So... The stars are aligning - a little. But I still have not won the battle. I have now lost just over 20lbs, and have been working out pretty regularly. I put SmartTabs on the boat this spring (those things are awesome!). Last weekend I had grand plans for Sunday to be on my way to the lake by 6:30AM to get smooth water. Unfortunately, my family was not QUITE as dedicated to an early departure, and we left more like 8:30. By the time we got to the lake, it was already ridiculously crowded, and huge swells from the wake boats. So that day was a scratch (I also tweaked my back loading the boat, so probably would not have succeeded anyway).
Yesterday, we did an evening outing. Unfortunately, I only had a pure rookie driver - my better half. She has driven the boat ONE other time, and that was just cruising around the lake. So I showed her the ropes while towing my son on the wakeboard, and then I tried the slalom again. I took 5 pulls before giving in to two skis, and was essentially planed out at least twice, and the last of those I was actually in the process of standing up. I thought I had just horsed it up too soon, but as they came back to get me, my son was yelling "our fault, our fault". Apparently my wife was turning the boat during the pull, so just as I was standing up the ski started sinking and I couldn't hold on. For the first time trying to pull a skier, I actually thought she did a fantastic job. If I would have had a couple more pulls left in me, I probably would have been up.
So I took out my frustrations in a very aggressive 2 ski run. With this boat, I pop up on two skis so fast it is insane. I was having a great time cutting hard back and forth across the wake until I was just exhausted. Had a GREAT time, probably my best session since buying the boat, partly because of the the things in my first paragraph, and partly because the water was so nice last night. We are thinking about trying again tonight...
Jeff