Chad Scott at 1/4 speed from Laku in Windsor CO Big Dawg 2010

[Horton]

[Horton]

I picked special music that Chad would like.

[Wish]

38off - I didnt know Elmo spoke German or whatever the h... that was. I had to mute the first one. Someone disable JTH's audio on his laptop please.

[thager]

That was music? More like praying to the porcelain swimming pool.

[Klundell]

Chad is awesome. He is so stout behind the boat. You don't see him moving around on the ski as much as the some of the other guys I think this helps him be so consistent.

[ForrestGump]

Chad is super easy to drive. You rarely lose him out at the buoy, even at 39, which tells me he's taking the handle and line with him and carrying that direction outbound.

[MrBrown]

Great video,..great skiing,...great skier!!!! Impressive! Now I know how he does it! He is even more stacked than Larson and has his weight distributed even further back on the ski than Larson!

[The_MS]

@Horton,

If Chad hears that mumble crap, you are toast. I would take it down and put some country twang behind it.

[Nick Sullivan]

I think Horton is on drugs, someone call Chad and tell him we have a lead on his next bust.

[jimbrake]

He takes the handle with him just about better than anyone else on these 1/4 speed videos.

[Chef23]

Do you have full speed video of these also. It would be cool to see the pass at regular speed then at the 1/4 speed.

[MrBrown]

Like I mentioned earlier, Chad does an excellent job of staying stacked with excellent body position all the way through the course,…standing tall, chest out, hips up, elbows to the vest, handle low and in the pocket, arms straight, falling away from the boat in a very powerful leveraged position.

 

In this strong and leveraged pulling position behind the boat, if I could I would like to ask Chad about his front foot and front boot and where he feels the pressure on his foot while in his strongest pulling position. Some of you may guess that Chad may be feeling pressure on the bottom of his front foot as he crosses the wakes, but I would guess just the opposite. In that strong and leveraged position behind the boat, I would have to say that Chad is actually feeling pressure on the top of his front foot as his foot is actually being PULLED UP against the top of his front boot.

 

I know this sounds crazy, but bear with me!!! Schnitz a few years ago broke his ribs skiing. Schnitz while in a leveraged pulling position, pulled so hard upward with his front foot , that his front binding detached and his knee actually hit him in the ribs so hard that it broke a few of his ribs.

 

For myself, my skiing style is close to that of Schnitz's and Chad's and I use Goode Powershells. An indicator of when the Velcro is wearing out is when the Velcro in front of my front binding starts to separate while crossing the wakes. This is caused by me actually pulling up on my front foot while in my strongest pulling position.

 

 

[ForrestGump]

I believe Chad told me that he feels the velcro under his back foot move when it's time change his velcro.

[MrBrown]

Gotcha,...thanks Shane! Amazing leverage on his Off Side pull (1-2, 3-4, 5-6) and he couldn't be anymore stacked! This is where I think that he may have a little upward foot pressure on his front binding!

[ForrestGump]

Mueller and I went to Covington in late september and skied with Chad for a few days so he could get ready for the Big Dawg finals. He pointed out something about his skiing which applies to everyone's. He said he recognized that as the line got shorter, he started skiing farther and farther back on the ski. Even at the pullout. At 38, he was where he wanted on the ski at the pullout and felt he was very balanced the entire pass. But he said he really had to concentrate at 39 to not inititiate his pullout on his back foot, otherwise it was really hard for him to stay over the middle of the ski in the glide, turn in and throughout the pass. In watching him from the boat, you could see when he did it correctly(to him). Driving the boat, you could feel the difference too. When he pulled out over his front foot and turned in over the middle of the ski, you lost him at the buoy far less throughout the pass.

 

FWIW.......the Goode Mid has a tip high plane angle so it's a little deceiving I think when watching video as to the attitude of the ski.

[jipster43]

Where's your new turn in point? And which foot forward are you? I could read about gates all day.

[MrBrown]

Good stuff and thanks for the feedback!!! (sorry that my response is so long!)

 

If you watch Chad's stance before his turn in for his gates, you will see that's Chad's front leg is totally straight, and Chad's back leg is noticeably bent, with more weight being distributed over his back foot. It is also easy to see that the water is breaking behind Chad's front boot. I don't believe that this is a balanced stance with equal pressure on both the front and back foot. It is almost impossible to have balanced weight over both feet if the front leg is straight and the back leg is bent while standing in a stacked position with the hips forward, chest out, and the shoulders back!

 

When Chad turns in for his gates, he is not using any front foot pressure and driving the front of the ski into the water to get the ski to turn. With a straight front leg and a bent back leg, Chad is falling back and away from the boat and pivoting the ski over on its tail. Once again, I don't see this as being balanced!

 

If you watch where the water is breaking under Chad's ski during his wake crossing you can see that it is breaking between his bindings and even under his back binding. Once again, Chad's front leg is very straight especially from 1-2, 3-4, 5-6. I don't see this as being a balanced stance on the ski. He definitely has more weight distributed on his rear foot and on the back of the ski. (And as Matt Brown confirmed, the ski is fastest on it tail.)

 

When you are stacked and you have your front leg nearly straight, back leg slightly bent, hips up and over the bindings, chest out, elbows locked to the vest, handle low, arms straight, and shoulders back, ......the upper body naturally falls backward and away from the boat with more weight distributed on the rear foot. This does not imply that the skier is pressing down on the back foot in any way.

 

If you try this EXACT body position at home you will see that your front foot will be "PULLED UP" off the floor slightly, with all of your weight being distributed on your back foot. This "PULLING UP" of the front foot is what I am referring to. You are not concioiusly "PULLING UP" on the front foot, but this "PULLING UP" of the front foot is happening as a result of being in a super stacked position.

 

Thanks again for your feedback guys! This is all about learning!

 

(I will try to keep it shorter next time,...sorry!)

[MrBrown]

How do I post a youtube video? ha

[ForrestGump]

"keep that front leg straight, stand up over it, forget you have a back foot, and stand up on the ball of your front foot (paraphrased of course)."

 

That's exactly what Chad is doing NOW in his gate glide. Keep in mind that this video is a year and a half old, so it's not necessarily a representation of how he's skiing now. Regardless of what is said here in regards to this video, Chad is one of the top two balanced skiers I've watched from the boat ski into 41(the other being CP). He is standing right over the sweet spot of the ski almost all the time with little to no movement front and back.

[Chad_Scott]

Shane and OB are right. The video that is posted is from two seasons ago and my gates were very inconsistant. I hope my skiing improved last year. I was much more consistent on my gate and pull out. I am trying to control the speed on the way up on the pull out. I have shortened my glide time and utilize much more front foot pressure as I turn in for the gates. This has enabled me to move around less on the ski and not load the shoulder so much out of 1-3-5 causing zero off to talk to me. I think the gates on these videos are terrible and very inconsistent and because of those gates I am running a very late line and skiing downcourse. This year i skied a lot with CP and worked on a gate that controlled the speed thru the course and it seemed to help me become more consistent

[MrBrown]

Thanks Chad for chiming in and thanks for your feedback guys! No doubt...I am very impressed with Chad's skiing! Yes, I would agree that CP has more of an equal weight distribution over both of his feet than Chad does in this video. In this old video of Chad, it appears that his weight is distributed much further back than CP. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

 

 

 

[matthewbrown]

Having seen Chad ski a lot this year I can also say that he's skiing quite a bit better now then he was in that video and is definitely more balanced on his ski. You have to remember, he was at 5500' elevation, fast cold water and was probably his 6th set. All that could of caused him to be more on the back of the ski.

[Horton]

On that note. @matthewbrown I am not sure the pass I posted of you is your best for the same reasons. I would love to ski that bad (good).

[matthewbrown]

yeah thanks pal, 15lbs too many, butt back, turning as hard as I can isn't quite the ticket...I've worked hard since then to make changes, just like Chad has.