GaryWilkinson

@livetoski, boy I've never met a skier who skis so much, looks so much and has as many as the same problems as I do. Carbon copy I'd say kev, so here goes. You have described the same situation as I have that when the ski DOESN'T bite, it's a smoother turn but, you lose angle and go downcourse. When the ski does bite, (over rotate) we are not in a good athletic position to absorb it therefore we bend the waist, absorb it with our upper body, handle blasts out the front door and ski goes flat and downcourse. Barf! Take a look the the pictures in the link I posted a while agohttp://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/comment/55050 My point was that in the preturn, my weight is too far back vs better skiers. This comes from too much speed too late. In the turn then having to 'dunk' the turn, over rotate and bite off more than my body can chew. Sound familiar? First observation is that your pull is from your arms, very high and not connected to your hips. I think someone said sliiide your hips to the handle, while keeping your shoulders higher, less closed. What I do to achieve this is drive my knees and ankles while more bent, forward on the ski, that gets my. Shoulders further back and my body more aligned to take the pull of the boat. The 2nd thing is that you are not counter rotating enough. (I have to think about this. At every ball!) a little bit of more open shoulders will allow your hips to clear better and you can stand tall on the preturn and gradually, more predictive get more of the ski in the water earlier to prevent the unexpected 'bite' from over rotation. Last thing is your free hand needs to stay quieter, by your side, not sweeping forwards and backwards, mine used to go up in the air. Finally got it to settle down by my side keeping my COG better and ready to RECIEVE the handle when your hips sliiiide into place. Sorry for the book on your skiing but it's soooo close to mine I have lots of notes and coaching to offer. Keep it going though, because when form all comes together for 6 balls straight, man, what a feeling! Here's to getting more of those feelings, more often!

@Than. Tremendous article my technical buddy. I too am into the details of the sport we enjoy and your explanations of a key part to good short line slalom were righT and easy to understand. Great stuff! Where did you say that slalom manual is available? Lol Eagerly awaiting more chapters... Gary.

Than, sorry for the familiarity. Than it is. I just went to the tree, you know the one with the handle permenantly attached, and gave the trailing arm thing a go. The first thing I noticed was a significant shift in weight distribution. My weight and pressure went from a slightly more weight on the rear foot situation, to moving more weight (pressure) onto the front foot. This is something I've been trying to do for the past 2 weeks. See one of my threads from last season on where the waterline is on my ski in the arc before the buoy. So if I get what I want in front to back ski weight pressure AND get a more consistent line out to the buoy AND get a smoother, more ahead-of-the-ball turn, it will be my seasons' holy grail! I also noticed that by increasing trailing arm pressure it somehow "clears the way" for a better, more aligned and hips closer to the handle position. Anyone else notice these things out at their trees? Trying it out tonight. Sorry again Than, great thread.

I make a point to watch and learn from the ladies/girls that ski at 34 mph than the men who are at 36 and 6'4" 200+ lbs. with the exception of Nate smith, I find the gals ski smoother, more efficiently. Continued good health and performances Ruth!

Great thread Nat. But let me try and simplify cuz most people use that when describing me anyway! Jamie says to, after the centerline, lay off pull (pressure) on the right arm going to odd number balls. And vice-versa. This will in turn cause or should I say allow, the Hips to rotate ccw and simply initiate the turn for the ball that early while maintaining speed and outbound inertia wider in the course. I must say it sounds so counter intuitive. Anyhow, the thing to keep in mind I guess is that all the work really is done before the boat wake plume and that work done,energy you've created, inertia that you carry, has to be enough to get you out to the next buoy while doing a longer controlled deceleration and turn. If you don't lay off leading arm pressure, your hips stay too far out, ski stays to angled too long, you edge too far carrying too much speed and not enough time and space to slow down for a controlled, tight line turn? Am I missing anything ? I admit I have to try it on the water for sure. But really is it as simple as laying off a bit with the arm to allow a more square hips position to the rope thus easing the carry out and turn at the ball? I must have watched Nate Smith video that Brent posted about 20+ times in the last 24 hrs marveling at the ease he goes through line lengths that I struggle with and I'm sure pull twice as hard on, -28', -32' I slowed it down frame by frame and you can really see how he lets up almost before the 2nd wake and sets up the next turn (and buoy) by changing his edge early, decelerating while moving taller, and putting more weight on his front foot. Another thing I noticed is that he throws his hips, core and legs forward when he takes the hit from the boat as to absorb the pull in a more aligned athletic position. Am I close Nathaniel? Smith's skiing really is magic n'est pas?

The open the cover method works best for cold starts IMO. Also like Nathan said, it's good to give a quick peak under the hood at the start of every session.

Yes ! I use it all the time after I saw George Athans boat cover go flying after starting at our lake in the 70's. Small insurance for big problem.

@ShaneH. Shane can you help me understand better what "the ski getting behind" me would be? Behind me as in I've lost angle and cutting power behind the boat and my body is not in line anymore, possibly broken at the waist , standing up too much? (I'm a little water-logged today I guess) Thanks!

This brings up an internal debate I've been having with myself for a while now. At longer line lengths, which I am currently due to a neck injury a few years ago, (28, 32off) I find myself pulling long and hard past the 2nd wake to get wide enuf for the buoy obviously resulting in slack line, cranking turn and severe hit from the boat. I, on a previous thread talked about where the water is on your ski and found I was further back than I should be so I'm working on that too. But the debate is in where to pull and for how long. When I ski at 34 with 32 off sometimes it feels like I use LESS pull on the handle because the ski is going faster and more out of the water, less drag etc. but where I'm skiing currently, 28 off at 32, it feels like I'm pulling like a crazy man to get to the buoy early enough for a less than crazy outta-control turn. The debate is whether to abandon 32 mph and longer lengths, or to practice always at 34 mph and just work technique at 22 and 28 off? The skiing technique is so different at the higher skier speeds caused by boat speed and shorter lines than slower (32 mph) and longer line lengths. Andy told me last year that the boat is weakest when you are at your widest point. True but if I think of the geometry, the boat is weakest or at least weaker, when you are widest at short line lengths (32 off and shorter) but at 28 and 22 you are not very "wide" in relation to the boat. Or as put above, not up to the side of the boat. I think that if I stop my pull/lean anywhere short of beyond the 2 nd wake. I'm not going to carry enuf speed to get the next buoy. So should I go for at 34 or "drag it out" at 32 trying to work technique that gets me to 34 , 28 . The skiing techniques seem so different!?

I had a similar problem a couple of years ago when temp suddenly spiked and I shut down. Idled home at around 180 and ever since then have a louder sounding engine. When I got back to the dock I took apart the water pump and saw it had fallen apart on 1/3 of the vanes. Pieces were missing and I suspect flowed down stream into the engine. Would such a scenario, (piece of rubber going into the water cooling system) cause a potentially fatal blockage? i.e, restrict water flow to the mixing area of the muffler? I now change impellers every year. Any suggestions on the muffler? And where's the best place to get a new water pump? (95 Nautique)?? Thanks

Tremendous innovation and great idea. One note though, People might be experiencing ropes coming off their pylons because they may be putting them on in a way, in MHO, that is flawed. I was always taught during my tournament boat driver days, that you take the part of the rope on the skier side of the loop and push that into the loop forming another loop and put that onto the pylon. Putting the loop simply over the pylon seems always to me to be quite loose and prone to come off. The ultimate though is a system that Brent and Julien use where a fixed portion or length of the rope is attached to the pylon and that section has at its attachment end a strong carabiner. That will never come off. I must say though that the rope design above is cool and I bet effective in preventing nasty skier injuries. And... not to mention injuries to judges, watchers etc that experience the "too unpleasant to think of" injury resulting from a rope coming off the pylon and possible under their feet or worse.

@lpskier. Excellent bud. made me laugh out loud. CHeers

Scott are your settings far from what Sixam675 has recommended?

In my Very humble opinion, (I'm working 32 off off and have only ever done a few at 35) you are bending slightly forward before the buoy and your hips are creeping backward. This position retains too much speed by having not enough ski in the water on the "rail" thus engaging the wing fin and increasing the drag. Have a look at the thread I started a week ago and some of its content, specifically on pre-ball position. And especially the pictures of me vs Andy and how much ski is in the water before the ball at the same line length, (28off). The water is for me, at the middle of my front foot boot, whereas in all the pics I've seen of Andy Terry Winter, Chris Parrish etc, the water is a foot in front of the toes! http://www.ballofspray.com/forum/#/discussion/3862/how-to-prevent-slack-keep-tip-down-achieve-strong-position-help You want to get taller before the buoy, (stacked or aligned) and be much more on that inside edge engaging more of the the rocker of the ski using more of its length. I may also mention that your cut and line of travel (l.o.t.) was better, more aggressive (with sharper angle) at the longer line lengths than at 35. Bad angle, (narrow counter cut for 1 ball) and speed result in a narrow l.o.t. in the course, not enough speed to stand tall and get on that inside edge with confidence.

Joy describes it perfectly! I recall immediately and clearly the first time my boys tried water-skiing they both got up on their first tries. Absolute joy. My now 15 yr old who has gone to the dark side (wakeboarding, Sorry Julien) saw your daughters video and exclaimed "what a pro!" I also say "what a Dad!" All the best Bud.

anyone know a site that has it on YouTube?

Had the same thing. One of the first rides I did this year I grabbed the handle too close to the bridle rope (with some slack too) and pulled hard. The rope crushed my middle knuckle and ouch. broke it ! It was that day I switched (finally after 40+ yrs of slalom) my hands to the right orientation and bought a wider, curved handle to prevent it happening again. Pinky's still crooked but less pain. It'll go away in a year or two!

Thanks so much guys for the info. I was however hoping to keep the cost down below 700 for a used PP with an older display. My tournament days are over and the PP from a few years ago would do. But Yes, I will look into the stargazer. Hope I can get an end-of-year special! Thanks!

I have a 95 Nautique with PCM Carb engine (not EFI) and am looking to buy and install Perfect Pass. Obviously an older one that is probably a 2 line display with all the equipment necessary for this boat/engine combo. Any help would be appreciated. garywilkinson@videotron.ca