Tips for pulling a Slalom Skier behind a Z3

[007]

Ok, don't laugh, I've never pulled a slalom skier behind the Z3. In fact, I've not pulled a slalom (or any skier) for probably 10 years and it was with a jet boat.

A coworker wants me to pull him this weekend. I'm assuming no ballast, but how do I set up the boat?
A strong but controlled pull to get him out of the water?
Rope off the tower versus the low point? (Actually hoping tower because I just had some spider cracks fixed around the low tow point from pulling...tubers).

Any advice would be appreciated.

I'm hoping to convert him to a surfer, but until then I want to try this out.

[h2o-ski]

You are pretty close with everything.

Your assumption is correct, no ballast with TAPS at 2 maybe 1
A strong pull but not too much as you could probably pull the rope out of his hands or socket
Pulling from the tower is definitely acceptable unless he has aspirations of tackling the course.

Hopefully Bakes will chime in since he slaloms with his Z3

[akdoc]

My older brother still slaloms, why I have no clue. I have a 24ve but we pull off the low point. Don't hammer the throttle, he won't be able to hold on. If you are using a wakeboarding rope those don't stretch like a slalom rope so getting up is going to a little different for him. I pull my brother at around 31 MPH with taps at 1. If you have a few people in the boat sit them up front. Good luck!

[Bakes5]

If you want to convert him to surfing, leave about 5 feet of slack in the line and hit it.

For the Z3, this is what I like

Pull off the tow point (*I want to put a real pylon in mine since the tow thingy cuts my line).
Taps at 3 creates the smoothest wake. At 1 or 2 it digs into the water and creates a weird trough
Speed=31 or 32 (*Although if he is a rookie maybe 27-28mph)
Zero ballast
Few people in the boat as possible

It's actually a fun boat to slalom behind when it's just my wife driving. When there are 10 people in the boat, its a brick wall though. The key to having fun behind the Z3 with a slalom is to adapt your riding to the wake instead of trying to pretend its a wispy 20' closed bow tournament boat with a hot rod ski.

[Bakes5]

Also, good on you for trying something new. So sad when people use their boats for one trick ponies when they are capable of sooo much more. A typical trip will have us ski, wakeboard, wake skate, wake scooter, hydrofoil, kneeboard, cliff jump, hang out, sleep and sometimes tube....we rarely surf. Surfing is nice and all but it's just too much of a pain in the butt to dial in the wave and ballast and I really, really, really like the speed, power and full body workout of a slalom set around the entire lake. Dang it, now I'm slobbering.

[bsreid]

Slalom is making a comeback, it truly is. I feel like tige should come out with a boat more designated towards skiing, maybe a DD, or maybe something more like the vtx. The tower will be fine if he's not going through the course. I typically run taps all the way down and speed about 28, mainly because I'm still learning.

[TigeFamily]

Bakes5....I know the Z3 puts out an incredible surf wave cause I have surfed one and loved it....but I hear you on the dialing. That is the simple reason why I started using a Nauticurl suck gate. Add my ballast, stick on the gate and BAM....you have a great clean wave with lots of push and maybe 10 seconds of dialing (trim plate is all I gotta do, usually I put it at 50% and its perfect...sometimes conditions or more people cause a slight change cause with 4400-4900lbs of ballast...(depending on if I add lead), I get a HUGE wave so sometimes I add trim to bring the wave down some. Just putting it out there since you obviously love all the sports but don't like spending 10-20mins messing with wave to get that "perfect" lip....I am same way. When I get on boat after a hard day working...or the whole week, lol....I just want to be surfing. As tacky as some people will think it is that I put a gate on my $100k boat, I don't care what anyone thinks cause within minutes, I am surfing a perfect wave. I also have kids that get bored with that stuff, so I have limited time to surf as it is and don't want to waste a single second of it. Just thought I would throw it out there.

[outkastmunkey]

This weekend my boat pulled slalom ski, wakeboard, Surf and tube when the water was trashed and I will be buying a Kneeboard in the near future. My dad really liked slalom behind my R20 pulled him out nice and fast and the wake wasn't to big.

[Bakes5]

Yeah...I know my boat puts out a killer wave, I just like other things more right now and I absolutely have to get inverts down on my hydrofoil before I get too old to take the hits of learning. That's the beauty of the Z3...it pretty much does it all. I figure I have a few more years on my knees and back...when everything else hurts, I will start looking more at surfing. Just change out the prop, add some lead and rock on.

Get 2 kneeboards. Gets more kids out on the water and they have more fun spraying each other and generally horsing around. Kneeboarding is our "tubing" for the most part. I do S turns and whip one of them out while the other gets an extra clean wake to jump. Best way to get kids introduced to watersports and keeps them off the forbannet tubes.

Also, wakeboarding/wake skating at slower (16-18mph) with a really short line (*Barely longer than a long surf line) is pretty dang fun and mostly low impact.

What I really want to do is get another boat next to mine and do one of those surf bowl things. That actually looks like a lot of fun. I think you can do it at wakeboard speeds....at least that is what I got while watching "The Voyage" (*Great film BTW)

Anywho....I just love spending time on the boat, tinkering around with the boat and generally living the lake lifestyle in the summer. Slalom is great and what I grew up doing but only one of about 15 things to do.

[Brosef]

^^ that's the way to do it. I'm still a slalom skiier at heart, but I will admit that wakesurfing really captured my attention when I tried it last year - largely because it's so easy you feel like you could do it for hours, which is pretty incredible when compared to slalom skiing, where one 60 second run and your body is almost completely toast for the day.

[Bakes5]

"Body toast for the day"

That only happens start of the season. Every run I go as long as I safely can with harder cuts. Then I go a ways further just cruising and whipping to build endurance. By the end of the year we can do the entire skiers cove and then run the edge all the way down to the end of the lake/buoys on Lake Pueblo pretty easily....and then do it again later. I also train in the gym and do more hills on the MTN with long slalom sets in mind. I absolutely hate having to let go in glass because I'm just too tired to hang on. Seriously, the amount of time, $$, and effort it takes to get a couple minute slalom set is a lot when you think about it. So, I can double and triple my ROI by staying in shape.

Sooner or later I'll get to surfing, but not until my body won't let me do the other stuff. I still have so many things I need to get down.

[dukesofhazzard]

Like someone else said, 4-5 coils in the water, tell him head down, and gun it!!!!!!!!!

[007]

Thank you guys for all the input. Towed off the tower. 30mph. With 2 people in the boat we ran Taps 2-3 with mixed results on wake. With 3 people in the boat we put one person in the bow and ran Taps 2 to find the cleanest wake. My buddy enjoyed it and we did in fact teach him how to surf later. He was ropeless by day 2!
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[TeamAllen]

Love it! Water conditions look good too.