New to site. Fantastic! Would love some help for a long time struggling skier. Video posted

[makeall6]

I am addicted to this site. Great people. I am 63 years old, ski at 32mph and get into 28 once in a while. My bad side turn is horrible as you can see. Any thoughts that could help me would be great. Just upgraded to a D3 Nomad my son gave me. The video has me skiing on a D3 X5. Love the Nomad. 2004 Nautique with Star Gazer. I would really appreciate any tips. I have love this sport since my first ride behind an American Skie in 1986. here is the Vimeo link ...

 

http://vimeo.com/greendoormediaworks/review/72766402/ca2866cf1f

 

Cheers,

Tom

[A_B]

Welcome. The great thing is that you are skiing very consistent so practice has made permanent, which right now is a challenge to break.

 

I would say in general, you are leading with your head and shoulders instead of your hips. This is most evident on the offside turn in for gates and every offside turn. Points to work on - for gates, keep right hip up more in the glide then drop your right hip down and rotate your left hip around and up to handle with straight arms glued to your sides. Lean away with your head level and chest up. Think of getting the left hip up over your front binding. This helps set the tone for the whole pass on your offside. (Muscle memory).

 

The onside looks pretty good, but you are coming up out of your lean a little too soon, putting more pressure on your offside turn. Again, chest up arms straight locked on sides until you are through the first wake and behind the boat. This will let you carry speed into the offside. Going into your offside turns, when the left hand is off the handle, make a deliberate move to start a chainsaw with it and pull your left shoulder back keeping your chest pointed to the shore, not the buoy. This is probably the biggest issue on your offside turn. When your chest is pointed to the ball, you are pushing weight to the front of the ski and it won't run around the buoy. Bend your front knee and push over front ankle so more weight is on the front foot, think dig in with big left toe. When you fell the ski turning, drop your right hip in and bring your left hip around to finish the turn, don't just follow the ski. You have to get the ski around and under the rope before you begin to accelerate, or,else the ski will be behind you and will lack angle coming out of the ball.

Get in the hips up handle low arms straight and lean away not back, like a gate pull.

 

 

Consistent offside position. Need chest up, arms straight leaning away and not back.

 

 

Entry into offside - chest closed to buoy.

 

Focus on hips up, chest up, and pulling the off hand shoulder back, and how will be rocking that yellow loop!

[rawly]

Welcome aboard. Nice video quality , you made it easy for us. Remember to only try a few of the suggestions at a time. One thing I would add is separate your edge change and reach. Keep both hands on the handle through the edge change then slowly start your reach. You are currently letting go of your handle at the same time as your edge change. This will give you better balance (3 ball at -28) and more speed in the correct direction .Send us the video when you run that 28

[makeall6]

Al, I think my son, Ryan Whaley, helped you install your course on the river when he was a student at BG. And, thanks to all for the great tips! I am from Sandusky. Skied a few sets with Ron in Whitehouse years ago.

[A_B]

The name sounds familiar, but that was 35 years ago!

Work on chest up and head level on the offside and you will see marked improvement, and it is easier on your back!

[makeall6]

Thanks. Ran 28 last night. Butter.

[Jordan]

One simple thing. When you are pulling/leaning your arms are bent. This is not only a ton of work, it also is makng it much harder to keep (or get your hips forward).

 

When you lean, let your arms out straight with the handle low, at your hips.

 

If you look at your pull from your onside turn, you are much closer to this position, and therefore you are closer to being stacked.

 

If you look at your pull coming from your off-side turn, the handle is higher. This is pulling you forward and accentuating the hips-back position you are in. It is then pulling you more upright, flattening the ski as you cross the wake.

 

If you extend those arms and get that handle down to your waist, you also have much more success with the other tips given above.

 

If you can get your hips to handle, it should also help you get a little more of the ski in the water.

 

Might be worth getting a lesson and having someone who knows what they are doing take a look at your ski set-up.

[makeall6]

Thanks Jordan. So hard to get that handle down on my off-side. I will work on it tonight. Thanks again.

[ToddL]

During your glide before the gates, push the hips forward and up over your front foot. Then, start your gate lean still in this position. How to get there? @Horton 's solution: use your back leg to push your hips forward while maintaining a slightly bent front ankle. When you do this you will feel a little too forward if you are bent at the waist, so your body will move your shoulders back to compensate and Bam! There you are with hips up over the front foot with no bend at the waist. Practice this position every time you are just riding the ski (after deep water start, around the turns at the end of the lake, after going out the gates, during your glide to set down). It will build new muscle memory.

 

The body position during the off-side wake crossing is a result of the edge change into the off-side turn. Hold your on-side lean a touch longer. Then, when you edge change into 2/4/6, you want to keep your shoulder, hips and ski pointed more outbound. Think of the edge change as your ski is pointed cross course during the lean... you want to keep that trajectory while you role to the inside edge. This type of edge change will create space or time before the 2/4/6 buoy and result in a little more "counter rotation". All of that makes keeping the hips up through the turn and finish of the turn easier. That makes the resulting off-side wake crossing position more stacked.

 

How do you do this? That's the tough one. I would say to think about where your hips are during the edge change. Are they pointed outbound? Are they coming up over your front foot? As @AB said, it is not about head and shoulders but rather hips. Hips drive the ski where we want it to go.

 

When you get this edge change right, it will also be easier to keep hands on the handle during the edge change and thus delay the reach extension until needed just prior to arrival at the buoy. Also, you will be a bit more "countered" and your reach will place the handle down course creating a better pivot point for the finish of the turn.

 

One last thing... You have really, really excellent, patient, finishes to your turns! The worst habit is to make an extremely active motion right at the buoy in an attempt to "back side" it. Often that strategy ruins the subsequent wake crossing and ends the pass. It is so much more fruitful to ride the ski through the finish of the turn patiently and then take an active role after the lean has initiated. Don't ever throw away your patient finishes to the turns. This will always get more buoys.

[makeall6]

Thanks for all the info ToddL. This site has re-ignited my stoke for the sport.

[A_B]

Sometimes when you hit the wall, you need to change up and get with another group of skiers or seek professional help (skiing as well)... and new eyes may look at what you are doing from a different perspective than the same old crew.