Steve's re-newb progress journal . . .

[sunvalleylaw]

Comments welcome if you have any. I am a verbal guy and like to think things through. Writing things out and discussion them helps me understand. So that is my purpose here in this journal thread. I would welcome any comments anyone has, but certainly do not expect it.

 

Intro:

 

I consider myself a re-newb. I was a stronger, better skier in the 90's when I skied a lot. Took some years mostly off, and am trying to hit it harder again. Never was a consistent course skier or competitor, but I used to work a couple passes into most of my runs in the mid 90's.

 

got a new(er) ski, read a bunch of stuff here, skied a bunch more this year, got on a ski lake with a nice course a couple/few times, and found I have a lot to learn and/or re-learn. Fair to say that I am a pretty strong freeskier for a guy almost 50, and that I am otherwise pretty much a 15 off'r hoping to move up.

 

There is more info about my ski history in my Newb intro thread, in this thread category I believe, but that is enough intro for the purpose of this thread.

 

Progress this year:

 

Got on this forum. Found a lot of good info. Lucked into @Than Bogan posting up his leveraged position article. Took a few pics and posted.

 

Apparent problems:

 

1. Reaching into too soon and too high for the handle at the close of the turn, preventing good set up for a strong leveraged position.

 

2. Not being countered enough throughout the turn. leads to, or caused by above problem.

 

3. Looking across the wakes too drastically and too far. Also related to the above.

 

4. on my early course attempts this year, not getting up on the boat enough to make any sort of good beginning.

 

Improvements:

 

Based on good advice received here:

 

Earlier this season:

Started trying to look more down course, across the boat to the next ball or something like that,

Pulled out better and farther, made a better gate attempt

focused on feeling elbows on my vest. (makes a big difference) Probably the biggest thing other than trying to get out farther on the gates earlier this season.

I found it hard to do much else with my skiing, and also get used to being in the course again.

 

Today's free run:

focused on the eyes as above

made a deliberate to get and stay countered in the turn

was more patient at the end of the turn and tried to let the ski pass back under the line before sweeping the handle over to my hip, rather than pulling it in.

Felt elbows on vest, tried to keep ankles and knees soft, tried to hold it across and through both wakes.

 

MUCH BETTER! at least much better feeling whilst freeskiing. No opportunity for course work today. Was up at Redfish lake.

Did I do it all perfectly, . . . by no means. but I could start to feel it. My turns were much smoother, as was my hook up back to the handle. AND . . . that made my wake crossing faster, and seem like a lot less work.

 

Since I was freeskiing, and not looking at the balls, I was able to play with this stuff more. I wish there was a course there, so I could follow up with a course run and try it out. Maybe the course is in at Magic res. Also, need to see if I can go visit my buddy down at the ski ranch soon.

 

Thank you to anyone who has given me some tips personally or a thread I participated in, and also to all those who have posted their questions and advice. Lots to learn from here!

 

 

Oh, and one other thing, sorry if I have been too chatty in any of the threads. I only get to ski so much, and have been stoked to learn. LIke I said, it helps me to verbalize and discuss things. But I hope not to to that too much and dirty up others' threads. Having been here a little while now, I will make sure I listen a lot, and try to speak when appropriate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Entry 2, path of ski, setting it up with the gate:

 

I have discussed with Robert focusing in addition to the above points, being on the correct path in the course, and that this basically is determined with the gates. To be set up properly, I should be fully turned in when the 1 ball is just past the left hand gate buoy.

 

1. To be completely turned in at that point, you have to start at a correct point. I have to work at determining that point for me.

 

2. What is the correct movement or set of movements to initiate the turn in? Mostly I have seen reaching in toward the pylon and creating some lean. But I am sure there are ways to be more effective than others. I want to avoid pulling myself in as I was doing at the end of my turns.

 

I have access to an article and a link or two on the gates, so I will re-read those and see what they say.

 

The last key will be more course time. I can freeski all I want and work on form, but it has to hold up in the course, and that will only come with more time in the course.

 

But I think that if I work on the things in my journal and my gate, and get course time, I can start getting into 28 off and hopefully completing the pass over the next summer. At least that would be my goal! Maybe a bit lofty, but I want to be at least solid in my 15 and 22 through my speed, and running 28 sometime next year. If I can find a way to get into the course a bunch more over the next month or so that we have skiing left, maybe I can get into 22 this year. But not much time left this year, and it will be unlikely I will get enough course time to make that happen.

[sunvalleylaw]

@wish , @ToddL @Horton So much good information here. (by here, I mean threads I have been reading where each of you have provided helpful info. Especially today, the LFF turn in, and stack threads) So wanted to say Thank you to you guys in particular today, and to others here who post a lot of helpful stuff. For example, I just found a great LFF turn in thread. I am LFF too, and have struggled with this. The focus on hips from Wish in that thread is huge I am planning on combining this with the more recent stack discussions to refine that, combine some of the stuff in a wake crossing thread (including staying progressive) I found from last fall from @Howa1500 , and do a bunch of drills across the wakes to try to hold on to the stack whilst crossing. THEN, I will start working the rest of it such as handle control, patience in the turn, and not reaching in too soon. I will not necessarily think about that as counter, but patience, stack and not reaching too soon, letting the ski get back to the rope. At least that is a little outline I am leaving myself here as I continue to read discussions. Stack first. Then turning in without rocking back and pivoting. Proceed from there. Can't really worry too much about handle control and release if I am not coming off the wakes in a decent position to start with.

 

I put these comments here instead of the thread I started posting in as I thought my thoughts trying to link it all together in my head would be off topic in that LFF turn in thread. But all parts of the turn and course relate, so wanted to collect my thoughts.

 

Thanks again for all the great info. Will be clicking the support button again.

[ToddL]

@sunvalleylaw - wonderful! I am so glad that you are doing so good and our posts are helpful!

 

I am most thankful for @Horton and his passion for our sport. That has helped to build this site into a forum for positive exchange of ideas like no other. We can poke fun and have a good time here. Most importantly, we can find answers and share ideas in a constructive way.

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks @ToddL . I do not know if I would flatter myself to say that I am doing super well, but I am understanding things better I think. And I am enjoying my relatively limited time out on the water. Hoping, if this new to us boat comes through, that we can schedule in some more water time. Meanwhile, it is great to be able to participate here with all these folks.