Advice for my friend brand new to the course

[KcSwerver]

So last weekend I took my friend to the lake and he has been skiing for a while behind a moomba outback on a busy lake. He just got a new ski, a Connelly HP (I wish he got like a radar senate, but hey, he's happy with it!)

 

So when we got on the lake he went out, I told him just ignore the gate and start wide on one ball, then cut over to 2. Initially he had a super hard time crossing the wake he would cut towards it then aggressively pull off edge and slowly meander over the wake, then pull as hard as be could but he only made it to two once. (He took three sets of six times through)

 

When he missed, I told him to shadow the rest and just go and do what he could do. So I noticed in his turns that he was drifting in the other direction rather than make an effective turn.

 

By the end of the day he was able to go across the wake a little more effectively. And turning remained. What are some pointers you would give him, it's way easier for me to say, "just ski through the wake" than it is to do it, so are there any beginner tricks you have come across?

 

Eric is a little over 200 pounds, on a 71 inch Connelly HP

He insisted on skiing at -15

26 mph

 

Thank you!

Bryan Bailey

 

[ToddL]

Body position, timing of effort during wake crossings. That's where he needs to focus, not buoys...

 

Drills, there are many, but I like this one... Speed up the boat to about 32 MPH so that the wake becomes smaller. Have him get no wider than the white water spray off the boat's hull. Tell him the goal is to stay tall, and to steer the hips over the wake while leaning away from the boat. This initially should be a VERY timid crossing. The goal is to establish a little bit of lean and maintain it until he is coming off the 2nd wake. At this point he can allow the ski to come back underneath him and prepare to head back across the other way. Again, do not start out wide, start from the edge of the white water. (Keep him narrow like this, because newbies seem to get pulled out of position when they try to start a lean too wide and too hard.) Notice there is no focus on the turns at all. This is all about maintaining a comfortable lean across the wakes. As he does this, he should increase the angle of the lean and the ski's path across the boat's path just a little bit each time. He should stay in his comfort zone and stay in a tall body position. (search BOS for threads about front ankle bend, straighter back leg, head up, chest up, proud, etc. for more info on body position...)

If he starts to get too agressive to the point of losing good body position, then he needs to reset and back off a notch. This whole exercise is about feeling how to approach and cross the wakes with a consistent lean/angle maintained through them.

 

Also, explain that leaning harder past the 2nd wake is the most assured way to never run buoys. He must abandon that habit if he wants to ski the course.

 

Just like the popular Direct TV Commercials (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7udQSHWpL88)

Leaning harder after the 2nd wake leads to slack in the turn, slack in the turn destroys body position at the finish of the turn, bad body position at the finish of the turn means crappy wake crossings, crappy wake crossings mean missing the next buoy. Don't miss the next buoy. Ease off your lean when past the 2nd wake (or center line for faster/shorter lines).

 

Anyway, back to drills... If your friend is so excited to be on a lake with a course that he can't help but chase buoys, pull him through the "mini course". The dirver parallels the boat path on the 1-3-5 side of the course, halfway between 1-3-5 line and the lef boat guides. The skier starts at 1-ball, crosses the wakes and goes around the pair of boat guides for 2-ball, then over the 3, and so on, ending around the boat guides for 6-ball and coming back behind the boat's path. This will force a rythm of wake crossings at the pace of the normal course, but with almost 1/4 the width.

 

Other drills - Seth's drills - search on YouTube.

Also, practice body position while leaning along 1 side of the boat. Help the skier take note how as body position improves, the ski is more efficient and the skier advances up fruther along side of the boat. Do the off-side lean first, then the on-side, then the off-side again. Always start and end with the off-side lean since it is more difficult and needs more practice time.

 

It is really all about body position, starting each wake crossing in a good and stacked, comfortable lean/angle, maintaining it into and through the first wake and centerline of the boat's path.

 

I see a lot of new skiers start chasing buoys before they really have this wake crossing figured out. Each crappy wake crossing they make is building crappy muscle memory of bad habits. Ask any of the existing competivie skiers... We all wish we had learned the proper body position and proper way to corss the wakes from the very first ride on a slalom. It is the foundation for everything else that comes later.

 

 

 

[KcSwerver]

Thanks! Ill try that out. Especially the wake crossing drill @32

[wilecoyote]

@KcSwerver, I'm still not making 4 ball so I'm very near where your buddy is. I see you saw my post in http://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/8716/who-said-look-down-the-rope.

 

I know everbody has a different key piece of advice that breaks things open for them and I can only say that this one was huge for me. Hopefully it will stick.

[gsm_peter]

I am also sort of beginer. Hence I dare to tell my short story.

 

My coach told me to only shadow the bois.

After a few days i was allowed to try to take no 6.

The 5 and 6 and so on.

Focus on stacked posision and rythm and timing.

Always make six turns.

 

Best luck

 

Peter

[estrom]

It's been suggested that having girls in the boat flash him as he exits his turn will get his eyes where they need to be and thus properly align his body for crossing the wake. Give that a try!