for the first time. I believe it's a little more stable than the Elite but far less stable than the X7. That said, it cranked turns effortlessly and generated a ton of angle across the wake. I suspect the A2 will make me a better skier in the course? So the Elite is officially retired.
Shortly after I broke the Sixam last year I picked a very cheap Sixam (red/blue). I only tired it once and hated it but never bothered to check the fin settings then. While I was setting up the X7 and A2 I figured I would check the old Sixam. Sure enough the fin was far from optimal settings. After fighting with that goofy fin box for a couple hours I got it back very close to the recommended settings. At the end of the day today I figured what the heck, I'll give the Sixam a try too. To my surprise it felt very good, almost as fast as the A2 and almost as stable as the X7.
Here is where my head is at the moment:
X7 - super cruiser when I don't want to be pushed by the ski, skis very well when I decide to push it, but it needs to be pushed to carve tight turns and develop good angle.
Sixam - cruises pretty well, carves nicely, generates good angle when I get my body in the right position
A2 - wants to carve tight turns and generate lots of angle across the wake, not very easy to ski lazily
Elite - ski it like I am trying to be Andy Mapple or leave it in the bag
A few weeks ago I ran into Horton at the Diablo Shores Pro-Am tournament (hadn't seen him in about 35 years but we remembered each other from the early days). Knowing he is one of the most knowledgeable fairly unbiased slalom ski testers in the business I asked for a ski suggestion. Once qualified his first recommendation for me was the D3 X7 followed by the HO A2 (over the S2 based on my intermediate skiing needs). A few days later a used X7 was on my doorstep after a successful negotiation on ski-it-again. With bindings mounted I headed to the river with a buddy and his late model slalom boat. The X7 was drastically different than the Elite and I immediately felt more stable on it than I ever felt on the Elite. A few days later I hit the slalom course and skied as well as I would have expected to ski on the Elite.
As luck has happens, the day after the X7 showed up on my doorstep, I noticed an A2 on ski-it-again at an unbelievable price. So, I grabbed it too. Today I rode the A2 for the first time. I believe it's a little more stable than the Elite but far less stable than the X7. That said, it cranked turns effortlessly and generated a ton of angle across the wake. I suspect the A2 will make me a better skier in the course? So the Elite is officially retired.
Shortly after I broke the Sixam last year I picked a very cheap Sixam (red/blue). I only tired it once and hated it but never bothered to check the fin settings then. While I was setting up the X7 and A2 I figured I would check the old Sixam. Sure enough the fin was far from optimal settings. After fighting with that goofy fin box for a couple hours I got it back very close to the recommended settings. At the end of the day today I figured what the heck, I'll give the Sixam a try too. To my surprise it felt very good, almost as fast as the A2 and almost as stable as the X7.
Here is where my head is at the moment:
X7 - super cruiser when I don't want to be pushed by the ski, skis very well when I decide to push it, but it needs to be pushed to carve tight turns and develop good angle.
Sixam - cruises pretty well, carves nicely, generates good angle when I get my body in the right position
A2 - wants to carve tight turns and generate lots of angle across the wake, not very easy to ski lazily
Elite - ski it like I am trying to be Andy Mapple or leave it in the bag
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