How does Nate run 41 and hardly anyone else does?

[lhoover]

Watching the Italian tourney this weekend, I'm sure you noticed that a bunch of the men (and a few women!) ran 39. Some looked pretty good, but most everyone struggled to get through it. Then at 41, it was as if beginners were in the course....except for Nate. What is so different? Are you telling me he has better technique? Better turns? Better gate? What is it? Do we remember that less than 10 yrs ago this was a pass considered impossible? Whatever it is, what a sight to behold that he runs that all but impossible pass a lot more than he doesn't.

[MickeyThompson]

I was told he has run more tournament -41(by a wide margin) than all other competitors combined.

[Than_Bogan]

Here's what I think I see:

1) Subtly gifted athleticism. He makes tiny but perfect adjustments when things go awry.

2) Incredibly efficient technique, always maximizing what the ski can do for him. The more I study with the Denali Adams, the more I am able to see the myriad of tiny ways that he works with the physics, rather than against it. (But obviously, one can't do that without first having #1!)

[gregy]

Nate never got the note about 41 being impossible. Seems like to me he goes out and ski's it the same way he skis other passes and keeps with the fundamentals.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

"Do we remember that less than 10 yrs ago this was a pass considered impossible?"

Uh, jeff rodgers ran it in 1997 followed shortly by Mapple, Parish and Bouschane

 

At any rate, you can pick any sport, at any given point in time and you will have an athlete who stands above his peers from a simple combination of athletic ability, tons of practice, and "figuring it out".

 

For our small sport, there is a long list of other athletes who stood above their peers of the time the same way Nate does today. Think about Cory, BLP, Sammy Duvall, AM, Freddy, Regina, etc.

 

Personally I think what separates athletes like this is 99% between their ears.

[Ilivetoski]

There was an interview with Nate and he said at one point he had run 41 something like 8 record rounds in a row. He said 41 was just coming to him from confidence

[Wish]

What @Than_Bogan said. The differences between him and others stands out so much more for me now. Heard a story that when Nate feels he's in a slump, he watches Brook Baldwin ski. She has similar subtleties.

[lakeaustinskier]

I got some coaching from Nate several years ago and what struck me was his overall personal confidence and the simplicity of his skiing. Nothing fancy - just be in the right place at the right time with the right body position. Very casual confidence.

 

Right after I skied the organizer of the clinic told him the next participant was running late. Did he want to ski? He was ready and in the water about 2 minutes later. No long prep time etc. just ready to go. Ran right up the line to mid 41 (didn't run it that time). His 39 looked like most people's 28.

[MrJones]

1. As Bruce said, he figured out how to run it.

2. He has done it enough that he is confident in his ability to do so.

3. He doesn't have that panic moment most of us have on our hardest pass to screw himself up.

 

Not a technical view. Just the mental side IMHO.

[UWSkier]

He's made of rubber and magic

[MarcusBrown]

Physics. Same principles Suyderhoud, @twhisper and I started developing over 20 years ago.

 

Nate just has it polished better than everyone else....and he's talented. And, he's fueled by pop tarts...

[gmut]

pop tarts stock just rose 4%.........ha ha!

[skidawg]

Nate does what others talk about doing or try to do. Execution, confidence, etc.

[Horton]

Nate is an alien

[LeonL]

@lakeaustinskier my impressions are that Nate just likes to ski. I know he's young, so this is a relatively stupid comment, but he's just like a kid. He has fun while still being a pro. That why he was ready to ski at the drop of a hat.

[Wish]

Seems like he works the least off the water in terms of conditioning if any. That must drive the other pros nuts.

[ToddL]

@MrJones "3. He doesn't have that panic moment most of us have on our hardest pass to screw himself up. "

 

He kind of does... It's just that 41 off isn't his hardest pass.

[Chad_Scott]

Trust me. Nate has no panic at any pass. He skis like he is in a tournament everyday. No matter who he skis with. Nate trains as hard as anyone. He just does it all on the water. No matter the temp outside. He just has it figured out. He has more confidence than anyone on the water. This weekend for example. TGas had just run 4@41. Nates reaction. "Let's give it a shot". He's demeanor did not change a bit. Confidence!!!

[ozski]

I was talking to a good friend about Nate and I think he nailed it when he said "yeah some dudes can just ski"

 

Right now the planets have lined up for him in terms of equipment, opportunity, ability, genetics and skiing genius. Why is one person smarter than the person next to them? because they just are.. His dominance my never be matched, if any of the current crop of skiers could reverse engineer him then it would have happened by now. In skiing terms he's still a kid so unless he breaks in half pretty much every event is his to lose for a long time to come. Right now he's the second most dominant water skier going around behind Jacinta Carrol with 32 pro event wins in a row... :)

[sunvalleylaw]

I just want to watch him ski in person some time.

[6balls]

He's got mad skills remember that video of him farting around on a barefoot boom from a few years back? My guess is if he wanted to and dedicated some time he could probably trick really well, too.

[dbski]

Everyone needs to see Nate ski in person. As easy as his passes look on a screen it's even more impressive live! Get to the Malibu Open this year! You can not only marvel over Nate and all the other incredible pros but stroll over to my booth and check out DBski.

[Dacon62]

1) Talent

2) Light weight = faster acceleration and deceleration?

[Deanoski]

For sure talent. Light weight.

 

And maybe a round tail ski with soft bevels is another part of it

[Gloersen]

[Wish]

Freeze frame any point where he is loading the line. You will see how far his COM is forward and how flat and efficient the ski is. You will find few if any that can bring it that far forward moving into the wakes. Us mortals we all feel that OTF feeling if we try. The other thing to look for is how he starts his out move and his inward move to the gates. Look for what moves first. Think of an Olympic sprinter set up in the blocks. Why do they use blocks in the first place? I could (not really) beat Husain Bolt off the line and for about 5 strides if he was forced to stand tall and not lean into his start. Nate uses so many of the physics of skiing to his advantage. As said, they are subtle but put them all together and he needs less personal physical energy to make the same thing happen that others strugle with .

[ozski]

@Wish his setup and particularly his boot makes the job of getting into that position that much easier. Just riding around on a T-factor boot I've noticed the water is breaking much further forward than my previous setup which tells me a lot. Unless something has changed Nate also runs a pretty shallow long fin setup which helps the ski to run free and flatter.... @skijay may have some more insight on the subject.

[Wish]

@ozski thanks to a great friend I just aquired a Reflex R style for that very reason. Crossing fingers that it works better then moving to a toe kick...that did not go well from being a double booter.

[SkiJay]

Though they're all very good, I don't think there's anything special about Nate's bindings, ski or setup. How he moves inbound, on the other hand, is brilliant!

[Razorskier1]

um, he's just better than us! Seriously, he is. For example, for the last few seasons I've been about 50% at 38 off, but close to 100% at 35 off. Why? Because even when I screw up at 35, I feel confident that I know what I need to do to get where I need to be to turn the next ball. At 38, I can get away with some mistakes too, but they are more difficult for me to recover from (mostly because I don't believe it!). Anyway, point is for Nate that confident line length is 41 off. All of us have a line where we are confident, and the next one not so much. Nate is just way better than me, so his confident line is 41, not 35.

[lhoover]

Better hair!

[Gar]

Agree with Horton he's alien. He's early and looks wide as well on the 1/4 speed video wish I could be that way at 35 off!

[6balls]

Who here has been late out of 5...pulls like hell long to 6...gets around it but the rope is laying on the water now and you are having coffee with the boat judge approaching the end gates? I've held onto some of those but yikes.

 

I've seen Nate late out of 5 (far shorter and faster than me), and he still changes edges earlier into 6, flicks his ski out and around the ball, not much slack and out the end gates.

 

He's SO good both out of the ball to the wakes and SO good after the wash to the ball...remarkable...historical.

[The_MS]

Vision. What he sees out in front of him and how/when he reacts. All of the top skiers can ski, its just how they react to what they see is what separates them.

[Jordan]

To me, what Nate does differently is that he bends sideways at the waist in a way that allows the ski to be tipped on a steeper angle while keeping his upper body free of the spray. This allows him to complete his turn and hook up exceptionally early after the ball. He gets from the ball to the wakes faster than anybody else.

 

Warning, this technique only works if you are made of rubber and happen to be the best skier in the world!

[ToddL]

Also, he is comfortable and handles higher speed coming into the buoy better than anyone else. Mere mortals freak if taking that much speed into the turn. Nate seems to crave and exploits it to make a better turn with earlier, smoother hookup to the next wake crossing. Speed is his friend.

[matthewbrown]

@wish your comments should of ended with a mic drop, and a close out of this thread, spot on.

[6balls]

@jordan agree and as a result of putting a lot of edge in the water without his shoulders way down is that he remains more upright, picks up the load NOT having dug himself a hole so he goes from fast to faster rather than slow to fast...the boat can just accelerate him. So crazy efficient....

[ColeGiacopuzzi]

@MS you're spot on with vision, if you watch Nates eyes, he's looking across to the next buoy earlier than most guys. That is huge!

[swc5150]

Going slightly further, but related to vision, is perception. Human reaction time is more or less fixed (somewhere around 250 milliseconds if I recall from college), so Nate, like other pro athletes, must perceive a pass differently than us mortals. I'd bet he perceives a -39 pass at the same speed I'd perceive -22. It's like how Aaron Rodgers can read a defense, go through all the progressions and find the open receiver in under 3 seconds. A normal guy could barely handle the snap. Again, it's not the reaction time, it's the sport being perceived as very slow.

[ski6jones]

He's Neo on a ski.

[lhoover]

Bruce B made an excellent point that 41 was run 20 yrs ago by a few guys. Actually, that makes it even more amazing that for 20 yrs NO ONE has owned that pass as Nate does the last few years. Not Big Dawgs. Not professionals. NO ONE but Nate. Quite a remarkable feat that he has run it more times than all others have combined. What can you say except enjoy the greatness among us.