where to look, vision?

[addkerr07]

I always hate starting a new season as I'm not a cold weather person, plus last winter was my first winter skiing in true cold, so I'm not having fun. So iv decided to work on Large parts of my pass, and in theory work the bad bits out. My main goal at the moment is vision in the course. Iv always skied more or less looking across course/ near buoys, and never fixed on a specific point, but more zoned out and taking everything in.

Iv started now looking at the boat mirror as i exit the buoy, then switching to spotting the buoy upon edge change. My main goal with this is to try and get more stacked out the exit of the buoy, and hold a stronger position all the way through to the next buoy, as my biggest downfall in my opinion is breaking at the waist.

 

Just seeing what people's views are on vision, and see if I'm heading in the right direction with this.

 

water temp: 42

currently playing at 36mph, 16m

 

[Nick Sullivan]

Seems everything Jodi Fisher spoke to me about has become a popular topic. He recomends looking where you are going or where the ski is pointed.

[RichardDoane]

as I'm coming into a buoy, I try to look up in front of the boat to the next ball

[danbirch]

I believe that Nate does that, especially on his 1-3-5 (offside) turn.

[Wish]

Had a coach tell me once you know your ski is going to clear the ball try to spot the next ball off the tip of the boat. I think it keeps your head and shoulders from turning before the ski. Then follow the ski like Sully/Jodi says.

 

Just closing my eyes and hanging on seems to work sometimes too.

[9400]

"@Wish.....and don't leverage until that buoy your looking at cross course disappears behind the bow of the boat. This prevents you from loading too soon."

 

That's what I needed to see/hear. George can you remind me of that once a week for the next 3 months? thanks

[Marco]

I think about keeping my eyes "outside the line" at the hook up. Keeping my vision to the outside of the rope helps prevent me from closing up when coming back on the handle, especially on my offside.

[ToddL]

At the end of last season, I realized that I was doing everything wrong in my offside turn. This was so bad that I had a poor fin setup to compensate. I finally, decided to go back to recommended fin settings which exposed the poor technique in that turn.

 

The most significant element that fixed the bad habits was where I was looking. For me, I was looking a little down and across course prior to the apex of the turn. Sort of old school, "look to opposite shore to force a more aggressive completion of the turn..." Let's just say that was not working with stock fin settings.

 

When I forced my eyes to look "down course"; OMG, the ski turned on a rail! So for me, the secret sauce was to look "down the line"/at the pylon, etc. during the lean/wake crossing, then through the edge change, look at the next buoy on that turn side (if coming into 1 ball, look at 3 ball, etc.). Maintain this down-course buoy in sight during the completion of the turn. Use peripheral vision to confirm rounding the current buoy. As the ski transitions from turn completion to acceleration and wake crossing, move eyes off that down-course buoy to the pylon/down the line...

 

This one change impacted several things: open/squared shoulders, staying more counter-rotated in the turn, head up/chest up in the turn, smooth transition into the lean/wake crossing out of the turn...

 

I have been playing those initial passes back in my head all winter so as to not lose the learning that happened at the end of last season.

[Marco]

The thing I like about the "outside the line" concept is it is really easy to implement. It doesn't take much concentration to accomplish, so it is not distracting, like searching for a buoy can be. It also results in a more level head/shoulders position, and helps with leading with your COM.

[Jody_Seal]

Shoot I close my eyes until after the wake then process weather I am eating crap or turning the buoy!

 

No! Really one of the things that over the years I have found important to slalom skiing for me is the idea of keeping my eyes and line of sight level and even with the water or horizon. Cocking my head side ways throws off my equilibrium and causes me to move my upper body even more than I should. I am a skier that really does not have to focus at where in the course to look other than concentration of my gate set up as I utilize a old school gate approach, I am some what aware of my surroundings sight wise and try and focus more on my mechanics needed for making the pass.

 

[Horton]

Played with the whole look at the boat thing for a while. The first problem I had was the people in the boat can be distracting. The other problem is at short line when you finish your turn if you look at the boat are almost looking straight across the lake. That is old school.

 

Assuming that is not the problem, if you've got to find the pylon and then at edge change find the buoy that means you have to change your visual focus 10 or 12 times per pass. Seems a bit much.

 

At the end of each turn I try to spot the next buoy and focus on it all the way across. I love that visual you get every once in a while when you can see the buoy in the distance and you can see her ski in your peripheral.

[DUSkier]

@Horton Looking at the boat seems to work pretty well for April! I believe there is no "Correct" place to look and by adjusting where you look can make some drastic changes. Personally I'm a Buoy Looker, then back of boat which seems to hold my head in line with the next turn buoy. This seems to help me stay as still as possible through the finish of my turn and lean.

[Stevie Boy]

Ideally I would like to look down the line, thinking that would help me remain stacked, every time I try it, I end up on the back foot or tail ride the ski, why is that ? more so on the off side not the on side.

I generally find that if I look ten feet the other side of the back of the boat, that seems to work, still feel there,s lots of room for improvement.

[Horton]

@DUSkier I totally agree that there are many ways to skin this cat. I tend to encourage skiers to lean toward simplicity and fundamentals. If you have been reading my comments for long you know I put April on a pedestal. Anything she does is good enough for me.

[Sethski]

Jody's comment regarding keep your eyes level with the horizon is, in my humble opinion, more important than "where" you look...although I also understand the shut your eyes and hold on for dear life mentality as well.

 

Most comments regarding where to look are relative to the boat, the course, etc. One thing that I believe is important is to think about where you look (and consequently where your body faces) relative to the ski. Where your body faces (and this will cross over into that other thread regarding "opening to the boat", "hips facing the direction of the ski" etc.) has everything to do with how you pressurize the ski. Now, as a disclaimer, I still believe there is more than one way to do all of the things we are trying to accomplish in the course, but with respect to trying to find the most efficient mechanics on a water ski, I feel pretty strongly about what I am about to say:

 

-When you are not loading the rope (in the approach to the turn and through the turn) I feel it is important to face the high side of the ski. The high side of the ski is the side that is out of the water. By doing so, your hips maintain pressure on the "down" edge of the ski which gives the ski direct information and a solid stable ride. As soon as you turn and face the "down" edge of the ski or the "pressurized" edge of the ski, your hips starting moving out to the high side of the ski giving the ski conflicting information. This takes pressure off of the turning edge and can also cause a tail blowout through the turn.

-Once you are connected to the rope, I believe the same holds true, but that you don't want to take the concept to such an extreme that you put yourself in a completely unnatural stance. This is where people lose faith in the idea of "staying open" behind the boat. The key is to do it to a manageable degree rather than over-exxagerating the idea of being open.

-So with these two basic ideas (providing you believe they make sense) then the idea of where to look is a dynamic idea relative to the course and the boat. For example, we can say look at the boat, but if you are looking at the boat in the turn, your body is over-rotated and therefore your hips are "lost" and creating pressure on the wrong side of the ski. Coming into the turn, the idea would be to have your body facing the outside of the course (or as stated the "high-side" of the ski. IF you do this and maintain it, by the time you finish the turn you will be facing the next buoy or down course, and by the time you reach the wakes you will be facing the boat.

-My last point is this...and I believe it is the most important part of all of this. WHERE YOU LOOK IS ONLY A TRICK USED TO GET YOUR BODY TO FACE A PARTICULAR DIRECTION. With practice, you can separate the two ideas. How many times have you been told not to look at the gates in order to keep your body open. Well, I call BS on that one as I am pretty sure that without the gates, the rest of the course counts for a score of 0!. A better way to say it might be to look at the gates out of the corner of your eye or look over your right shoulder as you glide for the gates, but looking completely away really doesn't make a ton of sense...at least to me.

 

That's my two cents...sorry for any typos.

 

[MrB]

Hey Seth. Had a clinic with you with PJ at Ron's lake in Michigan. Reading your post is like listening to you in the water. I really got a lot out of from that clinic. Best line of all "Have fun". Stay cool. Regards, Ron

[Horton]

@Sethski Good Stuff! You should have a ski school or something.

[danbirch]

Great post, Seth! Thanks.

[davemac]

@Horton ...what happened to the "tip jar" paypal link to support the BOS cause? There's been so much great information on this site lately (particularly w/ Seth and Brooks input) that I'm starting to feel guilty getting it all for free.

 

(Heck, I'll throw extra in if you keep that picture of Marion up for another month...there is just something about that picture...)

[Horton]

Totally missed that the Tip Jar was missing. I feel a little funny about the Tip Jar. I guess having it keeps me from complaining about the cost of the site :-)

 

Thanks to everyone who throws in a $ or two.

 

Sorry Marion has to go as of the first Monday of next month. You could pay Krista to not get me next months GTF ....

[jimbrake]

Seth - love what you said about how the hips affect which edge of the ski and how you can "lose" your hips over the wrong edge by rotating. Definitely sends the wrong message to the ski. I hate it when I confuse my ski. All this dovetails nicely with what I was getting at in the other thread regarding why you want to rotate your hips open from hook up through the acceleration phase.

thanks,

Jim

[matthewbrown]

Probably the wrong thread, but I would like to add a few more tidbits to what @sethski so eloquently stated. I want to be facing the source of the load with my shoulders and hips. Why would I want to take this force tangent to my body? On our offside turns it is more difficult to do this and because of our natural stances we do end up with hips more closed then our onside. But, the other component that has yet to be mentioned is your ability to be dynamic on the ski vs. static. Dynamic comes from your ability not to get locked into a postion but rather, skiing through positions. The more closed I am with hips and shoulders, the less able I am to stay ahead of the ski and the less dynamic I will be.