Inflatable so-called sliders?

My friends and I make a shasta trip every June. This year we were thinking about all chipping in and getting one of these inflatable sliders to set up in front of the houseboat. Has anyone used these? Are they worth it? None of us have any slider experience so it could be entertaining.

I hear they work great. We were going to rent one for a similar trip but decided against becasue we didn't have a PWC. We knew we would have to anchor it no more than 30 feet from shore because of the steep depth of the lake, and figured the wake would be breaking the anchors loose all day. Let me know how it works for you.

oh yeah, i hear they POP if you stab it hard enough with your board too. Ultimate Water Sports had a popped one hanging from the ceiling.

those were my first slider experiance... I liked it.. If you fell you dont worry to hit anything hard... On my experiance with it, the anchor never came loose... it did move a little when you hit it, but that didnt bother me...

here is a short vid i found on my first try hitting a that slider...

http://www.wakepics.com/view_single.php?medid=2469

They're fun and a good way to learn and gain confidence before you try something more tech. Great for a weekend outing and even more fun after a few beers. As with any slider, there is some risk of tearing up your board on rough edges. The AWA had one in AZ, and we took a file and sandpaper to it and smoothed out the kinks, and it made a big difference. I think Brinks or somebody else ruined a board or two before the file was taken to it.

i have seen them in operation and they seem to move and sag when a rider hits them. due to this observation we made our own slider that is rigid and rests on the bottom of the lake, so when we hit it there is no movement.

How much do these inflatable sliders go for?

Go to www.wakeboardnebraska.com and ask the guy who runs the site Ronnie. He purchased one and brings it to all the local tourneyments. They seem to work well and riders seem to really like them. Also a great tool for learning in a "safe" way.

I gotta buddy with one and we took it on a trip to shasta a summer or 2 ago. Had a blast on it and it took great, although some guys did try to jack it. It was like less than 100 yards from the houseboats and wakeboats and some dudes pulled up and looked at it, we thought they might just try to hit it and that was cool, but about a min later they had the anchors in their boat and were tryin to tow it away. So I advise keepin it close to your boat or bringin it in if you are gonna take a 45min break from ridin it.

Other than that it was a blast to ride, i defiantly suggest tryin to get one of the longer models, after you hit the shorter ones a couple times you will wish you had.

We had one down at Shasta last year and it was great. You do need long anchor lines. I think ours were 75 feet long.

Skiing made me board,
Lyle
Chrome Dome Industries