dynamics of the ski. That is why people have gone to great measures to protect their fin when it is not in the water. People have invented all sorts of methods of keeping the fin “ding free” and safe from being bent when in transit or even during shipping. I have seen everything from bubble wrap to sections of PVC tubing to add an extra layer of protection.

While there have even been a few commercial fin protectors in both wood and plastic made, none of them compare to this hand crafted fin protector sculpted by Darrell De Bey and finished by his wife Crystal. Each piece is a unique set of different woods, giving every
protector an identifiable one of kind look that makes it nothing short of gorgeous. A simple stretch cord wraps around the ski and fasten in a keyhole slot on the opposite side.

Darrell and Crystal De Bey make the fin protectors as a hobby and donates the proceeds to John O’Neill’s daughters, as we lost John to a skiing accident in 2009.  What they have crafted resembles more like a work of art than something to protect a waterski fin.  Compared to the wooden ones available on the retail market, this represents the Ferrari of fin protectors.

You won’t find these fin protectors on a store shelf or on a mail

order website.  You need to go to one of the Buoy Bash tournaments in upstate NY to get to the source.  Rumor has it they have a limited supply at this years Eastern Regionals at the Hidden Pass site in Penfield NY again.

]]> http://www.themorningglass.com/2010/06/waterski-fin-protection/feed/ 1 http://www.themorningglass.com/2010/06/and-so-it-begins/ http://www.themorningglass.com/2010/06/and-so-it-begins/#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:59:58 +0000 Phil Buehler http://www.themorningglass.com/?p=370 The 2010 season is underway, and what a start.  Very warm weather up here in Rochester, NY.  Its much easier to ski without a drysuit. 

The beginning of the season always conjures up dreams of skiing 20 sets a week and personal bests being shattered, and for the guys who contribute to this site, things are no different.  Hopefully, as the summer progresses, we will fill this site with information, pictures, stories and ideas that will help you to reach the goal you have set for yourself this year.  If anything, we hope it’s slightly entertaining.

                Stop back here for gear reviews, skiing news(from local to world), tournaments and stories.  I will be working with the other contributor(s) to get things moving over the next couple of weeks.  Steve has already promised some revamp of the forums section if the guy ever finds the time.  It’s a wonder he finds time to sleep…oh yeah, he doesn’t sleep.

Little did I realize how painful it would be finding the setup information for the ski.  This year I had a close friend who bought the 2008 HO Monza, also without any information about it.  My quest was put forth to find the fin settings and information regarding how to get the ski back to the original factory settings.  Easier said than done apparently as the lack of information available online has been painful.

The HO website has the “current” ski setup guide, represented in a chart, which is really a picture on their website.  Let me complain about that for a sentence or two.  One would anticipate that having the fin settings for this years Monza would be the same for all the model years, but they are not.  The HO website is one big graphical sales pitch, none of which gives me an ounce of information that I can use to get my ski setup.  Psssst, how about you let the customer service department show up to the table on the next version of the website, instead of only the sales team.  The nerd in me is a little upset that there is an image file representing the setup chart.  Putting it into an image, instead of text or even a PDF document, keeps it off of the search engines, again making the effort to find the information nothing but painful.

I figured out that HO WaterSkis was on Twitter, so I sent them a Tweet, asking for a link to the documents.  I was impressed because they responded, asking me to send them a DM (Direct Message) with my email address. 

I replied back and said I can’t send them a DM, unless they unlock that ability in their security settings, or actually follow me in Twitter.  I actually tried to send a direct message a few times, until I realize it was failing.

While I never heard back from them, after that tweet, I sent an email a couple weeks later asking again for the information.  I am still waiting to get any information out of HO, but I do have a positive spin on an otherwise failed customer service story.

I now have in my possession a copy of a copy of the original owners manual that was supposed to come with my 2007 Monza. At least I think it was the 2007, manual, but there are no dates.   The information in the Quick Setup guide and information in the pamphlet I was supposed to receive, is actually REALLY useful.  It goes over the basics of fin adjustments, how adding or removing fin depth can affect either side of your position in the water, and even how to measure the settings.  Why they don’t want this information to be out there to the world, I have no idea. I will work on scanning it in, as these are just photos I took from the iPhone.  At least you can read them. which is more than you get online with HO.

The final twist in this tale is the last page of information where it tells you to go to hosports.com or hosyndicate.com for more information.

While you already know that going to www.hosports.com will give you the information for the current ski only.  What you do not know is that I can guarantee you that going to www.hosyndicate.com will not give you ANY information and never will.  You see, I own that domain.  After I went there, found a dead site that wasn’t registered, I bought the domain name.  While it would be too easy for ME to start posting information on HOSyndicate.com, I think I would rather leave it dead or perhaps raffle it off to the highest bidder who can send me a ski with an owners manual.

Ski brands are always the controversy on the docks and Goode has a powerful reputation. It will certainly change up the industry a bit to have the world record holder and a pro rider on Goode hardware.

The video is in HD, and you can click through to YouTube if you want to see the larger version.

If you want more information from the World’s tournament than you gathered from the handful of places online, look no further than the man doing the announcing.

Tony Lightfoot has been announcing the largest venues in water skiing for probably longer than I have been skiing.  He is also a notch ahead in the game of online media, as he has been sharing his video and interviews with the rest of the world on his Blog.  While you can dig around and find a lot of Tony’s content online, following his updates from the source will certainly keep you in touch with some of the larger events going on.

For all of the interview videos from the 6 days of World’s tournaments…

http://tonylightfoot.com/

Thanks Tony

The largest warning factor I have before watching this movie is that you are left with a level of water skiing envy beyond which is satisfied by visiting your local lake.  Covering footage of what I consider exotic destinations for water skiing, I would like to rename the movie “I am Todd Ristorcelli and you are NOT, nah nah na boo boo”.  Ok, that is a little harsh, only because I am jealous that I have not been to one of any of the destinations covered in the video.  Actually the movie depicts how Todd recognizes how amazing his life of water skiing is and you can tell he truly just wants to share.  That makes it hard to hate the man, but I still remain envious.

The inspiration part of the video works great.  The music tracks are well orchestrated to the video, and if there was a boat around I was ready to jump in the water right then and there.

I am not sure if there is a 3rd rendition in the works or not.  My first suggestion of course is to let me come along with you for a year and help carry the gear, take videos, etc.   The second thing is that I would love to also see the transition to high definition.  Watching the visuals on a 55 inch LCD screen were visually stunning, but there are a few scenes where I want to see it shot in high definition for sure.

The most enjoyment is that I loved seeing the other destinations to ski around the world, even though they are the exotic ones.  Covering the venues that our friends across the globe wake up to every morning brings us all a little closer.

The best narration of course is when they are in Italy describing how waking up to see the reflection of the mountains in “the morning glass”.   Thanks for the subconscious plug for the site Todd, and let me know when you need me to pack my gear for the next one.

You can pickup a copy of Edged in Water 2 from www.waterskivideos.com

What is this??