Tow Boat Committee Meeting

August 15, 2007   Bakersfield, CA

 

 

Attendees; Doug Robbins, Mike Hamilton, Jerry Bautsch, George Lindy, Jim Grew, Aarne Clow, Dennis Kelly, Dave Doige & Jody Seal

 

 

  1. Zero Off Speed Control

As noted in our Tow Boat Committee report to the BOD, the Tow Boat Committee has approved Zero Off  Speed Control for use in AWSA sanctioned tournaments. The Rules and Technical Committees have requested that we verify the “virtual times” recorded by Zero Off with back up timing recorded from an independent magnetic timing system (i.e. Lockett, BTS or other available systems). In actual AWSA sanctioned tournaments the data from these tournaments is to be forwarded to Will Bush, Tom Danford, Gene Davis & Tom Dusin for analysis. When the Rules Committee meets in November 2007 it will have the data generated from tournaments using Zero Off and will decide whether continued use of back up timing will be required for Zero Off or if  independent GPS based “virtual timing” is acceptable.

Dave Doige representing Correct Craft voiced his concern regarding the length of time required for verifying Zero Off virtual times with a back up timing device. Correct Craft is ready to ship 2008 model year promotional boats with Zero Off but does not want to incur the additional expense of  equipping  their boats with an additional back up timing system. The Tow Boat Committee will contact the Rules and Technical Committees to further discuss these issues and will keep all tow boat manufactures informed.

 

  1. Tow Boat Test Procedures

The power and acceleration standards for AWSA Approved Tow Boats were discussed. Due to EPA  requirement that tow boat engines be equipped with catalytic converters (and their negative effect on engine performance), greater wetted surface on the larger boats manufacturers are providing, and the control advantages of drive by wire mated speed control, we agree that the existing standards for power and acceleration may no longer be appropriate. I spoke with Will Bush on Saturday, August 19th and we agreed to review the existing standards, evaluate radar traces from the 2007 model year tow boat tests and recommend for discussion to the Tow Boat Committee revised power and acceleration guidelines. We will have updated power and acceleration guidelines-to be agreed upon by the AWSA Towboat Committee- for our next AWSA Tow Boat Test. Aarne Clow recommended that we try to gather more skier input regarding the “skiability” of tow boats at our tow boat test. He recommended having a greater number of skiers participate, or possibly as part of the test, sanction a tournament where information would be gathered under actual tournament conditions.

 

 

 

  1. 2008 Model Year Tests

2008 model year tow boat tests were tentatively scheduled for October 6-9, 2007. It was noted that Lake Grew may not be ready for use by that date, thus an alternate site may be required. Some manufactures noted that they may not have all of their new equipment available to test by October. I discussed with Will Bush the possibility of delaying our 2008 model tow boat test. It would be in everyone’s best interest, both form a financial and time management stand point, that we not gather the tow boat test team and manufactures multiple times for testing 2008 model year boats. I will poll the manufacturers to see if a delayed test date would be preferable or advantageous to them.

 

I will keep manufacturers and test team members appraised regarding all of our discussion items.

 

 

George Lindy

Co-chair AWSA Towboat Committee