Temper your acceleration when you get out of your dry suit.

[Bud Man]

I skied without my dry suit for the first time this Spring today. For me the dry suit is kind of like deploring a parachute, so the same amount of load I was taking with it, was way too much now without it. I found myself flying way outside the buoy line through the course and even at the pull out for the gates I was much wider than normal.

 

I dropped from a 38 off the dock yesterday to sloppy warm ups and then down at 35 today. I then went back to 32, and worked on backing off of everything. I think I will stay at 32 for a while relearning how to ski without the parachute.

 

I wonder if I should remove the wing for a couple of sets. I’ve heard people say to add angle to the wing when removing a dry suit, but it is not unusual for me to not flow with the masses.

 

Anybody else experience this?

 

@Hogexpress, Did you get a chance to ski today without your dry suit? What did you experience?

 

[Bud Man]

I just skied my second set without my baggy dry suit. Before skiing, I took the wing off of my fin to force me to use more technique. I skied a bunch of 32s and ended the set with two 35s. I don’t know about the rest of you, but it is easier for me getting use to the suit than getting use to not wearing it. I much prefer skiing without it; just getting use to not having the parachute is hard for me. Someone lent me a large ventral wing to try. I might ski one more set bare, and then try the vw.

 

I have such a tendency to take more acceleration than I need. But in a way it is kind of like driving around in your car with the brakes on. Why not take the brakes off and use less gas?

 

[RichardDoane]

Bud man, I agree about the difficulty in transitioning out of the bag suit. If the weather is typically cold in the Pacific NW, I may ski in mine into June, and then get back in it again come mid September. Your analogy about giving it less gas is very good, concentrating on a better leveraged position instead of "pulling like ...."

[Bud Man]

@richarddoane, do you ski tournaments in your dry suit?

 

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I decided last spring when I went through this that I would take my wing off the day I went into my suit, however I had just gotten the Strada and was still feeling it out, so I changed my mind and left the wing on.

 

[RichardDoane]

I probably skied at least a half dozen tournaments in the baggy last season. It really helps in Head-to-Heads where you're wet for an hour or so. People like to tease me, but I've got thick skin...and don't enjoy shivering...