How to help your average girlfriend driver to become a slalom driver ?

[swbca]

This question has nothing to do with gender and the same question applies to having your children or spouse learn to drive in the slalom course.  

With decades of competing,  I rarely drove except for one son because there were no other skiers in our community.  
Recently I drove a 235 pound skier for a couple of sets behind my 2004 Prostar 197.   At 34mph, he started at 22 off and skied into 3 or 4 at 35off.   I was OK at the boat guides but not so great between the gates.  Reminded that it takes a lot of skill to drive well in the course. 

This 16 year old daughter pulled me several times per week in the 80's when this photo was taken. Same with my wife and son.  Stop watch and steering with one hand and throttle with the other.  They just learned somehow.   I have been told the 1986 Prostar was terrible at tracking.    So how should I start with a driver who has done years of driving for free skiing but not in the course ?

Edited November 8, 2023 by swbca

[ScottScott]

You're calling your girlfriend "average?" Hope she not on BOS or you got bigger problems than teaching her to drive...

.

[Jody_Seal]

here's the key. as a skier run a lot of your opening passes and don't shorten the line. giver her some repetitive experience. also as a skier be patient and make your suggestions easy and with a smile. 

however some people just don't get it and never will. they have to want to be a drive too.. 

my wife was one of those. when we had and skied behind the old flabottom v drive she could hit a 16.09 all day and in the lane. put her in a real tournament boat she struggled and does to this day even with all the electronic gadgets and boats that run on rails...

 

[Horton]

SurePath is an amazing driver training tool. It provides nearly instant feedback. I trained up a college age girl a few years ago with the help of SurePath. She had plenty of seat time outside the slalom course and she is a very sharp young woman. There is no shortcut for seat time and common sense.

For the first few rides I had to accept she was going to make a lot of mistakes and just run my opener up and down the lake. At the end of every pass I said as little as possible and let her look at the numbers. Of course, there were some comments about line up before the course and other details but I believe in saying less in this situation.

We did have conversations on the dock about counter-steering, timing and such but in the end she is either going to feel what is going on and respond or not. I unusually suggest moving the wheel less than you think you need to.

Within maybe a dozen rides I was running back to back 35s behind her. By the end of that summer, I ran at least one 38 behind her and that is about as good as I can ski behind anyone.

The below video is not about driver training but it does show Abbegayle driving with Will Bush in the boat. Better her than me.

 

[DW]

@swbca - until you change the title, not important as 'average' will quickly become 'ex'.  For most, you should not be the instructor, find someone else she will listen to.  That should lead to a good result.  As an observation, transitioning drivers from reactionary to proactive is a key to having a great pull, although that takes a lot of repetitions.

[swbca]

@dw @ScottScott  I didn't say "my average girlfriend".  "Your average girlfriend" is referring to any person who has normal skill levels at learning and a normal understanding of spatial relationships at speed.   As I said kids, spouse etc.  Who ever is interested and willing.  I don't have a girlfriend, but I do have a wife who loves to be around skiing and is good driver so far. 

Edited November 7, 2023 by swbca

[SportSki]

Great topic for teaching drivers!!! - Gender or marital status aside 🤣.

I spent hours teaching my father to drive the course this summer and the course is on an open lake so there are some different challenges and awareness required from a private lake. He probably pulls me free skiing 30-50 times a season now but never drove the course till this past summer. So it was a tough transition for him.

I drove the course with him (not spotting) but watching and observing - 28mph about 10 passes with NO skier.  Talking out loud about what I was doing as it was happening, driving through the throttle, where I was looking, counter steering,  communication with skier - etc. and then let him run about the same amount with no skier - pretending there was one though and speaking his thought process out loud. ( It Helped me to understand what he was struggling with faster)

We then had then set some goals and understanding and attempted to "calm his excitement" and wash old open water habits from his muscle memory. Then jumped in.  - The repetition was huge  for him, and lots of floating in the water and asking "what could have been better?" "Any opportunities?" "what went well that pass?"- This gave him time to think about it and what was happening as ALOT goes on in 30 seconds.  Lots of help with course entry set up and understanding why the set up into the course was important and what the skier needs. But like @horton said we "spoke very little" and just let him drive!!! One or two points at a time! was all he could handle in those moments - but in my opinion,  women or youngsters thought process' (if they are comfortable) are generally more concise and can generally comprehend and take on more points in my experience in teaching and coaching. Everyone has their own way of learning however - a good teacher will have to figure that out. For my old man it was repetition and small segments and seat time.

I then ran a bunch of 28mph-15off's ( about 10passes ) just to pull the boat a bit at slow speeds so he could understand how to counter and just drive with no stress. and then we started jacking the speed up. He did great when he didn't get in his own head and we "slowed things down". Got a bit out of hand and took a step back to get the confidence back and now still stresses a bit but can get it Done!!! 

This is a guy that is 64 years old and was on the 'slalom once a year' program for the last 20 years to prove he could still do it - but used to ski often in his younger years. - He has free skied since his teens but never in a course. He has learned so much and now free skis in the mornings with us when we need a driver or have enough room. So it was worth spending the time and fuel and odd popped gate ball in the end!!! And get to hang out with family - cant beat that! 

So the repetition/seat time was the most beneficial to his success and second was eliminating those old habits and biases to get him driving consistently. In some ways a 'younger' or unbiased driver would possibly learn quicker and could potentially tackle course driving quicker instead of thinking about how they used to do it!!! haha

Now to teach the wife to drive - and get to get out of bed earlier!!! Next Summers Job.

[Ski_Dad]

i let my wife drive the course for a while with no one behind the boat - at least 3 outings - to me that is key to getting a feel and confidence.   Well and i also don't have her pull my 1 friend who pulls really hard at the ball - i have to concentrate really hard when he skis LOL

[ETskier]

My wife is not average in anything she sets out to do, and became a very accomplished boat driver.  She is very good at all phases of boat driving and handling,  not just pulling skiers. There was only 1 time I ever complained her about driving. (I was skiing and she didn't deserve it) That was the only time in our lives together she ever used a foul word.

[6balls]

The same way you turn any inexperienced driver regardless of gender into a good driver.  

[teammalibu]

I have to ask, who wants an average girlfriend??(

[ForrestGump]

One huge thing that Chad Scott taught me is that the mistake most new and even average drivers make is fixating on the next set of boat guides.  The good drivers are looking down course.  As a skier, ever heard "look down, fall down"? It's the same for drivers.  As soon as you start looking at the next boat guide, you get behind the skier.  Plus, As soon as you start staring down the next boat guide, you tend to drive towards whichever side buoy you're looking at.  

[liquid d]

By calling your girlfriend "average", you'll never get a good pull out of her.😉

[Intheday]

Settle as early as you can for the course.

look at the end of the course.  It easier to keep things in perspective when you look up.

A guy that used to train airforce pilots said that he used to tell his young pilots look at the horizon and look for a landmark.  It stopped you looking at the gauges and making lots of adjustments,

only glance in the mirror to check your line is straight.

 

have fun 

[NameUnavailable]

My wife is a good driver. She is now at a point she can drive 38 off.

A friend of mine's wife is a great driver and I ask him the process he said be patient it will be worth it in the end. He was right. Remember her stress level will be high...pulling the skier up, counter steering, the power of the boat, stopping at the end of the lake, not running over the skier, not hitting buoys, boat centered in the course....we all started at that same point.

Break it down to small pieces learning/being comfortable with each stress point.  I would wait on sure path as a fine tune tool when she is driving comfortably. 

[Wish]

I’m blessed to have a top notch driver that’s also my wife. One of the main reasons she became a great driver is that she wanted to. In my opinion there has to be a desire. What is the motivation…just to please you? Or is it of interest and a challenge that peaks her interest?. Where is her confidence level doing new things? How is she at accepting advice?? Or does she only hear it as criticism?? How does she deal with failure or the perception of failure? How is she with mansplaining? There are lots of factors to consider. But in general, finding ways to be crazy patient, already been mentioned, will go a loooong way with any new driver. 

[jjackkrash]

I have to double down on Horton's post and Surepath.  When we first got Surepath my then 13 year old went from an all-over-the-place-I-dread-each-pass skill set to driving pretty much down the pipe in a week or two.  He occasionally still likes to slide in a bit before the 55s but at least now I have evidence when he does.  The downside is when I gripe about his driving after a crappy pass he just stares at me and says "single digits [insert street slang/term of endearment here]."  

(Nautique tracking also helps but that's a can of worms I'll only partially open).  

[DW]

Ski friends have said same, sure path has improved the driving from out of tolerance to in tolerance.  Example of technology providing a nice benefit, and yet not taking the task away from the human.  Thus, simply improving human skillset.  Win-Win.

[Mastercrafter]

@jjackkrashThis was a little lucky but I do appreciate Nautique tracking despite being a Prostar sort of guy 🙂 And yes there was a skier at 12m. 

 

 

 

[LeonL]

On 11/7/2023 at 10:07 AM, swbca said:

Between the guides.  What @ForrestGump said.  Look as far down course as your eyes permit.  Pre gates if possible, at least exit gates.  Some courses have a large sign of sorts, on the shore directly in line with the center on the boat path.  That works really goid.

 

[Jetsetr]

On 11/7/2023 at 7:11 PM, ForrestGump said:

One huge thing that Chad Scott taught me is that the mistake most new and even average drivers make is fixating on the next set of boat guides.  The good drivers are looking down course.  As a skier, ever heard "look down, fall down"? It's the same for drivers.  As soon as you start looking at the next boat guide, you get behind the skier.  Plus, As soon as you start staring down the next boat guide, you tend to drive towards whichever side buoy you're looking at.  

Some drift but....

This is how pilots (the good ones at least!) land aircraft...look all the way down the runway. If you look right in front of you, it’s not going to pretty.

[101driver]

I am going right back to the question @swbca raised at the start how do you train some one to drive the course who has years of boat experience for free skiing but no course experience. 

part of my role is to train trainers, I have worked as a trainer in various industries mainly Rail, Chemical and manufacturing. The approach I use and teach is the same for ski boat driving and at work.

• Evaluate the trainee, skills do not matter they can be taught, Attitude is critical if you don't get this read what @Wish wrote above he is right. One word of caution there are a few who you do not wish to proceed with, nervous is ok arrogant and over confidence in ability is not.
• Have in mind the overall goal but let go of any timescales and especially your needs, work only on the next step of the escalation ladder necessary to help the trainee develop. The trainee's will all progress through the steps at different rates this is normal.
• I explain the following to all trainees both boat driving and at work: Failure is good, we want failure so that you can learn, the plan is to set up a series of exercises which you will progress through, these are designed for you to fail, you will learn from these failures so that you will always know what to do. You will then gain confidence because you know you can do that task, we then move forward to the next task. Nothing bad will happen, if it all goes wrong you will be fine the boat will b e fine everything will be ok because I am in charge and I won't let you get into a bad situation.
• This is where I differ from some others above. I take all the fancy toys away, boat is in manual no aids just steering and throttle. I always did the same on the chemical plant full manual control, no PID loop tuning no auto control no protection. 
• Start working through the steps, pull out say, repeat in manual again and again with no skier on, then driving course in manual, getting boat on plane with speed settled before the green buoys. next step just driving in the course at speed takes some time to acclimatise, as others have said lift your eyes and not hunt down the course from buoy to buoy, this takes time, allow time for it. Turns next step. Single run drop off or spin, both have to be learn't
• Repeat with skier on but don't run course, be ready to drop skier if you need to, when OK on all above start doing some edge drills and really pull the boat make the trainee compensate, then alternate hard pull no pull, easy to do when doing edging drills not running the course.
• Repeat still in manual running course
• Only now let the trainee have Zero off or perfect pass and go through above again starting with no skier on and progress through the steps.

I totally agree with the comments above made by ballers about saying very little. The only thing I repeat is my philosophy: I try to give the skier the best ski experience I can....I don't always succeed but I always try..... every pass. I never stop learning how to do this better, different boats different skiers and different conditions.

Every trainee struggles on different steps, in my experience both at work and at the lake, in the long run the natural doesn't always make the best, the trainee who has to work and overcome is often the most prized.