Proper way to pick up your downed rider

[tigeblue]

OK, So I'm sure everyone here has their own way to pick up your downed rider.

First off if your power turning all the time then your risking allot of unwanted water to douse everything and everyone. Not to mention getting all of our cloths in the storage wet...and having to put in work drying everything out. Especially if your weighing down your rig with ballast & Sacks.


Here is the way I do it...

1. Your rider falls.....

2. Put throttle in neutral position and slightly turn the steering wheel to the left allowing the boat to rest in the water with a slight left turn

3. Once the boat has rested out of a plane, put the throttle in the reverse position, not gunning it but just until it engages reverse.

4. The left turn you made was to posistion the rope to the left rear of the boat allowing you to engage reverse without running over your rope!...reverse will back you out of the huge rollers your boat has made and let them roll on by in front of you

5. Once the rollers have now past you..engage your throttle to forward position only letting your RPM to 1000 or just under(not creating another wake) and go pick up your rider.

IMO the best way to do it. I know that conditions may be different at different times, such as other boats near by or a shark in the water



My boy didn't listen to me on how to do this technique and now I am drying out my boat

ok...im done ranting!

anyone agree with this way?

[somebodyelse5]

Take out step 3 and your pretty much have it solid. no need to throw it in reverse.
Ill try and dig up the video, i cant find it now.

[tigeblue]

I guess #3 is optional

[Ewok]

Take out step 3 and your pretty much have it solid. no need to throw it in reverse.
Ill try and dig up the video, i cant find it now.

Yup, I think most people do all but step 3. I did see a video of a boat picking up a surfer by going into reverse and just slowly backing up. The rope was already in the boat so that wasn't an issue.

[rensink]

I do step 3 can turn the boat in a tighter turn and get back quicker as your not swinging out into the old wake if you turn around to soon.

[Jeffe]

I just put the throttle in full forward position and whip around really quick to pick up my tubers.

[talltigeguy]

Take out step 3 and your pretty much have it solid. no need to throw it in reverse.
Ill try and dig up the video, i cant find it now.

X3

I just put the throttle in full forward position and whip around really quick to pick up my tubers.

Hahaha! Me too. Now my wakeboarders are another story.

www.nopowerturns.com

I have been thinking of making some business cards and putting one with the no power turns website on it and dropping them on every inboard tow vehicle I see at our little lake. Especially when I see them powerturning at 8 am on a weekday messing up the entire lake.

[Nobody]

I just put the throttle in full forward position and whip around really quick to pick up my tubers.

Jeff, only the privileged fokes with RZ4's are permitted to power turn. Everyone else MUST follow their submissive pecking order. There are a few on this board that won't heed to the RZ4 superiority. This is unfortunate and until we make a law for those of less fortune....there's nothing we can do.

[embo]

I have to admit, until I became aquainted with the Tige boats and went boating with people on them I did the powerturn in the I/O I owned. But after it was explained to me and demo'd to me, I converted. Something I do is let the high side of the boat (when there is ballast in the boat for surfing) be the side I turn towards. This way, the waves that I was just creating don't have a chance of coming over the side of the boat. You can take on a much bigger wave from the high side then the low side. Another benefit, people in the boat don't get so ampted up when you turn to go get the downed rider. Meaning when you go fast and whip the boat, your riders get tense and excited and you can just "feel" this from your passengers. Excitement is great but some get tense and that creates other issues and then it seems everyone wants to jump up and get this or get that at the same time and then it is choas on the boat. Turning slowly and smoothly creates a calming effect and keeps things in control a little better I have found.

There are times to get the blood pumping and then times to keep it under control...this turn for pick up a down rider is a time for control. Thanks to my fiend for showing me the RIGHT WAY TO PICK UP YOUR RIDER.

Love this forum!!

[Jeffe]

Power turns FTW!!!

[Nobody]

Power turns FTW!!!

FTW??? Ummm....whats dat?

[evil0ne]

FTW??? Ummm....whats dat?

For the win. It's internet slang.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ftw

[somebodyelse5]

Jeff, only the privileged fokes with RZ4's are permitted to power turn. Everyone else MUST follow their submissive pecking order. There are a few on this board that won't heed to the RZ4 superiority. This is unfortunate and until we make a law for those of less fortune....there's nothing we can do.

dont forget, to perform a proper power turn YOU MUST be running NO LESS than 3500lbs of ballast

[Joeprunc]

I wish there was a mandatory class that boaters took where things like this were taught. I don't ever throw it in reverse (I feel like it too much strain on the tranny going from drive to neutral to reverse and back again). But then my boat is old!

On a side note, I find it really funny how some of you guys with weighted boats are worried about taking on water from your giant wakes. How do you think fishermen and skiers feel? They have to combat those same wakes. Honestly if I see a boat with a surfer, I drive as far away as I can. If I'm not careful I will get all 4 of your wakes into my boat. (end of my rant)

[gcsuper]

We have a cabin on a large lake with a floating dock. Power turns, Wally turns, whatever you want to call them are the norm for here. When we actually see a boat do a proper turn, if we're on the dock or on the deck, we stand up and cheer! It's come to the point where we stay off the lake on holiday weekends and on summer wedkends we pick our ski runs carefully. Starting around 9 am, we can go from perfect water to an ocean in a few minutes. It's laughable to see perfect water ruined by the first couple of boats doing power turns, pulling tubers, etc. I never understood why the tubers think they need to hug the bank where the skiers are trying to ski, but then the wakeboarders do a huge wally turn and mess up thier own water.

I was talking to my 14 year old son this summer about all these power turns. I'm 55 years young and when I learned to ski, slalom was the norm and we were taught to protect our water, plus with comp style boats, you didn't want huge wakes when picking up a downed skier. Now, most of the boarders we see on our lake are younger, probably never learned to slalom, and were never taught how to properly retrieve a skier. I'm doing my part trying to teach my son right, but somewhere a generation of boaters failed to teach the next generation the right way of sking, whether it's surfing, wakeboarding, tubing, etc.