I found a pole that the owner cut 8" off the length. What are the benifets/drawbacks?

Maybe they were short and had a hard time putting the rope up. It would have less up pulling for the rider, but the forces on the pylon and cable would be less. I am assuming you are talking about an extended pylon

The go told the people that he seemed to get better air with it cut. Seemed weird to me so I thought I would ask. Yes I am talking about an extended pylon

A tall pole can cause the boat to rock enough to screw up the wake. I find that my 8' pole seems to work better if I pull out a pin and drop it down about a foot or so.

Uhhhh NO you will not get better lift!It is not logical.

The physics are not so straight forward to accept simply that taller is better. For example, before Thomas Horrell switched to wakeskating, he would wakeboard off the factory (low) pylon because he felt that the pull was more solid and allowed him to get a stronger cut and subsequently more lift. There were a pack of Orlando riders (many of the "New School") that all were dissing on Skylons and choosing to ride low. Of course, this was before towers had been invented. My first pylon was a shortened version (5'), it was a nice solid pull with less flex and a noticeably more solid pull than the taller Skylon. I stuck my first Raley off that 5' pylon, if that's worth anything.

I think the taller polls especially affect the wake when you add a lot of weight to the boat OR if you're a big guy going for big raley-type moves. We had problems with both on our older (less deep of a V) boat. <BR> <BR>Might not need to cut down the pole if you don't add a lot of weight, you're not too heavy, or you don't cut at the wake like Shapiro. Taller poles do keep the board racks out of eye level.

Is it even possible to go wake to wake on a 26' boat with an 8 and a half foot beam with no tower? I only have the stupid hook thing above the swim platform.

Thanks for the info guys.....