Technique or Buoys

[jipster43]

Are you more focused on your technique and buoys be damned, or do you chase buoys at the possible expense of better technique?

 

I'm intentionally leaving out the concept that you can work on both at the same time for the purposes of this poll so don't fudge!

[jipster43]

I just took some video of myself running my 28' off pass, and I must say it was one of the ugliest passes I've ever seen! From now until the first tournament of next season, I will be working on form only.

[footloose42]

I'd rather not be the guy on the lake who can run a really short line, but looks like he's going to kill himself every time he does it

[Wish]

Technique keeps me SAFE! Bouys be damned gets me hurt. Tournaments I will go for it.

[Ed_Johnson]

Keep in mind, the better the technique, the more bouys you will get anyway.

 

If you build it, they will come !!!!!

[OTF]

The skier who wins the technique prize most likely wins the tournament. Right now I'm no threat.

[jipster43]

This poll could have been better written. The gist of my question is do you move on to the next rope length before or after you have the previous one totally dialed?

[Waternut]

That's actually a hard decision to make because I work on technique to get myself more buoys. I voted buoys because if I run the pass and it was a bit ugly, I'm still moving on. If I had waited to get my technique perfect at 15 off before going to 22, 28, or 32 off, I'd probably still be running 15 off and not having any fun. I'm not saying technique isn't important and I'm definitely not the kind of person to risk hooking my ski around one last buoy. However, I do feel like progressing down the line actually helps with technique further up the line. Honestly, it wasn't until I got to 28 off, that things started to click for me.

[SkiJay]

Apparently, there are different levels of "putting technique before bouys" as in: I won't go for that last bouy in practice if I get all out of shape, or sometimes I use video, vs. I always use video and spend half of my skiing time doing drills to refine my fundamental movements, plus I get lots of high quality coaching.

 

If technique was truly more important than ball count, wouldn't we see a lot more skiers doing drills at the lake, more than say um ... none!

[A_B]

My daughters boyfriend was home from college this weekend and we had a beautiful day for skiing yesterday. He was struggling at 34@15 off, and on his last pass on third set, we shortened to 28 off at 28 mph. He ran the pass and finished with a huge smile in his face. "Now that was fun, and I could see how I had to leverage better behind the boat and finish my turns", or something to that effect. He is 6'4" about 185, and had no problems sinking on my 67" 9500. He may have a future in my family.....starting to drive much better.

[Chef23]

I probably should spend more time working on perfecting things but I do tend to shorten the rope after I make a pass. At the beginning of the season I am pretty good at being disciplined about running multiple passes at certain line lengths to work on technique but as the season gets short I tend to chase buoys.

[PatM]

Those who know me know this has not been the case, but like @Wish said technic will keep you safe. After injuring my ankle this year mainly because buoys trumped technique, I may just be learning my lesson. Usually only in a tournament it was buoys trump technique, but this year it was in practice too and that hurt me. Trying to learn from this down year. Bad scores and bad falls because of bad technique (buoy chasing).

[SBFL]

catch 22 better technique will give ya more boys, but ill do anything for one more

[inland]

Since I get a lot of free skiing in each season, I like to try to focus on technique. As said before, I think it will bring more buoys.

[GOODESkier]

Although, on ,y river site, there are so many things that make technique hard to work on........ sometimes while trying to work on technique, you still end up chasing balls, cause there are so many variables of boat wakes, wind, rollers, current, backwash.......

[chris_logan]

I always get more satisfaction when scrapping my make/break pass and running it than I do when I just stroke it. On the days my form shows up with me at the lake, I get more frustrated than anything because it is rarely consistent - and I find myself saying "now why can't I always do this?"...

[jimbrake]

I am supremely qualified to pontificate on this subject cause I'm the best skier you've ever seen to struggle with 35. It kills me to watch some skiers with the wackiest technique constantly kick my ass. You can get overly lost in technique as i have over the years. Of course you should always be working on it, but strive to work on the basics of stance, stack, connection, angle, and rhythm. Keep it simple, simple, simple and don't get distracted by details especially in the turn. Angle, speed, and a good path outbound will take care of the turn.

 

That said don't forget to keep the load behind the handle, keep a tight line, vision down the lake (or across or wherever), stay level, counter the hips, don't rotate, handle low and close to the hips, lead with the hips, get over your feet, drive the connection thru the center line, elbows in and tight, stay on the handle, lead shoulder away from the boat, ride the handle out wide, early counter, full extension, ski draws first blood from the apex not the handle, ski back to the handle, level shoulders, turn all the way back to the whitewater, work white water to white water. Got it? Good. Like I said, keep it simple.

[A_B]

I am not sure about technique trumping more buoys, but I am fairly sure better technique yields more buoys!

[Roger]

I work on form in practice, but use advice I got from Chet Raley after a lesson. Chet: "Work on this as you practice this week, in the tournament next weekend, do what you have to do."

[oldjeep]

I've always been more of a ski fast - take chances downhill racer and that definitley shows in my water skiing. In a sport that rewards degrees of failure, it seems like there would be more people just throwing themselves into the next ball in whatever manner was still available to them - in downhill I've got to actually make it to the finish line. (Although sliding accross it on your back is perfectly acceptable)

[Joeprunc]

As a 15' offer I spent all summer working on 30 mph and 32 mph only. Working on form and not caring about buoys. But I must say this weekend I decided to bump up to 34 mph (first time ever at that speed on the course) and I had the most fun skiing to date.

 

So its a double edged sword for me. I am really happy that I spent so much time on the slower passes learning, but I felt like once I bumped up to the next level, my level of confidence rose, and those other passes became much easier. I will absolutely piss myself in joy if I start cutting line before its snow ski season!!

 

 

[A_B]

I think building a solid foundation always makes sense. Having fun makes sense. Skiing out of control in practice to run a PB (which doesn't count anyway) doesn't make sense. So, somewhere in the mix is probably the perfect answer...

[Waternut]

@joeprunc I totally agree that at your level, technique is the most important thing to work on. But like you said, just going up in speed provided confidence at the lower speeds and in turn improves technique.

 

I was hoping someone else would say it....practice doesn't count, technique doesn't count....buoys, tournaments, and buoys! That's all that matters! (*takes cover* Don't hit me!)

[Horton]

I spend most of my time at the hardest pass I can constantly run. When I can run it easy I have s better chance at the next pass.

[Horton]

also early season is all about technique. end of the season is BALLS

[Klundell]

If I run a pass I almost always shorten the rope and I rarely go backwards. I'm not sure I would recommend this for everyone but I really feel like the only way I am going to get better at 39 is to give 39 as many rips as I can.

[Jody_Seal]

That's all I Have!

[bishop8950]

I work on technique and mental approach every pass of every practice set. Some people say I work too hard on making it pretty when I should just go for it. I am not trying to make it look pretty, but what I lack in fitness and athletic talent I try to make up with diligent commitment to technique. The buoys will come if you are improving your technique.

 

Tournaments I tend to start chasing buoys as the line gets shorter, but that is to be expected

 

I agree @jimbrake is the best skier you will ever see that can miss 35 :-)

[SkiJay]

The degree of focus that needs to be placed on technique over balls seems a bit experience-related too. Everyone from pros to smos need to be constantly honing their technique. But a -39 skier is far more qualified to work on technique at his/her easier passes (-35 & -38) than is a -28 skier moving back to -22 or -15. Not to mention that the rope dynamics at -15 are barely even relevant to what's happening at -32 on in.

 

The -39 skier already has pretty solid fundamentals and is on the top of the learning curve fine-tuning movements that are already excellent. Most -28 skiers have to make major changes to the habits they've developed up to this point. Things like changing a dragging butt to a proper tall stack, changing edges ten feet earlier, keeping the handle in tight beyond the second wake, developing twice the upper-body lean angle during the cut and not standing up behind the boat. This isn't fine-tuning, these are huge changes.

 

Breaking old bad habits is a tortuously difficult undertaking for an adult. It's even harder than learning how to ski from scratch! And trying to groove all of these changes into new habits while barely running the course for 12 minutes per week (~ six sets) is doomed to be a slow process where the bad habits are getting more practice than any fledgling new skills.

 

Highly advanced skiers can focus on technique while running balls. Skiers on the steep part of the learning curve can probably derive more benefit from alternating between highly focused drills and course skiing with their practice time.

[jcamp]

My problem is that I head into each pass thinking "technique" but about half way through I'm just trying to run s#!t. Gotta work on that.

[JoeMac]

Ditto what Bishop said

 

[bishop8950]

Another thought: I think many of the buoy chasers simply do not know what to work on. It has taken me 20 years, many professional lessons, hours of video review and more to get to a point where I feel like I know what I need to work on most of the time. If something is wrong with my skiing I usually can figure it out in a few passes. I am proud of this and its only become the case in the last few years. Lets say years 15-20!

 

Even so, I get lost, and I seek help. If I did not know what to work on I would either work on the wrong stuff or chase buoys - neither of which makes me better.

[Skoot1123]

Later in the season I have to remind myself that technique will get you more buoys in the long run. Going for it in practice doesn't really gain you anything and can get you hurt. My knee and arm can attest to that!

[A_B]

We had a guy who skied with us and is no longer on this planet, but he would inevitably get 5@ anything and shorten the line saying "I would have run it if....., so let's shorten it". At least once a season someone will do the same, and we say in honor of Larry.......shorten it! He was a buoy chaser for sure.

[Omland]

I voted bouys over technique but in reality it's a bit of both for me. For where my skiing is bouys are the motivator but in the back of my mind I know my technique needs work. I try every pass to focus on the things I think need work but I will progress to the next rope length even if my technique wasn't perfect.

[skihard]

I know it shouldn't be this way and I need to work on that. It's my first go at getting a chance to ski buoys all the time now that our boat is on a private ski lake but I think I am getting too caught up in just WANTING to rip around orange buoys that I forget what is important to do in order to get around them buoys properly!

 

But I'm sure in time I will do what is right over what my mind wants me to rush into doing?

 

All that said I'm sure having fun when I'm not hurting myself...........back to the bindings thread! LOL