Moving Forward ?

[mwetskier]

found it:

[A_B]

This is the best explaination of this I have ever seen or heard. Thank you for posting @mwetskier.

[Ed_Johnson]

Seth has been teaching this for at least 10 years now and it really works. Not as easy to do on the water under load as it is on the back of the boat, but if you work on it, it will be very rewarding.

The gate is the best place to see it for the first time since the right hand gate ball is a good reference point. Offside pull is the hardest for me.

 

 

[Horton]

Interesting.

 

I had dinner with @Dirt tonight. He said Mapple told him to do something like like push his feet forward at edge change but he never got his head around it and it did not make sense to him.

 

I talk to @ColeGiacopuzzi about it and he is mostly with me that it does not make sense.

 

Both @dirt and @ColeGiacopuzzi have legit scores into 41 off so they know what they are talking about. One the other hand @twhisper, @Sethski and Mapple are 180 degrees in the other direction on this.

 

This technical disagreement is perplexing.

[mwetskier]

@dirt and @ColeGiacopuzzi aren't offering me any guidance that i'm aware of but @twhisper, @Sethski, and @Mapple *are* offering me lots of guidance. So i gotta go with the ones who share the goods and just let the naysayers say nay. imo of course.

 

[Sethski]

Quick notes:

1-I don’t pretend to have it all figured out and my thoughts on what I said in the video definitely aren’t shared with everyone and I respect that.

2-The importance of being stacked up and building pressure coming into the wakes is key.

3-In what I am describing, the movement with the lower body or feet must be SUBTLE. If you make too big of a move you will come up from your lean abruptly and that will carry you more directly into the next buoy.

4-You are merely acting as the catalyst in this movement. You don’t shove the Ski way out in front of you. You simply “upset the stack” or alter the alignment slightly so that the pressure slightly advances the ski such that the ski path crosses to the outside of the handle path as you travel out to the ultimate apex of the turn.

**my two cents...

[A_B]

@Horton do you have video of the “naysayers” at 39/41? I would bet that bottle that they do it and don’t even know it. Unless they are a freak of nature, the ski can’t get on the outside path if it is centered under you.

 

I think it depends a lot on how someone was coached or learned to ski. If I had grown up skiing with some good coaching or watching guys like Mapple from the boat, I wouldn’t have engrained the wrong way into my muscle memory. It was a big change for me and obviously some others.

 

[AdamCord]

@A_B Look at Andy's wake crossing from 2:10-2:16 in the video below. Do you see him shoving the ski out in front of him as he comes off the 2nd wake? I sure don't.

 

 

We have to be careful about perspective. From the boat, Andy rolling through his edge change is going to look like the ski going out in front of him, but the ski was already somewhat in front of him before the wakes. It's just that from the view of the passenger seat in the boat it's hard to see

 

I think @Sethski is right to point out that how you come into the wakes is key. If your body position and speed is poor coming into the wakes, nothing you do coming off the 2nd wake is going to get you a new PB. Focus on what's happening before the wakes, and a lot of what should happen coming off the 2nd wake will happen on it's own.

 

Obviously there are different ways to ski. Some people shoot the ski out in front of them off the 2nd wake more than others. We can argue about which is better, but I'd say that this is pretty low on the priority list of things to worry about. Get your position and timing right before the wakes before you spend much time focused on this.

 

The image below is from the article by Nate posted above. If you want to talk about moving forward, this shot is pretty incredible. Most people will notice that his hips are up and his body is in line, but what's really telling is how much his back ankle is bent. All the pressure is on the ball of his front foot, and he's leading the ski with a stacked position. THAT's moving forward. He mentions in the article that he really focuses on what he's doing coming off the 2nd wake. He's able to do that because this is what he looks like coming into the wakes.

 

 

[Sethski]

@AdamCord great points. And for the record I don’t condone “shoving the Ski out in front” rather I think you have to do something to get the Ski out of that “trapped” position when you are stacked and building pressure. For my own skiing, I personally think a little

More of “unweighting” or absorbing while

Maintaining my lean so the Ski will travel through and out onto a wider path...of course my skiing didn’t win me any World Championships so take that with a grain of salt...

 

Great discussion regardless and great point!

[Ed_Johnson]

@A_B ... Brings up a good point. Some years a go, I volunteered as a dock starter on Practice Day at a Pro-Event and I asked basically the same question Horton did above. I tried to ask, when given the chance. "Is the edge change a positive move that you make happen?"

The common answer I got was "I don't really think about it, it just happens." One skier said "If I set it up right, I can't stop it."

The best answer came from Will Asher. I said to him that I noticed that on his offside pull, his lean was REALLY forward. I told him every time I tried this I feel like I'm going to OTF big time, and it scares the crap out of me. His answer was, "I just do it and know the ski will catch me."

Point being that if you get a great COM forward lean, ahead of the ski, it will accelerate forward and ahead of you. The Pro's do this consistently, some may note even think about it. Explains the two different answers. For us mere mortals, this may be out of our comfort zone, and the move that Seth described will greatly help to improve our chances of a better edge change and carry out.

 

 

 

 

 

[AdamCord]

@Sethski NOW we're talking about something that's really interesting and worthwhile. How do we manage load, speed, and direction when coming through center and off the 2nd wake, assuming we are in an efficient position coming into the wakes.

 

I've spent far too many nights staring at the ceiling pondering that question. Clearly Nate is optimizing these three variables better than anyone else. I think I understand it, but I'm not going to pretend I know everything (unless I run 41, then I will definitely make that claim!).

[Sethski]

Same @AdamCord ...same!

[A_B]

@AdamCord after watching tons of video, it really starts to show up at shorter line. I think based on all the discussion here, I like the concept of the ski squirting out from under the load the best. Below is a link to Andy running 39 at 34, so not the pressure applied at 36 mph, but if you stop the video after the wakes on either side, you can see the ski go from under the rope to out in front of the rope, and I would guess on a path behind the handle instead of in front of it, but only an aerial video would show that transition, and it is probably the result of squirting out under the load as Seth mentioned. I just think it happens later at 34 mph than at 36 mph.

 

 

 

[Wish]

or is it the ski accelerating faster then the skiers COM at that point.

[A_B]

I had to consciously think about moving the ski from an accelerating edge inline with the rope and between the handle and the boat to being in front of me and behind the handle path. The kicking or squirting helped cement that in my simple mind when stuff was coming at me in a blur.

 

I can tell you that I developed a lot of angle and speed right behind the boat but was not taking advantage of it on the other side of the wakes. So for me, it didn’t happen automatically. Maybe it was the lack of grasping back arm pressure and both hands were getting loose or whatever, but it was a long time ago and just don’t recall.

 

 

[AdamCord]

@A_B I think a lot of people do the same thing. The move you are talking about is a way to get off the pulling edge and to force the edge change to happen earlier. I would also agree that releasing the ski outbound like this might help some people at longer line lengths who tend to pull all the way to the buoy line. Where the problems with this method start to come in are when the rope gets shorter, somewhere around 32-35off.

 

We know the handle is on a fixed path around the pylon. No matter what line length you're at, the handle WILL start to swing "up" on the boat after crossing the centerline of the wakes. The shorter the rope is, the more drastic that direction change happens. What this means is that no matter what you do, at shortline the ski will change edges on it's own at some point. It's just a matter of geometry. The faster you're going, the earlier the ski will change edges, and the less angle you have, the earlier it will edge change. If you somehow manage to keep the ski on edge past when it should roll over, you'll high side and have a nasty crash.

 

With that being said, if you're having to force the ski over onto the new edge, then it is clear that you haven't created enough speed, and you're trying to take too much angle, creating unnecessary load. By relying on the "squirt" to get the ski out from under you, you're ignoring the real problem. What you need is to find a way to get more speed into the wakes, and take less angle through center.

 

Using Nate as an example, notice how the ski is basically flat, it's right under him, and he doesn't have excessive ski angle. This is because he was efficient coming into the wakes, and he isn't trying to shoot the ski to the shoreline. The ski naturally wants to roll to the new edge, so he lets it happen.

 

 

I realize we can't all accelerate and be super efficient like Nate, but small steps toward skiing this way can make a huge difference. Just ask @ozski

[A_B]

I really think it’s a function of the back arm pressure and getting into the Reverse C position. It’s much easier to move the ski on to a wider arc if less of it is in the water. The pic above is Nate’s offside lean, and I think 10’ later we would see his hips and ski forward more. Much easier to do with inside lean and hip flexibility it affords.

 

I am not saying everyone needs to do this. By all means if you aren’t doing it and are happy where you are at, do nothing. I am done.

[ozski]

An established shortline skier knows the sensation of the ski moving underneath them and casting out, its second nature. I think sometimes a skier working through the loops can tense up and push too hard which then has a flow on effect through the point where the edge change should happen, pushing hard results in a loss of efficiency so it may take a conscious effort / action to keep the ski moving until it becomes second nature. I'm sure we have all seen skiers trying to run the next loop and they are still locked on the pulling edge out into the white water because they think they need to do that to get around the buoy. The reverse is true but it can take a while to learn how to use the shorter line efficiently because in many respects its counter intuitive.

[ski6jones]

This concept, proper edge change, is and has been one of the hardest things to implement in my skiing.

[AdamCord]

Watch this for a while, read the text below, then go back and watch again and see if you can see what the hell I'm talking about

 

 

It can often help to change our perspective. If we try to ignore the course and picture Wade swinging around the pylon, it helps simplify some things. From that perspective, there are two accelerations we can think of.

 

One is the tangential acceleration that happens as he comes out of apex and into the bottom of the swing (center of the wakes). This is the rotational acceleration around the pylon.

 

The other is the centripetal acceleration that happens as a result of his circular motion around a fixed point. The faster he's swinging around the pylon, the higher that acceleration will be. This acceleration is always toward the pylon.

 

With each of these two accelerations, there is a Force (F=MA). The only other force out there comes from the water interacting with the ski.

 

Simplifying it this way you can start to rethink how you want to move into the bottom of the swing, and how you want to move through the swing up into the next turn. The tangential acceleration is positive from the turn apex down into the bottom of the swing, at which point it starts to become negative (your swing speed around the pylon starts to slow down). The centripetal acceleration is always positive, and it peaks at the bottom of the swing, but it also stays very high up into the preturn (if you stay connected).

 

Ok so what do we do with this information:

 

-Coming out of the turn you want to be in the best position possible to maximize acceleration on the tangential arc around the pylon, just like a sprinter coming out of the blocks. Putting the ski in an efficient position by being in a stacked position and leading the ski into center with the body helps to increase tangential acceleration with minimal added load.

 

-Coming through center you have reached your peak tangential speed, trying to add more speed by pulling longer is pointless. Also the path you are on is not up to you anymore at this point. Your path is purely a function of the handle path and rotational speed around the pylon. Trying to ski wider than the handle path will only ski you away from the handle, separating you from the handle (arms come up, butt goes back).

 

-Coming off the 2nd wake you are no longer accelerating tangentially, but the centripetal force (rope tension) is very high. You need to be in position to stay connected. This means transferring most of the load through the outside arm.

 

-"Staying connected" keeps the pendulum short, and keeps your swing speed up. This is key to running shortline as you want to get as high on the boat as fast as you can. You don't want to slow down until the preturn where you are already up on the boat.

 

Reach, turn, and do it again.

[mwetskier]

@AdamCord - you wrote: ' Coming through center you have reached your peak tangential speed, trying to add more speed by pulling longer is pointless. Also the path you are on is not up to you anymore at this point. Your path is purely a function of the handle path and rotational speed around the pylon. Trying to ski wider than the handle path will only ski you away from the handle, separating you from the handle (arms come up, butt goes back). '

 

At the end you touched on a related point when you wrote ' keeps the pendulum short ' but i'm not sure all readers will connect that to the earlier point about avoiding early separation.

 

after the centerline, the farther your ski and com get away from the handle the more quickly the your centripetal force (and therefore speed) will be reduced due to the drag acting on the ski. the is because as the pendulum ' rod ' gets longer the more influence the restorative force (gravity with a pendulum / drag with a ski) has over your speed. so when you ' keep the pendulum short ' by having your handle in and locked to or near your hip you are better able to maintain your speed getting up on the boat. thats why separating early is one of the worst things you can do in slalom.

 

understanding that seemingly simple concept has dramatically changed my skiing.

[A_B]

@AdamCord you had me right up to: “Trying to ski wider than the handle path will only ski you away from the handle, separating you from the handle (arms come up, butt goes back).”

 

Call me old and stupid, but don’t call me Shirley.

 

I will go on record as saying the ski MUST get on a path wider than the handle after the transition. The slight shift forward in hips and feet is the transition and then you roll the ski outside the handle path on a turn edge. If you let your arms out it will not be successful, so a skier MUST employ back arm pressure and hold the handle in tight to hip (left arm going to 1B for RFF skier). The result is what some call the Recerse C position. If you don’t hit this position you will need to be 6’10 to run past 35 off.

 

 

 

 

[AdamCord]

http://gifimage.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/bang-head-gif-8.gif

 

[Horton]

@A_B

 

I think this is a matter of semantics or the difference between what happens out of your control and what you should try to do.

 

Clearly, as soon as you transition from your pulling edge to your turning edge the ski is in fact on an arc that is outside the arc of the handle. What is often misunderstood is that a skier who switches edges slower will travel out to full width with more speed (be earlier) than a skier who switches edges faster.

 

The above image of Nate shows that the ski is on a path that is not nearly as wide as it would be for a lesser skier. The much talked about “Reverse C” is only the result of NOT allowing the ski to flow out to a wider arc prematurely and maintaining maximum possible connection. In other words it is NOT that the ski has been moved away from the pylon but that the skiers shoulders and COM have moved as little as possible from the pylon.

 

Maybe and exaggeration (maybe not) what you really want to do is make a pant load of speed to the center line and then go on to a flat ski, move your upper body as little as possible and ride the line tension out to the ball. Edge change is not something you do as much as it is the result rolling your ski off a pulling edge.

 

[MISkier]

I think we are getting handle path confused with handle trajectory.

 

If I understand correctly (and it’s a crap shoot that I do), the ski may not be directly under the handle at all times. It could not be unless you were constantly pulling on edge and forcing the ski under the handle the entire time. That is, the ski cannot follow the exact same path the handle is taking. But, the ski, whether on pulling edge or after edge change, can and must follow the handle trajectory in tandem out to the apex. Trying to have the ski follow a more tangential trajectory (i.e., getting wider than the handle path) around the pylon than what the handle is achieving will cause the separation. You can still follow the handle trajectory with the ski not directly under the handle. And, when you do, you stay connected.

[mwetskier]

@MISkier - you wrote: "I think we are getting handle path confused with handle trajectory."

 

correct me if i'm wrong but where you wrote ' handle trajectory ' i think you meant to write ' *ski* trajectory '. yes?

[MISkier]

@mwetskier, I meant handle trajectory. I was attempting to discuss how we want to follow the trajectory of the handle with the ski, not follow the exact path that the handle takes. The ski and handle scribe the same arc, but in somewhat parallel (and separate) paths.

[A_B]

That is the way I think about it so maybe it is semantics. I think of getting the ski outside the handle path. That allows me to separate and ride out the inertia I generated in the pull phase. It isn’t that arms out to the boat either.

 

We have all kept the ski between the handle and the boat for too long when you blow the turn or break at the waist and try to get the ski out to the buoy and at the last second you throw the ski offline further outside the handle line to stretch around the buoy. So that obviously is not desireable.

 

No need to take a high and mighty attitude over a discussion. We all don’t think the same. It’s what makes the world go round and skiing an individual art form.

[Horton]

@a_b Do you mean we have all pulled too long?

We have all kept the ski between the handle and the boat for too long

 

 

[A_B]

@Horton yes when we screw up and are trying to salvage some more points by getting the ski outside the buoy line. I was giving that as an example of pulling too long (on purpose).

 

 

[AdamCord]

@MISkier well said, and thanks for pointing out the confusion.

 

When I talk about "skiing the handle path" I am referring more to keeping the ski on the same trajectory as the handle longer, not that the ski is necessarily directly under the handle for it's entire arc.

 

@A_B yes eventually you have to ski wider than the handle path. In my description I am (trying) to describe the transition at the bottom of the swing. Most people let the ski (or force the ski) to divert it's trajectory off the tangent of the handle path arc too soon, literally skiing away from the handle and causing separation. Once you've passed through the bottom of the arc and have made that direction change with your COM to be traveling more down course than across, then you need to let the ski move out. I'm not sure what level skier you are, but at 38off and shorter this is a very big deal.

 

@Horton mentioned that using terms like "ski the handle path" is confusing. I think he's right if we are still thinking from the perspective of the skier running buoys in the course. If instead we look at it from above and see how the handle is just rotating on an arc around the pylon, it becomes more clear. We did an article explaining this a while back https://www.denaliskis.com/gut-104

[Adam Caldwell]

What important is the trajectory of the COM. The handle and ski trajectory will essentially follow the COM as there simply the tools we have at our disposal to help us get to where we are going.

 

Solid connection to the handle both before CL and after is paramount in getting our COM to the widest point possible before needing to rely on our stored potential energy after we “release”.

 

The ski is merely a tool to help us accomplish acceleration in the downswing to CL and deceleration in the upswing to apex. How we choose to control/manage this acceleration & deceleration will also influence our ability to control/manage the connection to the handle.

 

At the risk of sounding too abstract, I think there’s a huge misconception with the reverse C concept. Seems like people are just looking at the reverse C as a position and not considering it’s orientation. I try very hard to not to put any focus on reverse C. But, if you are, consider that there is a lot more going on then a “C” position.

 

 

[AdamCord]

@adamhcaldwell that's a good way of putting it. I think there's a bit of a chicken/egg situation here where if you tried shoot the ski off the trajectory too soon, your COM will follow, and likewise if you make an effort to move your COM properly, the ski will follow.

[A_B]

@AdamCord as mentioned above, moving hips, feet/ski forward, as @Sethski video demonstrated was a huge aha for me at running 38, many years ago, like 20+ years ago.

 

I had a bad fall and got busted up and then kids and coaching soccer, basketball, and baseball took over, on top of a 50-hour work schedule. Add a bunch of pounds and I now concentrate more on my deep water starts than I do releasing out to the buoys correctly.

 

I do ski with some guys who still chase the podium and with some newbies and some middle of the road skiers, so spend a lot of time watching and helping look for ways for them to improve.

 

I think perception vs reality in this sport is huge. Some things trigger an aha moment for some that may leave others pounding their head against the wall.

 

If my personal experience sharing can help demystify the magic for someone trying to run up the rope, that’s great. If you think it is jibberish, so be it. I have been around way too long to know there are lots of ways to skin a cat. If we all skied the same, there would be only one ski company, one binding and fin setup, and life would be pretty boring.

[mwetskier]

@MISkier - i always considered the words ' path ' and ' trajectory ' to be synonymous and interchangeable so now you have me thoroughly confused. to be fair though i generally come into any slalom technique discussion already confused.

 

can you explain for me the difference between ' handle path ' and ' handle trajectory ' ? i'm asking because i figure i got a 50 - 50 chance of either suddenly learning that one true secret of slalom that will change skiing my life forever, *or* just adding to my confusion. so what could it hurt?

[MISkier]

@mwetskier, please excuse the crude rendering. In the image below, there are two "paths". The black path is the handle. The red path is the ski. Each follows a similar trajectory and scribes a similar arc. However, they are not taking the exact same path. If they did, there would be one line only, as the ski and handle would be on the exact same plane along a 90 degree angle from the surface of the water. That is impossible to do and still run the course. But, they are following the same approximate trajectory and, at some points, appear to be parallel and in tandem with each other. Since they are in harmony, the skier has a better connection to the boat and the need to execute heroic movements before and after the turn is greatly reduced.

 

 

In this next image, the black path is again the handle and the red path is again the ski. This time, the skier is attempting to ski "wider" than the handle with the ski. The trajectory of the ski doesn't mirror that of the handle and you see the ski take a more tangent path to the arc that the handle is scribing. This is where you lose connection and get separation. The handle becomes further away from your body and your arms move out from your body. The results are not good. You'll probably complete the turn, but you won't like what you have to do afterward or what may be out of your control afterward.

 

 

[mwetskier]

@MISkier - no, I get how the *handle* path and the *ski* trajectory are different. what i'm struggling with is understanding how the path and the trajectory of the same object (the handle) can be different? Whatever *path* the handle follows, the *trajectory* of that handle is identical - isn't it?

 

[MISkier]

@mwetskier, the path of an object is the actual spatial coordinates it occupies during its travel. You can mark these with GPS coordinates, etc. A trajectory is a characteristic representation of relative location and change in vectors over time. You can superimpose a trajectory over many theoretical places in space, none of which would necessarily be the actual path the object travels. The handle path and trajectory will equal each other in the case where the trajectory (sequence of curves) is superimposed over the exact locations that the handle traversed. But the trajectory can be reused in another location to show the characteristic motion of the handle without the handle actually traversing that specific location.

 

The short answer to your question is that a handle path and handle trajectory are the same in the case where they occupy the same location. We can get the ski to match (somewhat) the trajectory of the handle, albeit in another location in space, and should state that as our goal. Trying to get the ski to match the actual path of the handle should not be our goal.

[Sethski]

@AdamCord and @adamhcaldwell this is some great stuff and I hope everyone is paying attention. I will re-read More later to absorb everything. Thanks for your insight. I like this and it makes me question if I am making too much of a movement through the transition...and even if I coach too much of a movement through the transition. I have made mine more subtle over the years simply so that I don’t allow my body to come up out of position, but maybe I need to do more. My main premise in my own skiing is to get the Ski to move out to a wider path (but same trajectory) than the handle without my upper body coming to the inside. I have a difficult time with some skiers trying to find a way to create a similar concept at 15 and 22 off.

 

This is the basic snapshot of what I try to do and in subsequent photos thenpull of the boat brings my up ove the ski coming into the apex...

Mind you, that’s free skiing on my ankle three months before I am supposed to be skiing (so I may be a little further on my back foot than intended). And when all of the concepts fail, I just try to do something more like this...

 

[A_B]

It would be cool if we could figure out a way to have a tracking device on the ski and one on the handle, and then track them from overhead and plot their positions throughout a slalom course.

 

That would show how the skier is or is not doing a good job in separating and skier a wider path than the handle. It would be a good coaching aid.

 

There was a picture somewhere of John McElyea all stretched out at short line and the ski was outside his lanky 6’6” and long arm reach to get the ski outside the buoy. It was a great shot and has stuck in my brain 30-years later. That was the epitome of gettting the ski on a wider path!

[AdamCord]

@Sethski Thanks man that means a lot. I know I've learned a lot over the years watching video of your skiing so it's nice to be able to return the favor.

 

@adamhcaldwell really drilled this concept into me last spring. I thought I was already doing it pretty well but he assured me I could do way more (well less, actually) through the transition. It takes some reprogramming to get your brain to do it, but with some focus and practice it becomes natural. Personally this is what got me from running 38 occasionally to never missing it, and from having no chance at 39 to starting to run it last year.

 

I developed this drill to try and teach myself how to do it:

 

Put the rope on something very short (in this video it's 41off), and ski back and forth with the ONLY goal of trying to get as high on the boat as you can. You're not going to make a turn so you don't have to worry about making a preturn, getting wide enough to reach around the buoy, or slowing down before the turn. Your only goal is to try and get WAY WAY UP on the boat at a very short line length. I found that when I approach the pull and transition with that goal in mind it completely changes the trajectory I try to take through center, and I maintain a much higher swing speed as a result.

 

I know everyone is different, but this helped me improve more than anything else.

 

[ALPJr]

There is an interesting WSM article by Risto' from May 2007 that touches on forward lean and lower body angle. Sorry I can't attach a link. The title is "West Coast Movement".

[mwetskier]

@MISkier - wow i just had a flashback to the 90s:

' It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is. ' [bill clinton]

[andjules]

@AdamCord "I found that when I approach the pull and transition with that goal in mind it completely changes the trajectory I try to take through center"

Can you spell that out a little more? What specifically do you change?

Do you worry less about angle and more about speed? Do you roll the ski differently?

[MISkier]

@mwetskier, I think we all just need to get back on the water and try a few things.

 

For what it’s worth, I have experienced some of what @A_B has mentioned. There is a moment at edge change that I occasionally get right where that A-ha moment (not the Norwegian rock band) happens. When it does, the pass is laughably easy and actually quite fun. I wish I could be consistent with it.

[AdamCord]

@andjules I will try to explain it without getting too abstract.

 

Generally when we ski in the course I think we all have a sense of urgency to try and get as wide as we can in order to make it around the next buoy. That urgency seems to rise as the rope gets shorter. I think that whether we know it or not, we all feel this urgency to some degree. I've tried over the last few years to tame that urgency in my mind and just trust I'll get to where I need to be, but it's really tough to do when you're staring down the gates at 39 or 41.

 

What this drill does is try and completely take that urgency away. The goal is not to get wide. You don't care about getting around buoys. With this drill we basically just want to see if we can pass the windshield on the boat. That change in goals forces us to think about getting DOWN the lake and passing the boat, instead of getting WIDE and around a buoy. For me at least, this change in mentality was huge, as it almost immediately completely changed the the way I build angle into the wakes, and what direction I try and take my COM and point my ski as I come through center. Instead of trying to shoot wide and get around a buoy, I'm trying to shoot down the lake and pass the boat.

 

I can think of one particular skier who does this incredibly well, btw:

 

 

[AKShortline]

@AdamCord will you please answer the message I sent you?

 

Customer

[Zman]

@Sethski So, how is that ankle feeling after getting on the water early? Hope it is doing well!

[Wish]

Actually did Cords drill today. That's way harder then it looks if you're not a free skier. An eye opener for sure. To get up next to the windshield at 39, I felt like I was changing edges before first wake (but not attempting to). Almost looked like my ski was pointed less then 45 degrees at centerline. But always ended up (no real reach at all just gliding with handle at hip) just inside 1 ball. Literally took 4 or 5 passes to get this. On those passes the brain wanted wide and all that happened was narrow and slow. Wasn't easy to time everything with the boat vs having buoys to time things. Once I started getting it, I kept COM close to handle with pressure (not a lot) on outside arm to carry swing off second wake. Felt like that almost accelerated me off second wake. Also was able to get a lot taller in the glide on each side. Seemed plenty wide considering 39 and always up on the windshield of the boat and seemed to stay there for a good 2 count before boat started walk away. Definitely will be doing this more often.

[BraceMaker]

@AKShortline there are messages and wall posts probably make sure you are sending a message to ensure it gets to his email.