Supporting Member Than_Bogan Posted July 23, 2011 Supporting Member Share Posted July 23, 2011 Seeing as it took me 11 years after I ran 96 buoys to finally run 102 buoys, I thought I'd take this opportunity to shamelessly toot my own horn. 2nd round at John's Pond today: 1 @ -39!!!!! As a fun bonus, I think this will put me ahead of Horton when everything updates. (Please don't ban me! :) ) All season I've been feeling like this might be coming. -38 has just felt different this year, even though I hadn't run it in practice. After a 2.5 @ -38 at one of the hardest sites around, I really had a ton of confidence to get it at one of the easiest. DONE! Of course, there's a bit of an Inigo Montoya feeling now. I've been chasing this for so long, that I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do now that I got it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller 6balls Posted July 23, 2011 Baller Share Posted July 23, 2011 Nice work! Killer feeling when you get out the 38! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller ThePantsManCan Posted July 23, 2011 Baller Share Posted July 23, 2011 YESSSSSS!!! The Inigo Montoya feeling. I had that feeling all year when I was 17! I just adjusted the fin on my A1 (which I wish was an Obrien Elite Quattro) and the feeling was glorious!. On top of that I was in rough water conditions in a free ski situation. Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Chef23 Posted July 24, 2011 Baller Share Posted July 24, 2011 Than, Congratulations I was hoping you were the one that ran 38 when I saw the title of the thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Horton Posted July 24, 2011 Administrators Share Posted July 24, 2011 DUDE THAT IS HUGE! Goode ★ HO Syndicate ★ KD Skis ★ MasterCraft ★ PerfSki Radar ★ Reflex ★ S Lines ★ Stokes ★ Baller Video Coaching System Drop a dime in the can Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member Than_Bogan Posted July 24, 2011 Author Supporting Member Share Posted July 24, 2011 Thanks all. Btw, Chef, I was wearing the new half-price shorts that you pointed me to. Although those shorts are 50% at-35, they are 100% at -38! MONEY! Man that was awesome. :) Still hard to believe it actually happened. In case anyone is interested, my big focus this year has been on Handle Control. Go read Bruce's article again if you haven't recently. It is so critical once that line really gets short. I didn't even really have a great 1 ball, but just stuck with the patient, handle-controlling plan the whole way. This also helped me to avoid under or overdoing 5, which I've done so many times (on other passes) -- OB believe me I know that feeling! Of course, it also helps a whole lot that I'm finally back to essentially 100% health after a few seasons impacted by some herniated discs back in 2008. Did I mention that was awesome? And yes, I'll take the 103, but I've always been kind of focused on completing passes, so it's really the -38 that I'm celebrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Sullivan Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 Nice work Than. I so want to be there some day. I've always been able to achieve my goals in athletics but water skiing is a different beast...........dang there is so much going on and so easy to screws things up. 38 is huge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller skidawg Posted July 25, 2011 Baller Share Posted July 25, 2011 Execellent skiing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller PatM Posted July 25, 2011 Baller Share Posted July 25, 2011 Congrats Than. You must be out of your mind with excitement right now. You are now in another level entirely. Enjoy it! See you at Regionals Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members acmx Posted July 25, 2011 Members Share Posted July 25, 2011 Congratulations, I'm envious, I've been beating my head against that pass for years!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member Than_Bogan Posted July 25, 2011 Author Supporting Member Share Posted July 25, 2011 Thanks Pat! You've described my state of mind accurately. Work just seems rather unimportant today... See you at Regionals! (We can talk about how to fix my boat cover, then, too.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Razorskier1 Posted July 25, 2011 Baller Share Posted July 25, 2011 Than -- great skiing! I agree on the handle control, but have found that handle control is frequently a function of all sorts of other things, primarily "load control". Too much load and it is difficult to control the handle. One of the most interesting parts of this sport is how everything you do impacts every other thing. I am a big fan of Bruce's comments on handle control. This week I started paying very close attention to another factor, level head and shoulders at ALL TIMES. It was amazing how that one thing impacted angle, load, speed and handle control for me. Rather than being the difference between making and missing a pass, it was the difference between working to make the pass and just runnign the pass light and easy. I wish my brain was bigger so I could remember all this stuff every time I ski! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller jimbrake Posted July 25, 2011 Baller Share Posted July 25, 2011 Razorskier1 - dude, SSSHHHHHHH! Now everyone knows. I fell victim to not doing this at our regionals last week behind a very soft boat on soft water. Let my head and shoulders angulate in with the rest of my body and got too deep at 1 ball at 32 and that was all she wrote. At the beginning of the year, "level vision, head and shoulders" was all I was working on and it was paying dividends. Huge benefit in handle control, maintaining speed through the turn and light load. Then, as usual, I let a good thing slip away while working on "other things" and paid the price. The "other things" are important too, but being level is a top priority for me. Speaking of small brains (such as mine), have you seen the movie "Limitless"? If not, watch it. I want some of that stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller 6balls Posted July 25, 2011 Baller Share Posted July 25, 2011 Focused on keeping the lead shoulder (the one with the handle in the turn), level at completion of turn the other day...very nice! Prior to this was keeping level well into ball w/handle control, good knees, counter rotation, but at the finish of the turn was closing off w/lead shoulder down and free hand shoulder coming in over the top of it when hooking up. Made for more angle than I need and subsequently more load. Run just about every 35 that way, but despite that they always felt at risk. Much better with shoulders level at the finish of the turn/hook up point...thanks to pre-ski talk from Razor1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Bdecker Posted July 26, 2011 Baller Share Posted July 26, 2011 Great skiing Than! Good luck at Regionals. Hope to see you next month at Dubes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Razorskier1 Posted July 26, 2011 Baller Share Posted July 26, 2011 jimbrake -- I'm laughing! I'm just like you in that I work on one thing, then move to another. Unfortunately, sometimes when I do that AND then start shortening the line I get sloppy with the earlier stuff as I get too focused on making passes. Yesterday I ran 36.5 off passes for my "work pass". Today I backed off and ran a bunch of 32 off and just worked on being technically good. Wow was that fun, and definitely good for me. Will go back short again next time out with better technicals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member Than_Bogan Posted July 26, 2011 Author Supporting Member Share Posted July 26, 2011 Unfortunately I have a conflict for the August Dubes this year, although there is still about a 10% chance. I'm actually going to FINALLY go to Vermont the weekend before. Should be fun to check that place out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Chef23 Posted July 26, 2011 Baller Share Posted July 26, 2011 So did you run it again this morning? Now that you know you can run it I expect it to be dropping all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member Than_Bogan Posted July 26, 2011 Author Supporting Member Share Posted July 26, 2011 Heh. Not so much. While I do have some increased confidence, -38 remains at the distant edge of my capability. But in any case this morning I was working more on endurance with -28s and -32s. I actually only tried -38 one time near the end of my 2nd set, and by then I was toast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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