EZ Ski Trainer

[RTS]

I have a 4 year daugther and it is a goal of mine to get her to enjoy watersports. I hae been looking for something that would get her behind the boat alone, comfortably, for a while and came across this

EZ Ski Trainer

We took it out this weekend and had great results. She rode that thing until she was so tired that once she got in the boat, I had to make her lie down to nap, because she was falling asleep standing up watching a guest take her turn.

This thing is a great 1st step to skiing, in my opinion, because....

1) Dry start. She just sat on the 'seat' until I got the rope tight and took off. Then she just stood up.

2) With the 'bindings' and handle, it teaches the proper ski stance.

3) Immediate success, and as her confidence grew, she was able to begin to 'steer' the ski side to side, carving inside of the wake.

4) You really can't fall off the thing, but she would jump into the lake after her 'runs'

5) You don't attach the rope to the boat, but instead an adult holds the line via a ski handle. This way, if she were to fall, or after she jumped off the thing, you let go of the handle and the 'ski' stays with her. She could climb on to it in the water with a vest on. Also, you would not drag her if she fell and didn't let go of the handle.

6) She transitioned to being outside the boat, with no adult with her, immediately. She had done some 'tandem' tubing before, but never alone.

All in all, I would highly recommend this item to those with youngsters in the 3-4 year old range. She felt like she was 'skiing', rather than just riding a tube, and she enjoyed herself as much as I enjoyed watching her. Speed was about 7-9 MPH, I'm guessing, because it wasn't registering on the speedo. The thing would 'plane' at idle, I'm sure. We played with it in the swimming pool prior to going, I think that helped (but wore me out pulling her across the pool a hundred times)

A little on the pricey side, but I got the 10% Crew discount at Overton's.

I have some really great video, but don't know how to post it or give you access to it.

Any questions/comments, let me know

Edited July 1, 2009 by rts

[davemac]

A little on the pricey side, but I got the 10% Crew discount at Overton's.

I didn't realize there was a discount for Crew Members at Overtons?!?!

[obski]

We were out this morning and a friend brought her 4yo daughter who used the Gladiator. This also attaches to a ski rope with the handle held in the boat by someone. She had a great time and didn't want to stop. These are great ways to introduce watersports to the little ones.

[jetskipro550]

We were out this morning and a friend brought her 4yo daughter who used the Gladiator. This also attaches to a ski rope with the handle held in the boat by someone. She had a great time and didn't want to stop. These are great ways to introduce watersports to the little ones.

My friend used that to teach his 4yr old and it worked well. It didn't work too well when he tried to barefoot with it and jumped off of it around 35 mph

[obski]

We were out this morning and a friend brought her 4yo daughter who used the Gladiator. This also attaches to a ski rope with the handle held in the boat by someone. She had a great time and didn't want to stop. These are great ways to introduce watersports to the little ones.

My friend used that to teach his 4yr old and it worked well. It didn't work too well when he tried to barefoot with it and jumped off of it around 35 mph

We did that for 'Barefoot Friday' at The Boarding School last year. We used a HL Landlock to get up to speed at around 36mph while working our way to the tip of the board. We then stood up quickly and barefooted for a short distance before crashing in a spectacular fashion. We had a Barefoot Friday last week while we at Trinity Lake using a CWB Ride board. It didn't work as well, but the wipeouts were just as awesome.