twhisper

This is a 36/35' pass where I have already started moving on to the left edge a few frames before...

I have a drone that I have no idea how to fly🤣

Would be interesting to see an overhead overlay of a skier pulling out, and how those line up for each pass 32'-43'.

@Horton I think I am seeing both at the same time rather than one and then the other. I don't know if there is any "system" that can work regardless of conditions. There's just too many variables, especially for skiers traveling to different sites for tournaments. For me, it's all about the visual and the feel, and adjusting accordingly.

I wonder how many skiers get too focused on the green balls, and are not watching the gate balls enough as they are pulling out. I see the green balls, but most of my focus is actually on the gates. I think this helps with a sense of speed and timing, and allows for on-the-fly adjustments. I also wonder how well most of us would do if there were no green balls like back in the day.

There's a lot of different approaches that can all be successful as long as the priority is making the position as close to ideal as possible. Experiment with things, but be relentless about perfecting your position.

My take... the shorter the rope and the faster the boat speed the more bad habits you are going to accumulate. Learn to generate your own speed instead of relying on the boat or rope. The biggest hurdle in improving skiing is having to break bad habits. Build your foundation with proper body position, and you will go a long way.

Sometimes I think I would like to know how many, but not sure I do.

@KRoundyyes, video coaching all year and a handful of weeks at Liquid Zone throughout the Summer.

I think elite skiers are going to load sooner out of the buoy on their easier passes. It's much easier to finish a turn with a completely tight rope at 32'/35' than it is at 39'/41'. The sooner a skier can start to take the load (in a controlled manner) the better off they are going to be, but that also means the strength of the load is going to be spread out more evenly from the finish of the turn through the centerline. It will be steadier. Usually at the hardest passes elite skiers are dealing with less than perfect turns. There's still some leftover speed creating a looser line. The load will take some time to be applied to the skier. The window for loading gets smaller. The load gets more centered behind the boat, and the spike in the load increases. I'm saying that an elite skier would rather have the load begin as early as possible, but when it does get applied early they will not get greedy with it. It will be managed over a longer range of space. A 100% lean effort immediately out of the buoy is not going to end well for most. More or less confused now?😄

Mostly agree. The harder the skier loads out of the buoy the harder it is to maintain a solid body position through the edge change. The better the skier can hold their body position through the edge change the more space the skier creates on the buoy allowing them to commit to the turns earlier and stay more ahead of the pass. I also think that at the shorter rope lengths there is naturally more speed carrying the skier in closer to the wakes before the line ever becomes completely tight. It's not always a "choice" to load later, it just works out that way. If I do happen to get the load directly out of the turn then usually my entire cut/load can be lighter because I know there is no hurry to get to the other side of the course. I have a target path with my vision and I can see that I need to pace myself. Where I might run into trouble is when I finish the turn and get the load early, but ended up tilting my shoulders inside too much. In this situation I can't really control when or how hard I load. I'm just along for the ride, and the only way to keep it from "snowballing" is to make sure I hold a really tight connection through the next centerline crossing/edge change.

The key difference is going to be how far back the hip joints are from being in alignment with the ankles and shoulders. A skier can flex their knees and ankles forward into a positive flex, and still have a straight line from shoulders- hips- ankles. On the other hand, a straight front knee/ankle with the back leg collapsing will result in the hips being much farther back. There are naturally different styles between great skiers. Some are softer in their legs and some are pretty tall through the legs. All great skiers have a solid alignment through the body when they need it.

The D3 gloves are surprisingly warm. Cooler full of hot water for gloves and bindings before the set. Keep the hands out of the water as much as possible. https://www.d3skis.com/product-p/15225a.htm

I don't know off the top of my head. Working on getting an answer from the factory...

It has been a seriously challenging process for me, but I have learned a lot about skiing by going through it. One thing I have found is that it takes a lot of time going from the double boot to the RTP, but I can go back to double boots very quickly.