First Pass of the Season... it's never too early for some video coaching!

[aswinter05]

Most of you are aware this is my 2nd full season skiing. Sorry it's a terrible video. This is honestly my very first pass of the season. Video was taken yesterday on my Droid RAZR smartphone. It ran low on battery, thus I wasn't able to post the consecutive passes (they were better I promise!) EZ Cam mount was used in this video. It worked pretty well.

 

I guess I'm just looking for some early season pointers. I know a lot of stuff I'm doing wrong but sometimes when you hear it explained a different way, it becomes easier to put into practice. Lots of thanks in advance.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BfPLhn0OkI

 

[ForrestGump]

You start your pullout on the back foot and you stay there, because your front leg is straight. Flex your front ankle and knee forward so that your hips and shoulders are centered between the bindings. Get into this position as soon as you plane out after the deep water start. You can easily slide your hips 6-8 inches forward just by using your ankles. It's important to differentiate between bending your knee and dropping your butt and flexing your ankles so you can bend the knee without dropping your butt. You want the latter. Your goal should be to have that front knee ahead of your front heel.

[aswinter05]

Got it. I wasn't even thinking about flexing the front ankle yesterday. Sooo many things to think about when your a rookie

[ForrestGump]

All of the movements you make on a slalom ski start at the ankles. If you bend your knee without flexing your ankles, you weight the back foot. If you try and counter rotate without flexing the ankles forward, you just weight your back foot. Now is the time to figure that out. If you do, you'll improve rapidly.

[Fine409]

No advice from me...just jealous you're already out skiing!!

[crashman]

@ShaneH good stuff thanks for sharing. I'm going to think about that and the Chris Rossi bit about pushing the handle down next time I go out and see where it leads me. @aswinter05 you and I are starting the 15 off no shame video club to pester these guys all season long.

[ForrestGump]

There's absolutely no shame in 15 off. We all were there at some point.

[Texas6]

And for the record, fifteen off is an accomplishment! Nothing simple about it!

[MattP]

At 15 off shoot to be 12 feet wide of the 346 buoy line when you turn in for the gates. I also agree with shane on the hips comment.

@chrashman I don't think one should force the handle lower or "pushing the handle down". This comes from having the proper stacked body position, not from doing it yourself. You can try all you want, but if your body is not there to suport the position it will not happen.

[KcSwerver]

@aswinter05 technically my friend you are out of the rookie category :) you are a veteran!

[Stevie Boy]

First pass of the season, full wetsuit/drysuit, probably a bit stiff, hence straight legs, suggest getting into the habit of doing some warm up exercises, to get those knees and ankles flexing a bit more, give it a few more sets then try the video, video is going to be one of your hardest critics, we never look how we visualize ourselves.

[h2odawg79]

@crashman,

 

Maybe you could get @ChrisRossi to elaborate on the technique. Like most things, it is multi faceted and dimensional. But, the basis is sound and surely necessary for all.

[aswinter05]

Yup, definitely a stiff front leg. Had a lot of trouble with this last year. I will post more video very soon. Hopefully from McCormicks

[KcSwerver]

something Im noticing is you initiated your turns more by pushing on the ski then rolling onto edge and letting it carve it's path. I know it's the first run, but deffinately something to keep in mind, it will make the whole action of "skiing" more fluid if the motions are conected not forced. Just my ideas.

[Than_Bogan]

Joinin' the party late here, but I very much agree with Shane's initial analysis. The first thing to fix is where your weight is on the ski. Flex the front ankle; drive the front knee forward; stand balanced; straighten the rear leg. Any of those pieces of advice can do the same thing -- use whichever makes sense to you!

 

Then as soon as you're standing in the right place on the ski, get those arms straight!

[Joeprunc]

I am a huge rookie too, and still stuck on 15 off, but noticed something that may have something to do with your turns. Maybe someone that is more skilled can comment on this too (or maybe its nothing).

 

I noticed you are not dropping a hand from the handle, I'm not sure if this was just the first pass trying to get the feel for the ski again, or if this is a norm, or if its a practice drill.

 

But it looks like instead of dropping a hand and allowing a bit of body rotation (don't know if that is the right term to describe it) to help initiate the turn you seem to be loading the tail to get the ski to turn. It looks like the tail of the ski is extremely loaded from once you make it around 1 till the boat wash.

 

Also take your initial cut out earlier, so you don't have to rush your gate pull. It looks like you gradually cut out off the wake, then increased your cut as you got further outside the wake, this is probably why there was more slack. Get where you want to be a little bit earlier and you can make sure there is no slack in your line before your pull thru the gates.

 

Again I am a rookie, so I really don't know what I'm talking about, but that's what I saw, as that is how I use to look. Maybe someone else can comment on that too, or maybe its nothing. Don't worry I'll join in the 15' off video segment shortly.

 

 

Oh and I don't know what speed you are at, but that SN wake looks amazing!