The proper time to be Stacked!

[Brady]

I had a great revelation today that has really helped me a lot. In regards to being stacked, one of the reasons why I have been having so many OTF crashes is because I was stacking right at the ball instead of making a fast turn and then getting into a stacked position. It was impossible for me to keep from lurching forward when I was stacking early. It was similar to goosing your hot rod in the turn instead of the straightaway. By doing it the proper way, I am making a much quicker turn and when I load, I am in a much better position. It seems to flow so much better; similar to a dead lift, but my balance is so much better because I am waiting. Thought I would share and would love any feedback.

[h2odawg79]

Great to hear that you are out and having AHA moments!

 

Next time out, stare down that PUNK Course and say: (with your Best DeNiro) "YOU TALKIN' TO ME, YOU TALKIN' TO ME"?!?! =-D

[h2odawg79]

Funny... -my above post went directly to 9 down from the top of the page just as soon as I posted it. Hmmmmmmmm @Brady, I guess your thread doesn't rate

[ForrestGump]

Vison is very important here. Pick a spot to look at during the turn. Terry winter says he looks at the next boat guides. Matt Brown looks down the buoy line he's at, it appears. But keeping that vision up, and the shoulders squared to the course longer will allow the ski to turn under the rope fully and then you're back on the handle naturally. This keeps you from turning into the turn early(something I'm guilty of), which drops the inside shoulder and makes the load come on like a light switch. Watch Matt Brown's video that is in the advanced thread. Watch it again and again and again. That is one of the most technically perfect things I've seen on a slalom ski. He's looking down the buoy line until his hand is back on the handle. Then his vision switches to following the rope. Then, when he comes out from behind the boat and off the second wake, he spots the next buoy. And then it repeats.

[Razorskier1]

Proper time is always. If you aren't over your bindings with your hips and shoulders coming into the turn you won't have time to get there after the turn. Your butt will fall out the back, shoulders out the front. I am trying very hard to be over my bindings in an athletic position at all times.

[Horton]

@brady

I think we have a fundamental misunderstanding of terminology or technique. As razor said above you always want your ankles hips and shoulders to be aligned.that is what stacked means.if you're talking about when you pick up a load the misunderstanding is in terminology.

 

I would recommend that you keep your body aligned at all times and keep turning until the boat puts load to you. you should not be thinking "okay now try to stretch the rope".if anything you should try to see how far back to wake you can get before the boat pulls on you. That is of course assuming that you're continuing to arc away from the boat with a tightline.

[Brady]

@Horton My bad. My terminology was incorrect. That is exactly what I was doing wrong. I was picking up the load far too early. I was being too anxious to get to the other ball and by picking up the load too early, I was in fact taking longer to get across. When I simply focused on making as fast a turn as I could and then loading up, when I picked up the load, the ski was already turned towards the wake and I was already across the wake out to the ball with tons of time to wait to make my next turn. By getting there early, I was also able to slow down enough to make a quick turn coming back. Before, I was keeping tension on the line throughout the turn. When I was loading up too early, I couldn't make a tight turn and I was going OTF so often trying to catch up. It is almost as if the turn is the fun and easy part now, not taking much effort and then you load and get to the other side and by getting there early, you can relax and do it over again.

 

I don't know if this makes sense, and I apologize to you and @Razorskier1 for my incorrect terminology. Bottom line, I just had an aha moment that loading early makes your turns slower and causes more OTF's and makes it impossible to have a tighter angle of attack to the wake. Relaxing and turning faster and then picking up the load gives me a steeper attack angle, more speed, less effort, a much better "stacked" position, which subsequently gives me much more time at the next ball.

[Horton]

@brady

at your level skiing I'm not sure trying to turn faster is a good idea. Do you want to allow the ski to carve back to the center line.

[Marco]

Not to mention that loading later, closer to the whitewater, doesn't wake up the ZO monster until you are in a better position to deal with the RPM increase. Especially important for you big guys.

[Ed_Johnson]

Agree with Marco, and it is what I like about the new ZO Plus...Seems to give us Big Guys a 1/2 second more to hookup and get in position.

[SkiJay]

One of the things that cause loading to be too early is over-turning. In an effort to get the turn finished right on the back side of the ball with tons of angle, a skier can produce turns resembling hockey stops. Trying to get too much angle too soon just overloads the line way too early, and if the hips aren't already forward, they get trapped behind the COM. Shoulders leading hips with too much load too soon is a perfect setup for getting launched OTF off the second wake.

 

The focus should be on arriving at the ball already stacked and turning cleanly into realistic angle with your COM leading your ski inbound. Then add load progressively into the first whitewater.

[Razorskier1]

One of the things Chet said to me was to get all of my angle BEFORE my hand got back on the handle, thus ensuring that I was stacked when I picked up the boat. I have a tendency to sometimes grab for the handle rather than skiing back to it. Then I don't achieve angle and have to power my way to more angle after the boat already has me -- no good. The other thing he said that was simple yet profound to me was "you don't pull, the boat pulls".