Welcome to Knoxville...

(supraman) · (supraman) **Join Date: Jan 2002** 09-02-2005, 9:01 AM

I just wanted to be the first to welcome Al Alvarez to Knoxville. Through his marketing position at GM, Al has helped a lot of wakeboarders and the sport in general. For instance, he's got full responsibility for Vortech's Power Hour on OLN, which I understand has an upcoming "cribs-style" feature with Brian Francis. Al recently purchased a home on the water down here and is moving from Detroit.

Yesterday he helped me by getting me out of work early for a "field meeting" and then towing me on more glass on Norris Lake than I've ever seen. Plus, his boat doesn't suck...

(psudy) · (psudy) **Join Date: Dec 2003** 09-02-2005, 10:02 AM

Wake pic???

(ldr) · (ldr) **Join Date: Nov 2002** 09-02-2005, 10:11 AM

Do you know if that style of color options are going to be avaliable across the entire MC line.
That boat is the nicest looking X 45 i've seen.

(zuka666) · (zuka666) **Join Date: Aug 2005** 09-02-2005, 10:28 AM

Yup, nice boat!

(newmy79) · (newmy79) **Join Date: Jun 2005** 09-02-2005, 10:29 AM

damn nice boat..must be nice to be riding behind that beast!

(loudontn) · (loudontn) **Join Date: Feb 2005** 09-02-2005, 2:30 PM

Oh wow Matt, that's killer!! I'm jealous! You'll have to introduce me :P haha

Give me a call sometime man, wish I could go this Saturday but I gots to go to the football game! Have a great weekend!!

mile_high_rider 09-02-2005, 11:23 PM

I think that power hour is on comcast on demand right now.

(supraman) · (supraman) **Join Date: Jan 2002** 09-05-2005, 6:43 PM

Sorry all, just got back from the holiday....

Paul -- I didn't get one this time

, but I'll be sure to get one next time.

Matthew -- Anyone can order an X-45 in this color scheme (or the same layout with different colors). I agree with you: this is the best looking X-45 I've ever seen.

Cody -- I'll introduce you. I think I'm taking Thursday and Friday off this week, so that sets me up for another four day weekend. If you wanna ride, let me know.

(loudontn) · (loudontn) **Join Date: Feb 2005** 09-05-2005, 9:21 PM

What time you planning on going out Thur. and Friday? I am done at like noon on Friday, but it's all good if you're going in the morning. Don't change plans for me. Give me a call if you all are going out Saturday or Friday after-noon. Hope you all have a great week!

(jhilltn) · (jhilltn) **Join Date: Jul 2004** 09-07-2005, 6:30 AM

welcome to knoxville, some of us will be out at turkey creek riding this afternoon by the UT ski course/ramp. Maybe we can meet up sometime.

(loudontn) · (loudontn) **Join Date: Feb 2005** 09-07-2005, 7:19 AM

Imma be out there today too, we actually rode together last week or something Justin. This is the Cody, Matts friend, we went to Krystals and such? Cool to see you're on here. Hope to see ya today.

(atlsackedup) · (atlsackedup) **Join Date: Mar 2005** 09-07-2005, 7:41 AM

Hey Cody...we talked on another post a while back (I went to UT back in 2000 and was on the ski team) and we had a MC 205 Direct Drive with a Fly-High pylon extension for riding. What boat do you guys currently have now and if its a ski boat (which it probably is...they wouldn't let us get a wakeboard boat back then), does it have a tower? Thanks dude and how is the Substance? I'm thinking about getting one too...I demo'd a HL Premier this past weekend, board had nice pop but was very slow in the water. Looking for something with comparable pop and stability, but just is a little faster.

(loudontn) · (loudontn) **Join Date: Feb 2005** 09-07-2005, 7:55 AM

Hey Andrew, yea, I remember talking to ya. We're riding the '05 Mastercraft ProStar 197 with a MC X series tower. We've got sacks and everything for wakeboarding, it absolutely needs it too. We had 8 in the boat with no weight last week and it was hard to tell there was a wake back there. Load it with sacks and it's pretty nice. We have alot of guys on the team with nice wakeboard boats as well that we'll probably end up using from time to time (Wakesetter, SAN, and X-Star).

The Substance is great, it's got a learning curve (this is my first year riding, ever, so it's a little advanced for me). The pop is amazing, my first time charging it I just lost control, didn't expect the boot I got. Like I said though, it's a little advanced for me but I got a good deal on the '06 so I really didn't want to pass it up. I've been riding finless, so that's made it a little harder to learn as well. I'm going out today for the first time with the fins in, so we'll see how that goes.

(atlsackedup) · (atlsackedup) **Join Date: Mar 2005** 09-07-2005, 8:39 AM

Cody...Good to hear you guys got a tower on that thing. Man, the days of the fly-high pylon extension sucked big time. And I know where you are coming from with the necessity of sacking the hell out of your '05 MC 197 to get a wake out of it. I bought my first boat back in January of this year (a 2000 MC X-5 which is basically a Prostar 195 with a zero-flex tower) so I have to sac mine up big time to get a decent wake as well. I put a 500lb sac in the rear ski trunk, 600lb sac behind the motor box and then lay the rear bench on it, 2 85lb launch pad blocks in front of the passenger seat, and then a 600lb sac in the bow. Wake is pretty good for a basically a slalom hull....very steep and crisp all the way back to about 80 feet. When I was at UT, I was only on the ski team for a semester, so I rode about 7-8 times and that's where I learned how to ride...at the time, I didn't even know what wakeboarding was. The guys that I would go out with were really good...they could throw whirly's, raley's, 5's, and 7's off of the double-up. So since my time at UT back in 2000, I didn't get to ride again till this season...5 years is a long time to remember what it's like to ride, but not have the means to be able to. Since I liked the Mastercraft that I rode behind at UT so much, I decided to buy one of my own once I got out of college and I love it. Wow, you've got some friends on the team that have Wakesetters, SAN's, and X-Stars? Things have changed since I was there last...pretty much the local kids from Knoxville just used the school's boat as their own and they all had keys. It was halirious that it was suppose to be a "ski team", but it turned out to be more of a wakeboard club...I hardly remember anyone even skiing behind the thing!!

Thanks for the feedback on the Substance...since this is my first season to ride in about 5 years, I'm probably still in the beginner class as well. So the Substance might be a little advanced for me, but I'm going to demo it to find out. Good to hear that its got some good pop...that's what I'm looking for in a board. The continuous that I'm riding doesn't seem to project me up very much, just out.

If you're ever in the Atlanta area, hit me up and we can go riding...we've got several really nice lakes down here. but I still miss Loudon up there...that lake so nice and probably not nearly as crowded as the ones down here. Later.

(loudontn) · (loudontn) **Join Date: Feb 2005** 09-07-2005, 9:01 AM

Yea, I've not had a chance to ride in any of these guys nice wake-specific boats yet, but I've already been on the team boat about 3 times (only started last week, haha). It's been alot of fun, everyone is encouraging. I'll definately hit you up if I'm headed down to ATL again. I haven't been there in a couple months, I really like it, may have to make a trip down to Peachtree street here soon.

Yea, definately give the Substance a shot though. Like I said, I haven't rode it but finless, it may be significantly different with fins in. If you're ever headed up this way, try to give us a call, I'm sure there is always room for Ski-team alumni :-)

Justin, if ya read this before you head out today, give me a call @ 865-680-2639. I'm trying to figure out what time wakeboarders would be going, or if skiers were going first or what the deal was.