waterski and wakeboard from Blue Angel

[BartW]

Sorry for the bad video quality we didn’t have a pro camera man nor girl on board,
This was in september, our eldest son doing a First attempt on a mono ski





This is another son, first week of november (SOF Cassis)
And yes he DID hold his breath for a few seconds



The same tow, taken from the cockpit
on the left side you can see the tender on there was the cameragirl from the previous shot, it was tough for them to follow (20kn)



One more attempt



Pay attention at the acceleration of the towing boat,
From 5kn to 20 kn, what a lovely ride

 

[MapisM]

Amazing stuff indeed, Bart.
I would really be curious to try a wake crossing on such huge wake!
Which type of monoski were you using exactly? I guess it took a helluva effort to stay afloat at only 20kts, unless it was a wide body ski, rather than a normal slalom one.
The tournament speed is in fact 36mph (31kts), but even for beginners the minimum recommended speed is 30mph (26kts).

That aside, I must give you a serious suggestion, at risk of sounding as a scaremonger.
In the first video, unless I'm mistaken, there's a couple of crew members standing on the swim platform.
Don't allow anyone to stand there while towing a skier. NEVER. And I really mean it.
It doesn't matter how good swimmers they are, or how confident they are of their stability, because they grab a handrail or something.
If anyone falls overboard while a boat is moving with a rope attached to its stern, you don't even want to think of what can happen, if such person gets tangled.

A good friend of mine, who already forgot more about waterski than most people will ever know, in his youth used to play a trick upon return after a slalom course: he collected the rope while the boat was slowing down, throwing it onboard before jumping ashore, while the skiboat was approaching the dock.
The last time he did that, for some reason (he can't even remember what happened exactly) he fell into the water with some meters of rope in his hand.
The rope caught one of his arms, and in spite of the fact that the helmsman (who was a pro skiboat driver) immediately reversed when he saw what happened, he almost lost his arm. If the rope had caught his neck, he would have been history.
Dealing with lines and ropes is unavoidable with our hobby, but we should never forget that they are one of the major reasons behind boating accidents.

 

[rafiki_]

Fantastic sight Bart. You could start a new thread. What is the largest boat to ski behind?

 

[BartW]

What is the largest boat to ski behind?

Sometimes while talking about the bigger boat, friends ask me;
Can you still water-ski behind her ?
Meaning
Such a big boat can never go fast enough, or as fast as a “speed” boat

Then I try to explain that you eventually can waterski behind a cruise ship,
And they have a complete wrong impression about boat speed…
and manouvrability is the only problem

 

[BartW]

I would really be curious to try a wake crossing on such huge wake!

I’m on the boat beginning December and around new year, but it is becoming cold in SOF, So in spring I’ll be in Rome again if weather allows for the passage

Which type of monoski were you using exactly? I guess it took a helluva effort to stay afloat at only 20kts, unless it was a wide body ski, rather than a normal slalom one.
The tournament speed is in fact 36mph (31kts), but even for beginners the minimum recommended speed is 30mph (26kts).

That ski is one of a pair very basic amateur waterski,’s, it was with the boat from the previous owner,
Only the first film is monoski, in the first seconds you can see a part of that ski.
The other films are on a wakeboard.
We used to ski even slower then 20kn, with the Karnic, around 17kn, mostly
Actually we never had any serious training, we invented it all by ourselves the last 10 years in Croatia…just for fun, never any serious stuff nor competition.



Thanks for the safety warning, but actually I’m more precautious then the video prooves,
Actually some years back we had a very serious accident with a parachute, luckily with only minor injuries, and since then I became more scary with tubes and robes and everything else behind the boat.

 

[Divemaster1]

Sometimes while talking about the bigger boat, friends ask me;
Can you still water-ski behind her ?
.........Then I try to explain that you eventually can waterski behind a cruise ship,
And they have a complete wrong impression about boat speed…
and manouvrability is the only problem

Then you need to show them this ....

The setup and transfer of lines...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1qb_5EABZI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJvqJ6OBXw4

and skiing behind..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7YzD_r5NO8

 

[Nick_H]

Bart, there's more fun to be had with a boat that size. Start with a tow rope and the rider on a small surfboard, or you can buy a wakesurf board, which is different to a wakeboard. When the rider is up he can pull himself closer to the boat by collecting up the tow rope in front of him (being mindful of Mapis' comments), then at the right point he can let go of the tow rope and ride the boats wake like an endless wave.

It's a much nicer feeling having no tow rope, and of course your arms don't get tired. We've found that 15-20 kts is the best speed, but you can ride slower or faster. I've never filmed it myself, but there are plenty of examples on youtube.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Great videos Bart. In the 3rd one you look to have a lot of black smoke from your port engine but virtually none from starboard side, any thoughts as to why? Or was it my imagination or a trick of the camera.

 

[BartW]

In the 3rd one you look to have a lot of black smoke from your port engine but virtually none from starboard side, any thoughts as to why?

I believe this was due to un-equal load on both engines (not moving the throttles synchronous)
also the engines were not yet at full operating temp, and I might have moved the throttles too fast,
in the last film, slower acceleration, you can see almost no smoke,

I'm quite confident with the status of the engines, as they behaved perfect last season,
both engines have the same operating temp, (after I achieved my RPM meters to read correctly), they startup easy, no much smoke during normal cruising, average oil consumption, ....

Guests told me that there is black smoke every now and then, but usually only during fast acceleration.
Are you aware that this is a sign of a certain issue ?

in a few weeks a Belgium engineer will do the yearly winter maintenance, new oil, new filters, ... and a complete checkup. (120hrs this season)
perhaps he might know, but I am not sure if I can do a test drive with him in december in Cassis (mistral N-wind or Labbé S-wind)

 

[BartW]

there's more fun to be had with a boat that size. Start with a tow rope and the rider on a small surfboard,

thanks Nick, our kids and their friends are certainly going willing to try this next season.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Hi Bart, I'm no mechanic or engineer so my opinion isn't of much use, but I'm not aware of black smoke indicating any particular problem. More likely to be unburnt fuel after a period at idle? Same happens with my car as I accelerate after slow running.
BA looks good, seems you're having fun!

 

[AndieMac]

Nice video's Bart, I saw the first one on your facebook page previously (can't understand the language but like the pictures ) .

You're a pretty cool dad mate, no wonder your kids like to hang out with you!

 

[mlines]

I always thought black smoke like that is a result of over-fueling. When you throw the throttles forward the system is responding to the demand by squirting more fuel in. Either that or unburnt fuel is in the system after idling and is pushed through and burnt off. But with modern injection systems I would have thought that this was less likely.

 

[MapisM]

When you throw the throttles forward the system is responding to the demand by squirting more fuel in.
...
But with modern injection systems I would have thought that this was less likely.

Yep, I also think it's as simple as that.
In fact, the MAN engines on BA aren't actually so modern - surely not electronically controlled, anyway.
If they don't smoke when running normally (i.e. warmed up, and under constant load), I wouldn't worry.

 

[BartW]

I always thought black smoke like that is a result of over-fueling. When you throw the throttles forward the system is responding to the demand by squirting more fuel in. Either that or unburnt fuel is in the system after idling and is pushed through and burnt off. But with modern injection systems I would have thought that this was less likely.

that was indeed my conclusion,
when we see old trucks accelerating, we can also see black smoke very often,
and yes the boat and engines are 20yo,
old mechanical injection technology, no common rail, ...

with my previous boats (petrol and modern diesel) I was used to push the throttles very fast, when towing a skier,
much faster then the engines can accelerate,

the occasion in that film I believe I pushed the throttles very fast,

in the last film, the acceleration was much slower, you can't see smoke.