Adam Caldwell

Friendly and ALL, The only part that really bothers me is the point about money and insurance. Partnering with WWA on insurance makes hosting events way less expensive I would think; which makes it easier for coordinators to host more events, possibly charge less for entry fees, and maintain a tour in their state. It does not mean that anyone makes more money. USA water ski should focus on what they do best: hosting small record capable tournaments for slalom, jump, and trick. They also do a great job at judge and driver training, they should continue to encourage skiers of all levels to get involved in those clinics and get trained. In the big picture, the sport NEEDS that quality training to support the higher level athletes as time goes on. They should leave grass roots events up to INT, whose purpose is to introduce the sport to new people around the world. They do a great job involving skiers and riders of all ability levels from novice to shortline. They should not try to be everything to every one, INT sees the value that USA brings to the water sports community, and encourages them to keep doing what they do best. The main reason USA wanted to partner with INT was to grow their membership base and try to increase their profits by having more participants under their umbrella, with very little compensation to the INT organization. Which ultimately would probably lead to a severe downfall to the integrity and professionalism of the INT events. For INT the EVENT is the product they are selling. Through INT, all that effort goes back into the industry, because it is the 'Event' is actually selling the 'industry' to the consumer. USA Waterski was not capable to improve their insurance policy to meet the high standards of INT, so the deal didn't make sense, and therefore did not happen. That's ok though. There is still plenty of space in the market for both organizations to be successful. And frankly, the sport needs these two organizations. It helps keep everybody honest. Not a single person in their right mind would run a business to loose money, it has to be profitable, otherwise its financial suicide. Both organizations have to have staff and business expenses. USA waterski certainly makes money, if they didn't...then how would they exist and why would they keep doing it year after year? I think it’s important to remember, even though there is someone out there making money running a water sports company, they sure as hell aren’t making much of it. No one in this sport is in it to make millions. It’s just too small of an industry.  We should be thankful for all the people involved with these companies because most do it for the love of the sport, definitely not the money. These guys work long hours for little money, just so all of us can have a sick board or ski to ride, and an opportunity to ride it somewhere that we can show off our skills to the world. And that is just cool. ÂÂ

Hey Richard, I would watch the words you are throwing around on this forum big boy.

So has anyone ever been so frustrated with fin settings that they just straight up took it out? Or maybe curious to see what would happen? If so, I am interested to hear what it was like!

Going extreme with it is great if you have plenty of time, relaxed and can think, which for many of us is out of the question.  For LFFs with Left Palm Down, Right Palm Up on the hanlde, I feel that if you get you palm to even face the shore on 1, 3, 5, and keep your palm facing the sky at all on 2,4,6 then that is adequate, to get desired effect.  For me I had a really hard time letting the ski do the work during this extension movement. I would alwasy try to use my feel to push the ski and slam the turn prematurely. As I started to Extend and Retract at an equal rate, and keep my legs relaxed, and moving my hips (keeping them up/moving foreward) to let the ski do the work and finish the turn, I would be in a much better position at the finish. Which gave me time to get settled into a good balance preload before the boat kicked my butt and pulled me up. This gave me the time I needed on the other side of the wake to think about all this palm up stuff. But even to this day, if I drive with me legs at all in the turn, I end up loading the rope right at the buoy line. Not so fun.  If anyone is up for a good DRILL to practice this, (who the hell does drills in slalom???) But get SIX of thoes huge beach balls, or the yoga ballance balls, (like the 3ft diameter ones) and go replace your turn buoys with them. See if that doesnt help you to keep you palm, inside shoulder and hips up in the turn. Not to mention, this is pretty damn fun too.

Yeah, get your arm through a smaller hole, and less likely to come out. NO THANKS!  Anyone know what the percentages are for:  Out of all skiers; How many have put their head though the handle in a fall? How many have put their arm through the handle in a fall? How many have never done anything like that? Horton, I smell a survey!  Are we really supposed to engineer safety devices to prevent ALL accidents? Theres is an inherant risk with everything. Ski smart, and you will minimize your risk of injury.ÂÂ

miski, Like Tom suggested...check out some video of yourself.  9 times out of 10 the problem you are trying to remedy is becuase of something happening WAY before the actuall problem occurs.  Action/Reaction , Cause/effect.

Double IPA... !!!! Awesome!  Good post TH. But edit your sh!t, Horton is getting his panites in a bunch!

Bruce, may I add..... In the turn, we want our hips to continue advancing forward and stay in the center of the turn. Just by sheer mechanics of the body, if the reaching hand is palm down, and reach is toward the water, then that shoulder is also down. In a turn this is the leading shoulder. Lets see what this does to our body and how it affects our balance. Now stand in a full length mirror. Tip your shoulders side to side, but focus on what is happening to your HIPS. This is what REALLY matters. The attitude of the shoulders governs the attitude of the hips. Unless, that is, you have no spine! Now think about how that might be affecting your turn. If your reaching arm is causing your leading shoulder to tip inward, then notice that your hips are moving back ...NOT foreword. In addition, your hips move out from under the body, taking away that stacked position we need to maintain an athletic stance. This is taking you completely out of a balanced position, making you very vulnerable to more problems as you finish the turn and approach the wakes. Find what works for you to keep that leading shoulder up. For some, the palm up or palm facing shore works. For others dropping the free hand down. Sometimes its not the reaching hand that pulls the shoulders out of level, but the free arm. That free arm can do some crazy stuff sometimes. If the free hand is way up in the air, then it could also be canting the shoulders in toward the boat (causing the body to prematurely rotate). Same effect that reaching palm down on the water can have. JB has said before to think about holding a 5 lb weight in that free hand. So it pulls the trailing shoulder down, allowing the leading shoulder to come up, and allowing the hips to come forward and advance through the turn. I don’t disagree with Bruce in that the top skiers reach is all over the place, and very different. But one thing they do ALL have in common, 90% of the time, is their trailing arm is down, allowing their shoulders to stay on a more level attitude, allowing them to stay stacked, balance, and over the sweet spot of the ski!! (for new school style skiers, the shoulders are level relitive to the water; where more traditionaly stye skiers, shoulders seem to be level relitive to the ski. The first thing you have to understand what is happening with the body before you can make a long term, habit breaking change on the water. Second, make sure your head is upright and level too. If your head is falling toward the boat on the way into the buoy, you will have a hell of a time trying to level out your shoulders, probably making things worse, not better! Remember. Skiing should be done with the lower body. Our upper body is simply for balanced.

Thanks Bruce, Ill give it a whirl.ÂÂ

Jamie is just Jamie. One of the few that can successfully put concepts in motion and get it right! I think he has just mastered the ability to ski an easier, and earlier line, that allows for a less sudden, more progressive acceleration and loading as he approaches the wakes (the load later concept), as to attain maximum speed and lower body load virtually directly behind the boat, (and minimizing amount of line tension) such that he can maximize the east west component of the velocity vector at the instant he crosses the centerline of the course, and rely on his inertia (speed with direction) to swing his body out to the buoy line almost as fast as he skied to the wakes, and then simply conserve momentum as best as he lets the ski swing out to the apex. Also, he is very successful in keeping his mass moving in the direction he is traveling, and staying up on the sweet spot of the ski all the time, allowing him to stay just a fraction of a second ahead of that moment when the boat is tugging at our body, rather than us tugging on the boat. Sorry, been sippin on that bottle again..... Damn long cold winters. /vanillaforum/js/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-surprised.gif

SO I had a couple after dinner and couldn’t stop my brain. I still have a question though, under the “Why is it important, section: 1)†bruce says that the ski will go flat as the handle is pulled away from the body.  Let me try to explain why I am confused.To me.. When I see the handle stay tight to the body, I see the direct link between the body and the handle. But it seems like when the handle close to the body, and also close to the center of mass, that the ski is actually FLATTER in the water, then it would be if our arms are extended with the bungee cord linkage system. In my eyes when the handle is close to the center of mass and body, the moment arm that the handle/rope/boat has an ability to work on our body is minimized. This does two things for us. First, It reduces the torque put on our core, allowing us to stay up on the ski and continue to direct our inertia outbound and in the direction of the turn.  Second, it minimizes the leverage the handle/rope/boat has against upper body allowing us to keep our center of mass over the sweet spot of the ski longer, keeping the ski a bit flatter in the water, enabling the ski to maintain speed and direction as it heads into the next phase of the turn. When I see someone get their arms pulled away from them of wake number 2, their entire body is becoming torqued by the force from the handle/rope/boat that is rotating them and shifting their center of mass toward the tail of the ski and in towards the boat.(the exact opposite direction you want to be advancing your center of mass in the preturn).  Aside from the massive loss of speed and direction, when this phenomenon takes place it seems to me that their ski rolls up to a more aggressive turning edge(not to a flatter ski). This leaves the skier with much less surface area of ski in the water to support their weight, causing the tip to rise/tail to sink, and they end up skiing a much narrower path, at with little conserved momentum. Also since there is nothing underneath their center of mass, and their lack of outbound inertia produces little centripetal force they begin to get that falling over look/issue. Not to mention, once this happens they have no hope to counter rotate because all the stored energy in their body has been given up to the boat, or re-absorbed by the recoil of the rope early in the preturn and they are not in any position to make a dynamic athletic movement. So in conclusion Am I wrong in my understanding that if... The handle is:    1. close to body - on a steel cable - during the preturn  THEN ski is on a turning edge, but flatter and faster allowing it to get width before rolling up on an aggressive turning edge and creating our optimal wide arc in the turn. 2. Away from body - on a bungee - during preturn THEN skis is on a more aggressive turning edge, not allowing the ski to carry outbound before begging to turn, putting them on a narrower line, with greater losses of energy. Or is it that when the handle gets pulled off the body, the torque from the boat alone is enough to twist the body AND the ski to be facing completely up-course, and that is what makes the ski flat? Please Advise!

Bruce, Killer article. We need to have more of this stuff out there. Issues with pictures that explain the rights and wrongs with some details, but without hitting the F=ma as you put it.  Good work!

Scratch that, Wrong link...thoes are of me...im always open for criticism, however .... Here is the correct link.. http://picasaweb.google.com/buoychaser  Just scroll throuh the albums to see the series of wichever pros u want.

JH, first of all....I forgot to tell you how halarious you are...  Second, check out my swervin friend, Scott Behners photos from the INT USC... He had a few close ups of Willy, and T-Mo (preturn/counter) that I think many of the people on your site will benefit, love seeing. A couple of T-Mo show how much he is leading the hip through toward the bouy while countering...and also some serious "vertical spine" action, as you coined the term.  Enjoy. http://picasaweb.google.com/buoychaser/AdamCaldwellRound2At2008INTUSChampionships#