Do You Keep, Quite Or Tell The Truth ?

[Stevie Boy]

The water skier that skis great at one particular lake, with one particular Coach/Driver, when skiers cannot repeat it at other lakes, you hear things like the water temperature wasn't right, the lake is shallow, the water is soft or the water is hard, the driver was iffy.

At the lake where they ski well, You never hear, I think there may have been some assistance, surely if you go somewhere and ski well, but are not able to repeat it at other lakes instead of facing reality quite a few people prefer to bury their head in the sand and do not question the validity of the tow that hey are getting

What's your thoughts ?

[BraceMaker]

I had trouble reading this....

 

However I do think skiing is very mental. Even having a new guest in the boat free skiing can mess up some skiers.

 

 

[Stevie Boy]

@Bracemaker sry I was trying not to be too direct, basically what I am saying is, if you can only ski well on one lake with a specific Coach/Driver, but not on other lakes, you have to question what is going on, I would have a good guess that the boat is not going down the middle of the course.

[Spineofgoo]

@BraceMaker yup if I see a cellphone start shooting video I become very self conscious and really mess up.

[ScottScott]

A lot depends on line length. I'm skiing 15/22 off, with the occasional shot at 28off. At those line lengths, I don't think boat path is much of a factor (good or bad.) I can't say at what line that starts becoming more critical, maybe 28? 32? I generally do ski better at the ski school. And there are some lakes I never seems to ski well at. Part of that is the inconsistency of someone at my level. Another big factor in skiing better while being coached is the immediate/valid feedback you are getting from that coach. Instead of guessing yourself, or having your ski partners jump in with their 2 cents, you are getting a professional view of what you did wrong and need to correct the most.

[ALPJr]

Yo, divisional playoffs are on this weekend if you’re bored?

[skiboyny]

I think mental focus is a huge part of waterskiing. At your home lake with a typical boat and driver you can focus easily at the task at hand. Change those variables and suddenly the mind has other things to obsess with. Not a good thing. The best competitors are able to tune the differences out and focus at the task at hand. Not a strong point for me personally at all!

[Horton]

@Stevie Boy

This is one reason that practice scores don't count.

The "ski school weave" is not a new thing.

 

I am not sure of your end game but do not call out a coach/driver/school unless there are official tournament scores and you have evidence of cheating.

 

[Spineofgoo]

@ALPJr I'd rather watch paint dry staked naked to an ant hill covered in honey listening to country music.

[Stevie Boy]

@Horton you are jumping the gun.

I am not calling anybody out, I just see somebody beating themselves up, because they cannot replecate, the more they beat themselves up, the more their skiing goes down hill, I am not talking competition skiing, just getting enjoyment out of the sport, but not being able to replecate is getting to him, a good skier and capable of 35 off.

There is NO end game here, just want the guy to enjoy his skiing.

[ghutch]

I think too many skiers get too caught up in having the right conditions, driver, boat path, blah blah blah. In my experience I seem to run pretty much up to my capability most anywhere and with any driver. I can usually run 28-32- and into 35. That's with my regular drivers or my buddy's son just learning to drive, home site or brand new lake. I think ultimately its up to the skier to decide whether they are going to have a good set and accept what they're given or worry about it and let it ruin a potentially good set. I do believe boat path and driving becomes more critical at short line. Just my 2 cents

[matthewbrown]

@Horton can I talk about the driving at the Great Lakes Classic Tournament where Phil Adams helped me ski 6 buoys more than my practice PB?

[liquid d]

@horton please fix the title of this thread...it's making me nutz.

[Horton]

@matthewbrown if you ever say anything bad about Phil I will ban you for life

[Horton]

@Stevie Boy so the choice is to tell your friend or write about it here?

[Jody_Seal]

@liquid d they are just getting to the meat and potatoes!! And that nutz thing, admitting is the first step to recovery!!

[ScottScott]

Punctuation is our, friend.

[bishop8950]

Of course many things impact how you ski other places. Could be driving. Could be the boat. Could be the course dimensions. Could be depth or water temp. Could be the skiers head. Other than skiers head, I would think most typically its boat and driver differences. But rather than get bummed out, have fun figuring it out and overcoming it.

[ozski]

The older you get the less you want to risk possible injury while the person at the wheel is figuring stuff out. Driving is like skiing, some people are simply way better than others and that can be as simple as they actually care about delivering a half decent pull. While we are on the subject how do skiers feel about drivers that go straight to their phone after every pass? Maybe its just me but I hate phones being in boats.

[BrianKennedy91]

 

[chrislandy]

Most of it is mental, even a foot in depth can change the feel of the wake, let alone a different boat. In the end, it's all in the skiers head because if they have good technique then most other factors are irrelevant wrt whether they can actually do it.

 

It covers most things, professional musicians practice until the song is embedded because they know when in front of people they will only perform 85-90% of their capability

[6balls]

I just want a good driver, in a decent boat, and some nice conditions. Buoys that are not like beach balls. If that's the case...I figure I'm in for some fun.

 

My brother for a while (don't confuse, I have 5 of 'em), skied with a guy on a river course who was clearly a good skier. He keeps telling me this guy runs 38 all the time. I'm like does he ever ski a tourney? Nope. So I'm skeptical. He's in his mid 50's and runs 38 all of the time getting half way down 39 and sometimes running it...ON A RIVER WITH CURRENT. So likely the arms are bent and the course is narrow for a variety of reasons. Likely a decent 35 off skier not taking that away...but his course situation is his course situation and they are out having fun. He wasn't out there bragging about his skiing online...it was just 2 guys in a boat and a report from my brother. It's all good.

 

I did tell Joe, however, that if he were really that good he really should be running tourneys...if he's in his mid 50's and can run 39 he is a relatively rare bird.

[JackQ]

Horton, Phil Adams was my practice driver when I lived in San Diego. There isn't a more helpful and positive person, wanted to pull skiers to keep in practice for tournaments. I had to "steal" his boat to put gas in it, as he refused payment.

[Adam Caldwell]

There are a tremendous amount of factors that can stack up against a skier(and drivers) in this sport.

 

In addition to the very basic water temp, lake depth and wind, your dealing with hull drag & surface area, wake size, prop grip/slip, ZO revisions/cruise control, ECM & engine protection logic, octane level, rope elasticity, course accuracy, buoy size, driver capability, pylon height/stiffness and so on... These ALL have an influence on skiers performance. If even only a few of these factors are 'off' or less then optimal, then scores can plummet easily by a pass or two.

 

Before anyone can go pointing fingers on one site skiing 'better' or worse then others, you really need to do some homework and investigate all the possible pitfalls.

 

Its a very possible reality that if you find yourself or someone frustrated with their skiing at their home site compared to a ski school or coach site, then its very possible there is an issue with the home site - not the ski school.

 

In Charleston, we are on top of every aspect of our course, boat performance, water level, and overall conditions- daily. We all aim to drive as legit as possible for every skier who comes to ski as IMO a false sense of improvement is not beneficial unless someone is aware of the "aid" being given, such as a little extra boat movement or backing down the speed to learn a new skill or pass. But this is always discussed beforehand and never something I would want to keep from a skier in any manner.

 

Now, there are plenty of times people ski into new PBs at our site with 100% legitimate driving (which is whats going on for 99.99% of passes at TL). Am I surprised by this???? Not at all. From a technical perspective, TL is DIALED - in all aspects. Not everyone has this luxury at home.

 

I think MOST ski schools/coaching site are similar- as typically these sites are home to skiers who are training for the sport, and put in tons of effort to make sure their sites, and boats ski well.

 

At the end of the day, what I always tell people (even at TL) never get frustrated with yourself or your skiing. You have a list a mile long of things to blame a shitty set on. My motto is learn something every day. Skied like shit? Try to figure out WHY. Skied a 5 buoy PB, find out WHY!

 

At the end of the day, if you're on the water and skiing, then there is really NOTHING to be pissed about.

 

 

 

[TEL]

I typically ski better at ski schools in my area, than my home site. Not that I don't eventually match what I do at ski schools just not as smooth or easy. What I have found is most school sites are lakes that have been dug out in the past 25 years or so. The water always feels slow, I hear this from other people. I have ridden in the boats and seen the speed is set right. Here's my theory, Lakes that have been here for hundreds of years have a lot minerals that have built up in them making the water feel fast. So people like me that like slow water ski better in newly dug lakes. It's my crazy theory, "new water" versus "old water"

[Than_Bogan]

If someone is having a ton of trouble with punctuation, spelling, and writing coherent sentences, do you tell them or keep quiet?

 

(I resisted for a while, but finally the shoulder with Evil Than on it won out.)

[rico]

I think this is also a symptom of people skiing at the same lake behind the same boat with the same driver all the time. Going to another site will feel foreign and the skier will most likely do crazy things they don't normally do.

As a side note, have you noticed how skiing on man made lake like we have in Bako (perfect rectangle) and going to a public open lake screws up your gate pull out and make you super narrow?

[skihacker]

@rico, at "home" I ski on a natural pond, pretty small but by no means a ditch. The first time I skied at lapoints i couldn't get myself to pull out wide enough for my gates, it took me a couple sets to realize that it was the shoreline coming into my peripheral vision that was screwing me up. It's little stuff that isn't always obvious right away.