Teaching a beginner

[Tuney]

Does anyone have any advice for giving an absolute beginner a good experience on the water? Things from how to tell them to get up (tips), to how long of a rope, to how strong of a pull up to give them. I know how to ski myself but I've been skiing since I was young so it's natural for me and I'm not sure I have the best way of putting it into words.

 

Also, all I have for skis are a couple slalom skis, some old school trick skis and some old school junior skis that I learned on. I tried skiing on the junior skis today and given that there is no concave on the bottom I found they were pretty difficult to ride on. My two slalom skis are the same length but they are very different skis, have different boots and have about 30 years between them. If I take my wing off and try and line up the boots might that be a better option than the junior skis?

 

I am trying to teach an adult female, who got up today but only briefly.

[ral]

For teaching an absolute beginner, driving is far more important than skis, provided that skis are equal and not high end slalom or concave.

 

Concave is bad for beginners, edges tend to catch. Usually, beginner skis are tunnel.

 

IMHO, the combination of old/new slalom skis you mention is not good at all for a novice.

 

Beginner combos are cheap, you can get a par for US$ 150, and they will last forever.

 

Driver needs to be looking at the skier when taking off, idling forward a couple of meters after the line is tight and skier ready for allowing skis, arms and body to settle at the correct position, and throttle softly and looking at the best moment to pull the skier out. No throttle flooring when skier says "hit it"!

 

"Arms straight and knees to the chest" is the mantra. Vest should have good buoyancy, not a slalom one...

 

[Chef23]

I would say invest in a combo set it makes things easier. It is pretty easy to teach people to ski I have taught 100+ adults and kids over the years and only had 1-2 people not be able to get up on a pair.

 

Knees into the chest, arms out straight and let the boat pull you up out of the water are the three keys. Tell the skier to make sure to keep the arms locked out straight after they get up and resist the impulse to pull the arms in.

 

Do some dry land training by having the skier sit on the ground with their heels tucked agains their butt, arms out straight and practice pulling them up. Frequently people will want to pull themselves up which doesn't work on the water and you can tell if they do so you can have them get the feel of being pulled up.

 

Once up knees slightly bent and shoulders back.

 

Finally make sure to tell them to let go of the handle if they fall and that when they are done they can just let go of the handle.

 

I love teaching people to ski. I taught 5 people this weekend and even taught a couple of teenagers to wakeboard.

[eleeski]

The boom is the absolute best training aid. Get them up on the boom and they will figure out the balance dynamics. They are right there, you can coach them as they go and they will hear you. After a couple passes down the lake on the hard boom, introduce a short handle section off the boom.

 

Old trick skis are really good for first timers. Lots of area on the skis so they are fairly easy to get up on. At very slow speeds (10 mph) they are super stable. As the skier improves you speed up to a non threatening trick speed (14 - 18 mph depending on the size of the skier). Now the skis get slippery and fun to play on. If the skier is a truly gifted athlete, you can get them learning some tricks on the first set.

 

Kids do best on a kneeboard. Almost everyone can get up on one - if not, lying on the stomach is still fun. It goes comfortably slow (extremely slow like just past idling for a timid kid). It isn't scary (or dangerous) like tubing and it develops skills. Get at least two - kids love going out together!

 

Wakeboards are also great entry tools. Steep learning curves. Just remember to remove the fins - this reduces those fast painful edge catchers.

 

Jump skis are reasonable double skis. Old school short jumpers are best. Never had much luck with combos but I've always had tricks or jumps to substitute. Combo bindings are awful and trick and jump skis seem to have reasonable bindings. I'd rather have them try on a loose high performance binding than on a combo binding.

 

I introduce slalom last. I use a fairly large traditional slalom ski. An EZ up handle really helps.

 

Eric

 

[oldjeep]

RE: Combo Bindings are awful

 

We've got a set of HO combos with sandal type bindings (HO Helix), comfortable easy to get into and they fit everything from a womens 6 to a mens 14. Great thing to have around for the random person who comes out with us.

[Jordan]

One more point. I tell every new skier that I teach. Arms straight, knees bent and chim up !

 

If the pull in on the rope, they will fall backwards.

 

If they straighten their legs too soon thy fall forward or do the splits

 

If they look down at the water that tends to be where they end up. If they look at the horizon or the boat they remain standing.

 

Also, get some diving weights and screw them to the tails of the combos- it stops the skis from being difficult to manage while laying in the water.

[Tuney]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll try some of these tips next time!

[kmenard]

Brought my son to get a lesson a few weeks ago and they had a killer drill. Tie the handle to a tree...put weight against the rope in the position you should be in (soft knees, buttup, arms straight)...let go. Keep working on that until you don't fall on your butt. Worked brilliantly.