What action is required to engage the tip behind-the-ball on your off-side

[swbca]

All short line skiers engage the tip to complete the turn on their offside. Now that I am back in a slalom course, this is the only thing that isn't coming back to me. I just stay back on the ski because I don't know how to initiate the action to drop the tip behind the ball, so I end up with an arcing turn. I guess I have become too risk averse to just wing it.

 

Can getting from Frame 1 to Frame 2 be put into words ? This was ball 3 at 32off 34mph before I forgot how to do it.

[scoke]

Why not evolve with modern coaching?

 

https://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/27202/how-to-turn-a-slalom-ski

 

 

 

Then use the givego application?

 

Post some video of you in the course?

 

What octane are you running in your boat?

[RGilmore]

I see what I consider to be two unfortunate results of a flawed "preturn" (do we even use that term anymore?):

 

1) In the first frame you're near or right at the apex of the turn, and your left hand is kinda half to the inside and half forward, which leads to the second frame where the handle is almost back to your right hand and the turn is nowhere near completed. The result is gonna be no finish, no angle, and a slack hit.

 

2) Your left hip is back a bit, but more importantly it's not even slightly engaged in the turning process. You want to turn the ski with your inside hip, not your shoulders.

 

All of what you're experiencing here is a direct result of not carrying enough potential energy ("load") up to the release of your right hand to allow the ski to cast outward into a wide apex.

 

The fix starts back at the first wake, which we can't see here. Mr. Coke is right; you need to make use of video, and maybe video coaching (givego).

 

[pgmoore]

@scoke - dead. I am dead. Chapeau.

[swbca]

@RGilmore Thanks for the critique. As bad as it may look I would give anything to get back to that performance level as re-starting point. I never missed 35off @34 in a tournament unless conditions were bad, I never skied with slack until 38off which I never mastered. And, actually I finished that turn with great angle. I know my path to ball is wrong by today's standards.

 

My grip is "backwards" in that photo and I have changed that. I will go for some coaching asap.

[Horton]

In image 1 you are on the back of the ski and you are prematurely leaned to the inside. This is is largely because of the old ski. This what you had to do back in the day.

 

In image 2 you are pulling the handle across your body and the ski is not rotating. This is also the result of 30 year old gear.

 

I would suggest that you keep you shoulders level and keep your feet more under your hips ( front to back and side to side)

 

[lpskier]

@pgmoore Ill bite. What’s your reference?

[Terry Winter]

The stronger your hip-to-handle connection through the edge change approaching your offside turn the easier it is to engage the front of the ski through the turns.

 

If you allow the handle to separate from the waist as you make the edge change the pull from the boat will be transferred from the central core of the body up to the shoulders. With the boat pulling your shoulders forward your automatic safety response is going to be to drop back farther with the hips to keep from getting pulled out the front. With the shoulders forward and the hips back you will always enter the offside in a compromised position. The weight will be behind the feet towards the tail of the ski, and the shoulders will be too far forward in a less than confidence inspiring position. When the ski tip does engage from this position it can bite hard and sometimes pitch you forward, so the natural reaction is to never let the tip engage too much.

 

If you can keep the hip joints in front of the shoulder joints as you cross the wakes and make your edge change then the pull of the boat will be assisting in pulling the hips up and over the ski into the turns. With the shoulders remaining more upright it will feel much more comfortable for you to move the hips up and over the ankles approaching the buoy. This will more safely and more consistently engage the front of the ski giving you a tighter carve with more predictability and stability from the ski.

 

Simply put: Keep your hips up to the handle and shoulders behind the hips as you make the edge change into your off-side turns, and you will find yourself using the front of the ski better.

 

[swbca]

@twhisper Thank you for thorough reply.