Why am I having poor to awful 1 balls at -32?

[kfennell]

Trying to get more consistent at -32 here, but I just keep having 1 balls like this, or I dont get any angle and run over my rope when I try to finish the turn.

 

Thoughts?

 

[Marco]

@kfennell It looks like you are losing connection at the second wake, and consequently are giving up angle and skiing down to the buoy. Freeze frame right after the second wake and you'll see your hands are coming up and your ski is pointed straight down course. Keep the handle on your hip after the edge change longer, and you will keep your outbound direction longer and a tighter line.

[MillerTime38]

@Kfennell first thought, narrow gate. Not generating enough speed into one and before the ski finishes the turn you fall over. If you get a wider gate and carry more speed into one it will allow you to finish the turn with more speed and you will not fall over. This may also correct the "no angle" out of the buoy as well.

[Skoot1123]

@kfennell‌ - have the same issue that you do when running -32. (no attempts this year though) Seems like the rope just gets sucked under the ski right as I am trying to finish my turn. One thought is maybe to try and reach UP with the handle. Just a thought - but I don't know if that would help.

[ForrestGump]

As @marco said, you can see your handle move up 6 inches. Also, your leaving your hips behind you just a bit as you turn in. You've got a nice aggressive gate shot but with the hips a touch behind and the hands coming up you can't keep moving that left hip up and over the front foot as you roll out. You're close!

[Horton]

Back leg is collapsed at the wake.

[Than_Bogan]

Barely on topic: Do people like to coach off slo-mo like this? I can barely tell anything at this speed because I don't know what should be happening when.

[Wish]

Hmmmm? Pull out- good. Glide- good (maybe a litttle drift letting boat get ahead and a narrower start..maybe) . Move to gate- good. Gate- good. Exit outa gate- not bad but. Your initial move off the leaning edge or second wake seems to be with your shoulders getting turned into the boat/turn stunting outbound and stunting steeper ski edged. In essence, you're aiming at the buoy. The ski does travel a little more out bound as you let go. Feeling late do to narrow and fast- I see; crank the turn to make it up. Actually I thought you had it till the last second. Many ways to say "don't let the boat twist your upper body back into the boat off the second wake. There is the lead arm pressure thing and the squeeze the vest with your elbows thing... But that's what needs to change. You will get wider, allowing you more time to finish a turn without it taking so much angle. I'll add that there may be an adjustment needed here. Seems like your in good enough shape to turn that ball no problem and the ski just keeeeeps turning on you. My 2 cents.

[gregy]

Your hips look to be back in the glide. If you can be a little more stacked in the glide I think you'll get more angle out of the turn with a better stack in the cut into the gate.

[kfennell]

@horton you are not allowed to try and coach me, My right shoulder still hurts 3 years later.

 

Man you guys are all over the place!!! BTW this is at 36 MPH,

 

I showed this video to @tfin and he said that I need to let the boat stand me up more on the glide and then finish my turn in before I load better and the rest of it will figure itself out.

 

BTW, the GH4 is the best slalom camera ever as it takes this slow motion video natively, don't need to process it at all as it is recording 1080p96 (or whatever frame rate you want up to that) onto the card at 1080p24 so you just copy and upload!

[kfennell]

@Than_Bogan‌ I would have posted it fast, but we only recorded it in slow, didnt even mean to record to show anyone, just a camera operator messing around and I thought it turned out well to highlight what I am doing wrong.

[Horton]

Just stand up

[MillerTime38]

@Kfennell if you get a wider gate pullout it will help you accomplish what @Tfin is telling you. If you are wide on your pull out and keep your speed up it will allow you to build more angle through the gate without load. It feels strange at first, but once you get the timing down your golden. When you feel the boat just resist through the gate. Don't add more load! The angle you built on your turn in will be enough. Tell someone to watch how far the rope gets up on the side of the boat. This will help you confirm that you are getting wider.

[ToddL]

Do you always ride that ski that far back? The water is breaking behind your front boot the whole time (until you break at the waist due to the rushed completion of the turn due to the feeling of falling over at the finish).

 

I'd focus on standing taller with your hips over the front foot prior to the pull-out for the gates, try to maintain this during pull out and the glide. That should get you a bit higher up on the boat so that you can turn in more freely with the hips before the shoulders load.

 

Basically, you are falling through the turn. This is a symptom of your position off the wake which is a consequence of your position during the turn in which is a result of your position during the glide... You get the idea.

 

[Klundell]

I'm with @horton you've got to stand up. This position creates load without speed. You need more speed to get more space and get on a better arc before the ball. The problem is if you try to create more speed from this position you will just create more load which will not help. Stand tall initiate that turn in with your center.

[ral]

Not only the back leg is collapsed at the wake as @Horton states, your weight is at the back in your glide, and you are pivoting the ski around your back foot instead of engaging the front of the ski in your turn-in (or whatever they call now that part of the course...). So, as stated by several, you are loading a lot without getting speed as a result. Stand tall at the glide, with an extended rear leg, hips to the front and more weight in your front foot (that will be a direct result of a straighter back leg and hips to the front.

 

One thing that can be useful at that line length (at least for me), is to think about having the handle a little more over your ski during the glide, instead of your left arm totally straight and across your chest pointing at the boat.

[Horton]

Biggest problem is that @kfennell‌ is Canadian

[ozski]

@Horton that must feel like being a kiwi.

[Horton]

@ozski everybody loves kiwis

[SkiJay]

I'm going to agree with everyone suggesting that you are overloading the tail of the ski @kfennell‌. But out of curiosity, what is your FL, FD, DFT, and binding location? Nice ski top saving handle toss btw.

[kfennell]

Everything is stock except that the bindings are 1/8 back from stock. I think. Someone else does that for me ;)

 

 

66”

Binding placement - 28 7/8”

Fin - .705”, 2.494”, 6.768”

 

Wing – 9.5 degrees (+- ½ degrees - The Nano OneXTTM is wing sensitive. Try different

settings)

 

Trent set it up to these #'s adjusting for the different caliper that he was using I believe.

[Brady]

@kfennell If you want to feel better about that video, freeze the frame at 1:04 and then make a big huge poster and plaster it on your wall.

[Deanoski]

You are looking down, see the big picture! spot 2 ball or 2 ball boat gates.

[matthewbrown]

@toddl nailed it....pretty much insert tape of Parrish's gate, and hit play repeatedly, then mimic.

[TravisNW]

I see the back leg collapsed but despite that your weight is centered over it. When approaching course stand tall over front foot. At the pullout you dig real deep, to reduce this and create more glide, lean more laterally and less away from the boat in order to not dig so much. Stand tall again on your left foot and coast. Try and ski here more. The whole way to 1 ball the ski is In front of you, stay over that front foot, knee and hip fully extended nearly straight. during the edge change and preturn the ski needs to transfer under and behind you in order to be over the optimum part of the ski. Once again try and stay tall and stacked with the left leg, it's a better place to ride the ski, more speed and better turns. Also remember that ques such as be forward are ques, not end points so just as you can be to far back there is a to far forward. Move forward to find your neutral/ optimum riding position.

[Waternut]

Lots of good advice. I will say that it looks like you're coming into one ball fast and scared. I struggled with that problem at 34mph so I can imagine 36 is worse. One thing that works for me at -32 and -35... If I hold my angle through the wakes longer, it not only makes me wider but also makes things feel a lot slower when I approach the ball. In order to do that though, I have to stop skiing so defensively which means getting off my back foot more by pushing my front knee over my front boot. Think about just riding with your front knee pushed forward when you turn around, drop, get up to speed, etc. and eventually you'll start to learn to pull through the wakes like that and you'll have an incredibly strong stance.

[A_B]

All good pointers above.

 

I like to think "stand tall and lean away from the boat" vs lean back. I would try standing taller on the ski in the glide for the gate, you are sitting back before you turn in and hold that posture through gates. The more ski in the water, the more bite or leverage you will have to hold your path.

 

The other point I try to stress at 32 off is the intensity starts to ramp up, and when you are in the middle of the wakes, the load is much greater than 28 off, so I like to think of trying to get my head and shoulders 6" lower as I enter the wakes, but in reality, if I maintain my lean, that is what I am looking for.

 

The last point is that you shouldn't look to get your whole body outside the buoy line at 32 off.

 

A few tweaks and you will be back here wondering what the heck is 38 off all about!

[ToddL]

This...

 

See this thread:

 

http://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/10772/i-need-to-get-stacked-and-other-stuff

[ToddL]

vs. this...

[ToddL]

I must have watched @Kfennell's video too much... darned if I didn't go out today and do the exact same damned thing! As I sat there in the water after performing a nearly as elegant ding avoiding handle toss, I just preached to myself everything above. Yep, much better on the mulligan.

[Chris Rossi]

To me your ski does not look set up right.

[skosney]

I agree there could be some ski setup issues as well, but I think it all boils down to too much weight on the back foot. I agree with @Horton about your back leg collapsing. Before you even hit the first wake your back knee is nearly ahead of your front knee. Front Leg Straight and Back Leg Bent Equals Too Much Weight Back.

 

Risk your right shoulder and take Horton's advise. Starting in the glide, stand tall and get up over the ski by bending your front ankle and keeping that back leg a bit straighter and behind the front knee. This should help maintain your angle behind the boat and help propel you out and into the edge change/turn.

[wtrskior]

Jodi Fisher coaches well for a skier like you. Helped me tremendously..

 

Bring that trailing hip forward, right from the moment you are pulled out of the water, pullout and glide. Trailing Hip Forward so your hips are perpendicular to the ski. This will help put more weight on your front foot, then put even more weight on your front foot.

 

This should get you looking like the The Parrish image ...

[ToddL]

"Trailing Hip Forward" hmmmmm... "hips are perpendicular to the ski" hmmmm...

 

Ski Yoda says, "Have something there, you might."

[MattP]

@wtrskior‌ I see you have skied with the Fish.

 

@kfennell‌ not only bring your trailing hip forward but pull your left hip back at the same time it will make achieving the perpendicular hip position much easier.