Eyes & hips

[Rich]

As a long time slalom skier, I have a habit of rotating my Head across course on the off side. I have used this technique unknowingly to initiate the turn. Thru 35 it rarely causes a problem. At 38 my shoulder drops, my inside hip trails outer hip, I get a hard turn. I can run the pass when I hang on to that hard turn. I believe this is the key to my lack of consistency at 38. It is very difficult to look down course for me on the off side. What are the better skiers focusing on to look at as they

 

1 Approach offside buoy

 

2 Reach Appex

 

3 Complete turn

 

4 from completion of turn to first wake

 

Where are you looking?

 

Do most of you know exactly where you look through out the slalom course???

[BRY]

I posed the "where to look" question to Chris Rossi at Nat's and he said he looks at each buoy till he is sure he has made it then he spots the next one. I usually am not that aware of where I look. When I think about what happened in a pass or set I can say a lot about what I felt with hands, hips, feet/ski but not much visual, almost no memory of what some sections looked like. Not sure if good or bad, just is. I recently skied a tournament with so much wind I couldn't see anything off the ball 2-4-6 from my own spray and felt a little lost going to 4 and 5, didn't see them till after wake. So I do spot the ball and ski to it more than I think.

To your point, if you really focus on leading with your inside hip early, say as you extend your reach into the ball, that it would take care of the issue? That if your inside hip is leading that would keep your inside shoulder up/forward as well? Keep you up, square over the front foot so you can drive the turn? Think from feet up rather than head down to fix it.

[Lovell]

I just got back into skiing this year after an almost 20 year hiatus and am not near as good of a skier as you are, but have made some great strides this year getting back into the mid 32 off range on average In practice, so there are a ton of people on here who are better qualified than me to comment on this , but I'll chime in any way.

 

Twenty years ago, I always tended to get my eyes cross course, but my hips would fall back. What I was taught this year was to try to look across or pick up the bow of the boat as you exit the turn which gets you outside shoulder back and pushes your inside hip up.

 

When I do it right I tend to finish my turn (which feels slow)and achieve good body position cross course.

 

 

 

 

[Orlando76]

the guys I ski with always say look at the back of the boat. They agree when they do, 38 and 39.5 go smoother. I'm just barely a long liner cheating the gates but I can see an improvement when looking at the transom.

[DUSkier]

@Rich I would say figure it out, it is a very individual thing but learn to spot the same thing every time. If that happens to be the back of the boat and you find you over turn change it to the front of the boat. I too have the exact same issue and find looking for the next ball works for me in keeping inside shoulder up and helps with my hips as well,,,, although as i get older and my eyes deteriorate its getting harder to do =)

[GOODESkier]

Sometimes it is more what you do pre-ball than what you do out of it. I would examine how you are coming into your off-side and see how you can set yourself up better to spot the next ball.

[Rich]

Interesting I think I have an answer to my question. I believe that its important to be aware of each moment in the slalom course. I was speaking with a friend and he said " 4 years ago you told me to spot the ball infront of the boat, at 1 look at 2 in front of the boat, great tip... I forgot, or tried to change, I was struggling with looking at 3-5 at 1 and 4-6 at 2. That just felt off to me. I can slightly rotate my head if as a reach the buoy, spot the buoy in front of the boat as I reach 1 spot 2 in front of the boat. This results in very slight head rotation, keeps inside shoulder high as I approach wakes, which keeps inside hip rotated forward. Problem solved.

[londonskier]

What Lovell said. Or, just look at the boat lane bouys ahead of the nose of the boat as you exit the turn. When I do it, its magic!

[ForrestGump]

I was boat judge for the BOS head to head yesterday. Asher was looking downcourse when he got to the buoy line and once he cleared the buoy his vision stayed looking down the buoy line until his free hand came back to the handle. At that point he switched his vision across course. Stephen Neveu was a bit different. He got to the apex, switched his vision to the boat as the ski started to come back inbound, then as he came back to the handle he switched his vision back downcourse until he came out from behind the boat.