How many of you give way to slalom guys....

or barefooters.

On my lake, I often go out at 6:00am. Only the slalom guys and the barefooters are out, you should have seen their faces the first time they saw me with five guys in the boat

Anyway, I go way out of my way to keep the slalom area calm, even if we have to ride in chop (chop in the morning is really only 1" ripples).

Its more a matter of respect, I know they get up at that time just for the glass.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on that? If I were to ruin their water, is that not the same as a tuber doing power turns on glass that "we" are on?

Do you guys try to accomodate skiers, or it is worth the effort?

Wow, people still slalom and barefoot?

They are outnumbered big time where I'm located, so they have to deal with us regardless of time. The only courtesy/respect they get from me is the same I extend to other boarders, and boaters. Nothing more or less

Yes and Yes.

At about 5:00 am on Sundays I take a slalom set and afterward fill up the ballast for a wakeboard run. With 3 people in the boat, we are still at 9:00 am church very wide awake.

I can wakeboard with occasional chop and rollers, I cannot slalom or barefoot in those conditions. When we share the water, we discuss patterns so we have minimal interferance. We can have 4 boats running at the same time without hitting each others rollers.

On the Delta Slalom and barefoot still thrive. I just don't understand why they would want to go to the same slu's that we go to to wakeboard. Vic's and Old river (grant line) are well known wakeboard hot spots. Yesterday had several Slalom skiers on it durring the peak of the day. I personally move to one side of the slu and let them speed on.

Robert, If they are running a course, then yes, I would stay out of the way. Rollers in a course can really screw someone up if they don't see them. If they are just free skiing, then I would think you have just as much right there as they do. Talk to them about taking turns. That way you both get smooth water.

slaloming and barefoot are very hard to do, and need just as calm or even calmer water than wakeboarding. i give way for them because i have much respect.

combo skiing on the otherhad, is cake. they can ride in chop, i do not purposely mess up their water though.

I will stay out of a slalom course that is being used since they can't exactly pick up their buoys and move, but when just free skiing, glass is fair game.

Skiers who think wakeboarders like wakes so therefore they can ride the chop piss me off. We like glass as much as they do.

We have also had skiers ask if we can stay out of the course and we are happy too. But when they go out of their way at the end of the buoys and power turn in our area, we extend the same courtesy and send rollers their way. Don't send rollers at us if you don't expect the same in return.

At the end of a course, what do you expect to happen. They have to turn around and get lined up to re-enter.

I expect them to power turn around at the end of the course that we are not wakeboarding on. When we get to their end, we either throw a trick we know we will fall on or bring the boat to an idle and slowly turn around. Seems fair right? They have 2 ends of the course, just like we have 2 ends to our area. If we both use the end we meet on to turn around slowly, everyone is happy. Common courtesy, IMO.

I still slalom once in a while, not too often. On our lake there's a group that go out early every morning to slalom, and when I want to wakeboard at that time, I just go out and do it. I try hard to ride somewhere that will keep the wake interference to a minimum on their course, realizing that they do not OWN the lake, so if I want to ride, I ride.

However, last Saturday, just as I was having my evening wakeboard set, one of the slalom guys decides to go out on his boat WITH A TUBE in the back and started doing donuts everywhere! What a frikken idiot!

Needless to say, I think I may have a very special surpise for him the next time he goes out to slalom in the morning... Anyone for wakesurf at 7 a.m. ???

Santa

Jessica - there's a major difference of a slalom boat throwing an 8" roller during their turn-around then you throwing a 3 ft. roller down a slalom course. You have to remember, slalom skiers are hitting 40-60 mph behind the boat, any roller at those speeds spells serious injury (usually an OTF - over the front of the ski).

Thats very kind of you guys to slow down. Being primarly a slalom skier, when I'm in the course, I'll go out of my way to politely ask a wakeboarder to move to a different area, and so far, everyone has. Its very pleasant when they understand the need to calm water, just like slalom skiers do understand wakeboarders need calm water.

Free skiing is fair game though. Slalom courses are really used for training for tournaments. Glad to hear everyone is so understanding on this site.

as a barefooter and wakeboarder, I know that there are very few wakeboarders in FL that get up at the butt crack of dawn, simply because you don't need to, the lakes aren't that crowded. however barefooters are usually a hardy crew, and if you are driving correct patterns you can easily foot at the same time as someone is wakeboarding, just have to use the same lines. Sure you may have to butt out rollers or stop once in a while, but it is easily manageable.

It's cool to see respect for the water regardless of the sport. It makes the lake a much more pleasant place. So to answer the question, yes and yes.

Our boat is filled with both boarders and skiiers so we respect everyone who respects us. When the ballast is full we'll stay away from the course and when we're skiing we won't just decide to tear through someone's wakeboard set.

Santa, we've just come to realize that Saturday and Sunday afternoon/evening is completely different from the rest of the week. It's when all of the out of towners put their boats in and it's just a circus on water.

Jessica,
You might want to explain that our two courses (slalom and wakeboarding) at San V are end to end. The two share a common end with a small dock between them. The dock helps break the rollers but it isn't 100% effective.

To all,
It's not "us" and "them" (wakeboarders and slalomers), it's all "US"! We all love water sports and we all love glass. Let's respect that and do our part to keep the water smooth.

Dennis, does that mean I can no longer do slow circles to F%$k with the tubers on my small weekday lake?

Being a guy that used to live and breath slalom (solid 28 off at 32 MPH), Yes smooth water is more important to slalom.

Gary(sanger guy), That same guy you see at victoria and old river is probably the same guys that looked pissed off on thurs and fri when I went past.

The funny thing is, most of the slalom skiers I see on the delta are good enough to atleast try running a course, why open water where the wakeboarders and jackasses(tubers and jetskis) are? There are almost a dozen courses I can think of.