Hi Tigé nuts!
I'm pretty excited now that I've had my new R20 out a second time and the weather is warming up. I have tons of watersport (skiing, wakeboarding) driving experience in an I/O and for the past several years I've driven a couple of summer camp tournament boats for a week at a time -- but mostly tubing (and docking ;-) This year I'll be doing watersports in style behind the R20 and I want to gain solid driving skills with it.
I'm past the initial inboard learning curve with my camp experience, I've watched a bunch of videos (ragboy and others) and I've played around to get a feel for how the boat reacts. Here are some tips I've already picked up (comments welcome):
- As soon as your rider falls, cut the power and turn LEFT. The boat wants to do this naturally and it results in a quick, comfortable turn with the boat pointed back at the rider (and no circular wave traveling down the lake).
- To drive around a fallen rider and drift the rope to them, start to the left of them about 20 feet and turn hard right. This is necessary as you want to keep the rider where the driver can see them and a v-drive doesn't turn hard to the right. The result is getting close (but not too close) to the rider and nicely looping the rope around them.
- To pick up a fallen rider, head straight at them (not too fast) and 20-30 feet away start a left turn, then go in reverse for a few seconds. This results in the boat drifting very slowly broadside to the rider, for passing gear into the boat, communicating, or having them a few swim strokes away from the swim grid.
Comments? More tips and tricks, please!
Severin B.
Victoria, BC
I'm pretty excited now that I've had my new R20 out a second time and the weather is warming up. I have tons of watersport (skiing, wakeboarding) driving experience in an I/O and for the past several years I've driven a couple of summer camp tournament boats for a week at a time -- but mostly tubing (and docking ;-) This year I'll be doing watersports in style behind the R20 and I want to gain solid driving skills with it.
I'm past the initial inboard learning curve with my camp experience, I've watched a bunch of videos (ragboy and others) and I've played around to get a feel for how the boat reacts. Here are some tips I've already picked up (comments welcome):
- As soon as your rider falls, cut the power and turn LEFT. The boat wants to do this naturally and it results in a quick, comfortable turn with the boat pointed back at the rider (and no circular wave traveling down the lake).
- To drive around a fallen rider and drift the rope to them, start to the left of them about 20 feet and turn hard right. This is necessary as you want to keep the rider where the driver can see them and a v-drive doesn't turn hard to the right. The result is getting close (but not too close) to the rider and nicely looping the rope around them.
- To pick up a fallen rider, head straight at them (not too fast) and 20-30 feet away start a left turn, then go in reverse for a few seconds. This results in the boat drifting very slowly broadside to the rider, for passing gear into the boat, communicating, or having them a few swim strokes away from the swim grid.
Comments? More tips and tricks, please!
Severin B.
Victoria, BC
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