Outdrive1
Outdrive1 Marine Sales https://www.outdrive1.com/
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2007
- Messages
- 33,566
- Reaction score
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Man what a fun weekend. The water was rough as hell, the weather was perfect, and racing was intense. With the exception of the accident with Brad and John. I pray they are both going to be alright. The weekend was a lot of fun.
Couple of thoughts I had..... The Casino boat sucks. They have a schedule I understand, but they have no problem driving by the course and putting out 4 foot rollers. I used to hate that boat, now I really hate that boat.
That being said, it's an equalizer, we all have to drive through it so there's no advantage or disadvantage to anyone.
There were less teams in Havasu than Parker. We need new blood. Guys with boats if you will. It's an "old school" sport I guess. Not sure how to get some younger guys involved. If you have only driven a boat recreationally though, and never gone into a corner 4 wide pulling skiers, you haven't lived yet. It makes boating crazy fun.
So many variables that control your chances at victory also. In the marathons they have to ski 50 minutes plus a lap. That's an hour of skiing as fast as you are able. Through the soup. Trying to stay up and not make any mistakes while dealing with fatigue. As a driver your on your game, trying to keep your speed constant, trying to pick a good line, looking for flat water so you can pick up speed, watching for downed skiers, and holding your lines in the corners. It's intense at times. I came around a corner, there was a downed skier in the turn on the outside, I start to come out of the turn and there's another downed on the inside I didn't see. I let off the throttle, somehow my skier managed to pull the slack out of the line and stay up. Talk about a holy fuck moment. Lol.
The water this weekend was worse than Catalina last year IMO. Between the wind, boat traffic and the casino boat. Windsor beach area is always rough anyhow. It made it really competitive because the rough water doesn't let the skiers ski flat out like Parker and fatigue plays a bigger role.
One more thing. So Cole and I, decide to do this this year. We practice a little, do Parker and finish relatively well. This race we pick up Dennis, who's a great observer. What a difference. The observer controls the boat. Driver drives, observer controls the speed and tells you where to be in the corners. He dictates how much he can push the skier. With Dennis, we were on our game. Finished first in our class. Thanks D and thanks Cole for the fun.
Couple of thoughts I had..... The Casino boat sucks. They have a schedule I understand, but they have no problem driving by the course and putting out 4 foot rollers. I used to hate that boat, now I really hate that boat.
That being said, it's an equalizer, we all have to drive through it so there's no advantage or disadvantage to anyone.
There were less teams in Havasu than Parker. We need new blood. Guys with boats if you will. It's an "old school" sport I guess. Not sure how to get some younger guys involved. If you have only driven a boat recreationally though, and never gone into a corner 4 wide pulling skiers, you haven't lived yet. It makes boating crazy fun.
So many variables that control your chances at victory also. In the marathons they have to ski 50 minutes plus a lap. That's an hour of skiing as fast as you are able. Through the soup. Trying to stay up and not make any mistakes while dealing with fatigue. As a driver your on your game, trying to keep your speed constant, trying to pick a good line, looking for flat water so you can pick up speed, watching for downed skiers, and holding your lines in the corners. It's intense at times. I came around a corner, there was a downed skier in the turn on the outside, I start to come out of the turn and there's another downed on the inside I didn't see. I let off the throttle, somehow my skier managed to pull the slack out of the line and stay up. Talk about a holy fuck moment. Lol.
The water this weekend was worse than Catalina last year IMO. Between the wind, boat traffic and the casino boat. Windsor beach area is always rough anyhow. It made it really competitive because the rough water doesn't let the skiers ski flat out like Parker and fatigue plays a bigger role.
One more thing. So Cole and I, decide to do this this year. We practice a little, do Parker and finish relatively well. This race we pick up Dennis, who's a great observer. What a difference. The observer controls the boat. Driver drives, observer controls the speed and tells you where to be in the corners. He dictates how much he can push the skier. With Dennis, we were on our game. Finished first in our class. Thanks D and thanks Cole for the fun.
