interesting. Hmmmmm...

Very little avail. info. on a very new web site. I'm wondering about length's and dia.'s as well as the feasibilty and cost for Slalom use.

I don't see the advantage to carbon? Wgt.? (give up a beer or two and some crappy fast foods and knock off pounds while saving $$$!) -ha,ha

Last edited by h20dawg79 (Sun, Mar 14, 2010 10:34 PM)

Thomas Wayne wrote:

h20dawg79 wrote:

[...] give up a beer or two and some crappy fast foods [...]

Bite your tongue.

TW

Sorry! -That was my darn practical side thinking out load again! ( my "practical side" is my wife & childrens most unfavorite part of me... - As far as I know anyway!)

Be interesting to try this handle.  If it is usable it seems to eliminate the possibility of injury from getting your head in the handle.  Not sure, but having a single point to "pull" thru might actually be a good thing in slalom?  Has anyone actually tried this handle?

I thought that someone was trying it out here at Canyon a couple months ago. I'll see if I can get any feed back.

I'm a little skeptical myself! But I think (for me) it's 'cuz it looks SO different.

The AWSA Hall of Fame has a very interesting collection of waterski products dating back to the 1920's.  Among those pieces are many different handle inventions, including a "T" handle that is essentially exactly what is this thread is about.  There are so many things bad about this handle design it would be hard to know where to begin.

Another, similarly bad idea was an "L" (or "7") shaped handle bent out of thin steel tubing (see CAD drawing below).  The main question on my mind is if they wisely took this thing off the market before someone lost a kidney...

TW

Last edited by Thomas Wayne (Tue, Jun 8, 2010 9:44 PM)

I tried it out for Mike Murphy at the VonZabern Tournament.  It was a proto-type he had, and ran 28 off with it.  Because it was only his proto-type, it was a little heavy, but it was VERY STABLE, much more than I expected.  It felt like you had MORE stability coming out of the turn than with a traditional handle.  The other thing i thought was awesome was the ability to hook up onto the handle from the outside of it, and coming in on it, unlike traditional handles where you have the rope in the way at the end.

As far as safety goes, I think there are pro's and con's, but I will be anxious to try the final carbon version.

Seems like a waste of money if you are going to buy it for safety reasons see all of Thomas Wayne's reasons above.  Waterskiing is a dangerous sport and one of the dangers is getting caught in the handle there is no way to completely take away the dangers of the handle getting caught on some object or body part it is just part of the sport.  As for performance factors I really don't see anything wrong with a regular old handle "If it ain't broke don't fix it."

You might not can fall into this one with your head. But think about what the damage would be if you fell into it at the apex of the turn like is prone to happen and that thing pokes you in the eye.  It's not going to be good.

Thomas Wayne wrote:

I'd be interested in hearing about the safety "pros" - other than there's no opening to stick yous arm / head into.  What would any other safety pros be?TW

That's a pretty damn big pro if you ask me!  How many do you need?  The couple of people who were killed by getting their head caught in it wouldn't be dead if they had been using this handle.  I get  the idea  DUH (TW) that you don't like it because you didn't come up with it first.

Garn

I guess the handle could hit you in the head, but so could ANY handle.  I think it would be very unlikely to "catch" you during a fall. As far as snagging the skier when you circle to pick him up?? I think the speed at which you go to pick up skier or return the handle to the skier is slow enough that injury is not very likely.   Not saying it couldnt happen, but like Garn said the whole safety issue has to do with getting caught in the handle (arm , or head), and I think it would be impossible with this handle.  Still uncertain of the efficiency of skiing with a handle like this.  But it does seem to be extremely safe to me.

Um??  OK??  Maybe I'm looking at a different  handle?  The one I see on the above web page, I dont see any possible opening that an arm could get stuck in?