4 Keys to an Awesome Offside Turn by By Chris Parrish

[Horton]

http://i1.wp.com/www.waterskimag.com/files/2015/07/WSK0615P_056-1-600x376.gif?resize=600%2C376

The offside turn is the bane of many skiers’ slalom existence, but it doesn’t need to be. Keeping body position in mind as you enter the turn is far more important than the actual turn itself. Follow Nautique and Goode Skis sponsored athlete Chris Parrish’s four keys for a more dependable offside turn.

1. The most common problem skiers have with their offside turns is having their hips behind their feet as they begin their reach. This will reduce tip pressure and elongate the turn radius. A stacked position is key!

2. As you approach the turn, keep your chest up and your inside hip and inside arm close to one another. Maintaining this arm and hip connection will keep your weight from falling toward your tail.

http://i2.wp.com/www.waterskimag.com/files/2015/07/WSK0615P_056-2-600x387.gif?resize=600%2C387

3. As your free hand comes off the handle, think about your reach and inside hip moving forward toward your direction of travel together. Do not let your hip and handle move in opposing directions.

4. To finish the turn strong, keep your inside hip moving forward until your lower body returns to the handle.

 

 

Read more at http://www.cp3ski.com/

 

[ALPJr]

Well written and I think the ideas will be easy to translate into practice. Thank you

[TEL]

It sounds so simple, then my brain scrambles it all up when I am on the water.

[scuppers]

Thanks Chris and BOS!

[ozski]

Probably get howled down for saying this but if you counter slightly with your upper body it pushes the inside hip forward. I did say slightly.

[ALPJr]

@ozski no howling... Just a different way of explaining the movement/position. I often get to much weight on the back foot when I initiate the counter move with my outside hip. Thinking about moving the inside hip forward seems like it will help me.

[kingshredd]

I need all this I can get, now if I can translate it to my off side it would be great. Nicley put together.

[ToddL]

So simple to say, but so hard to do.

[CParrish43]

@toddl @kingshred @ALPJr @ozski @scuppers @TEL you guys are on the right track on keep working on the timing of those movements , we want to be efficient and create space and stay early without loading early and spiking the Z/O at the wrong time. That's where I can help you with the timing with some of those things and keeping it simple. It should feel easy , and it will when you do it right. Timing is everything. Work hard , build a foundation, put the time in and it will show up I promise you. @Horton thanks again for the love , see you in California or this weekend ?

[AdamCord]

@ozski you're absolutely right, it's just that whenever I have tried to coach that people tend to start leaning back. @CParrish43 's approach keeps everything moving forward, which is exactly what you want.

[wilecoyote]

Every time I try to counter or keep my chest up through the turn I'm pretty sure I lean back, because the turn usually goes south. When I manage to think about staying over the front of my ski, things go much better, but as CP says I'm sure my hips are behind my feet, so maybe this will help if I can get it in my head. I'm currently having a hell of a time getting angle on my off side, and I think when I slay that dragon it'll be a breakthrough. ( PB 15off/ 3@52KPH,for context)

[Horton]

@CParrish43 I will see you in Sacramento. Will you come help me announce the webcast? Share some Tower wisdom?

[CParrish43]

@Horton yes would love too !!

[Chef23]

I really like point 4 keep that inside hip moving forward until your lower body comes to the handle. I see some people we ski with struggle because they reach for the handle too early and they wind up with their hips back and their hands away from their body.

[DefectiveDave]

This was a great reminder to have going out today, ran my first 28off. Thanks @CParrish43!

[crashman]

@Chef23 just described the way I ski. For me trying to think about moving the inside hip is a difficult concept to actually implement. I've found that at 15 off if I come off the handle too early (which I almost always do) then badness happens. Point #2 above seems to have a lot of promise for me.

[Wish]

So, I tried number 4 this morning. In my head this did not make sense. However, being aware of the inside hip while skiing was a different story. Normally I wait for the outside hip to rotate back to that handle. Ya know.. cause that's what everyone says to do. I think more often then not it rotates my upper body to far especially the off side. Considering the inside hip, ski and me still rotating, kept me from closing off and BAM off to the races with a whole lot more stack and added stability. At first I thought it was delaying the load almost to the white water. Then I realized it was not delaying it, it was coming on in a more gradual fashion vs instant load and try and hold it. As said above, hard to think about "doing" it.. as in a physical motion. But I think just being aware of the inside hip might be an easy first step to take. I will be bringing this to shorter lines. On a side note, all the 32s were at 35mph and it seemed to slow things down...a very nice side affect.

[ToddL]

@CParrish43 - I have to admit, the past 2 days (I haven't gotten out to the lake yet), I have mimicked this move and position (inside hip forward, leading) while standing in the room good number of times. There is something solid and commanding feeling about standing in this posture. I can see why it is key to a solid offside.

 

One thing that I noticed is that to achieve it, there is some flexibility required. With any shortcomings in flexibility, the shoulders have to rotate a little more than the hips to get close to this posture.

 

Another thing that I noticed is that in order to move the inside hip forward during an offside turn stance, the back leg knee has to move forward somewhat along side the front leg. Unless you have significant flexibility in your rear ankle, this means that the heal of the rear foot rises. I know I'm treading into @Horton's advanced techniques that mere mortals should not attempt. I think this is OK, because this possible heal lift is a result/outcome vs. an action/initiator. However, I am curious... @CParrish43 - does your rear heal have to rise to obtain the posture in the picture above?

[Ed_Johnson]

@ToddL ... You are exactly correct about flex in the rear leg..I am on Powershells, and Andy M. told me a while a go I should switch to his Reflex with R Style Rear to get more ankle flexibility, thus being able to bring the hip farther forward..Last week to simulate this, I removed the upper cuff from the rear boot and skied it..WOW, what a difference..Much more ankle flex and yes, the hip came forward..I am now switching to the Relex with R Style Rear and posted my Powershells on Ski-it-Again.

 

http://www.ski-it-again.com/php/skiitagain.php?endless=summer&topic=Search&category=Bindings&postid=34206

[BlueSki]

@CParrish43, given the title of this post, is there anything that you do differently for your onside turn? I understand that the concepts apply to an onside turn, but I am curious about any differences.

[Razorskier1]

@CParrish43 - step 3 to me is the one that I personally needed to thing about, but not on the offside -- on the onside! My offside turns feel automatic. Onside I have tended to give up the handle, let it fall back, let my weight fall back, and then end up falling into the turn with my shoulders. Keeping the handle moving forward helps to eliminate that problem on either side of the wakes.

[Skid]

I know the article had some photos from the back, but I think this shot might help show a little bit different perspective

 

 

[Ed_Johnson]

Talk about free of the boat coming into the Apex...Notice just his Fingertips barely holding the handle !!!

[Chef23]

I also love the way he is tall on the ski and the ski is right under neath him instead of ahead or behind his shoulders. I know Parrish is huge but I think he is one of the most technically simple skiers if that makes sense. No extra motion.

[CParrish43]

Wow you guys have made my evening after a tearful day today at Andy's memorial service. Hearing all the positive feedback about the article and then going out and trying it and titally feeling the difference. That's what's so exciting about slalom skiing , it's that buzz you get from satisfaction from learning something new and makes it exciting to go out and try it again and work on it some more your next set. @Razorskier1 I was working with my father this morning and we was pulling up his inside arm into his onside turn. What was interesting he was doing that more than into his offside. I'm the opposite , I struggle with that and really have to think about it into my 2,4 !! My point is that it was crazy seeing the difference and stating over the ski and going out to apex better and over his ski through the turn and not inside shoulder heavy. I wonder if you're doing the same ? Something to think about. @BlueSki I can move my eyes through sooner and not be punished like I would If I did that out of my offside, hope that helps. @ToddL yes I think It def does. Glad you liked it keep ripping @Wish , that feeling that you're feeling is spot on and lets letting you know that you're doing it more efficiently. Congrats on your first 28 off @DefectiveDave stoked for you !!

[bogboy]

@CParrish43, I am comming off of a 7 week ligament tear rehab, and I have been skiing at 30 mph, trying to keep my hips forward, and chest up, to not reinjure, and gain confidence. I remember, and appreciate your past lessons. Best of luck to you.

[CParrish43]

Likewise @bogboy have a great rest of the season.

[TEL]

Worked on #3 this morning there was a light rain and my driver could not see the boat buoys. So I worked on out of the course felt good can't wait to try in the course Tuesday evening.

[mwetskier]

not sure why no one has mentioned this -the numbered list is sequential and none of the ' keys ' are very effective on a stand alone basis. if you fail to execute #2 correctly you won't be able to do #3 and if you don't get #3 right you can forget about #4. Pretty simple concept but it needed to said -imo.

[Wish]

I did 4 by itself. Worked well.

[BlueSki]

@CParrish43 thanks for answering the follow-up questions! Your response definitely helps.

[mwetskier]

@Wish -some skiers are extraordinary athletes who can get away with anything and sometimes the rules don't apply to them. however most mere mortals would have a very hard time keeping their inside hip moving forward thru the finish of the turn -#4- if they had already allowed the inside hip and the handle to move in opposite directions *during* the turn -#3. for example.

[Chef23]

I believe @Wish is capable of running 38 so his fundamentals for 1, 2 and 3 are already probably pretty good. I can't believe his hips are trailing too far behind the handle anywhere and still be able to get through 35 never mind 38.

 

I do agree that it is pretty hard to do 4 without 1-3 but thinking about 4 if your hips are behind might help even if your stack isn't where it needs to be.

[Roger]

I shot some photos at the Challenge the Pros event we had in March of 06 in which I catch Chris coming into his offside turn pretty well. There is sequence of his onside as well.

https://flickr.com/photos/16626901@N00/albums/72157594154048508/page2

[Wish]

As for "in order", I don't think #1 is actually a direction but rather an observation. #2 is one that I could probably work on. But #3 came into play while working on #4. If I'm aware of my hip moving forward around the ball, it had to be initiated before the turn. What I'm trying to say I guess is that I broke it down to one thing to work on. Very hard to think 2-4 through as the buoys sneak up on you so quickly. I think 2 and 4 could be worked on independently and 3 might just fall into place. KISS. But we all learn differently and some are capable of multiple thoughts within a short second or two. 4 and a little of 3 was one I wanted to key in on as it is a different way of thinking about movement and awarness through the turn (dare I say a different way to think of counter rotation...hmmm...certainly a better way IMHO). All I know is ... It worked.

[ForrestGump]

hahaha. On the first page of pics, that one picture of Risto is hysterical. It looks like he just saw the Loc Ness Monster as he's reaching.

[mwetskier]

@Wish -so is it fair to say that you didn't *really* do 4 ' all by itself '? actually i think 2 through 4 can be thought of as one continuous action if you consider that the inside hip only becomes ' the inside hip' after the edge change. at that point every thing parrish says about the inside hip amounts to pretty much the same action spread out over the last 3 steps.

 

i don't remember who said it but i recall some one giving the advice of imagining your inside hip and your reaching hand being connected by a strong bungee so that your hip is always trying to stay closely ' connected ' to that hand.

[TallSkinnyGuy]

I was trying to move my inside hip forward this morning and it just wasn't working for me (I couldn't execute properly). Then I thought about what that is actually accomplishing and I thought CP is basically providing instruction to keep your upper body (starting with the hips) more "open" to the boat, i.e. hips facing the boat. As Wish mentioned above, this seems like a different way of thinking about it to get the "counter rotation" I've read about before. Terry Winter has an instructional video on YouTube that focuses on what he calls counter rotation and it seems like it is essentially trying to produce the same body position as what CP described above. If that is true, I suppose it is good to have a few ways of thinking about it so one can try concentrating on different things to find what works for them.

[mbabiash]

Counter rotation is an extra movement that's only needed if you've let your hands get away from you off of the second wake.

You should already be countered if you keep your inside hand and inside hip connected.

I can't seem to get this through my head when I'm skiing but it's perfect in theory.

 

[Wish]

@mwetskier ... yes... for the most part. Keeping it simple in my head.

 

@mbabiash ... no... for the most part IMHO. Keeping the inside hip and inside reach arm "moving forward toward your direction of travel together" is a move. And an extra one if you're not already doing it. But I think more subtle then "counter rotations" which is misunderstood or just a poor way to say it. Where I think counter and hip/arm moving forward separates is that thinking of countering moves things on the outside in a back direction away from travel direction and the inside hip/arm forward moves the inside in a forward direction. Forward is always better. Look back at @AdamCord post.

 

@TallSkinnyGuy to me CPs technique descriptions is a better way to think about getting into that positions but try not to over think it and over move things. Try to just be aware of your inside hip and reaching arm. I think you'd be surprised how much just that can help. I think sometimes we make to much of a move and it screws things up. To me it is less of a move and more of a hold if you've come off the second wake correctly. But I'm still playing with it so.....

[mylemsky]

If done properly, you guys find more of your rear leg/upper thigh in the water as you travel through the second half of the turn?

thank you.

[colo_skier]

@mylemsky Is you statement a comment, observation or a question? I don't quite understand, Sorry for being so dense.