Rear Boot: To cant or not to Cant?

[londonskier]

I'm in double Powershells. If the rear is dead straight, my offside is great, but onside is poor. I am LFF. Seems like just a little cant is the way to go, but Fish says no. Any opinions?

[Klundell]

Not to cant. I'm in powershells too and the tiniest bit of cant really fouls up my offside turn tends to make the tip bury and lose the tail. Anyone else had this happen. I know because my rear boot moves like sometimes and I instantly know it because I start loosing the tail more often.

[A_B]

Rotate or cant?

 

Sounds like you are questioning rotating the back boot slightly clockwise (LFF). It is totally personal, so trial and error here is about the only way to tell. Some have said it helped their offside, some say onside, some say yuck. I think it is better for bowlegged guys to rotate the rear boot. Could be entirely off base, but just my opinion.

 

Canting is placing a wedge or something under one side of the plate so that more pressure is placed on one edge of the ski when your foot seeks to be in level plane.

[BRY]

AB has it right, rotate or cant? Would vote against canting unless both feet. If rotating try it rotated in a couple positions from a little to a lot, just to see how if feels. Then you will know how it feels and what it does for you. I have my front PowerShell straight and rear rotated slightly, about a 1/4" from centerline toe and heel. Doesn't seem to change my turns but I feel I stand more naturally on my ski, in the center more.

[Wish]

just for fun I threw shims under my plates (both front and back elevating- arched sides of the feet). About a pennys worth of shimming/canting. Did not really notice a difference. Although I was consistently on my way to ball 4 at 38 soooo maybe. What exactly is that supposed to do? The only reason I tried it is because I ran into Lucky Low at a local FL tourney and he commented on my heal lift and said I should also try shimming/canting (hardshells BTW). Said the ski would roll up on edge quicker. Sounded lagit.

[A_B]

@Wish, as I understand it, I beleive you would cant under the bindings on one entire side front and back, not under the arches of both, this sort of defeats the purpose. Most put them on the side of your arch of your front foot, which is to help your offside.

 

As you level your foot, you are putting the left side (RFF) deeper in the water, and already slightly on edge, opposite for LFF.

 

A long time ago, I think JOBE sold a cheater plate, which was a long rubber sheet that was like a shim, thicker on one side, and I used two sheets under my bindings. I don't think I really noticed a big change. But it is so long ago, I really don't remember. I know they deteriorated and I just junked them.

[Wish]

@AB. The shims are canting entire plate. Was trying to explain which side of my entire foot (the plate) was being raised in mentioning the "arch" side of foot. Interesting that Lucky said both feet. Like u, not noticing huge dif. Could try just front foot.

[A_B]

You drive your offside turn with the front boot, so it makes sense to do that if only one. I think it has to be 1/4" or more if it is going to do anything.

[SkiJay]

I've been using Radar Stratas (Incl. RS1) for the past four years. Sometimes I'll ski a few sets with the new boots before heat-molding some cant into the liners and have found my edge control improves noticeably after molding. Some of the improved edge control surely comes from a more customized fit in general, but I think the canting is a big part of it. To get this much canting, I use Zapp footbeds in the bottom of each shell with maximized arch support. I then heat-mold the liners into the boots while standing on the ski (fin removed). The result is the canting you can clearly see when you look at the top of the liners in the picture below. (I used Intuition liners here because the 2012 Radar liners were too padded for my liking.)

 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1530989/Waterskiing/BOS/Canting.JPG

 

This "liner canting" looks like it holds up while on a hard edge.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1530989/Waterskiing/BOS/Hard%20Edge%202.JPG

 

 

[sunvalleylaw]

In setting my ski back to stock yesterday, I went ahead and rotated the rear the tiniest bit (two mil.) to see how it feels, Without really measuring or checking, I believe my bindings have been simply straight in the past. We'll see what I feel.

 

@londonskier , have you experimented any more?

[londonskier]

Yes. Firstly my discussion should have read "To rotate or not to rotate". To have my rear boot dead straight gives me a great offside but my onside is poor. I have found 0.5cm rotation of the rear to be a good balance and I'm sticking to that. I sneaked a look at a former pro skiers boots and his were the same. Front boot is dead straight.

[sunvalleylaw]

I tried a little rotated today as I said, but conditions were poor. While skiing with a strong wind, I was getting slack on my offside, which I don't normally do. Not sure if it was the wind, the adjustment or other adjustments I made. I am going to go back to straight, and start over on a day with better conditions.

[thager]

Make only one adjustment at a time!

[londonskier]

@sunvalleylaw I have learnt one thing, If your rear boot is rotated, it will help your onside. The more you rotate the better the onside is. Conversely, if it is straight, this will help your offside. Most skiers agree that its usually the offside that needs more help; - so go straight. For me however, dead straight makes my onside a little too difficult. Hope that makes sense.

[sunvalleylaw]

@londonskier, thanks for the input. I think my key is to first of all, get my new to me ski back to stock, and make adjustments from there. I think the last adjustment I will make, once the ski is running right, is the rotation. That seems less fundamental than the other stuff. So back to stock for me for now.

[pjirsa]

I set my rear boot straight and tighten screws as much as possible without stripping inserts. after 2 sets. boot is rotated all the way to the right (LFF). so, that's where i leave it

[bogboy]

I believe that J.B. talked about canting with nickels in a recent thread.

[Dusty]

I've had coaches explain that rotation and canting tends to work for skiers whose hip/knee/ankle geometry. benefits from 'unloading' the hip tension, allowing them to open up more effectively. For skiers without geometry issues, the effect is said to be less noticed and probably not recommended.