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Cold Water Ski Setup


Addictedto6

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I have about 2 months of decent skiing weather before the Dec/Jan break. My ski setup was pretty good in late August when the water was in the mid 80s, and then really dialed in based on some suggestions from skisix@38.

Now the water is cooling off (69 today), and my offside turn went with it. I pushed the fin back .005 yesterday, and that seemed to help quite a bit (again thanks Greg).

Last year, I ended up pushing my bindings forward in early November after a late October slump. That solved the issue for me last year on my old Nomad.

I'm curious to what everyone else does re: fin tweaks for cold/warm water. I posted something about it in thewaterskiforum under the RCX thread, but only got 1 reply.

So, what do you when the water temp drops?

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I have about 2 months of decent skiing weather before the Dec/Jan break. My ski setup was pretty good in late August when the water was in the mid 80s, and then really dialed in based on some suggestions from skisix@38.

Now the water is cooling off (69 today), and my offside turn went with it. I pushed the fin back .005 yesterday, and that seemed to help quite a bit (again thanks Greg).

Last year, I ended up pushing my bindings forward in early November after a late October slump. That solved the issue for me last year on my old Nomad.

I'm curious to what everyone else does re: fin tweaks for cold/warm water. I posted something about it in thewaterskiforum under the RCX thread, but only got 1 reply.

So, what do you when the water temp drops?

Add a little tip. (ie. go from 6.845 to 6.855)

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i dont like to change anything too drastic such as binding movements or DFT changes.

First i try adding a degree of wing, if i dont like it i put it back and add a little tip.

this got me thinking. last year i got one of hortons redim fins and i didnt feel the need to change anything last fall. interesting.

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Wow, only 3 replies :(.

After skiing the other day, I'm pretty convinced I have some countering issues on the offside as things are cooling down. So I am going to try to stick with my ideal setup and try to avoid the fin tweak trap.

The carbon fin feedback is interesting Toby. I have a D3 carbon fin that I took off my ski early summer. I wanted to dial in my settings on the stock fin (which were not right for me at the time) before I went back to the carbon. Once things got really good, I didn't want to mess with the fin swap out. Now that I am back working on issues, I'll need to try the carbon fin again once my form is on track so I can get a good compare.

2 months to go. Last year, November was way better than October weather & progression wise. Hopefully the 30+ mph winds of the last two days will get out of here and we'll be back to October calm come Monday.

Edited by Addictedto6
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Schnitz says he moves his fin back 25 thousands when going from hot florida water to cold denver water.

20-25 degrees....syncs with the .005 for every 5 degrees that I've read on Nichols (thewaterskiforum.com) and other sources.

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I struggle with the offside when the water is colder. On Wednesday I was at Coble's in NC where the water was in the low 70s and I ran 3 @ 32 off. Today in 57* water I struggled to run 3-4 at 28 off. It was frustrating. I already moved my wing to 9* from 7* and that helped but now that the water is getting colder I seem to be back where I was. I hate messing with my fin too much but I may try moving it back a little.

Edited by Chef23
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i know i sound like an idiot, but why does cold water make you have to adjust the fin?

The ski rides higher in the water in colder water. So you either need to adjust your technique, or tweak the fin to try to get the ski to ride a little deeper.

Edited by Addictedto6
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i know i sound like an idiot, but why does cold water make you have to adjust the fin?

Cold water is more dense. A foil of any kind (SkySki, or slalom fin) will actually perform better, more lift, in colder water. They will also do other things more effectively, like glitch or turn...... this is probably much more obvious on a SkySki than on a slalom ski.

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Just came in from another set and the ski definitely doesn't like to slow down as much. Maybe I will try moving it back a little as it will be cold water next spring when I start up again.

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With the colder water, as mentioned, the ski is riding a little higher due to an increase in the density. I have had success adding a little tip, and your comment on not slowing down might be helped with a little additional wing angle.

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while its hard to disagree or tell the schnitzmeister he is wrong when it comes to fin adjustment, im curious as to why there seems to be the general view to play with DFT to solve the problem, over adding tip and/or wing. From my experience and what works for me i am very hesitant to change DFT ever. I feel as it changes the pitch and ride position of the ski, (especially in the pre turn) too much for my liking. The problems i feel in the cold is too much speed into the ball and getting the ski to come around as im sure most of you do too, so why would i want to change DFT? It wont change surface area, only the lever point of the ski. Maybe im missing something...

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while its hard to disagree or tell the schnitzmeister he is wrong when it comes to fin adjustment, im curious as to why there seems to be the general view to play with DFT to solve the problem, over adding tip and/or wing. From my experience and what works for me i am very hesitant to change DFT ever. I feel as it changes the pitch and ride position of the ski, (especially in the pre turn) too much for my liking. The problems i feel in the cold is too much speed into the ball and getting the ski to come around as im sure most of you do too, so why would i want to change DFT? It wont change surface area, only the lever point of the ski. Maybe im missing something...

Toby, wing adjustments I think are pretty universal as one thought.

re: DFT, I think some skiers find that moving the fin back puts more of the front of the ski in the water. that in turn allows the ski to ride better in the pre turn and come around better. I think adding tip is alternative, but for some ski setups that might leave you too narrow. If the offside is the only issue, then adding tip might be ok as long as it doesn't cause a width issue.

I've definitely come to the conclusion for me, I am better off trying to leave it alone. If I work on early edge change to do a better job handling the speed, that should help me long term anyhow.

We've been blown out since last Wed. Finally skied again today and the weather had changed dramatically. Water temp was down 10 degrees since last week and it my first day in a drysuit.

My offside @ 32 today was very good without any ski adjustment. I just did a better job on the edge change & countering on my offside.

Only issue I had was a pullout speed/turn in issue at 35 off...

Edited by Addictedto6
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