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 start of the course entry gates, and the CAS starts the timing of the skier’s pass well-before the skier crosses the boat’s driver-side, right-side boat wake. As a result, the skier is down course and will most likely run out-of-time and not score the exit gate.

Stated using international measurements, the pass was skied at a boat speed of 55 kilometers-per-hour with a rope length of 14.25 meters. In the USA, the same pass is commonly referred to as 28-feet-off with a boat speed of 34 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.

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 55K and press OK.
4. Select rope length 14.25 and press OK.
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. (Taylor says, “arming at the pre-gates” and presses OK.)
3. Because I was slow to cut to the gate, CAS automatically armed itself well-before I skied behind the boat and started the time for the pass. (Taylor says, “time started for pass, Entry gate”.)
4. The next beep is buoy 1. (Taylor says, “1”, and continues to count the remaining audio buoys up to buoy 5.)
5. CAS signals “beep-beep-beep”, before I cross the boat’s driver-side, right-side boat wake. At this point, I ran out of time for the pass. (Taylor says, “three beeps, signaling in-complete pass”.)

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.