Bruce_Butterfield

Hmmmm. This may not be specific to your question, but I believe in general this may help.  It gets back to the perception vs. reality concept, i.e. when we pull across course, we perceive that we are going 90 deg to the course, when in reality we are going diagonally.  What I think squaring (shoulders always facing downcourse) causes is to help use the hips and knees to move the ski and center of mass, rather than using the shoulders to initiate the movement.  Another way this can be described is that the upper body is still and the lower body is doing the work.  A big key is to focus on simple things that make your body position more efficient or natural. Thinking about always keeping your shoulders facing downcourse, like a snowskier always having his upper body facing downhill, can key your body into a much more efficient position. That is one simple thing to focus on instead of thinking of arms in, knees bent, quick edge change, head level, etc, etc.  You want a simple key that makes other things fall naturally into place.  Focusing on “shoulders square†is one of those very effective simple keys.  Now the reality part. If you look at the really good snowskiers, their upper body isn’t facing perfectly downhill, even though that’s their goal.  For waterskiers, it gets more difficult since we have one foot in front of the other, we will never get the upper body facing perfectly downcourse.  The key is that if we attempt, or feel, like the upper body is facing downcourse, you will end up with a much more effective body position. Bottom line is to take the photos with a grain of salt and focus on what you are perceiving.

The folks in SoCal have always been a little strange. I can't think of any good reason or situation where you would want to bend your leg back. That would really create unbalance on the ski. My normal bindings allow quite a bit of forward flex for easy knee bend. However, I did try bolting my hardshells with the cuffs forward for a set about 2 years ago. Canadian Dave Miller showed me what he did to his bindings and he swore by that to force the knees forward. Like every other adjustment there was good and bad points. I found that with the knees forced forward, the ski tip stayed down in the preturn, but tended to wheelie at the completion of the turn. I probably could have played with that more and made some binding position or fin adjustments, or just gotten used to it, but didn't have the time to tinker with it then. Either forward flexibility or locking the upper cuff forward are the better options. Of course, with bindings there is a huge amount of personel preference for what one skier will like vs another. Experimenting is the only way to find out.

Hey John, I love crazy ideas, but I have to agree with Ed that the gas savings would be negligible. If you want to do something fun, try runnning the slalom course on a trick ski. You can try variations of speed and line lengths. I think you'll find that challenging without having to mess with course sections. Your daughter may like it too.

“Are you saying that less physical effort is (to a point) but more lower body lean is always good? “ No. The point I was trying to make is that frequently when you feel like you’re pulling your guts out, you are actually putting less force against the boat than when you relax and it “feels†effortless. Your body is simply stronger and naturally more efficient when you relax. This by no means implies that you want wimpy pulls. What you want are STRONG pulls that feel easy. I guess that’s the slalom skier’s definition of efficiency. To put it another way, when you feel like you’re working hard, you’re usually fighting yourself. When you relax and it feels easy, you’re usually fighting the boat. You’re overanalyzing things AGAIN. Keep it simple. The benefits of relaxing are independent of the style of skier.

I don’t know what Horton is looking for, but will offer a few related thoughts. The ability to relax is critical in virtually every sport. First, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, the human body is significantly stronger when the muscles are relaxed than when tense. It also responds much quicker and more fluidly when relaxed (think about how relaxed a cat is when it pounces). The result is that when you feel relaxed, you actually put more load against the boat with less effort than when you feel like you’re pulling your guts out. Also, key to skiing, is that when you are relaxed, you will load and unload smoothly. If you think “pullâ€ÂÂ, it will usually be jerky and the result is like loading a spring – when you stop pulling, the boat/rope will take everything back (and more), which will usually pull you out of good body position. Also key to relaxing is controlled breathing and exhaling. Exhaling is one of the body’s natural relaxation triggers. Relaxing coming off a buoy and being early into the next makes perfect sense to me. Ever watch a high-end skier and think how easy they make it look? Next time pay attention to how relaxed they look. Remember the occasional picture of someone with the handle rolling out on the fingertips in a shortline reach? That’s from being relaxed. The ‘compressed’ style skiers edging from the hips? The arms and shoulders are relaxed. Of course relaxing takes focus and practice, and like every other skill, some find it natural while others have to work very hard at it.