New boat drivers

[JAS]

I have several new boat drivers in training. After doing it so long has become a bit second nature to me. Wondering how BOS skiers have explained to their drivers what to do. Will be open water, no course, Stargazer, Thanks

[Jordan]

For open water, it is important to pick a point on land as a reference in order to keep the boat straight.

[Fam-man]

@JAS how new are we talking? I would start with some close in work by throwing in a life jacket or ball and have them practice maneuvering when close to someone in the water. How to approach, how to pick up, managing rope etc.

How to deliver rope back to the skier after a fall

How to take all slack out of rope before pulling skier out

How to gradually pull skier out

Then driving straight by using a reference point on the land

[JAS]

Fam-man@ One is my neighbor who has pulled son on wakeboard a bunch. He is a real 1,2,3,4 guy. Individual points you gave are great and will be added to my list. Any metric for pulling up skiers?

[keithh2oskier]

I would focus on safety first. Especially if he has some background driving watersports. Just like anything, people develop bad habits that they don't even notice. Listen to the first few minutes of the spraymakers podcast on driving. You don't need to go into the course rhythm but the discussion on turning the boat off, Predicting where the boat may float to when a skier is getting ready, basic communications is all good.

 

As far as pulling up skiers, every skier and boat is going to be different. Just getting practice. Key is make sure the slack is out and you roll the throttle smoothly.

[Windsurfnut]

Boat Straight, let speed control take over, and don't run me over.

[keithh2oskier]

Oh the other one for open water is you don't want the driver to make long bending turns. If you need to adjust course the general preference for the skier is for the boat to quickly adjust course and head straight.

[6balls]

Where do you even start...this is a long convo. My neighbor getting better every day, but baby steps

[mmskiboat]

I'm all in for any other sources to help me become a better driver. I'm new to a DD and Ski boats in general. Are there any bad habits that most people start that are common and do not know about? At the moment we are doing open ski on a lake with mostly new-ish or rusty skiers.

[2Valve]

my buddy has a new girlfriend who wants to learn how to pull us. It's been a struggle. :)

[DW]

I think starting with some basic and even more advanced (relative to pulling a skier) safety discussions to set the stage and minimize any injury potential. BOS gurus probably have the safety protocols ingrained and are so natural we may pass over them initially.

 

There are lots of really great tips on Steve Schnitzers website under the safety tab, well worth the read for newbies and was good to go over it early in the ski season.

 

I have found that a great teaching method, and all basically by accident, is an attentive spotter picks up lots of behavior over time. They then translate that behavior over when they get behind the wheel. If they watch and absorb, it seems to work better than the push method. Good luck and thumbs up on engaging new drivers / skiers:-)

[6balls]

Tell the people in the boat you are going to go "in gear" or "reverse" whether they are standing in the boat or on the platform...wait for them to repeat "in gear" or "reverse" so you know they heard you.

 

Don't just stick it in gear after your skier gets in and before the line is tight. Tiny bumps forward and just before the line is tight...a little reverse bump to slow a little more so the handle comes gently tight for your skier...now you are ready for your skier to say "in gear"

 

Tiny bumps on the throttle, most put it in gear too long at low speed and have no control over the drift of the boat when docking or coming near a skier. Tiny bump...like the prop barely spun, then back to neutral and see what affect it had, adjust the wheel, bump again. Bumps of reverse can help rotate(rear to right unless you have a Nautique).

 

Practice hole shots with a slalom skier on 2 skis...you can't screw it up with them on two skis but you can be advised and the skier doesn't either a) drown or b) take a beating.

 

Drop in the hole in the line of travel if your skier falls, and idle back making no waves/wake--preserve your ski water. Don't do that big wide open turn around thingy when your skier goes down, you are just mucking up your water and beating up your rope/handle.

 

When turning around with a skier, slow your speed slightly, then take a line 45 degrees to your right and stay that way long enough that when you turn around back to your left you can come back exactly down your prior path. As you are rounding that turn LOOK for your path. Once your arethru the wake and on path, power back up to speed. Now your prior wake has spread and you still have great ski water (assuming you had nice water in the first place).

 

Dock very slowly at first...if you screw it up, not much bad can happen if you are moving slow. Use bumps of reverse to your advantage to rotate (right reverse most boats, left in Nautique--and not very strong left)

 

When your skier is done, cut throttle, drop in the hole, idle to point back to the skier, give a forward bump...then neutral...now wind your rope before the handle sinks and gets all full of weeds (site specific). Should be wound well before reaching skier and grabbing their ski for them.

 

Have binding soap/slime in your boat always. Spare gloves are a plus, sometimes people leave 'em out to dry and forget to put 'em back in their bag.

 

In your glove box...scissors/knife/knippers/zip strips/snorkel mask. If/when you put the rope in your prop you will be happy to have them.

 

If your boat won't start...do two things. Check the battery connection, check to make sure someone didn't leave it just slightly "in gear".

 

If you travel to the lake, keep a spare battery or boost charger in your truck (jumper cables at a minimum)...it sucks to get to the lake with friends and have a dead battery.

 

If you travel to the lake--ALWAYS be aware of your plug...put it IN. Have a process at the launch.

 

Remember to turn ON your speed control for skiing. I've blown this a few times and had some poor sap going past the 55's at 40.

 

OK, enough brainstorming today, hope some of that helps. For more listen to that podcast on the home BOS page...I made my neighbor do that. He's been pulling me open water 32 off...he's got a turn around down, he's got a swing to the side to shorten with me keeping the handle down, he can dock, he can put it on the lift, he says "in gear" when he's moving the boat with someone standing or on the platform, he shuts down the motor with a skier on the platform. We are working on his hole shots and his counter steering--I'm progressively giving him harder turns to deal with in the open water. Soon I will have him pulling me up on one ski instead of two as he is getting the "feel" of a nice hole shot, and then we will start some slalom course work and he can try to deal with my two and four ball.

[JAS]

Thanks guys for all the good stuff, so many solid tips. Thread is a short read, but coming from many different voices helps make more like coaching instead of nit picking.

Exactly what I was looking for. :)

[mmskiboat]

Dittoe to what @JAS said, thanks for all the tips.

 

@6balls Newb question what do you mean drop in the hole?, I think you mean turn around and get in the path the boat was traveling?

[6balls]

mmskiboat "in the hole" is roughly idle up to planing the hull. "On plane" is "out of the hole". So when your skier falls, cut the throttle and coast to a near-stop, idle the boat to point back to the skier, then go back. Keeps your wake always spreading away from your line of travel...which in general should be a straight line for a skier back and forth.

 

If you go in big circles, and you have multiple skiers, you are going to hit your own wake over and over again at some point. If you take the same path back and forth along the smooth water, your wake always spreads and you have continued good water (granted no other boats muck it up for you)

[mmskiboat]

@6balls thanks for the clarification. We do sometimes do big loops as we are in a bay of sorts and this keeps us away from other boats but on the second loop we do get what you described. During the week on our morning sessions we are trying to go long and straight to keep in clean water. This should work for a while until more people start heading up north and even then we are out before most would think about boating anways.