Miscellany

[buski]

Hi guys, I had a couple of questions that span a few categories. Thanks for any help.

 

1 - Is there any trick to getting the rope through a 4' shock tube? I can only feed it so far and then have to try to fish it with a coat hanger or push it through with a long pole. This is ok as long as the rope stays in, but it occasionally finds its way down the tube one way or another and I have to do it again. I've seen some people feed theirs all the way through without a problem and can only imagine it's black magic.

 

2 - Re: comp vests. I know you competition or private lake guys use them. Are there certain ones you'd feel safe in skiing in a deep lake? I'm hesitant to move from anything but USCG, but none of them seem to fit well. Minor distraction I suppose but I'm just curious if the lower flotation vests are things you guys that use them would use and feel safe in more 'everyman' conditions or not. I'm a rail and if I had the wind knocked out of me would sink like a brick. Having a light, tight fitting vest would be great but I don't want to end up at the bottom of a lake on one unlucky fall.

 

3 - I'm a 15off/28mph kind of guy, but am very inconsistent. If I'm lucky I'll get one full pass out of a set, but probably every two sets. I know my leverage position is the #1 thing I need to work on, and I think I have a decent understanding (Thanks @Than and other resources) of what it should be like, and I think I do it pretty well while on land (or, at least waaaay better than my water position). What I don't know is how to work on it. Let's say I have two sets, how should I be appropriating my time in order to improve? Should I abandon the balls for now and only free ski until it gets better? Do some free skiiing in each set and fewer course passes while trying to think of only body position? I feel like my free skiing is very sloppy compared to my course passes (which are still sloppy); without the reference points I seem to end up even worse off sometimes. I feel like it's tough when my only pass is my hardest pass; if I'm not careful I feel like I go out there, forget everything and slip into old habits, and come away no better than when I started.

 

[ForrestGump]

@buski Were I teaching someone, I would abandon the course to begin with and have them do Seth Stisher's whip drills for a solid month and just work on that balanced, leveraged position behind the boat non stop.

[buski]

@ShaneH - Thanks. Should I be doing those at 32/34 mph at 28 off? Or 15 off/28mph where I'm working on the course?

[ForrestGump]

I would do them at 15 or 22 off at whatever speed you're comfortable with and/or whatever speed you can get in the proper leveraged position in. It's all about building muscle memory. Just remember, it's just as easy to build improper muscle memory as it is to build proper muscle memory. Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

[Wish]

#1 turn the shock tube in your hand so the end that the line comes out of is on the dock surface or boat floor. Feed the line in while tapping the tube on the floor/dock. The tapping will keep the rope moving through. Just hold the line higher and straight above the tube as you tap and feed.

[Wish]

[Wish]

@buski, I may be off here but depending on your boat, you may want to do this drill at shorter line like 28 off. If there is a rooster tail/bump in the wake or two large wakes at 15/22 slow speed, you may end up battling that and not getting in that good muscle memory position as @ShaneH stated. Looks like Seth is at shorter line were the wake is a non issue. Uping the speed in this drill as you become more and more comfortable with it may also be beneficial in that you will get used to the speed and when you do go back to the course, it will feel slow and hopefully easy. Just a thought.

[Than_Bogan]

Re #1: Here's two tricks:

a) Stuff as much rope in as you can and then whip the shock tube (sorta like casting a fishing rod overhand) and let it hit the side of the boat. This will usually advance the rope a few inches. Repeat as necessary.

 

b) Get a piece of string that is just a little longer than the tube and attach a stainless caribiner clip to each end, ideally of a size that is just barely bigger than the diamater of the inside of the shock tube. Attach that to the end of the rope. Then when you pull the rope out (even if by accident), the string will still be inside the tube. You can even store the tube with the string in it (and the clips on each each). By using a clip of the ideal size, it won't slide through until you pull it through (and the inside of the shock tube deforms slightly allowing it to slide through).

Then to re-feed teh rope, of course, you just attach it to the clip and pull it through.

 

If using option b, you'll have to pay royalties on my wife's patent.

 

(Of course I am kidding, but she did invent that and then I felt really silly that I'd never though of it before. But these days I just use a short shocktube so it's a non-issue.)

[buski]

@Wish thanks. I've watched that a number of times and tried to do the drill on a few occasions too. I can never seem to do it with any rhythm and always end up with way more slack than if I'm trying course passes for some reason (it also looks nowhere near as pretty/effortless). My course passes are ugly but feel downright graceful compared to when I try to free ski sometimes. More practice I suppose. It's hard to tell from the video but I imagine that I should try to still be at course width for these? I'll try to experiment with the speed/length.

[Wish]

@buski Seth is not at course width. He is simply working body positions and rhythm. Not trying for width or carryout to an imaginary ball.

 

What @Than Bogan said: shorter shock tube 3' with much bigger hole is what I use. Found it on a wakeboard site for cheap $20.

 

http://www.beyondthewake.com/rope-shock-tube.php

 

 

[teammalibu]

I put a small weight like a big fishing sinker on a snap hook to help feed the rope through the shock tube.

[ForrestGump]

@buski You don't have to work on the rhythm to start with. Work on the body position. Move across, roll up, stabilize your speed with the boat, and roll back in for your move across to the other side. Rinse and repeat. Once you're comfortable with that, you can then start working on the linking those whips across with turns to start building that left/right rhythm. Keep in mind that the turns are just there to link two crosscourse movements. How you get from one side to the other is the most important thing. When we teach kids, we have them stand in the whitewater to start with and do this. Then as they get proficient with that, we move them out to just outside the white water. Then 5 ft outside the white water. Then 10 ft outside. Then 15 ft.

[Chuck_Dickey]

The shock tube trick is to slip in a plastic tube inside so the rope slides easily through. You can find Lexan tubing on the internet that is about 1/16" wall thickness. Just match the ID of your shock tube.

[mwetskier]

we keep a brass snap hook in the cup holder and clip it on the rope to let gravity pull it thru.