In our previous issue Graham Lloyd told us how to get into ski-racing. In this issue he looks at the equipment needed.

It’s all too easy to find your first ski-race adventures becoming addictive, and that’s the time to give serious consideration to your equipment. Challenging and exciting as it is, ski-racing also involves and element of risk, so you want the best gear you can find to maximise safety as well as to get the most in performance and comfort. While social or borrowed equipment is fine until you decide wether you want to deep going in the sport or not, but once past that point you should talk to some experts and check out how they can help you.

The most critical items you’ll need are a specialised race ski and a wetsuit. Two of the leading Aussie manufacturers of these are DC Water Skis and Wizard Wetsuits. There are others around the country of course who are well equipped to assist any ski-racer, but a chat with the people behind DC and Wizard provided a great start on how best to approach gearing-up and they had some good advice to offer.

Nothing beats experience and Danny Cropper certainly has that in ski-racing . He was skiing at age five and raced his first Sydney Bridge-to-Bridge when he was eight years old. Since then he’s run every year in the classic except for two – he was out once as a junior when injured and another time in the unlimited class when his tow boat developed a problem the day before the race. Danny has won the big race on the Hawkesbury outright five times, behind champion boats such as Supafortress, Top Gun and Mirage. He has repeatedly broken the record and still holds the fastest time to ski the distance at 39 minutes, 14 seconds. Danny has also taken out the NSW Series for 10 consecutive years in unlimited and outright and today races behind the 21-foot Cyclone Agitator.

He started DC Water Skis in 1986 after playing around with a few ski designs and coming up with one that ran particularly well. He made a few for his mates and received a positive enough response to encourage him to start the business. As well as making skis and other equipment, Danny offers a race training service, which can help ski-races quickly develop and improve their skills and speeds. Top skiers all around the world now race on a DC ski including current Women’s World Champ, Aussie, Ann Proctor, and both the Junior Boy (an American) and Junior Girl (a Kiwi) World Champions and even more use DC Water Ski bindings.

Just as setting up a boat incorrectly will adversely affect its performance, a race ski that’s not properly rigged and preferably tuned for its skier will never run as well as it should. Danny blends a quite high-tech production process with an individual approach of matching each ski to its skier.

Before building one for an individual skier, Danny will ask about their experience, how fast they want to go, the boat they ski behind and the crew, weight and height and which foot forward position they use. He’d also like to see a photo (or even a video) of the skier on the water. This information is then used to tailor the ski and it’s rigging.

The ski is built around a core of laminated ash timber. The laminations are about 22mm wide and 7.0mm thick with 38 separate pieces arranged in up to 11 strips across the ski and most usually 4 vertically. Most race skis have an outer layer, top and bottom, of thermo plastic – some call it a thermo nuclear plastic, but even a DC Ski doesn't have that explosive a performance! Carbon fibre is a more expensive alternative thar aids rigidity and that tends to give a more slippery surface for less friction and higher speeds.

The ash laminations plus the thermoplastic or carbon fibre outer surfaces are epoxied together and placed in a 60 tonne press for at least 24 hours to create a tough monocoque structure with the typical upswept front. When pulled from the press, the ski blank is shaped and cut to the length required before both upper and lower edges are bevelled. The latter is an important step in getting the ski to turn well, as maintaining a laminar flow of water as it rolls over the edge of the ski is crucial. If the edges allow the water flow to bounce off, the ski can snake in turns to lose speed and stability.

Geared up for ski-racing. A good boat, engine, ski, wetsuit, handles and harness, lifejackets and helmets- add just a few more bits as explained in our feature and you’re all set to go. Danny Cropper from DC Water Ski’s holds examples of his full-race and social-race ski’s.

With shaping completed, each ski is finished and painted or vinyl graphics and the edges protected with sprayed coats of two-pack polyurethane. Less expensive skis can be made without the thermoplastic or carbon fibre, and instead are protected all over with the two-pack poly, but these are less resilient and require more maintenance.

Race skis used to be about six foot six inches long (that's 198cm — most references to skis still use Imperial measurements), but the latest designs are longer at anywhere between seven foot two inches and seven foot seven inches (218 to 213 cm). Width typically varies from around 170 to 185mm forward, tapering down to around 100mm aft. Over the years, Danny has had success with concave, dimpled and other shapes of undersurface, but a flat bottom gives least surface area and therefore the least drag for highest speed potential. Thus, Danny's full-race skis these days have a flat running surface, although his skis for the social race class comply with the rules and have a concave underside.

Just a critical as the ski itself are the race bindings, and their design and construction are quite specialised. Bindings are hand-made to match shoe sizes or, even better, custom made to suit individual feet. The sole of each binding is aluminium, as is the horseshoe-shaped frame that goes around the outside. Carbon-filled rubber, 5.0mm thick are especially formulated for DC Water Skis to balance support and comfort, is used for the main parts of the bindings with comfort helped by a neoprene inner lining plus an arch support and toe section. Stainless Steel screws and clips are used to hold everything together, and stainless self–tapping screws fasten the bindings to the ski.

The fins for skis are made from extruded aluminium. The ski on the right has a Carbon fibre underside for added strength and rigidity, but most race skis have a thermo plastic exterior. Race bindings are almost an art form in design and construction. The aluminium sole is fitted with stainless screws while the external horseshoe–shaped frame is also made from aluminium. The rubber is specially formulated to combine support and comfort, and has a neoprene lining. Bindings are best custom made for each skier.

The positioning of the bindings is a key factor in gettingthe ski correctly rigged and all the factors mentioned before such as skiing style, weight, height and so on are assessed by Danny before he fits the bindings. The overall result is a race ski that has the best possible chance of delivering maximum performance and satisfaction to the skier. Pricing is about $1,320 for a ski custom built in this way, plus about $605 for the bindings. You can also buy just the bindings and have them fitted to an existing ski.

With your ski and bindings in the bag, the next key item of equipment for any ski-racer is a wetsuit, which not only keeps you warm on cooler days, but provides protection and flotation in case of a fall. To find out what goes into these tight-fitting and often spectacularly coloured suits, we checked with Darren Patterson who owns Wizard Wetsuits. Darren is another with plenty of experience on the water - he’s been skiing since he was a nipper and racing since he was 15. He’s competed in 13 Bridge-to-Bridge races behind boats up to the unlimited class, but a fall in 1996 injured his shoulder and he now competes as observer aboard the 21 –foot supercharged Connelly, The Axe.

Darren’s father Ray had a company that made knee braces, back supports and other items for the arthritic sufferers and sports people. Darren worked in the company and realised that the neoprene material and equipment that he used were just right for wetsuits. Today, the company produces a wide range of skiing and sports equipment, although the wetsuits are its specialty.

Kelly Bickerton from Force Boats tries out a new Wizard wetsuit with a strikingly colourful pattern. Each colour piece is cut from a separate neoprene sheet and all the individual sections are then sewn together with special equipment. The top of the suit has in-built foam flotation. To get the best and safest fit, suits are tailor-made.

While the suits are available off the rack in standard sizes, Darren believes that any half-way serious ski-racer should have a suit custom made. The better the fit, the better a wetsuit can support and protect its skier. So the process again starts with measuring up the individual. Rules require the top of the wetsuit to have a dominant safety florescent colour in yellow, orange, lime, peach or pink. The rest of the suit can use any mix of these and other colours in a simple or as complex a pattern as required. Every colour has to come from a separate sheet of neoprene, so the more colours required, the more complicated is the cutting and assembly process.

With size, colour and style decided, Darren creates a pattern for each segment of the suit and these are transferred to the sheets of neoprene. The top of the suit carries 25mm thick foam flotation that is glued between inner and outer linings of 3.0mm neoprene, although this is done after anchor points have been sewn into place for chest straps and arm restraint buckles. The suit’s legs and arms are formed from a single layer of 5.0mm neoprene and all the sections are sewn together using a special Mauser machine from Germany. This has six spools of thread running through four needles on top and two loopers underneath. The machine also feeds two rolls of tape that are stitched each side of every seam to make them strong and virtually invisible.

Life jackets for drivers and observers need to fit properly and have let straps to keep the jackets in place should the worst occur and crew member be thrown into the water at speed. Helmets come in a variety of shapes and styles. On the left is a DC Water Skis helmet with hard sides and in the centre is a Wizard Wetsuits soft sided helmet while one suitable for driver and observers is on the right.

Pricing varies from around $350 to $550 depending on design complexity and extras such as arm restrains, knee braces (spiral stays with Velcro straps), a neck collar and even a drink bladder, which is much in demand by American skiers.

Wizard and DC Water Ski’s can also provide other equipment that both skiers and boat crew will need for ski-racing. Helmets are vital with different styles available to suit individual preference. Skiing helmets should externally be as small a possible to minimise surface area and impact forces in case of a fall; they should also be designed to minimise the change of water catching and letting inside the helmet. Fastening straps are best secured with quick-release plastic buckles such as those on lifejacket straps; avoid any buckles that require fiddling to release as there may not be the time or opportunity to do that after a fall, when you or someone else is trying to help. You may need to get the helmet off quickly.

Ropes, handles and harnesses can be colourful as well as offering different shapes. With all the right equipment, you'll be signalling for more speed too.

DC Water Skis has hard-sided lightweight helmets for around $250, and Wizard has a helmet with soft sides for about $220. You should get advice on what’s best for you and other helmet prices range from $150 through $550.

Handles or harnesses come in various styles too with pricing in the $80 to $120 bracket. It’s best to keep the vee small enough that your arm can’t get through and perhaps become tangled in a fall. Ski ropes are available in different colours and can be made up for you at whatever length is required and these run out around $80. Other item that skiers may need include a neck collar (about $90), knee brace ($50to $130), goggles ($45 to $150), gloves ($35 to $85), kidney belt or back support ($55 to $110), and of course some strapping tape to support ankles for about $11 a roll. Ski bags to hold and protect all the equipment are a great idea and come in around $220.

As well as helmets, the boat crew will require life jackets such as those from Hutch wilco or the top-of–the-line American Lifeline brand. These cost from $450 to $1,000. The crew will also need a signal flag for about $35.

Ski-race equipment is well made and will typically last for three to five years, or longer. All up, a ski-racer should be able to get everything required in new products for around $200 to $3,000. As always, you get what you pay for and the risks inherent with the sport make it very advisable to seek out and obtain the best quality you can find. Having purchased good gear, it’s important to wash it down with fresh water after use, then chamois off and leave out to dry in a shady place. Keep a careful eye on it all and repair any damage quickly. Small dings in skis can be emergency-repaired with nail polish to protect the underlying structure. A ski bag keeps all the gear together and helps protect it during transportation.

Many thanks to Danny Cropper and Darren Patterson for their great help in preparing this article, to Ronnie and Jenny Teitge, who allowed us to use their Force F18 ski boat for the photos and to Rod and Kelly Bickerton at Force Boats who co-ordinated. Now that you’ve got all the right equipment, in our next issue we’ll cover some more aspects of ski-racing.

Useful contacts:

DC Water Skis – phone (02) 9679 1296 or visit www.dcwaterskis.com.au

Wizard Wetsuits – call (02) 4579 1004 or email wetwizard@bigpond.com

Force Boats – phone (02) 4575 4038 or email forceboats@bigpond.com