In this video the steps to operate the CRONOS Audio-Slalom signal generator will be demonstrated. The video shows what happens when a skier does not ski fast-enough to simulate the exit gate and scores less than a fully completed pass.

Stated using international measurements, the pass was skied at a boat speed of 58 kilometers-per-hour with a rope length of 12.00 meters. In the USA, the same pass is commonly referred to as 35-feet-off with a boat speed of 36 miles-per-hour. If these terms are confusing you, don’t worry, scoring buoys will be covered in another post.

Further, the pass was skied with the CAS set to Competition mode. In Competition mode, the CAS measures time based on the boat speed and will time out if the skier is skiing too slow. In Training mode, CAS only measures course width. No time limit. I never use the Training setting. On our lake, Wendy would run the boat into the bank if I use more time than CAS allows for in Competition mode.

CAS Audio Slalom 10-beeps Explained

1. CAS sounds a beep when it is armed at the pre-gate.
2. CAS sounds a beep and starts timing a pass at the simulated entry gate. This occurs when the skier crosses the boat’s driver-side, right-side boat wake, while skiing towards buoy1.
3. The CAS signals a beep each time the skier skis wide enough on alternating sides of the boat. Audio buoy 1, 3 and 5 are on the boat’s driver-side, right-side, with buoys 2, 4 and 6 sounding on the boat’s passenger-side, left-side.
4. CAS sounds two beeps and ends timing a pass at the simulated exit gate. This occurs after the skier sounds audio buoy six and crosses the boat’s passenger-side, left-side boat wake.

(To recap for a fully completed pass, the CAS beeps: Wendy armed at the pre-gate, at the Simulated entry gate, at Buoy 1, at Buoy 2, at Buoy 3, at Buoy 4, at Buoy 5, at Buoy 6, and the final two beeps sound at the exit gate for a total of 10 beeps.)

Before You Begin

• You will need Sighted Assistance to drive the boat and operate the CAS Handheld. Wendy performs both of these duties in the video as she does during most of my training sets.
• You need to verify The CAS has been centered and is ready for use. Go to the CAS Centering Setup post for more details.

Setting CAS Handheld  

To set CAS into Standby mode and get it ready to arm, the following steps need to be performed before each pass. Before my opening pass, Wendy will complete the steps while I am getting ready on the boat’s platform. Then, on subsequent passes, Wendy gets the CAS set into stand-by mode while she is maneuvering the boat around to pull me up out of the water.

1. Select Competition mode. (Wendy presses OK to select the default mode.)
2. Select your skier’s name. (Wendy arrows down to find my name, then she presses OK.)
3. Select speed 58K and press OK.
4. Select rope length 12.00 and press OK. (In Wendy’s voice, You hear, she is questioning the 12 meter setting as I do not ski that short of rope often.)
5. CAS is set to “Stand-by mode.”

The Pass

1. Pull skier out of the water. (Mike says, “Hit It”.)
2. Arm the CAS at the simulated pre-gate buoys. (Wendy says, “arming at the pre-gates” and presses OK.)
3. CAS automatically armed itself to simulate the skier going through the entry gate. (Taylor says, “Entry gate”.)
4. The next beep is buoy 1. (Taylor says, “1”, and continues to count the remaining audio buoys.)
5. CAS signals “beep-beep-beep” before I cross the boat’s left wake, which represents the skier missing the exit gate. (Taylor says, “three beeps, signaling in-complete pass”.)

(To recap for this pass, the CAS beeped: Wendy armed at the pre-gate, at the Simulated entry gate, at Buoy 1, at Buoy 2, at Buoy 3, at Buoy 4, at Buoy 5, at Buoy 6, and finally three beeps sounded when I ran out-of-time for a total of 11 beeps. Sometimes more is not better.)

For more blind water skiing tips, you can check out the entire Audio Slalom – Learning to Compete series or the Tricks – Learning to Compete series.