Deceleration and GUT

[andjules]

There have been some interesting GUT-related discussions of late. I'm loving how it changes some of our thinking, particularly the insight that width — at least for the handle — will always be a function of swing speed.

 

That said, I'm struggling with (at least) one element of GUT thinking, and I wonder if anyone else struggles with it. Maybe @AdamCord or @adamhcaldwell could comment, or maybe it's a GUT-10x article someday. It's about deceleration, which is mentioned in GUT-101, but otherwise isn't specifically talked about much (yet).

 

I get that when I was a kid in the 80s we talked about deceleration a lot, and I get that we've come around to thinking that maintaining speed (decelerating as little as necessary, no more) is more efficient. I've got no issues with that. But GUT posits that I want to:

“MOVE THE HANDLE AS HIGH ON THE BOAT AS POSSIBLE, AS FAST AS POSSIBLE”

and (I think) that means having as much (cross-course, efficient) speed as possible at the centreline. That makes sense in my head. But inreal life, my experience (as a -32 off skier) tells me that if I pull out as wide as theoretically possible on my gate, turn in and lean with theoretically maximum efficiency and aggressiveness for the longest 'work zone' up to the centreline, generating a theoretical maximum cross-course speed... I'm going to have loads of slack at ball 1, at least with my post-centreline skillset. At least for me, I know my best -32 passes happen when I dial back my gate intensity, turning in earlier, being light on the line/progressive and generally less aggressive than I think I want to be.

 

If slack is the outcome of turning back towards the boat from the apex (moment when we're travelling purely down course, like the boat) while you're travelling faster than the boat (is that a good definition of slack?), what does GUT have to say about pre-turn deceleration? Put another way, if GUT advocates getting "as high on the boat as possible, as fast as possible" (vs controlling - or finding a 'just right' Goldilox - speed), what do I need to focus on/learn to make sure that my cross-course velocity doesn't convert/add to my down-course velocity by the time I'd like to be turning back towards the wake en route to the next ball? Is it simply that the earlier I get high on the boat, the more time I'll have to bleed the speed (which got me early in the first place)? Is it simply staying connected/handle control (does that really control the rate of deceleration?)?

 

Gratefully seeking insights from those smarter and far more advanced than I.