I always thought the zero-stretch ropes came out because we rely on handle movement to spin, and low stretch means a more responsive handle. Performance is one thing, but safety is another. We'll find a good rope.
As far as slalom versus wakeboarding, you guys are roight. I've skied a couple times behind our Epic and it's really just no fun anymore for me. Boarding is much less powerful and fast, and even on the slopes I feel there's a place for skiing. I think the comparison between skiing and boarding on the slopes and water is unfair: there's an even bigger difference in the water (unless you're also into speed skiing, trick skiis and jumping, which I never touched). With a pair of Rossis on the slope, you can do a lot of jumps (with tweaks), it's generally lower impact than boarding and of course there's nothing like a bump run.
In the water though, the only thing that drives a slalom skier is pulling harder, working on form and maybe crafting huge curtains of spray. It's old-school and there really is something to respect about that. However, skiing takes so much energy from my body that one or two decent runs is all I'm good for. On a wakeboard, I can go until some part of my body is just too sore from crashing (at havasu it was ribs from trying and bailing on too many 360s.)
Boarding is what I think about when I'm sitting in traffic. This is surprising, because three short months ago, I thought the tower on our Epic would be cool for Brandon and our boarding friends, but as for my personal desires, it didn't matter to me. That's changed (quickly).
Brandon's getting a setup in a couple short weeks and when he does, the slalom is going back to where it came from.
The good thing is that now I know that he's serious, that he's old enough to be at home behind the boat, that he can handle the rope and that he doesn't give up easily.
Passed. On to the fun stuff :-)
