Nice to meet you, Must-Ski. So.... tell me. What the heck is it like to drive a boat like that? There's probably a good chance I won't ever have the opportunity to drive a twin rig so I'm going to have to just ask you. It must be a serious kick.
Hey Mark, Well, it is a privilege to be able to drive this boat, or any single, twin or triple dyne that a team owns. We started our team in 1995 and I've been driving twin since our first twin rig in 1997. The first couple of years we had individual boats and mine was a single 20 with a 200 Merc. I certainly learned to hot dog it in the twin but I really take pride in being able to give the best pull whether it is a kneeboarder in practice or a prefab pull in the show. Pulling my 6 yr old daughter on hop docks and just pulling her in general or other swivelers really makes you a good driver. Pulling the big stuff is easy, pulling the smaller stuff is generally harder with a twin or a triple. As for the power, well, it is amazing. The boat will get to 50 in a very short distance. Our barefoot pyramid guys really like the ability to get to speed in a hurry once their girls are climbed. Rock On Any twin with 150's or more is really a rocket, and you can certainly damage the boat in a hurry if you really want to. Quite a few dynes have separated cores from the hull bottom, stringers from the bottom etc. I'm lucky in that in a given week I might drive triple 150's, twin 250's, twin 115's, single 225 or single 250 - all on dynes either in the club or personally owned. We hope to get a fleet picture with all of them this summer. Some of the most exciting things as a driver are when you work with the skier(s) to dial in a trick. I've been lucky enough to drive for our best jumper's first front flip, two ski gainer, single ski gainer and hopefully single ski front flip this year. Hopefully I'll be pulling the 7 yr old daughter longline barefooting this year. Regardless of what the boat is, giving the best pull is really what it is all about. For ski teams the dynes are really just a tool or workhorse that allows us to perform. I'm just thrilled to be able to drive them and set them up for our teams and others every year.
That's great stuff! Thank you! My family has a place up in Northern Wisconsin and I lived up there in the summers. Pulled waterskiiers all day every day. We have a big family of waterskiiers now with the 17 grandkids. I did most of my driving/pulling with a 16ft Glastron with an 85 Evinrude. Not much by today's standards, I guess. But it was great fun. And I've tought many kids (and adults) how to ski behind it. In recent years we've had a 17' Glastron with a 135 Optimax. I love the motor, which is why I bought one for my boat. I always loved to go to the ski shows but I'll have to admit that for me watching the Hydrodynes was about 80% of the fun. To this day, when we take the kids to watch the Minocquabats, my kids are mostly interested in the Dyne. The two Nautiques are nice but they don't generate the excitement in the crowd that the Hydrodyne does. You don't have to be a Hydrodyne fan to see the way the crowd reacts to the Hydrodyne (A Tom Miller Dyna). It is sad - to me - that the show announcers just refer to the boat as "the outboard" during introductions. It deserves more. Thank you for sharing your experience. Your willingness to share it is what makes this site a great place.
