Initiating the Turn?

[ISP6ball]

What mechanical characteristics would you describe are taking place at the buoy? In other words, what is physically taking place that initiates your turn in? Is your focus on your feet, hips, shoulders, eyes, etc.? I don't think I have a clear concept on what the best technique is. I find my turns to be inconsistent sometimes, I think it's because I don't have a great concept on what should be taking place.

 

I have a pretty good understanding of my pre-turn (standing tall, balanced, handle to hip, etc.). Once I give the handle back to the boat, where should my focus be to initiate the turn? Thanks

[skialex]

The moment you move from the cutting edge to the turning edge, your turn has initiated. The times that I feel that everything is done right at the preturn all I’m trying to do at the buoy is not to overkill the turn by doing more than I need to... Im thinking of moving my com and my free hand towards the handle and meet where my hip is, also try not to rush it and fall back on my back foot at the end of the turn. More important for me is to be in a good position somewhere between the turn and the white wash and use the moment to shoot me to the other side...

[Horton]

First of all you should not “give the handle back to the boat”. You really want the tension in the line to take if from you. The more you resist, the later and slower the handle moves away from your mass the better.

 

On to your real question. I think this is a more interesting conversation if you take the human body out of the equation.

 

As you swing up on the boat and approach the ball line you want the water break to be as far forward as possible/practical. This allows more of the bevel/rocker of the ski to grip the water and pull the front of the ski to the inside. With the front of the ski down, the tail will be higher and the fin will be shallower ( have less grip) allowing the tail of the ski to start to rotate early ( over steer / smear ) .

 

At apex ideally you should roll the ski more to the inside to allow the ski to carve back and keep as much of the length of the ski in the water. At this point the tail is also going to slide quite a bit even if you do not feel it.

 

So how does a human do this? I think everyone thinks about it and executes it a little differently – here are my thoughts. I want my shoulders as level as possible everywhere because it helps my keep my balance and keep my mass from moving to the inside prematurely. No matter how you execute your turn you never want your shoulders to rotate faster than your hips or your hips faster than your feet. If your lower joints do not rotate first it creates all kinds of biomechanical badness. In short you want to steer the ski with your knees, shins or feet not your hips and shoulders.

 

I try to keep my chin as high off the water as possible into apex to give me more control when it is time to roll the ski in. The idea of “Chin High off the water” is also how I move my mass forward to press the front of the ski down. Especially approaching On Side (my problem area ) it is not a bad idea to constantly pressure your inside hip forward.

 

[aupatking]

Immediately I am brought to Matteo’s external focus podcast. @Horton your “water breaking” forward on the ski is a good way of getting the human body out of the equation.

But, if you just feel like the misery of watching a beautiful girl do it right, Sam Dumala drives that inside hip forward into the turn, super well. I try to mirror that movement when I’m just working on 1 mechanical characteristic.

[ISP6ball]

@Horton fair enough on the 'give' vs 'take'. I'm clear the boat is in control and talking the handle away from me. Poorly worded.

 

Thanks for the detailed response.

 

Do you think driving the turn with the feet, shins, knees....is a common answer among shoreline skiers?

 

I don't feel like it gets talked about enough, unless I'm reading over that part of conversations. Maybe it's second nature to most skiers.

 

Probably a poor example but in a golf swing when the club as at the top/apex......the part of the body that leads the swing down is pretty crucial (and gets talked about quite a bit).

 

Would the K.I.S.S. bullet points be, *Stand tall, *Stay level, and *Lead from the feet, shin, knees?

 

 

[Horton]

@ISP6ball "*Stand tall, *Stay level, and *Lead from the feet, shin, knees?"

 

I like it. Granted you are going to get some different answers from different skiers. I know some really good skiers who think shoulders level is silly and who rotate their whole body at once. When in doubt go find some video of Parrish.

[ALPJr]

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[Horton]

@ALPJr 100%

[aupatking]

@ALPJr absolutely! Some of the best coaching I’ve had.