Malibu defector

[ajgear]

Moved from Malibu to Nautique and from surf boat/crossover (2018 Malibu VTX) to pure ski. I feel like a pilgrim in an unholy land . I just couldn't resist the 2020 Ski Nautique. Love at first sight. Love at first sit too. That cockpit is simply amazing - head and shoulders above the MC or Malibu.

[NautiqueJeff]

I agree! I love the new Ski Nautique.

[SilentSeven]

Man...that's a pretty boat.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[ajgear]

Surprisingly, there's a lot of haters out there re: the new styling. For the life of me, I just can't wrap my head around someone looking these boats and not having a little heart palpitation. To each their own, I guess.

[jjackkrash]

Your boat looks awesome!

The haters are crazy, especially on the looks. I know its subjective and all, but I have never got so many compliments on the aesthetics of any boat I have owned or even been in before at the public launch. Its been crazy the positive reaction I have gotten on my new Ski. I have even had several people ask be if they could take pics.

[ajgear]

jjackkrash Thanks! And agreed. I think there are some sour grapes in that bunch.

[Nautiquehunter]

I am just glad there is one less surf ship out there tearing up the water.

[SilentSeven]

I am just glad there is one less surf ship out there tearing up the water.

best comment of the week.

[JSnipes]

Nice looking hot rod!

[MTRBTR]

Cool to see 3 direct drives the the last few threads of “Show us....” skiing is coming back!!!!

[ajgear]

MTRBTR , I think waterskiing is like downhill skiing. Lots of people thought snowboarding was going to be the death of it, but the ski industry innovated, updated, and took back market share. Neither snowboarding nor wake sports are going away, but I certainly get the feeling that waterskiing is coming back into its own and reclaiming some of the market. Trick sports are fun, but there's no replacing the technical, objectively measurable nature of speed sports.

[MTRBTR]

That’s a really good point and I fully agree with it. I live just outside of Bozeman, MT. On our local mountains you see less and less boards. They are still there and strong but by far more skiers now than boarders.
not sure wake surfing is going away any time soon, but it’s interesting around here to see different sports done on different lakes. There is one lake in particular here that you see way more skiing on than surfing or boarding.
I am still in cross-over land because it’s hard to find people that just want to ski and I have a young family and the SV211 is more comfortable but I hope to follow in your footsteps someday and have a pure ski boat again.

[ajgear]

MTRBTR , I have a 7yo and a 4yo, and that was actually a big reason why I went to the DD. The ski wakes for them behind my VTX were very difficult once the 7yo finally 'got' skiing. With the wake half as tall as her at 20mph, she wouldn't even attempt to get outside, and I wasn't pushing it because I wanted to get her more solid on her skis before she got frustrated trying to tackle a huge wake crossing. She actually test rode one of the Ski Nautiques I looked at. I never even mentioned getting outside the wake, and BAM! there she went. Crossed back over and out the other side, and did it a couple more times. We'd never even talked about it. I was super stoked, and at that point, it was a done deal. Fortunately for us, we have good friends on our lake with surf/crossover boats, so we can get a surf pull if the urge arises (I still love to surf), and they'll be on the DD for ski pulls. We also have a pontoon boat on the other lift, so once the water sports portion of the day is over, we can move over to the floating living room. Without that, it would have been tough to give up the comfort of a v-drive. I just wanted to get my kids hooked on skiing before they move to wake sports. I know they'll eventually want to, and I want them to be at least proficient in them as well, but e've made a pact that the kids can learn surfing/wakeboarding once they can slalom (I also agreed to get a tube at that point, much to my chagrin). In the end, as a family we decided that skiing would come first, and we have the benefit of other boats to deal with the space and wake shortcomings of the DD. If I had to guess, I'd say that in 5 years or so, we'll end up back in a crossover, but we'll see...

Also, I'm super jealous of your location. I love Bozeman. Skied Big Sky a couple of times, and I've been out there fly fishing, and it is truly one of my favorite places on Earth.

[ajgear]

Got a couple of pics on the water/lift.

[ajgear]

I'm also working on my look of disapproval toward surf boats as they pass.