28 off is better for Mini Course?

[Horton]

I am as surprised as anyone but Buford Danger runs the mini course best at 28 off. 15 off is way harder for her.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAyLUCVFBTt/?igshid=1qn2e6710roq3

 

 

[dvskier]

Watch out! A few years down the road she’s gonna slay you in the course.

[Horton]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAyXJc1JHUE/?igshid=smh5eppi5nit

[LoopSki]

My 9yo son runs the mini at 28off very easily, but struggles longline at full course. 2 bouys. Im running him at 19.5 on mini. 18.5 on full. Just started late last year , gave up wakeboarding.

 

 

 

 

 

[keithh2oskier]

@Horton do you use any tail weights to help Buford keep the skis straight when getting up? Just starting with our 6 year old on two skis.

[DaveD]

@LoopSki Your son has the "I'm a bada$$ skier" look down perfectly.

[thager]

Is that the standard ski rope, or a light weight kids version? Thinking line weight at longer line lengths doesn't help...

[Downunder]

So cool, trying to get my 10 year old to do more skiing, maybe need to get him on the course too....

[Bruce_Butterfield]

@horton IMHO the absolute worth thing for any young skier is the minicourse. Think about what they are learning - no lean, no angle, turning way past the buoy. Especially for little kids, its much better to slow waaaay down (10mph or so), use long line and teach the full course. They will have all day between buoys, learn to lean/pull, turn right at each bouy. Also any falls at slow speeds are really easy.

 

With the minicourse, the critical concepts of space in front of the buoy, creating angle, and tight turns are next to impossible to learn. These concepts come naturally with slow speed, 2 skis and long line.

 

Here's 10mph, long line at 6yo

[elr]

Yep - go slow on the full course.

[LoopSki]

@Bruce_Butterfield My kids get easily discouraged and I think its a trend with kids nowdays. The instant gratification syndrome. I mix up his sets. 3 mini course 28off 19.5mph, 3 full course full line 18.5mph. I need to find him a jr ski. I think my homemade D3 cut down has served its purpose.

 

 

 

 

 

[escmanaze]

@keithh2oskier I used the blast 59 combos from HO and I got the upgraded boots and I bought the official HO ski weights that bolted right on so easy even a caveman could do it. then with the little bar across the front, my kid, that I think had just turned 8 maybe, got up so easy it was ridiculous. I was amazed at how easy he popped right up and stayed up.

 

I think those weights in the back help a lot. How many times have we seen some newbie bobbing in the water and it's all they can do, or even more than they can do just to keep the tips pointed somewhat up. He didn't have that problem at all.

[escmanaze]

@Horton

It appears as though there is a lot of real estate between the full course buoys and your mini course buoys. I know that distances such as 10 feet and 13 feet have been discussed here as the two main options of being "official". It seems, at least as much as I can tell from here, that yours might be even greater than 13 feet away. Have you measured them? Do you even care? I would totally understand if not.

[escmanaze]

It's funny, I'm so torn between what @Bruce_Butterfield is saying and what @LoopSki is saying. I totally see merit in both sides. I think, though, that right now, I'm in a place with my 10 year old given the equipment we have available etc. that I am totally cool with him running the jr. course.

 

Alternating might be good as well, but right now, he just wants to go faster and faster. I'm certain I'll draw the line at least at 26 mph and tell him he isn't going one touch faster until he is getting the wide balls AND has shortened to at least 15 off. Until then, honestly, I'll probably let him do whatever he wants because I think that his personal stoke will drive him to be a better skier faster than any individual method or technique. As long as he's excited to be on a ski, I'm willing to put up with whatever speed, line length, or buoys he wants to run. Here is his latest.

 

https://www.facebook.com/escmanaze/posts/10163537025620290

[escmanaze]

@Downunder My argument would be that it is fully likely and possible that getting in the course might be exactly what fuels the fire for your kid to want to ski more.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

@LoopSki yes mixing it up is a great idea. As for a jr ski at that level and size its hard to beat a 64” D3 or Radar. Small skis really hinder development.

 

A better idea to mix it up is to get him on a trick ski?

 

More good stuff here

https://www.ballofspray.com/home-page/tech/2598-the-future-of-our-sport-tips-to-addict-the-next-generation

[ral]

I am all for trick skiing before slalom. And then slalom on a big ski, so they can do the full course at a slower speed. Mine started @ 22kph (13.8 MPH).

 

With a trick, they learn how to edge and keep an edge while crossing the wakes, avoid getting on the back of the ski when turning.

 

Man, I miss skiing!!!!

[cragginshred]

Full course with 'tweener' loops! -19, -25, -30 Always gets me into the next line!

[Horton]

@Bruce_Butterfield grumpy old man. The first goal is to make skiing fun. The mini course is more about instant gratification than about skills. Buford is not quite 6 and is stoked to ski because she is achieving something. Hell, she is going to Regionals! She wants to ski every day. That is all I care about at this age. She has only been crossing the wakes for a few weeks.

 

As for advancement. My plan is to move the balls out a few feet at a time when she is ready. I think I need her to pull out a little to the left for the gates first. I do not want her to learn 1 ball skipping the gates.

 

@escmanaze Hell, I don't know how wide the balls are. The anchors are buckets of rocks. I swam them around until I thought I was roughly in the right spot. It works for now.

 

@ral one ski then then a trick ski. I already have the ski.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

@horton yes I agree its about fun but I still think the minicourse is the wrong approach. I don’t think you will be able to make the transition to the full course, even a few feet at a time, without slowing down. Kids will see slowing down as a step backwards and the fun stops.

 

From what I saw in that video, I’ll bet a case of MS’ favorite beverage that Buford can make the full course LL at 10mph on the first or second attempt. There’s the instant gratification way beyond making 3 mini buoys

[ScarletArrow]

Just sharing my own personal experience...

 

When my kids starting learning to ski ~10 years ago, I had a conversation to @Bruce_Butterfield and applied his advice as consistently as possible.

 

I went LL and very slow (under 10mph).

 

I did use the mini-course; however, once we go to ~12mph (which happens quickly) we slowed the boat down to ~9mph and went to the main course.

 

I combined this with "a PB in every set" strategy.

 

For instance...

 

One day - 2 missed deepwater starts = PB; next day - 1 missed deepwater start = PB

 

One day - 6 buoys at 10mph = PB; Next day - 3 buoys at 10.1mph = PB

 

One day - 2 buoys full course at 9.6mph; Next day - 3 buoys at 9.5mph = PB

 

Sometimes I had to get creative, but pretty much every single time we went skiing we would go home and tell mom about a new PB (and get ice cream).

 

I didn't put my kids on a slalom ski until they could run the full course consistently at LL 13mph.

 

I didn't implement slalom on trick until later b/c of the difficulty.

 

I'm sure other factors were involved, but the result for me is that slalom skiing is probably the favorite sport for all 3 of my kids.

 

So thanks to @Bruce_Butterfield and take his advice!

[escmanaze]

@Horton That's funny. Yeah, apparently different people have different personalities. Our club was missing one of the green balls and I had a new anchor and ball ready to go set down. I'm taking my slalom rope apart to get the section from 22 off to 32 off so that I can get a good measurement of 10 feet. Then I'm also adding on the section from 32 off to 35 off so that I can get a good look at what 13 feet looks like. A couple of guys see me and they're like "You know it's just the mini course right? What in the world are you so worried about. Go out there and eyeball it and be done!!"

 

Little did they know I would have blown a circuit and not slept for days had I tried to just eyeball it.