matthewbrown

@mrjones there are many ways to skin a cat, however, physics would dictate that there is only one way that will be most efficient(yes, you did beat me head to head in TX...dammnit) @horton ...... the question you are asking is, what do you have to do physically to make the most efficient seemless transition from cutting edge to turning edge while maintaining the optimal path to the next buoy? I like your idea but I think you are missing the point. It seems like you are trying to manufacture your answer while disregarding the other variables in play, or variables that have already gone sideways. What are some of the variables that would cause you to have a hard edge change? Pulling too long so that by the time you edge change, the load is released all at once due to the tangent forces. Ass back in cut, blocking the skis movement separating arms from vest. Ski shooting out too far in front without your center of mass keeping up. Legs too stiff, stacked but too far on the back of the ski. The list goes on and on but never once is it as simple as pulling too hard. My point is that if you are moving toward the wakes in a dynamic stacked position with your ankles flexed forward, hips completely centered over your ski aligned with your shoulders, and are starting your edge change at centerline you wont have to worry about hard edge changes because they can’t happen. I'm not saying that your technique wouldn't help you to get in a better body position behind the boat. But, I think at that point when you tell yourself to keep your vision up...it's merely a band-aid approach to correct something else that has already gone awry.

67 A3---- 29.5" 0.775, 2.515, 6.850 66 A3-----29 1/16" 0.775, 2.515, 6.850 these seem to be the best numbers on average...some skis will have a slightly different flex and rocker so adjustments would need to be made accordingly.

Easily the best Parrish has ever skied...not one bobble, even with the bad luck of having the bottle in the water he never flinched. Looked like he layed up at 3 which would of made someone get a piece of 4.

we don't know the easy loops he's running? 32-39, it says it right on the video....unless you are referring to the gopro view....his skiing is much improved since that video by the way

@skijay you actually look pretty good and I would say you are a lot closer then you think....yes you are pulling twice as hard in the 13m course pass, as you are in the 12m freeski pass which is part of the mental block you will need to work through to slow everything down, and I can see a little bit of long pulling here and there, but, If I was you I would just work on one thing. Even on your freeskiing passes it's pretty apparent that you are not staying centered on your ski as you begin and finish your 1,3,5 turn. Your hips are up and your shoulders are back, it's a nice position, but you are a too far on the back of your ski. Throughout the turn and mostly at the finish you are not moving your body towards the next buoy which would enable you to stay on top of the ski and keep your speed up. You are actually leaning back to the previous buoy you just came from, causing you to lose speed, shoulders dip and nearly fall. You are thereby forcing the ski to come between you and the boat too soon. Now, you have a heavy load to hold on to with no speed. The more centered you are on the ski, the longer you can keep the ski tip pointed downcourse, the more speed you will create and the easier it becomes to hold that direction into the next buoy. Look at your 2,4 turn, it's perfect because you keep up with the ski and are centered. What do motorcycle racers do when coming into a turn, they lean to the inside.....they don't lean back on their bike and they don't lean straight forward either. How do you fix this issue? First you have to be aware that you are even doing this, second you have to be able to slowly make some adjustments and either feel, see or be coached that it is indeed working. I struggle with this too, but by trying to keep my ski outside the buoy line for as long as possible(tip facing downcourse) and my shoulders open while leaning to the inside, not back....is what works for me.

can't believe someone would get married on that weekend and not even consult you on your schedule.....Hawaii was incredible, nearly didn't come home...if I would of ran as many buoys as I drank pina coladas, i would of set a world record

@skijay if you posted some video, the guessing game would stop rather quickly.

@horton ----drysuit, 58 degree water, minimal sets, new ski and a zig zag in late February?? Priceless

@liquidd how is the chicken wing?

@skijay ----Visualization does work, but I also think another issue could be at the heart of the problem. A nice turn in for the gates followed by a strong cut establishing a nice early line, but this can sometimes be negated if your eyes are searching for the buoy immediately/too early. Maybe not even your eyes searching for the buoy, but your brain telling you it's time to stand up and start to think about the turn because that orange buoy is coming. In other words, when you are free skiing there is no buoy to look/anticipate for, so you are likely to continue your perpendicular trajectory carrying more speed outbound and are less likely to stall the ski and drop your hips in the turn. Something that has seem to help me is, to delay my thought about the upcoming buoy and delay my looking for that buoy in hopes that this translates to greater maintenance of direction, more time, and less freakoutness. You said it yourself, the trigger is the upcoming ball. Why not focus on reducing that trigger by purposely delaying your vision and your anticipation.

@shaneh that is exactly what i am preparing for...although when she's barely tipping the scales at 95cents I'm not sure how much help she will be, hell, my winter boiler alone weighs that much.

@chrisrossi nice work! what about incorporating a reverse Kjellander slam over there on 2,4 to spice up the pass a bit ?!@!??

@mattp i do crossfit, snowski and I also just picked up Bikram hot yoga which is really brutal but has helped loosen up my stiffness.

no turns in a month...completely over it til it gets warmer in March...not sure people(except @horton) know how miserable it is here in California in the winter

@shaneh what do you mean, you are the one who was 20 sierra nevada's deep at that point...not to mention the bags of insulin producing hormones you were slamming down your gullet

@eleeski it has been temporarily shelved. It seems that it was a bit of fools gold....smoother and faster than the regular fin, however, at the short line lengths became increasingly difficult to stay on top of the ski through the finish of the turns...more tweaks were needed and as you can tell by @horton 's picture of me....I'm over it this year

apparently it was the end of the ski season for me

@horton you probably have 30 of them stacked up on top of each other, with a bottle of Scotch resting nicely on top of them, so as not to have to bend over to far risking back injury when grabbing for a swig.

thanks @h2oskigirl should of had video of your runs, you are the one who got the gold!

@Horton you are completely untrustable now

@TUP please listen and apply what @ToddL and @Rich have said in this thread. What is important in skiing is the relationship of your hips and center of mass to your ski, especially in the acceleration phase. A great video to watch is the one that @skiing2heaven posted of Harold running 4@41. Notice how centered he is on the ski through the wakes into 1 ball. He loses that centeredness a bit as he goes through the course which eventually catches up to him. Also, look at the Rossi and April videos that @skiing2heaven was kind enough to post, and see how both skiers have their hips in alignment and forward on the ski in the acceleration phase--Rossi at the 53 second mark and April at the 1:11 mark. Don't be fooled by tail turns, these are world class skiers and when they do rock back on their skis they are able to quickly get their center of mass back over the ski and keep moving. @TUP even if you make mistakes and are turning on the tail of the ski, try to get your hips back over your knees and feet in the acceleration phase and you'll be fine. @skijay some very good skiers do ski on the back of their skis, but only some of the time...most of these skiers are over their ski more in a pass then they are on the back of it. Imagine how good someone could be if they stay centered, right on top of the ski from deep water start to deep water drop....hmm...here we go again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6kqh0kY6V4

@toddL that is quite possibly the best tip anyone has ever given on this forum---use your time from deep water to the course to actively engage your glutes into a nice stacked/balanced postion and then to take it another step further, see how long you can stay in this position in the course through the cuts and turns

@shcroeder 2.25@39 and pretty much 2@39 the other 3 rounds

thanks for exposing my nice stacked position there @dirt ! but Smart did run 4@39 today and he even started at the big boy length of 13m!

@wwk87 practice is one thing, doing it in a tourney where everything is legit is a completely different animal. Nonetheless, you would expect that some big dawgs have run 41 in practice where you have multiple attempts in a row, no pressure and maybe a little help from the driver, but in my talks with the elite in that division I have not heard of any big dawg that has run 41at 34 in practice besides Mapple. In fact there have only been a handful over the years who have made it over to 4 ball in a tourney Of course it will be done and maybe this weekend the way Greg is skiing, and Todd is on fire right now and I'm sure there are other great BD skiers who are knocking at the door but it is a little ill conceived to assume that 41's are being dropped left and right all over the country.