Who said look down the rope?

[wilecoyote]

So no matter how hard I've tried, and how many different ways people have told me, I just couldn't get my hips up and was constantly breaking at the waist. Today, I did my first pass and sucked, and then one of the coaches whom I've never met at the club before offered a new perspective, and, I remembered someone here saying "look at the boat or down the rope" and suddenly everything improved, big time. As soon as I thought about looking down the rope, the hips came up and I felt really stacked behind the boat. Then pass after pass, Ted just kept telling me to do things and somehow I was able to (sort of) do them. What a great day.

[Skoot1123]

@wilecoyote - When were you looking down the rope? What other things did you notice about looking down the rope?

[Skoot1123]

@wilecoyote - I believe you are looking for this comment below in a poll.

bishop8950

 

"At the apex of 1, looking at 3 and 5. As I come back to the handle with my second hand, looking right up the rope. Stay looking up the rope until ~centerline. From the centerline looking at the next buoy. This is what I try to do and what I think I do when I am skiing my best. Several deviations from this plan in most passes!"

[Joeprunc]

Had a friend tell me to yell as loud as I could what was written on the back of the ski boat.

 

I wonder what other people thought as I was yelling "WORLD CHA......" 6 times as I was going down the course. (All I could get out was World and a few more letter before I was off the second wake). But it worked. They said they usually have a girl flash after each turn, but we only had two ugly dudes in the boat.

 

It feels awesome when someone has a slightly different approach to helping out and everything clicks.

[wilecoyote]

@Skoot1123, I can't say I actually noticed anything other than it just felt "right". I've also been having a hard time with slack on my offside (who doesn't? but big time for me) and that went away as well. There's still a zillion things left to do right, but the really big one, proper position, is now within reach. When Ted was offering his advice, the next thing he got me to do was keep the tip down through the finish of the turn. HOLY CRAP! I knew that I was supposed to do that, drivers and coaches kept telling me to, but I just couldn't do it. Ted explained that if I could keep my hips up through the turn (I was coming into the turn in reasonably good shape and then loosing my form as the turn progressed) and keep the tip engaged then I wouldn't end up reaching for the handle, and thus the handle would come to me. Wow was he right on. I stuffed the tip and lean locked and did all kinds of bad things, but when I did it right, the ski really came around and I was able to exit the turn with much better position. My last pass really came together, and I'm chomping at the bit to get back behind the boat ASAP. Saturday will be my next chance and I can't wait.

 

That's not the post I was looking for, thanks for finding it though. Even more info there. I wasn't even trying to look down the line at the apex I'll try to add that on Saturday.

 

It was in another thread somewhere, but no matter, it worked. It was something like "look at the rope or the boat or the pylon, just don't look at the wakes"

 

The other bit of advice that came from this list was posted by @gregy in the maintaining speed through the wakes at longer lines thread where he advocated only pulling to the first wake and not trying to pull hard all the way to the second wake. That seemed to help too.

 

I finally feel like running all six by the end of the summer is a real possibility.

[estrom]

@Joeprunc, flashing girls would be an interesting, and likely highly effective, coaching technique.

[wilecoyote]

I'd probably just stuff the tip.

 

[KcSwerver]

I would be anxious to shorten the rope to get closer..

[Waternut]

@joeprunc Man I wish I had some girls dedicated to improving skiing like that. Improve or not, it would certainly be more enjoyable.

[ForrestGump]

There used to be tournaments held near Dallas that were known for the boat crews, drivers and judges, being attractive women. PB performances received a flash around the turn island on the way into the next pass. Numerous skiers don't remember that next pass.

[jipster43]

Thanks for the ride! Thanks, no! I think I'll just stay here in the water for a little while.

[fu_man]

@ShaneH I bet a lot of skiers were telling them their PB was 2 passes less than it really was.

[gsm_peter]

I dont get it. Looking down the rope direct after the turn?

How will this improve hips fw?

I think i ski better if i look fw in the skis direction.

I become more centeted and get better load on back arm.

 

I do not shift looking at the bois until the edge change.

 

[ForrestGump]

Looking down the rope helps you to open up to the boat, equalize pressure between the arms, and move the core mass in the direction you want to go.

[Horton]

My 2 cents. If this works for you great but it does not work for everyone. I do not do it or teach it. I played with it a lot a number of years ago and decided it was a distraction.

[Joeprunc]

@gsm_peter ....what @shaneh said.

 

I am weak and small so if I come out of my weak side turn, and don't focus on keeping my chest facing the boat (or down the rope) my lead shoulder gets pulled towards the boat and my upper body follows. I've tried a ton of things to help with my ever so weak offside turn, this is the first thing that hit home with me.

 

I agree it can be a bit distracting because its more difficult to pick up the next buoy coming across the second wake, but at this point I'd rather look good than make balls. I'm actually glad we don't have a lovely lady flashing, because I'd probably end up in the weeds.

[wilecoyote]

@Horton, which part, looking down the rope, or getting flashed on a PB?

 

Seriously though, I'm fighting so hard to simply keep position and this was the most definite improvement I've had in my skiing so far. I may only need to do it for a while until my position becomes natural or for the rest of my ski life, I have no idea. From other sports that I'm actually good at, I know for a fact that where you look always has large effect on posture. In this case for me at least, looking where I was going (usually good advice) was pointing my hips in the wrong direction and causing me to stick my but out. I think @ShaneH summed it up nicely.

 

I'll report back after Saturday's sets.