No skills driver training

[rodltg2]

it's only mid March and have lost many days do to lack of ski partners avaliable. i have someone in mind that could possibly learn to drive. he is on payroll so could potentially work out well. how does one begin to teach someone to drive? now if this was someone that had time on on a boat I wouldnt be too concerned. but this individual has never been on a boat. much less know anything about slalom skiing. maybe this could be good thing ? I think I would have been a better skier by now if I had learned the right way from the start. I'm thinking if I can simultaneously teach to ski , an addiction could form , therefore creating a bigger interest ? should I start on a ski lake or start on open water with some room to goof around and learn basic operation. I can see both situations have benefits.

[skibug]

Open water. Driving in the course is not necessarily the issue; it is control of the boat in tight quarters that can present more of a problem. Knowing what to do and how the boat is going to react based on your input is very important when dropping at each end, especially if you have islands. You don't want to experiment and wind up putting the boat up on shore. I have had a handful of self proclaimed "experienced drivers" come very close to that on our lake.

[Texas6]

i think driving through the course pseudo straight is probably easier for the new driver than slow speed driving, picking up a skier, or maneuvering around them at the end of the lake. One thing I do with my 11 year old son who I'm slowly teaching to drive, is throw a life jacket into the lake and have him maneuver the boat so that I can pick it up out of the water. As soon as I pick it up, I fling it again. This has helped a lot.

[PatM]

I taught my wife to drive and she had barely ever been in a boat before I met her. Patience and practice is all I can say. She does not like to drive unless she is driving in the course. She is most comfortable doing the same repetitive thing - almost like a controlled environment. There were a few bumps in the road, but she is now a very good driver, no Chad Scott, but a good driver.

[TEL]

rodltg2 - I feel your pain I am in same situation. By ski partner has heath issues and has not been able to ski. I have a driver for the weekend, I have a potential driver but a non skier I have given an open water lesson to them. Did okay but has a long way to go before driving through a course and change rope lengths.

[LeonL]

Unfortunately, the prime requirement of learning to drive is a desire to learn and be good at it. I don't know what your prospective driver's motivation is.

[lakeaustinskier]

I understand your pain. We've all been in your situation - but - for me if your guy isn't a skier himself I've found that it takes a long time to truly understand what it takes to become a good driver. Even @Texas6 son at 11 might have more insight since he skis (or so I assume).

[keithh2oskier]

Rod, aren't you in Sacramento area? You have to be able to find some consistent drivers.

 

So I sorta went through this with my wife last summer. She had never driven through a slalom course but had operated I/O boats pulling tubes and stuff. So she knew basic operation and some general safety. Thankfully where she learned to drive me was on a lake without islands as that just complicates the learning experience. I felt once she was in the course she did a pretty good job and didn't notice her swerving around at -22/28. She does have a STRONG desire to be a good & reliable driver for me which has helped a lot. The biggest thing for us has been to find the RIGHT way to communicate. Same thing with teaching her to back the trailer. What seems to work well is for me to explain what she needs to do, and coach her through it once or twice, then let her practice on her own while I keep my mouth shut.

[ral]

We have a professional driver. He is now by far the best driver in Chile. He knew zero about boats or ski when he started in 2008. He was an agricultural worker.

 

All professional drivers in Chile have started like that, but few become good. In our case, I believe the fact of him being a good horse rider was key, instead of clinching tight to the steering wheel, he has a light hand and feels the boat.

 

It took him 2 weeks in the boat to start driving and he was good after only 2 months.

[Chef23]

I taught a friend to drive the course. He had a little experience driving an I/O before we started. I had him do passes without a skier first then I ran a lot of passes at my opening speeds where having the boat move around wouldn't hurt me too much. Having a passenger who knows how to drive helps a lot also as they can provide coaching.

 

My son who is 16 now has started driving in the course the last couple of years also. For him we spent time working on slow speed maneuvering then he probably took 100 plus passes driving through the course where we worked on getting him centered and maintaining a straight path without a skier. Finally we worked to adding a skier back there with me and one of my partners mostly working at opening passes then one or two shortenings. He is getting better but didn't ski a ton last summer so he didn't drive a ton.

 

The key is seat time and some decent coaching. Someone needs to be willing to be the guinea pig and get in the water with a new driver and be patient as they learn. You will replace some boat guides early on.

[lpskier]

CoryVaughn's regular driver is his girl friend Amelia. Amelia is not a skier, but in a short amount of time, she was driving him through 39.

[BlueSki]

Sounds like he should be proposing.