The italicized part of this post is just background info about me, course availability and my ski setup, to get to the progression methodology go down to the normal print.
Wanted to share some things I have learned in my first year of slalom skiing (in hopes it could help others in a similar situation), and get any additional advice to help keep the progress going.
Quick notes about me: I live in Western NC about 30 minutes from a rather large public lake with a slalom course on it. The water isn't always smooth, but we make the best out of it and usually can have decent water, main downside is it takes about 10 minutes for all the backwash wakes to go away after running 4 passes through the course. Not very important, but just for more info I'm 6' 145 lbs and lean. Played soccer through high school, snowboard competitively in winter, skateboarded everyday in college, and mtn bike and now mainly slalom ski in summer.
I started skiing last fall in September, open water due to lack of a course (living in Raleigh, NC). Worked on stack, hips to handle, etc. Was learning on a 1980's Connelly Shortline 65". As I became more interested, I bought a good condition, used 65" 2013 HO Triumph with a Wiley Binding and a RTP. The new ski felt great and was a great ski to keep learning stack in open water, and start going though the course. I was skiing at 30 mph.
Should mention the boat is a 1985 Dixie Outboard.
First time through the course was in October, wanted to try before winter hit too hard. Had to reduce the speed to 26 to make it through, and might've gotten one pass through at 28 but it would've been sloppy if so. I will mention that I think the old Connelly would not have been near as good for these speeds as the Triumph was.
Fast forward to the beginning of this season, I think around late April I began taking the boat out again. At this point had no desire to ski anywhere but the course near my house, so started skiing course only. I met a kind man with a ski boat (2006 SN w ZO), and we started going out with a group every Saturday morning, and I went out with him about 3 times a week. I would take 2 passes through at 26mph and then the rest of the day 28mph, all at 15 off. About a month in I bought a Radar Profile boot.
Throughout the season I focused on primarily stack, front foot pressure, not "falling" into the turn, and recently keeping the handle tight to my side as I leave the second wake. I will also mention that I have been on BOS about an hour a day on average probably. I give most of my credit to reading BOS (basically coaching myself) and watching videos of myself.
I bought a 2018 GOODE XTR off of ski it again about 2 weeks ago, and yesterday I ran a pass at 28 off 30 mph, and today I tried 15 off 34 mph and made all 6 3rd try through.
So, in one season, I went from 15 off at 26 mph to 15 off at 34 mph, with no really hard crashes *knock on wood* and I'm hoping I can get 22 off at 34 and 28 at 32 a month from now.
Now, for my theories haha.
Equipment: As a beginner, I think its important to have forgiving equipment. I really felt that the Wiley front binding at the beginning made me really figure out how to turn the ski with my weight, not just push the side of the binding over. It also had lots of front to back leg movement, which I felt made it more forgiving for the times I got a little forward and almost went over the front. When I bought my Radar Boot, I immediately noticed I had a larger tendency to go over the front, because the boot had much more support. At this point, I was skiing 30 mph 15 off. Once I got used to the boot, I liked it a lot. But I was also already accustomed to a lot of the fundamentals, and I feel if I had this boot to start with, I might've gone over the front some. As far as the skis go, the HO Triumph got me up to 32 mph and 15 off, and I got 3 bouys at 30 mph 28 off. I don't think I necessarily needed a new ski at this point, but I saw the XTR for a price I couldn't refuse, so I went for it. I had read a lot about tournament skis vs "cross over skis" such as the omni, V, and Senate, and I was actually looking for a crossover when I found the XTR. I read that the crossover would be more forgiving, faster, and less strenuous, but since I'm young and fairly strong I decided the only factor that mattered for me in that was faster and more forgiving, and seeing as though I'd like to work my way up into 32 off at 34 mph by sometime next year or the year after, I didn't want to have to buy a ski a year later. So I bought the XTR and it felt great. I did notice a tad of "instability" at 30 mph that disappears at 32. And after skiing if for a day I no longer noticed that instability. SO MY POINT HERE IS: a crossover ski is definitely a good investment, probably to get one to 32 mph, but once you hit 32 mph and 15 off (solidly), I think one could go ahead and use a tournament course ski and be fine. No need to use a stiffer crossover ski to bridge the gap IMHO.
Boat: The wake behind my outboard is smaller than the SN, and the pylon is in the back instead of the middle. I have found that skiing both of these actually helps, because the smaller wake helped me really commit to cutting across it, and the lack of ZO or PP made it slow down when I pull, so its a very soft "32 mph" which helped bridge the gap from 30 to 32. On the contrary, skiing behind the SN is easier at one's more comfortable passes, because the ZO allows you to create a rhythm, whereas the rhythm behind the outboard is nonexistent haha.
Wakes: Cutting through the wakes and not catching air is something I heard a lot. I do not back this theory. There is no way, anyone, could ski behind that SN with 3 normal size guys in it at 22 off and not have almost the entire ski pop out of the water for a second. Cutting across the wakes is good, but if you watch an old video of Regina (I think that's who it was) skiing 22 off, you notice that the ski pops out of the water off the wake each time. She is still cutting across them, but people who say your ski should cut directly through and not catch air are full of shit imo haha. I noticed that my least consistent pass is 22 off at 30 mph. The wake is just not in one's favor. After doing a lot of 22s I decided to try a 28, and made it 2 out of 3 tries (now I had already read about 28 and the need to keep the handle in, and a lot more strategy, so I mainly focused on that) and I give a lot of the credit to the wake simply being smaller and more manageable at 28 off (30 mph). The takeaway from this is that while 28 off is much harder based on technique, it is easier based on wake, so that is something a 22 off'r can look forward to. And I think that now that I can run 28 and the wake is better, I can finally focus on the form of skiing rather than just the form of pulling across the wakes, which is something to look forward to.
Form: Stack is key. I've seen @Horton say it when talking about teaching people, and I've felt it in real life. Before working on anything else, I think one should get to 30 mph, and not move past 15 off until their stack at that length/speed is at least somewhat acceptable. If this is not the case, much more pain will be had because they will go over the front. Gate is also key. I've seen it said a million times. Now, I don't necessarily try to make the gate, but what I mean is a good solid graduated pull that sets you wide and early for the first ball is super key. Especially the shorter the rope. A bad gate means nothing at 15 off but trying 28 off it messed me up the first attempt. Now, in my opinion 15 off and 22 off can be run with nearly the same form, main difference is the wake sucks at 22 off. Going to 28 off, however, would absolutely not have been possible without the handle staying in. I tried it for fun one day and got 3 balls and had massive slack, not enough width. But, when I focused on holding the handle longer, and in to my body more, I gained a lot of width and suddenly made 2/3 attempts the next time I tried. So, my take from here is: focus on stack, and handle position after the second wakes, because that will help you a lot when you get to the shorter ropes. Also that's mainly what I have read about learning 28 and 32 off, are that the wake to ball becomes more important than the prior ball to wakes.
Videos: watch pros and good people doing your speeds. One can simply not ski 30 mph at 15 off like a pro skis 38 off. The wake is different, and the technique is different. Watch it, understand it, but know that you will not be mimicking that exact form.
Speeds/Rope Lengths: my dad and uncle skied in college and both though I was being weak by shortening the rope before I went up in speed. However I read on some posts on here that people had good luck with learning proper technique by shortening the ropes at lower, more forgiving speeds, so I tried it, and I think it worked. I started with 15 off and worked my way from 26 to 30 mph. Once I got to 30, I shortened the rope to 22 off. Eventually once I was doing that decently, I started skiing some at 15 off at 32. Then, I tried 28 off at 30 mph. Progression is all about fun. The more fun you have, the more you want to ski and progress even more. So my theory is once one feels decent at 15 off 30 mph, go to 22 off. Once you feel decent at that, go to 15 off at 32. Then try 28 at 30, because you have more time, but also I think it requires better technique that would be more difficult to learn at higher speeds. After doing 28 off at 30, I was able to run 34 mph 15 off. I think one should work their way up to 35 off at 30 mph, while messing with changes in speeds with longer ropes, and then the shorter ropes at higher speeds will come much quicker. I feel like with the right water and mindset, I could run 28 off at 32 mph, and I haven't done 22 off. Just doing 28 at 30 mph makes me feel like I understand the principles needed for the pass, so without too much time I'll be able to up the speed.
Open water: I've found open water helpful only for practicing pulling out on my offside. Doing that over and over (pull out, glide back in, pull out, glide back in, etc) has helped me keep my hips towards the handle and generally understand the stacked position I should be in for my offside, without having to cross the wakes. Other than that, open water helped me learn to keep my arms in let the ski pull away from me in the preturn, by letting the ski kinda slide under me with bent knees after I leave the second wake. Other than those two things to learn with open water, its useless to practice. Unless you're just having fun, then its fun.
Haven't gotten any real coaching yet, but would love to get some before the season is over. Goal is to get 22 off at 34 mph, maybe 15 off at 36, and 32 off at 30 mph.
Lastly, I did not notice a big difference in the skis, I don't think I'm good enough to notice, but what I did notice is that the high end ski didn't feel unforgiving in my case. It felt pretty much the same except it felt a little wobbly at 30 mph when I first got it. Also, will probably be buying a whisper fin for next season, seems like it could be a good investment.
Sorry for talking your ears off, not even sure if anyone will read this but hopefully if there is some 28 mph 15 offer out there who is just starting, they can read through this and gain some knowledge that will help them. And if that is you, feel free to reply and ask any questions. I have borderline OCD, and its caused me to read probably as much on BOS in the last couple months that I have in books throughout my entire scholastic career. So I know the general idea of what most people think is important and when.
PS if anyone sees this and is a hiring manager, I'm a recent grad of Mechanical Engineering and graduated into a pandemic, pls give me a job haha.
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