Successful Pass Percentage - when to try your PB pass

[2tracmind]

We skiers are unique in our obsession with the sport, technique and desire to improve. What is your opinion on in any given set what percentage of our passes should we make ? How often and how many attempts should we make at our hardest pass in a set ?

You 38 off skiers, how often and how many attempts do you make at 39 ?

My stubborn preference is to practice making balls not missing them so my average is above 80% , progress is slow but steady. My ski partners who are a 1 or 1.5 passes ahead think i should shorten quicker and that more cracks at my harder passes.

Thanks

[Horton]

@2tracmind‌

 

I wrote this a few months ago. I strongly believe in this http://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/10830/intensity-vs-volume/p1

[BrennanKMN]

I always spend most of my time at my hardest pass. My first 2-4 passes are passes I can make most of the time, the reminder of my set is taking stabs at my next length. If I am having a depressing set I will usually take my last pass at a line length I can run for a easy confidence booster.

 

So in a typical set I make probably 40% of my passes. I am not good enough to run my way up through the line, 2 loops and I am starting to run into trouble.

[Horton]

I run to 80 to 90 % of my passes

[6balls]

Set one: 28, 32, 35, stab at 38, if make it either try to back it up or one shot 39, if miss another crack at 38. Back to 32 n done.

 

Set two: 28 (or 32 start), then work technique at 35 for a pass or two, finish at 32 and done.

 

Some years I've dropped the 28 pass early going out at 32, only to bring the 28 back pre-tourney to give me a more relaxed opener and/or allow me to play the wind conditions.

 

I don't believe in lots of cracks at a pass where there is little chance at a legit chance of running it...builds bad scramble habits rather than technical skiing. Also leaves me in the water with a boat coming back for me...I have little patience for that pass over pass.

 

I also see frequently a situation where a guy finally runs 35 for example...then takes a pile of shots at 38. Really? If he doesn't run 35 with any consistently there is very little hope at 38 so what are we doing there pass after pass? Sure take a gate poke at 38 but run another (or attempt to run another) 35.

[Razorskier1]

Like @6balls, neither me or my driver have the time before work or the patience to keep turning the boat around. So in the morning I spend most of my time on passes I run. This year I worked more on 38 (the shortest pass I tsn this year). However, I learned to do it without landing in the drink. In either run it, miss it with a small error and ski away, or miss it but ski inside the next ball and then finish. Tyoically very few misses do I actually fall. Percentage at that pass full season was over 40, which was a best for me. I tyoically ski away from my misses at 39 as well.

[Luzz]

I think it really depends on the time of the year and how much time you can mentally dedicate to water skiing. My teammate Carlo Allais always says that "39 and 41 are mentally exhausting". If you are rushing back to work, I'd say do volume. A good strategy for doing that is a 1-2-3 set. Warm up pass, two passes at the rope length that you are comfortable with, and three passes at your first challenging rope length. The goal here is to run passes, so don't be afraid to throw your ears in the water in the last three passes. However, the first three passes will give you enough buoys to work on technique.

[jipster43]

As a skier who still suffers from bad stack, I progress faster when I ski volume sets, but doing so is difficult when your ski buddy is an outlier who has progressed to 35' off @ 36 in just three seasons - skiing lots of intensity sets.

[Than_Bogan]

There are a lot of ways to skin the cat, but I think it's hard to progress if running less than 50%.

The hardest pass that you can run nearly every time is especially valuable. That's usually -32 for me but in the middle of a strong season it may be -35. BUT don't just go through the motions. Use it to get better.

[6balls]

One other thing I find is that for some reason, if I go out and really try to pound the short passes something in my mind happens in processing before the next time that I ski. As a result I come out a few days later for what should be an easy 28 off opener and I run it but find myself just hammering the balls with intensity...like I'm still stuck in short-line mode. This continues down the line and makes even my short passes tougher as I'm too jacked.

With that, I like to finish a set ,even if I worked short, on a longer pass and run it nice and easy once or twice really focusing on proper body position and then call it a day.