Analyze this!

[SkiItUp]

I have a pretty heavy hop/ bounce on my offside turn. I have tried a few things to stop it but with little success. Give me your thoughts.

 

[SkiItUp]

The video is at 28off 34mph. Does the same thing at any line length 15off through 35off. Makes the shorter lengths very difficult.

 

The ski is a 69" Sixam and I'm 6'3" 240-245lbs.

[Marco]

You are really heavy on your back foot, especially in your initial glide and at 2-4. Your are giving up your stack behind the boat on your offside lean, which is putting you on a flat ski and hence the bounce. Think about staying down through both wakes, and instead of coming up onto a flat ski at the edge change, stay down and let the ski swing out underneath. Get that working, and you'll be running up the rope.

[skinut]

Looks like a Vapor. I would send an email to Chris Rossi. He might have some suggested fin adjustments for you. He has helped me and many others out dialing in their skis. rossiski at gmail dot com Btw you should also post a video at regular speed. Sometimes its tough to diagnose problems when its in slowmo.

[webbdawg99]

Skis will "porpoise" when there isn't enough ski in the water. As stated previously, you are very heavy on your back foot. Other possible solutions are moving your boots forward or adding tip by increasing the length of the fin.

[Texas6]

I would take a hard look at binding placement and see about moving forward a bit

[Booze]

Shift weight off back foot and into front knee...which will translate into weight on front foot. There are too many wrong ways to simply 'put weight on front foot'.

[Milford]

It appears that you are dropping your hips as you approach your offside turn. This is causing excess weight transfer to your back foot. I would suggest pushing your hips forward as you approach the turn. As you change edges and start your reach, bring your hips forward as the handle extends. Pushing your hips forward does not mean straighten your legs or push on the ski, it simply means bring your hips forward a few inches which will require you to bend at your ankles. Knees need to stay soft. This will ultimately place more weight on your front foot, which will engage the ski and commit to the turn.

[gregy]

Seems narrow and a lot of upper body lean for 28off.

 

[ToddL]

Lots of good ideas above. Check your front binding placement. Is it possible already pretty far forward? It looks to me like you approach 2-ball back on the ski, then you try to move forward into a more stacked posture, but that drives the tip down in the water deeper than desired. Thus, it could be that your ski is setup such that when you approach 2-ball with proper posture, the tip digs in too much. Possibly your front binding is too far forward? Possibly check your fin - is it too long (too much fin at the front of the fin)? Have you found stock fin/binding numbers for your ski?

 

Google searches came up with all of these...

 

2010:

Sixam SS fin settings:

69: .790, 2.510, 6.840

Sixam 2.0, Allegiance

69 .790, 2.510, 6.840

Front Binding Placement

69 2.0 & SS: 30 1/2”

 

 2008:

Skier Brand Model Length Binding Length Depth DFT Wing

Stock O'Brien Sixam 1.0 2004 69" 30 3/4" 6.686 2.532 0.78 8

Stock O'Brien Sixam 1.1 2004 69" 30 3/4" 6.845 2.532 0.78 8

 

 

[sfriis]

Is it an old ski - maybe gone too soft ? Try another and see if it helps

[2tracmind]

As a big guy you (me too) , push a lot of water. When I am at 220 I am told to get more weight on my front foot in my gate glide, little do they know that my back heel is off the ski and ALL on my weight is on my front foot. When I weigh 205, it looks great. Fin adjustment might help.

My suggestions:

1. Get every ounce you can on your front foot in your gate, tall over the foot, aligned, stacked. Slow turn in. Chest up.

2. Onside and Offside Turns -you are losing your chest in the preturn. Chest up and look down course.

From one big guy to another.

 

[drewski32]

You're trying to "bleed speed" off going into the big bad offside turn. Realise that speed with proper direction is a GOOD thing. What you're doing is dragging your inside hip (right hip going into 2,4,6) and then pushing the back of the ski to try to pivot. Offside turns defintitely don't work that way. Going into the ball you must push your inside hip in front of you and carve the ski on the tip. There's a really good video of regina running -32 at quarter speed on youtube. She does a great job of executing this.

 

Edit: I now realize thatI just restated what @Milford said

[Chef23]

I would check to make sure the bindings and fin are in the right spot but I agree that you are too far back on the ski coming into your offside. I saw the same thing in you gate glide. Those technique things will apply even if you need to adjust your fin/binding.

[SkiItUp]

Here is the same pass at full speed.

[SkiItUp]

Here is a 32 off pass.

[SkiItUp]

I have been working on getting my weight forward, Making some progress. Feels different for sure, but I know its for the greater good. Not sure I am doing better at the shorter lengths. Though I have been pretty consistent on my -32s since I have been working on it. And the few 35s have been deeper.

 

[Booze]

@SkiItUp

I still see you 'riding' your back foot. I know it can be a tough concept to totally adopt and feel, especially when you see video of top-notch skiers not specifically looking like they are 'putting weight on the front of the ski'. The word that comes to mind is bias. They are still applying an important bias to the front foot.

You may be getting a fair amount of weight on your front foot at times, but you have a consistant bias to your back foot. It's almost like you are steering the ski from the back foot rather than the front.

An analogy that comes to mind is an airplane. Sure the rudder is in the back and plays a critical role in control, but the wings (the most important part of an airplane?) are ideally in the front half of the center of gravity. Imagine how an airplane would become more instable, imbalanced, and hard to control as the wings were moved back on the fuselage. That's how I see your ski...like an airplane with the wings too far back of the CoG.

I challenge you to ride a ski with one leg and try crossing the wakes...basically ski around for a while. That will at least illustrate the point I'm making about the front leg should be the focal point/foundation of slalom. Imagine trying to ski with one leg in your back boot. I know I couldn't.

You are 'left footed' aren't you? Which foot do you kick a ball with?

Notice how your 135 (heelside, yes, @OB1...HEELSIDE) side of the course is more managable and better than the other? That's because it's easier to get away with a back foot bias on that side, whereas, on toeside, or offside, or whatever, the front foot is critical. Notice how the ski bounces uncontrollably around 2/4, and is difficult to generate angle? That's because youre pushing on your back foot.

Keep trying and let us know.

 

ps: look at your glide. see how the ski is plowing? I challenge you to practice the pullout and adjust util you get minimum spray out the front and and the water is breaking at your front toe. And remember, the weight shift comes from the lower half, not the upper half. Stand on front foot, get hips out over the ski. Think about the opposite...stand on back foot, drop hips back...not good, right?

 

 

I'm sure some of the sharp guys on here (BruceB, etc) can explain it better, but hopefully this makes sense.