Practicing for the course while free skiing

[jim_s]

So, having spent some time in the course 'for real' for the first time at Coble's this past weekend (vs having previously just been dragged through the course 3-4 times with no real direction), I found 2 primary things that I would like to work on while free skiing, with an eye toward improving in the course. (I don't have regular access to a course, though I hope to a bit more going forward soon...).

 

The first thing is that I am slow and lazy on the outside - I lean/cut fairly well and generally get plenty wide (30mph, 15 off in the course, 30-32mph, 22 off free skiing), but then I get to the outside and stand there waiting to slow down enough that I'm not trying to turn into a bunch of slack. This works fine free skiing, but is a bit of a problem in the course, as the buoys are coming along faster than my lazy approach allows, LoL. :-). Some quick calculator math seems to indicate that at 30mph, I should be reaching a buoy about every 4.6 seconds. Does it then make sense when free skiing to aim for making a turn every 4-4.5 seconds? I have a reference point for the rope on my boat so that I know how wide I need to be on each side.

 

The second thing is that I'm not comfortable turning into slack. Sometimes I'm able to muster the courage to turn into the slack, and start leaning away while the slack gets taken up, and that mostly works out Ok when I force myself to do it, though I've had a few out-the-back close calls trying this. Quite (most) often, however, I'm like, "nope, I ain't turning into that much slack". This seems especially to happen on the even numbered balls. (I'm LFF) I'm working hard on getting the hips forward via knee and ankle bend when heading into the buoy, but still feel like I have a lot more speed and slack than I know what to do with, even at my sedate boat speed.

 

So, any thoughts about how to best work on the timing/rhythm and speed/slack management while free skiing?

[Jetsetr]

If you’re getting slack you’re pulling too long, or you don’t have enough angle outbound towards the ball.

Slow the boat down to 26. Timing is SO important in course skiing, and the only way to get it right it is to ski a course (unfortunately).

[Mastercrafter]

I was struggling with this issue earlier this year, and had even started a thread discussing whether I should be on the same ski in and out of the course. What felt good turning buoys felt awful free skiing even though I tried to ski the same way.

 

In the course I make most all my 32mph passes and about half my 34mph at -15. I’ve seen a few buoys faster and shorter but I have plenty of work to do.

 

When I free ski, -28/34.2, or shorter. I work on pull and position through the wakes, skiing in rhythm with the boat, and turning into a tight line with my weight forward and ski engaged. At first I tried to make free skiing as much like course skiing as possible, but now I try to make it different enough to disconnect from my course mindset and work on skiing, not chasing buoys.

 

My best sets in the course this year have been hours after I’ve free skied, had some fun, danced with the boat, and worked on a few fundamentals. Some of my worst sets have been after I’ve tried free skiing at the same speeds, lengths, and tempo as in the course, because it’s just hard to replicate it without buoys.

[swbca]

Width Markers for free skiing.

I can't always ski in the course because of conditions. So I have to free ski or not ski.

 

How do I know I am skiing wide enough ? I have Blue reflective tape markers on the boat gunnels left and right. When I see the ski rope is above that marker, I know I am free skiing at the full course width for 35 off. Without these markers I ski too narrow.

 

Skier buoys are xx feet from the center of the course. The rope length is yy feet at 35 off, plus I add 4 feet for my body's lateral reach. Using a little trigonometry, I figure out the required angle of the rope relative to the course center line. Then using the sine of that angle times 1/2 the width of my boat I mark the gunnels 27" behind the pylon.

 

This only helps with the width issue with free skiing. The bigger issue; you can't learn to sufficiently commit the tip of the ski in your turns while free skiing. The course puts performance requirements on your skiing that force you to learn how to turn at your limits and your ski's limits. Without the course most people stay in a comfort level that is a fraction of the commitment required for skiing in the course.

 

[MDB1056]

Would be great if there was a simple template or pattern available for folks to put the tape marks on their boats .

[jim_s]

@MDB1056 These folks have a template you can print off. I don't know if they take into account arm length like @swbca or not, but I've used this template to layout reference points on my boat.

 

The template is at: http://prestonmarina.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Flag-slalom-board-v2-A4.pdf

 

http://queenesque.com/FS1.html

[MDB1056]

@jim_s - thank you!

[Cnewbert]

If your boat is on a trailer with some space around it on one side at least, and you have some spare rope laying around, you can do this empirically and easily. Run a rope from the pylon straight back maybe 40 or so feet. Doesn’t matter. Anchor it somehow… stake, weight, whatever. That’s centerline. Then run a second rope parallel to the CL rope 37 1/2’ away. That’s your buoy line. Then attach your ski rope at whatever length you are interested in checking, add whatever you want for your arm/body extension, swing it out to the buoy line for each different length, and mark the gunwale with tape where the ski rope is for that length. Only takes 15 minutes maybe. One thing to note is that the ski rope is not laser straight from the pylon to the skier when the skier is at apex. There will always be a bow in the rope and the skier will likely be higher on the boat and wider on the course than indicated by gunwale marks. That just means if you make your mark you’ve got a little width to spare. (That’s why you can’t zoom in too tight with camera tracking devices that use the ski rope to track the skier. The skier will ski out of frame at apex if zoomed too tight because the skier is ahead of the rope at the pylon so the camera points behind the skier, not directly at him.)

[ErikBerghiller]

The good news is that you don't have to choose between free skiing or a fixed course anymore since there is another option these days. :)

 

Anyway, the first 1:30 in this video might be of some use when determining where to put indicators on the boat to get the correct width.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_gocE8QMsE

[swbca]

@ErikBerghiller This is a great idea. I had fantasized for years about a system that could toss ice cubes. If I recall you sell the projectiles. If I used 1000 of them in a season, what would it cost ?

[r_maniak]

@swbca

I'm a seasoned user of OffCourse. Trust me - if you buy one, you'll use WAAAY more than 1000 balls a season. This thing is just too much fun!

My ski partner and I each take 8 passes during our morning ski set. It uses 7 balls per pass (it fires a "Zero Ball" as a marker to time your "gate"). 56 balls per set. Balls run about $90 for 2000 of them. That's about $2.52 in balls. Add your CO2 cost (you will consume (2) 12g CO2 cartridges per ski set and those run about $.75/ea, so your total consumable cost (not including gas for the boat) is just north of $4.

[Dano]

I agree with @swbca, I've found free skiing does not really translate well into course skiing. That is, if you simply go out and link turns together. There is too much time and, it can't really replicate the intensity of a course. for me i use free skiing to work on/try different things. Rather than simply trying to get high enough, why not try to get as high as you can. See if you can get 90 degrees to the pylon with tight line all the way up. This is a really good drill if you can already run some passes, and you will learn a tonne from it on your first attempt. Or you could practice wake crossings without worrying about how good you made a turn. Focus on keeping the handle low with straight arms. Try just standing on the ski correctly, try straight legs, or bent knees, even weight on the balls of both feet, etc.... Mess around with things. Most of all take video. Use your time on the water to explore different ideas. What works, what doesn't.

 

 

[jim_s]

@Dano and @swbca - yes, that's what I'm finding, too - there is just nothing on the open water (aside perhaps from the awesome looking Off Course, which sadly about matches the value of my entire boat, LoL :-) that induces the sense of timing and urgency to get wide and turn - quickly. I was almost wondering if I shouldn't setup or build some type of timer or such, that beeped based on a preset (or current via GPS) speed, to let me know when I should be making my turn. I agree that working on wake crossings in isolation when free skiing is good practice, but I find it also makes me kind of slow and lazy (and also tends to make me pull too long) when I do get into the course.

[Dano]

@jim_s the purpose of having a goal like cross the wakes and get high on the boat. Is to keep you honest. In this case if you pull long or past centreline, you will not get high on the boat. It also rewards you for creating speed before centre line. Drills that are designed with purpose should not promote skiing slow and lazy.

[skibrent]

@EricBerhiller Just thinking outside the box -how about adding a gyroscopic stabiliser to offcourse so regardless of how level the boat is the system compensates? The engineering would be interesting…

[DW]

My ski partner built up an angle indicator box, attaches just like the camera mounts and has a light that triggers at the correct angle. Unit has line length angle options. Now adding a timer and thinking using a horn to basically yell 'turn now!'

[customski]

I found to free ski and make it feel like course skiing, I had to set up the gate as you would in a course, this got the rhythm going and felt as it should.

[Jmoski]

+1 on using tape on the gunnels to make sure you are wide enough while free skiing.

 

I am in the Northeast, so we always have a week or two of free skiing in the Spring before we get the courses back in. I use this free-ski time to work on drills I have picked up from coaches to get ready for when the courses go in.

[andjules]

A couple of thoughts:

- it's true that free-skiing lacks the course's intensity but it's also a great opportunity to build body awareness, and deliberately practice sequences of movements, etc. While more time in the course would be great, remember that it's also true that people who only ski buoys can really struggle to practice new habits and make them consistent. The course has a tendency to consume all your attention on the next ball instead of being aware and deliberate with all the subtle actions you're performing. Not having course access 100% of the time can be as much a blessing as a curse. Sometimes I really miss having the opportunity to free ski.

- one thing I see sometimes with skiers about your level and who — like you — were freeskiers trying to become course skiers, is a free-skiing tendency to flat-glide after the wakes instead of a clear and decisive edge-change/preturn. You may want to try focusing on that: changing to your inside-edge-while-still-heading outbound, after the wakes. Maybe that's what's going on, maybe not… easy to diagnose with video and watching the spray coming out from your ski, and comparing it to videos online of great skiers' passes (search YouTube for "Terry Winter 1/4 speed" or "Seth Stisher 32mph" or "Regina Jacquess slow motion").

- 'turning into slack' isn't exactly a skill you want to spend time mastering, but just from your description it sounds like you're alright coming into the turn but ending it (especially when the rope isn't tight) too far back. That suggests you're doing something towards the end of the turn: maybe letting your shoulders come forward/hips back (something I struggle with), maybe trying to fisish with your shoulders instead of your knees or center-of-mass (something I also struggle with). So… even if it feels slow, try to let the ski finish the turn on its own, on your offside (2-4-6), patiently waiting for the ski to come under the line.

 

Can't be sure about any of this without seeing video, but a few things to consider and maybe some of it resonates.

[A_B]

The best thing you can do to help your course skiing is make sure you have a a progressive load into the second wake with straight arms and handle on your hip or very close to it. Free skiers tend to make a big turn and let off the lean into the wakes and have bent arms.

 

Once you have this down then worry about tape on the gunwales for width.

[jim_s]

I really appreciate everyone's input - this all definitely gives me some things to think about and try to see in practice. Freeskiing is definitely not the course, but it seems there are a number of things that can be practiced to make skiing in the course a bit less of a huge leap. @andjules seems to hit on a number of items - I definitely go from a pretty strong lean through the wakes to an over-exaggerated transition to a flat ski - I am having a hard time transitioning gradually after crossing the wakes - I either pull too long, or I make a huge adjustment from heavily on edge to rolling all the way to flat in an instant. On the turning-into-slack thing - when I try to turn with faster rhythm (such as is needed when in the course, vs slower more drawn out glides when free skiing), I end up leaning back to try to speed up the turn, which seems to be a strong contributor to the slack situation. On the plus side, I've been working the last few sessions to pull harder between the turn and the wake, and I'm finding myself getting higher and wider than ever before (even with the exaggerated transition after crossing the wakes), so I'm optimistic that some good is coming of trying to pull hard up till crossing the wakes, vs pulling too long. (I had one quick attempt at the course this evening (it was getting seriously dark), and clipped ball #1 trying to allow myself as much space to get to 2 as I could, LoL, so that was a very brief pass! :o)