Hard shell boot start

[Groot]

I tore the  ligaments in my ankle last year when I hit a slalom buoy and it’s still not healed so I switched to a hardshell boot from my Wiley. The ankle feels good in it but I have had a really hard time getting out of the water. It feels like I’m plowing. Never had a hard time before with the soft boots. Any suggestions? 

[Jmoski]

Both feet in when starting?  If your plowing that tells me your weight is too far back and the ski is vertical.  Try sucking your rear foot under your butt as the boat goes to keep the ski at a 30 degree angle to the water.

trying to think of why the hard shell would cause this - maybe your pushing through your front heel instead of the ball of your foot, hence changing the ski’s angle of attack.

the flex in the rubber bindings lends itself to getting you to press with the ball of foot and get on top of the ski.  With a hard shell you have to be more deliberate in you positioning.

i seem to recall missing my first start or two when I made this transition a decade ago.

 

hope this helps.

[Rednucleus]

Front or rear ankle injured??

[skialex]

Tilt the ski to the left a little if you are LFF and Vice versa. Rope should still be touching the side of the ski when getting out of the water. When you get used to the hard shell you would not need to do that, that much anyway. 

[BSBELL]

You're not alone, I know I have a harder time getting up in a hardshell

[eleeski]

I struggled with my first hardshells on a slalom ski. Starts, performance, buoy count - everything but comfort. So I abandoned the hardshell idea (for slalom). I demoed a ski with Fogman hardshells and loved it. The boots had been ground so there was easy fore aft movement. So I tried my slalom hardshells again with no pins and some grinding to allow more forward movement and loved the hardshells after that.

Look carefully at your shells to see whether you can adjust or modify them to allow more forward flex. For the rear shell, a lot of people have removed the top cuff completely and there are factory offerings like that.

On another note, after hip surgery, I could barely get up. I was profoundly weak for a surprisingly long time. After an injury, you lose strength. Once you recover, too often you dial back the physical therapy. It takes a long time to rebuild strength. Get back with a physical therapist and follow the rehab program religiously. Getting up is actually very difficult and demanding of strength.

Eric

[Groot]

Thanks for all the great feedback. I start with both feet in and I’m right forward ( that’s the injured ankle ) and I’m a pretty inflexible 66yo. I’ll try the suggestions and there is a limiter on back of the boot that I have out all the way. It’s possible I may be unconsciously starting with too much weight on the heel to protect the ankle but I’ll try more front foot pressure tomorrow. It was suggested that I try a different hardshell that may be more forgiving any recommendations? I just need the compression on the mid ankle to keep it from moving too much. I think I have a reflex 6.0