coach me sensei

[fu_man]

Here is video of last night's sets. Although I hadn't slalomed in about 10 days, I would call these average. Please forgive the camera work. It was done by my 10 year old and there were 6 people on the boat. My thoughts: Hips were up better than they had been. This will remain a focus. Leverage out of the turn was better, but still a bit sporadic. I think the 3rd pass on the video was my best even though I missed the gate and didn't make the pass. If you notice most of my falls come on the back side of the ball. It seems as if I was biting off too much angle. Would like some feedback if you have any.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ust39gkNUTw&feature=player_embedded

 

 

[6balls]

Remove 4 people from boat. Take a look at some of the thread directed @brady who posted a video of his skiing. You are more advanced than he but likewise are too far back on your ski. Lots of tips in that thread re: getting more forward but remaining stacked (and some good humor, too).

[Brady]

@6balls. At first glance I was going to get after you for saying I was worse than @fu_man, but then after seeing the video, I have to agree. :). Please forgive me for what I called you 2 minutes ago!!

[Texas6]

Really good skiing and lots of improvement!! I agree with @6Balls on being too far back. Raise and reach is something Seth Stisher says frequently to encourage people to raise themselves up over the top of that ski when transitioning into the turn in tangent with reaching their arm up and toward the pylon. On your 1-3-5 side that arm can come up more and that front leg looks almost locked out.

[fu_man]

@Texas6 The front leg thing is something I continue to work on. My old habbit was to have both legs way too straight. Then I started bending at the knees only to have my hips trail too far back. Not sure if this will get me anywhere but I'm going to try to approach it with the thought of back leg straight-ish and front leg bent with knee over foot. Might help keep hips up while avoiding getting too locked. Still trying to fing the middle ground.

[Wish]

Keep your lean/stacked going through both wakes into 1-3-5. You seem to brace for the wakes by bending the knees and dropping the butt vs holding that stacked position through both wakes. Outcome= edge change in the air...not good. 6 people in the boat does not help. You do a better job going through them to 2-4-6 (still need the same work) and then it's all given up at the first wake headed the other way.

[Than_Bogan]

What stands out to me is that you are pretty suddenly giving up all resistance, in both directions. It's hard to explain this well, but one second I see you in a pretty decent leverage position and the next it's like you've jumped onto a flat ski and are just being dragged downcourse. Make your transition much more slowly, and keep resistance on the line out to a MUCH wider point. You don't exactly want to maintain full leverage position way out, but even during and after your edge change, you want to be skiing outbound and maintaining resistance and adding width. This will not only make what you're doing now easier, but it will set you up for much shorter lines.

 

I believe this is also the cause of the "fall on backside of ball" symptom. You're losing too much speed from the centerline out to the buoy. Then you don't have enough momentum to ski back into the rope, so you stall out. (I do this a lot and it's nearly always because of what I did back at the centerline and shortly thereafter.)

[fu_man]

@than_bogan and @wish I also noticed that. I stop pulling just prior to the wake as oppose to pulling through them to the whitewash. It got worse as I got more tired.

[Texas6]

What you said is correct about the front ankle, etc. What that really forces you to do is position your weight more appropriately over the middle/front of the ski a bit better through the turn. Its really hard to flex that front ankle if you are riding the tail though right? You'll also be amazed at how much better that ski comes around when you get up on it a bit and off the tail. And reaching up towards the pylon instead of reaching down will really help prevent you from leading your turns wirh your upper body and shoulders. Just a slight bend in that front leg so it isn't forcefully pushing away, get your body centered over the ski, reach for the pylon, and enjoy the ride....

[SkiJay]

@fu_man While you do occasionally bite off too much angle right out of the ball, it looked to me like your falls have more to do with what you are doing before the ball. As spelled out above, you are allowing yourself to stand up at the wake while extending your hands and arms toward the pylon. This gives up a ton of potential energy leaving you without enough speed to get wide enough or early enough to execute a nice controlled turn into and around the ball. Instead, you are getting pulled right at the ball and have to throw your ski around a fast tight turn which will often cause it to blow the tail out of the water.

 

Your goal is to get wider sooner so that you are finishing your turns on the backside of each ball. Further improving your stack and balance will help the cut, and staying in your lean with your elbows connected to your ribs as you edge change through the second wake will cast you wider earlier.

 

Take heart, you are a MUCH better ski rider than your film crew is a camera pointer ... =)

[ronski]

nice lean and angle off the ball. Just hold edge and at least some lean through the 2nd wake to get you out and early.