Looking down the course through the pre-turn and turn

[Jarydcohen]

Hey guys.

 

I've recently been trying to perfect the theory of counter rotating with my hips..now its working and i can feel the improvements but im still being told to keep my head straight and look down the course.So i try this and all that happens is that i ski straight past the bouy...If i wanna start skiing the super short lines im pretty sure im going to have to do this..But i cant seem to get it right!

Do you guys have ay advice?

[skiron07]

just try to look at the back of the boat when you're in your turn- the binimi top if it has one- keeping your eyes up helps keep your posture and let's your ski cast out easier/better;

[jwakes]

Q:

Do you keep this visual even through the gates of the back of the boat..?  if so do you know you went through the gates?  I can do it in the course but for some reason i always have my eye on that right gate ball....

J

[Jarydcohen]

Thanks alot...:)

Will give that a shot

[Horton]

wait wait wait . . .  .

Where you look generally dictates your head position and that can lead yoru shoulders that can control hips and so on.

If the rope is short, looking at the boat in the turn means turning your head a lot- as in the old days when we looked at shore. This is generally bad.

Looking down the ball line can help keep shoulders open and facilitate new school turns.

What you need to understand is what we are really doing is manipulating our center of mass.

What are you really trying to achieve?

 

[35 in the bag]

Couldn't agree w/ Horton more..... Don't look at the boat in late preturn or turn.....it is way too far "inside" when skiing very short line.  Might work well at 15 or 22 but not at 38. I also stuggle with "just" looking down coarse.  For me there is too much "water" everywhere out there and so I lose the sense of where I'm at in the turn and things just seem to go blank rather than being hyper-aware of my possition and what I'm doing. What Iv'e been working on is to fix my eyes on the next set of boat gates during the turn then picking up the boat as it enters and crosses my vision line. The key for me is to make the vision shift from the buoy in the preturn to the gates early enough......especially at very short line. I have the habit of looking at the buoy way too long........kinda out of fear.....to ensure I'm not going to hit it.......again especially as the sightlines so drastically change from 35 off to 38 off.

Shoot holes in this......as I need a new key to help solve this problem.

 

John M - Michigan

[Marco]

At shortline, I think "keep the eyes outside the line", meaning your line of sight should not be crossing the rope at or before the hook up.  Basically, keep your vision down, not cross course, shoulders and hips open, CoM slides over to the handle for a clean hookup at the rear hip.

Gotta run.. Off to surgery tomorrow early AM to repair a ruptured achilles I blew out last thursday when I center punched 2 ball /vanillaforum/js/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-cry.gif

[Jarydcohen]

Thanks mates :) will try all these..

I think looking at the next set of boat bouys would be strange, not a bad strange just a different strange...but ill give it a shot, im hoping once i get this nailed i'll be into the shorter lines like 35 and 38

Hope your operation goes well Marco, just recently ripped the muscle off my bone on my arm..Been back on the water for a month now..:)

[Ed_Johnson]

Agree with Marco and Horton, however, I find it best not to LOOK at anything while sliding the turn, just keep the head level and concentrate on the FEEL of the MOVE itself. Keep shoulders level and let the head move WITH the shoulders concentrating not to rotate and do not let the back counter-rotated arm move faster than the ski.

Ideally, the rear hand, handle, and outside hip all meet together at the same time. Then its time to drop and leverage against the boat  with these three locked together.

Key is not to look cross course or at the next buoy because this will result in dropping the inside shoulder, creating rotation, and you will grab more angle than you can sustain.

GOODE LUCK, ED

[Jarydcohen]

But what if im concentrating on counter rotating my hips and not my shoulders? then my head might not follow my shoulders?

yes? no?

jaryd

[Ed_Johnson]

Simple answer, your shoulders should follow your hips. Always lead with your center of mass.

[Jarydcohen]

thanks Ed 

[Ed_Johnson]

Jayrd,

        Think of the counter as starting from the bottom up and not the top down. Most skiers I have worked with want to start at the top by first turning the shoulders and even pivoting at the waist. This will not accomplish anything.

        Start at the ankles with most of the pivot at the knees, led by the center of mass. The goal being to get the center of mass forward and to the inside of the turn. Remember to keep the lead shoulder high which will level out the shoulders through the turn. At first it is difficult to slide toward the handle, so I suggest that you simply freeze the counter and let the ski come around. Keep the back hand at the SAME speed as the ski. If you let the hand reach faster than the ski you will likely drop the inside shoulder which results with much more angle than you want. Remember, "NO ROTATION ALLOWED."

        Hope this helps,  ED