Need help with some research

[chautauquasun]

So I have a class that I am doing some research for. They always say, work on something you enjoy and then its not work...so I decided to do some work around boating and skiing. I want to see if anyone else has these problems. Not really problems but things that can be a pain. From your answers I may do a more formal survey and again ask you for your feed back. So here are a few questions. Please feel free to respond back and let me know if you have experienced these issues when boating and skiing.

1. For those states that require an observer when skiing, is it an issue often where you have a driver and a skier but can't seem to find an observer? it would seem to me that everyone wants to be on the boat so this shouldn't be an issue...but we have found that it can be an issue. Especially when we want to get up early and hit the water when it is glass. It seems like many times we are trying to find someone and by the time we do its later in the am and the good water is all chopped up. Has this every been an issue for you? Is it as common as it seems to be for us?

2. Have you ever lost a ski or wakeboard while driving the boat then had to go back and search for it? I can give you two examples of where this has happened to us. Normally it happens when we have had a good run and everyone loads in the boat and no one is pay attention. Once we had a wakeboard that got left on the back ski locker and fell off while we were going and we didn't notice till we got back to the dock. Another time a ski got left on the platform and again we had to go looking for it. We found them in both cases but it sure isn't easy. Have you ever had a similar experience or are we just complete boneheads.

3. When teaching new slalom skiers to start on two and drop one....have you ever had issues locating the dropped ski after the drop? Usually one of those things where the person just gets up and you hate to circle back to quick when they are just getting used to it. Any experiences where you have had to search for the ski for a while? Have you ever lost a ski like this?

4. When the boat is moored over the evening...have you ever lost a inflatable towable? It gets away...or some one takes it? We lost one...we never figured out of it just got loose and floated away or if someone came by at night and snagged it.

Let me know your experiences with these 4 issues. Your answers will help me formulate a larger survey for the class project I am working on.

thanks!!!

Dan