Newb Video - A quest for a better leveraged position

[sunvalleylaw]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rduaQyZNd7M&feature=youtu.be

 

My first vid. Man, @Than said not to get discouraged about looking at your vid, but . . . Since I got invited to the comp lake for the first time, I gave the course a try for the first time in over 10 years, and did some free skiing at 28 off at 34. I see myself breaking at the hips some as I tired, and I can see that my arms are not anywhere near as close to my body as I want.

 

The course run (first pass) was 15 off at 30. The free runs were 28 off, first at 32, then 34. The wind was blowing pretty good, and pass direction was "slackier" than the other for me. Well, it is what it is. I can improve from here.

 

Right off, I can see I need to spend a lot of time with @Than's article on the leveraged position. I realize that you can't see that much giving the camera (GoPro from the boat, fish eye lens). But if you have any comments, please feel free. I will try to get some better vid up later, when I can find my darned other camera again. Meanwhile I may post another vid of some freeskiing from today, with better light at least.

 

That is my host Chaz you see driving his really nice '09 Nautiqe 196. Makes me want to try to find an older SNOB to replace my old outboard! The lake is at Black Butte Ranch, one of two lakes there, near Shoshone, ID. Apparently both LaPoint brothers, and Jennifer Leachman, have graced the water there. Though it was a windy day, it was a treat for me to get a couple pulls here. Hopefully more to come.

 

[ForrestGump]

@sunvalleylaw Hard to see you way back there with that lens. But the first thing I noticed was that you do not get up on the boat anywhere close to enough when you pull out. Therefore you stay back there throughout the pass. Even at 15 off, it's wayyyyy too far back, IMO. The higher up on the pylon you are when you turn, the more the pull from the boat brings you inbound as opposed to downcourse.

[fu_man]

@sunvalleylaw Agree with Shane. I myself am just finding that leveraged position. Just had a clinic with Lucky Lowe. The focus for most skiers was gates. This advice has helped me a lot.....Gotta turn in for the gate just like you are turning a (zero) ball. Get out wide and COMMIT to it. Better to go hard and miss the gate rather than putter through the gate and miss one ball or two ball because you didn't go for it at the very start.

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks guys. @ShaneH, thanks for taking the time to look and comment! That makes a lot of sense. I believe you are right, that I did not pull out far enough, though I think the fisheye lens makes it look even worse than it is. It is definitely there though. On a couple of the free runs, you can see me pull out a little better. Since i have not been in a course for so long, I am going to have to orient myself again to what the optimal position is. Also, I never leaned a one handed gate, so I may have to look at that once I get more comfortable.

 

I also notice as I watch this vid, and another bunch that I got free skiing yesterday, that it does not look like I commit as @fu_man says and hold a strong consistent edge and angle on the turn in. Re: that pass, I got all but one of the balls on that pass, but as I had not been in the course in so long, I didn't really even try to make the gate per se as I was unsure of my timing. I just tried to be early to one ball and go from there. I had to wait for it as I had turned in early and missed the gate entirely.

 

The other thing I noticed in this vid is it looks as though I am letting up on the edge before the wake, rather than progressively developing lean and pressure into and across the wake, as I used to try and do. I don't want to start trying for a big pull fest out there that is excessive, but it looks like I need to do better than I was doing in that vid.

 

Yesterday, I tried some pulling drills to try to experiment with leveraged position, and found that I have work to do, especially on my offside. (left forward guy). Going back to some linked "turn ins" and some pulling drills like I used to do back when I was skiing more is in the plans.

[ForrestGump]

At your level, I would not worry about a one handed gate. The problem with it is, you will not be able to make it consistent. Right now, you need consistency. You need to be at least as high as the back of the boat in your glide without falling back90% of the time. Once you're consistent with that, and it may take a year or more, then you could consider a 1 handed gate. At this point, it would bring you nothing.

[sunvalleylaw]

Ok, thanks. good advice. There is a clinic coming up sometime in August near here. I may give it a try if we are in town.

[sunvalleylaw]

 

Here is one more. I wish I could upload a higher quality version. Youtube is not allowing me to upload more than 15 frames a second. But anyway, the light is better. I think this is somewhat representative of where I am right now, though sometimes I have runs that just seem to come together better and feel stronger. Not quite there yet this season or on this new to me ski. I don't feel like I am swinging the ski out from my body as well as I know I can do.

 

Also, for perspective, check out how the GoPro lens takes a pic from a few feet away from the boat. Not really built for this kind of vid.

 

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/GOPR0252.jpg

[fu_man]

Funny..... We have the same boat. Ours with a maroon accent. Looks like an early 90s Seaswirl?!? Mine looks a bit more "weathered" though.

[ForrestGump]

For what they are, GoPro's are excellent. But their perspective is crap for what we want to use them for when discussing skiing.

[crashman]

@shaneH where in relation to the buoy line do you think a 15off skier should be on his/her glide? I was told at one point to be about even with the buoy line on my pull out but as I've started pulling out wider things have gotten better (except the time last night when I ran over a gate ball and took flight). Do I basically want to be about as wide on my glide as how wide of one ball I hope to be at my apex?

[sunvalleylaw]

@ShaneH, yeah, I completely agree. i just thought I would try this to see if I could see anything to work on. It is easier to see at full hidef res, but perspective is still off. If you do see something in the other vid, @ShaneH or @fu_man (or anyone), or I look any better (this was a pretty brutal reality check), let me know! I am not going to post any more vid until I can find or replace my other camera, or get some better vid from someone else. Thanks for taking the time with this stuff. I sure appreciate it.

 

 

[sunvalleylaw]

@fu_man, yep, that is an '88 Seaswirl that my wife and I purchased in '93 when I lived at a lake, and had lived at my parents' house on Puget Sound, and was skiing a lot. Couldn't afford a comp boat, and this one worked well in the salt water. It had the Johnson 120, which we considered better than a Merc for the salt. It pulled pretty well down at sea level, but I can really tell the difference up here at altitude. I re-propped and it was better, but my son pretty much has to max it out to get it up to any sort of speed for me. I think, but don't know, given the speedo not really working, that I am skiing between 32 and 34 behind it, but I can slow it down when I leverage.

 

I have loved the boat, and it remains a nice family ski boat, but I am going to have to change my "situation" if I want to really train. That, or keep that as the family boat and find a way to train on one of the local comp lakes behind someone else's boat.

 

I grew up behind a similarly sized Glastron (think "live and let die" movie) modified v/tri-hull. That thing planed out immediately and pulled well, but drew so little water that I could pull the rear end around some when i tried the course that was out in the bay.

 

Skiing behind my buddie's S/N 196 in the first vid really opened up my eyes. Looking and saving for a mid 90's SNOB or similar now. It has all the candy with ZO and all that. It was a bit intimidating at first, but then I got to feel how good position would allow be to generate speed so much more easily. Even 32 felt faster than what I feel behind my boat, especially as I began to pull.

[sunvalleylaw]

@crashman, I was wondering that same thing. I used to try to pull out even or a bit outside the buoy line when I skied the course more back in the day.

[ForrestGump]

@crashman If you ski with Jodi Fisher, he'll tell you to be two boat widths wider than the buoy line at 15 off, 1 1/2 wide at 22 off, 1 wide at 28 off, 1/2 wide at 32 off, just inside the buoys at 35 off, etc. That puts you high on the boat and gives you a lot of distance to cover before centerline with angle, lessening the length of your pull after centerline and maximizing the angle you take. This becomes especially important as the rope gets shorter and shorter. The trick is to learn where to pull out and with what intensity so you get that width, but without too much speed in your glide. Trial and error.

[Than_Bogan]

In my expereince, mostly error :)

[ForrestGump]

Ok, let me rephrase...... Error and Trial. :)