Razorskier1

@6balls - put them up for sale on ski it again and get a new one. I'll test it for you while you heal up!

My sister, a physician, has often said earplugs would be a good idea to keep from eardrum injury.

Stacked should be similar to your standing posture on dry land, albeit with a little ankle flex. The more natural your stacked position is to you, the better you'll hold it.

@AdamCord - sounds like a winner! If I can get consistent at 35 off again and start running 38's it might be time for a test drive!

When I was testing skis for Denali last year this was one consistency. The tip support was insane. I kissed the tip and still kept skiing on multiple occasions. You just couldn't stop the ski in the turn. It would keep moving regardless of your position. I think that was what worked for my brother on his 2-4 turns. On other skis he would dig a hole and dip his elbow waiting for the ski to move. On the Denali you just can't dig a hole.

@Chet is right - I've skied with him! I guess what I would say is that my thinking occurs most on the platform getting ready and as I approach the course. In the course I feel like I am monitoring my actions rather than thinking about them. For example, Chet told me "two hands on the handle, outside the buoy line, on top of your ski". I repeat that to myself all the time, and I monitor myself in the course to be sure I'm doing it. However, I have also come up with simpler cues I use to make this happen as well. Being deliberate matters.

one of the best shortline skiers I know told me to "stay up after the turn". I used to drop and load after the turn. Lots of spray in the face. Keeping my head and shoulders up not only does the ski turn quicker, your speed stays higher and you are off to the next ball. Not easy to conceptualize for sure, but it matters.

Love the simple clean black and white!

Being deliberate about what you do in the course doesn't matter IF you don't start high enough to begin with. If you start wrong and then focus on controlling your handle it won't work.

@Booze - RFF

Last year before every pass I'd say to myself "get high on the gate, turn in, ski". That was the extent of my thinking about my passes, and it was the best skiing of my life. Every spring I go and get all analytical about every little thing, then can't put them all together until one day, palm to forehead, I remember I should just get high on the gate, turn in, and ski!

2 thumbs up for @Jibbo -- great service!

With an unusual season for me, I've spent a lot of time thinking, both on and off the water, in an effort to get my position right, my lean right, my gates right, my handle control right, etc. This has led to some really great days on the water, when the "thought of the day" seemed to work, and others when I struggled. This morning I skied one set where I was thinking hard about my handle and position at the second wake. Here's the problem. The entire pass goes by in 16.95 seconds. If I'm thinking at the second wake, I'm standing still. That's no good!

 

Second set I did what I did last fall. Get wide on the gate, turn in and ski. No thinking at all. Suddenly my skiing was more dynamic, my line was tight, my turns were consistently terrific, and I felt like "me".

 

I don't know why, but I do this to myself every season in the early part of the year. This year it is more of a problem because I just haven't skied much.

 

Conclusion: think in your living room, ski on the lake. Do not mix (don't try to ski in your living room, and don't think too much on the lake!)

@mwetskier - if you asked guys like Jodi Fisher, they would tell you hip direction is ski direction. By keeping your hips square to the front, you are maximizing ski direction and maintenance of it. When I talk with Jodi about it, he says hips square, chest at the 30-40 degree offset to direction of travel (which is what I endeavor to accomplish). Now, are my hips always perfectly square? Probably not, but that's the goal.

 

From my perspective, an additional part of this is minimizing movement. Watch the best skiers, and you will see that their stance on the ski barely moves from turn in to lean to reach to turn, to load again. Why does this matter??? Because every time you move you are either tugging on the line or releasing tension. If the goal is maintaining line tension and skiing the handle path, I believe you will be better at achieving it if you can find a comfortable body position that (a) maximizes efficiency and (b) keeps you from loading and unloading the line. I believe hips square and chest quartering toward the direction of pull is that position.

I am certain the new Radar is fabulous (I love my 16 Vapor Lithium!!!), but y'all sound like sales people! Don't you know, when you find a great ski, you don't tell ANYBODY! Why would you want Erb to be kicking your ass because he got a great ski ;-)

I just keep telling my wife that as expensive as skiing is, it's still cheaper than (and healthier) a drug or alcohol addiction! Give me skiing every day!

Almost every newbie driver will give you some bad pulls, because they don't understand how much you move the boat, nor how to hold the boat in place. I'd much rather have straight but slightly off the center than someone where I can feel myself move the boat every turn, then find no rope support at the next one.

 

In the case of experienced drivers, sometimes the pull can be stiffer than I like. Straight and centered as can be, but countering a little early and taking the handle away when you are trying to ski back to it.

 

Neither is great for my regular training (which has become quite irregular this year), but I'll take teaching somebody while skiing my first two line lengths over not skiing.

if there was big spray it has to be good!

@Mwetskier - ask them about sizes. I skied many of the earlier versions of the ski, and at 195lbs I was on a 66 because the ski has so much lift.

post a clip -- should be able to log in to the mobile BOS and just pop it in.

And you added a demo program! Nice! 30 days to try it out!

You both look great on the new ski, and your engineering and theory has always been on the mark! Look forward to skiing one!

@skidawg - man dawg! That is awesome!

They just don't work. I pour six gallons every time I ski. Every few sets I pour 12. Guage is useless

@ToddL -- hips should, IMO, always be square to the direction of travel, but shoulders slightly offset toward the pylon/boat. Keep in mind this is not "open to the boat" or "closed to the boat". Those terms are overused and not helpful. It is a slight turn of the shoulders toward the boat (instead of directly square to the ski), while keeping your hips square, that works. Believe me, if you try the pull out I highlighted above this will become very clear. Look over at the wakes, keep your eyes there, and pull out. You will zoom up the side of the boat and you will stay wide (because you generate more speed). You will also feel like there is no load.

 

Ever have those days where it feels like you are working too hard to get up for your gate? I have. It is always a result of where my chest is pointing.

 

If you take this to the extreme (which is my Rossi approach), then when you turn in you actually don't feel like you are turning in. Your chest is already pointed that direction, so you just point your ski that direction and ski forward into the handle. Tons of speed, very little load.