New slalom course installation

[Harborseal2]

For about the past 2 years I have been pulling a younger friend through the course, and even though he is younger he is still over 60. I don't ski a course anymore, too old. He had been using an older Accufloat course. Recently an owner had a surveyed course installed, using gps locators for the buoys and the installation was done by a pro and appeared to go off without a hitch. It looks great, much straighter than the old course. No more cable, and my ski bud, who was occasionally running a full pass at 32 mph longline, now cannot make even 3 buoys on the new course. Could the former Accufloat course been that far off?

[waterlogged882]

Originally Posted by Harborseal2

For about the past 2 years I have been pulling a younger friend through the course, and even though he is younger he is still over 60. I don't ski a course anymore, too old. He had been using an older Accufloat course. Recently an owner had a surveyed course installed, using gps locators for the buoys and the installation was done by a pro and appeared to go off without a hitch. It looks great, much straighter than the old course. No more cable, and my ski bud, who was occasionally running a full pass at 32 mph longline, now cannot make even 3 buoys on the new course. Could the former Accufloat course been that far off?

I will say yes to your question. I have encountered this when I was diligently and consistently running courses and could tell a different in timing, which impacts rhythm, etc. from course to course. Not saying this with a definite answer but agreeing as an opinion from experience; one voice in many.

US$0.02

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[mikeg205]

You wrote new course much straighter... so I agree with waterlogged...

You are fortunate to have access to the course...

What's keeping you out of course? I am 60 and when I ran the course 15 of 28, it wasnt much of a strain..

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[MIskiboat]

You say surveyed and GPS. Which was it? Or both?
Doesn’t GPS have a position tolerance? A few feet off here and there could mess up your world.... what exactly was done to certify it to be right?

To me, survey means the construction worker style stuff and using math to make sure it’s right.

Unless the accufloat course had really bent pipes, I would think it should be ok. Steel cable right? Can’t see that stretching much. Unless the turn buoys eye bolts were not in right spot?

Did it have mid buoys? If not, there is a chance the PVC arms could sag down in the middle (which would then bring the turn ball in), but unless they were sagging like crazy, I don’t think the math would bring the ball in too much.

[tommurtha]

I've had the same accufloat for over 30 years. The pipes suck so I measure the turn buoys off the path buoy. I'm within a foot for sure. Pretty easy to tell if anything is off as all 3 buoys must line up.. I've never noticed any timing or performance when I went o another course. I found the pipes were effected greatly by weeds, enough to bend them to make them obviously out of tolerance

[edwin]

I'd concur with the rest of the folks. In my experience, there was always the PB course (Cow Creek on Table Rock) that made heroes. I am always 4-6 balls better there than any other course. When I ran pretty deep into 35' some years ago, it was clear that the course was narrow.

IMO, I'd trust the new installed course and have a great time running down it.

[JohnE]

We set up a course at one of the reunions, and Shepherd here definitely ran his PB.

Yea, it was screwed up and was definitely narrow. I think we got it fixed before the end of the weekend.

[bcd]

Get a rope or long tape measure and measure the distance out to the balls and then you'll know for sure.

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[bcd]

Originally Posted by MIskiboat

You say surveyed and GPS. Which was it? Or both?
Doesn’t GPS have a position tolerance? A few feet off here and there could mess up your world.... what exactly was done to certify it to be right?

To me, survey means the construction worker style stuff and using math to make sure it’s right.

Unless the accufloat course had really bent pipes, I would think it should be ok. Steel cable right? Can’t see that stretching much. Unless the turn buoys eye bolts were not in right spot?

Did it have mid buoys? If not, there is a chance the PVC arms could sag down in the middle (which would then bring the turn ball in), but unless they were sagging like crazy, I don’t think the math would bring the ball in too much.

GPS is only accurate to tens of feet by itself, however if you have a base station set up to send corrections, you can get accuracy of less than an inch. Surveyors should always be using a base station. It's basically just another GPS receiver at a fixed location that communicates to the rover (the pole they are measuring with). Since they both have the same GPS signal and error, it is able to correct the location by measuring the distance from the fixed point, instead of just where GPS says it is.

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[bret]

We put in a new Accufloat a few years ago, as our original course was one of Mike's first courses. The key to accuracy was building the PVC arms on land with marked spots for accurate drilling of the holes for the eye bolts; from gates and boat guides, intermediate green buoy spot(float the arm level and teach beginners) to the skier ball. We did use 2" PVC, and only a small piece 1.5" to join the two sections of 2". Would love to have it surveyed but when the wind is calm and our tension rope is tight, it's straight as a board.