2016 Radar Senate

[Wulphie]

I got a 67, same as my theory. I am 180 with vest.

At 28 and 29mph I am early and coasting to the ball and the ski sinks a bit and takes a lot of effort to get going. The theory doesn't get bogged down like that, it just plain works better going those speeds.

Over 30mph the Senate stays higher in the water and doesn't get bogged down but that is when I start to edge to long and go blowing past the ball at what seems like 90mph hahaha. My form just kinda goes to crap because even though it is only 2mph faster everything just seems to happen sooo much faster. I can't even imagine 34 and 36 mph.

I should also say that my friends 2014 Senate seems closer in performance to my Theory than my 2016 Senate. the 2016 Senate has much more defined rails than the 2014.

I either have to ride the Senate at 30mph and accept that I will not get six every time right away and learn to ski that speed or keep riding the Theory at 28/ 29 and really focus on my form so when I do switch to the Senate at 30+ I don't get sloppy.

Fun learning and boy am I sore today. I hope the body is ready for Funday Sunday!

[foxriverat]

Your best bet is stay at the slower speed and work on your form like you said. Then move up. Im 56 and this is my 3rd summer skiing the course. Those little red balls sure are addicting.

[Cusefan78]

You can also try playing with the fins and boot placement. That might help with the way it rides. Just keep track of the settings you try. Small changes make big differences.

[foxriverat]

Im still working on getting to 34 mph on my senate. Heres 30 mph 22 off yesterday morning.

[Jetlink]

Not bad old man!

[Wulphie]

Nice! My buddy I ski with gets down to 28 off at 31 mph but still can't get through the course 15 off at 32mph haha. It is crazy how much harder it seems picking up the speed just 1 mph.

Me skiing the course 15 off at 28 mph, you can skip the first 3 mins to get to the skiing. . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv6cruZXlkA

[foxriverat]

Not bad old man!

Dont make me come up there with my cane.

Nice! My buddy I ski with gets down to 28 off at 31 mph but still can't get through the course 15 off at 32mph haha. It is crazy how much harder it seems picking up the speed just 1 mph.

Me skiing the course 15 off at 28 mph, you can skip the first 3 mins to get to the skiing. . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv6cruZXlkA

Great job! Keep it up. We need more people doing something that takes some skill instead of creating a giant wake and destroying the water. LOL

[chris young]

Hopefully I'm not coming off as a know it all, but I'm so jazzed about my journey to 34mph that I just have to share my experience so far. I'm 53 and I've been skiing the course a lot since spring of 2014 when I made the switch from RFF to LFF

I'm just progressing to 34mph now. (Current PB 3@ 34mph) Speed is definitely scary when you get to 32 mph and 34 is even more so. What I will say is that form is everything. I can run 32 mph about 50% of the time with bad form. I've decided to work on my form more, so now I always run a minimum of 2 passes at 30 mph where I concentrate on finishing the turn and getting the handle to my trailing hip as I finish the turn with my head up and looking across the course. These two things are beginning to transform my skiing and I accept the failures I'm having running the course in order to get this right. I highly recommend this video of Chet Raley talking form; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBYIDumS2kA. As soon as I put his advice into practice I was crashing all over the place at 30mph! It was humbling, but what I had to get used to was that when you finish the turn and make sure you've got the handle at the hip, you accelerate so much quicker, it kind of freaks you out. The thing is, now when I run 32mph I usually get to 4 before my form degrades where before I was scrapping through the whole pass at the higher speeds.

As for your Senate at slower speeds, it shouldn't be an issue. I had a Senate and it was a great ski, but it was stolen. Now I'm on a 67" D3 Quest which is a full on course ski, and I have no issues skiing it at 28 mph in the course. It's hard to tell from your POV video, but it looks to me like you're flattening out through the wakes all the way to the ball and that could explain the sinking feeling on the Senate. This also causes a problem at higher speeds because you get pulled forward when you hit the wakes. I know, 'cause I've been fighting this since early July when I had yet to run a pass at 32 mph. I can tell you from experience, that when you're in a solid position exiting your turn and you hold it to the 2nd wake, you don't feel like you're going all that fast, even at 34mph. But when you're flat through the wakes at any speed over 30, you feel like you're going really fast. The other thing that takes a bit of getting used to at higher speeds, is that you have to pull really hard. That's what I'm getting used to now. I can put a relatively easy effort in at 30 mph and be early for 6, but I have to pull like a demon to run 32mph.