Because of the regional last week (coach went and won his division) and a horse deciding that my wife and I taking him to the vet for stitches was more important than me skiing on Sunday, I didn't get on the water again till last night.
Absolutely confirmed that I've been on the wrong stick. It was the second time on this ski and it was night and day difference. After a couple of passes to get comfortable, I was skiing better on the old Sonic C-6 than I ever did on the Senate. I didn't change anything a/b my style but every aspect of what I did was better. No upper body movement through the wake so long as I had a solid position whereas before I moved regardless of how strong I was. I wasn't throwing myself forward and breaking at the waist trying to force the ski to turn and was generally just able to relax and be smooth. About halfway through the set, Jeff said, "It's just totally different, I think we'll be able to do something with this ski". I backsided balls futher down the course than I have ever been able to and probably could have run a PB had I been after balls and not form. I think tomorrow nights set will be interesting.
I was able to feel when I started to do wrong and was able to adjust unlike before. Ski carved a tighter arc w/o any effort on both sides and didn't feel like I was being pulled over the front. I was getting wide much easier, but was getting some slack and had to adjust b/c of it. The ski took the speed into the turn sooooooooo much better. He said once that he couldn't believe how much speed I carried into a couple of turns and just rolled with it. I know that someone said, "old shape", but....
When I got done we talked and best he can figure is that b/c of the narrower tail and its flatter shape, it turns better and suits me. He said, "I think your ski is just to 'dragy'" and we talked a/b width of the ski, stiffness and its effect. Frustrating to have spent nearly two years fighting it, but I did ask a/b playing with the Senate settings which resulted in the answer, "why?". It's generally setup stock, but we've played with binding position and taken tip out of the fin. He's slow to blame the arrow before the indian, but in his words, "just wild".
This ski is unquestionably too small for me, however I've got two options to play with. I ran up to his attic to grab my 67 Sonic 2x and saw that he had a 68 C-6. I think for the rest of the fall I'm going to ski the 68 C-6 and/or the 2x. He figures that I should play with them both and see what I like better then stick with it till the end of the season. I may demo some this fall, who knows, but I think I'd rather see how far I can get before the end of the season than play with demos right now.
Any suggestions on what to try? As much as I hate to, I'll probably get a set of powershells b/c he's got several Goode's in my length and flex that I can try.