@ski6jones - If you are looking for a visual, I'm not sure that exist that many skiers could agree on. you are tall, i'm not. line length, wind and varying lakes all play into your question.
you need to be going slightly faster than the boat to get free of the boat before making your move to the gates. Maybe trent, rini, chet, marcus, terry, freddie or countless other skiing bad asses could chime in, but i would bet it's different for everyone.