Terry Winter

@Horton the reason people tend to pull long is because their ski's edge change and the moment that they let the hands out and release are integrated. If you edge change right at centerline and also let the handle out to the boat at the same time then you are going to come up narrow. This causes people to believe that they can't edge change that early, so they go back to pulling long. I tell people that if they want to get better then they need to learn how to edge change at an earlier point, and then learn how to maintain outbound direction by keeping control of the upper body and the handle connection. It's not easy, but something necessary to improve.

@horton pretty much as soon as I can grab the handle and the rope is tight, I'm doing what I can to lean and go. I do not wait for the white water. At my shorter line passes my strongest load is probably somewhere between 5-10 feet before I reach the white water, and then by the time my ski is approaching the first trough my load is decreasing.

http://www.trainwithterrywinter.com/

Gates at 24 mph

Hard to believe, but I think the rhythm and timing changes very little depending on speed or line length. I tested the idea not long ago at 24 through 30 mph 15'off.

@Stevie Boy Good questions... an edge change doesn't happen unless you allow it to happen. If I need to pull all the way to the next buoy to get that extra 1/4 buoy, then my edge change is not going to come until much later. You have to learn to separate what is happening with the ski and whether it is on the accelerating or gliding edge, and whether or not the upper body is leaning away from the boat keeping tension on the line or getting ready to commit to leaning inside to make a turn. In general, the ski should be on the accelerating edge up to the center line of the boat guides. If you continue to accelerate much past the center of the course then you are going to be carrying more speed into the buoy. Lean away from the boat and into the desired direction of travel should be intense. Nate makes it look easy, but he is putting in effort. Don't think of it as an edge "change", think of it as the moment that you are done accelerating and you need to go into a glide. You've built up the energy and the speed out of the buoy, and now you need to allow that energy to carry you or swing you out wider than the next buoy. The idea of edge "change" gets skiers allowing their upper bodies to go from a lean away from the boat to a lean back into the boat way too quickly. The goal is to stop the acceleration, but manage to keep some away tension on the rope as you swing out to the next buoy. You want to decrease your lean away from the boat, but not totally eliminate it. The reason you feel differently on the gates is that you are not approaching the center line of the course with as much energy as you are when you are coming out of a buoy. Build more energy on your approach for the gates. The gates set the rhythm for the rest of the pass, so try to establish the rhythm that you would like to use throughout the entire course. Give it a try, and see if that makes any difference.

Theboardingschool wins

My first tournament ever was on that course at Don Pedro.

Another important aspect to look at would be left foot vs. right foot forward, right? Style and aggression play a major role in what the best approach is going to be for each individual skier. One handed gates are different (or should be) different than a two handed gate. You can strive to hit the perfect glide speed and width on the boat for every gate, but the reality is that they're never going to be consistently perfect and you're going to have to be able to make adjustments on the fly. Conditions are going to throw you for a loop, and you'll have to make the best with what you've got. Typically, width is good and getting as wide as you can on the boat while being able to maintain a tight line during the move in for the gates is the way to go. However, let's say you get really wide and turn in perfectly with a tight line and get all the speed and angle you could ever want... it does you no good if you can't maintain a position that allows you to hold that line off of the second wake. My wife, for example, will go hard at the gates and have her edge change around the same point and that holds true whether she is narrow or wide on the gate turn in. When she attempts a wider gate she ends up pulling to the same point past the wakes and ends up hauling ass into the buoy. For her, a narrower gate seems to be the better approach. I guess my point here is that everybody won't be able to do the exact same gate and have the best success with it. You need to understand your strengths and weaknesses and learn how to find the best approach for you personally.

@cragginshred a couple of keys I feel on the pullout are 1) starting off over the front foot and really feel and even see the tip of the ski engaging in the water as I move out 2) completely even pressure with my hands on the handle... I'm not twisting away or into the movement, just letting the hands be 50/50 pressure on the handle. From that the shoulders will face right down the length of the rope, and that will help you move or lean more in the direction of travel instead of loading up so much against the boat.

@cragginshred a couple of keys I feel on the pullout are 1) starting off over the front foot and really feel and even see the tip of the ski engaging in the water as I move out 2) completely even pressure with my hands on the handle... I'm not twisting away or into the movement, just letting the hands be 50/50 pressure on the handle. From that the shoulders will face right down the length of the rope, and that will help you move or lean more in the direction of travel instead of loading up so much against the boat.

Not sure twisting your hips one way or the other has much affect on overall width in the course. Speed/Direction through the second wake and a solid connection of core/hips/elbows is going to determine the width your ski can reach. Too much movement in any direction can be detrimental, and I believe that in relation to which direction you are facing throughout the entire course the most square or neutral position is ideal. Square and level shoulders, square hips, a strong alignment through the body and balanced over the center of the ski... strive to maintain that. I think most of the movement should be coming from the hips off the second wake not in a rotational direction but more in a back to forward or low to taller position into the pre-turn. Just how I see it.

Just received our new flex tester from Mike Erb. Thanks Mike!

Here's just a few of some of the skins I've done. @Stevie Boy yes I used to have a website up for the skins, but just migrated that into a site for all of my graphic design http://www.twgraphicarts.com/ I've been charging $150 for the skins. They usually take a few hours or more of design work, then about $80 for the printing. They last for years though, and actually keep the skis protected from scratches and the sun fading the tops of the skis.

No, the skins are super thin, light and flexible.

The skins work great. I've been doing them for about a decade now. The material is very user friendly in application, and will stay on the ski for years. When you're done with it you can peel them off in minutes without leaving anything on the ski. If you guys are interested I can do the design work and have them printed for you.

Double Reflex works very well in my opinion. I can adjust the spring settings front and back and set the achilles strap length differently. I go loose in the back and tight in the front with achilles straps. I have several skiers here in Idaho that have moved to the Reflex double set-up and all seem to really like them. Why- I prefer to have consistency with front and back boot, not two different releases or binding tightness. The Reflex bindings have an achilles strap, rather blow out of the boots than blow an achilles. I am constantly testing different skis and binding placement settings and I can move my boot placement or ride any ski without losing release/holding strength.

No-Stretch rope can be hard on the elbows for a slalom skier.

I'd like to check that one out too. I have a friend who built a lake out in Redmond several years ago that has memberships if anyone is interested.

My wife is a badass driver. Made from scratch. Took a bit of time, but unbelievable now.

Seems to me that being stacked is way more important than the amount of counter. Into the turns, I like to think about just standing up taller rather than trying to push my hips forward. You want your entire body to line up over the center of the ski or front foot, not just one portion of it. Too much "West Coasting" and you will take your body out of its natural, strongest alignment = sore back and weak leverage.

The back to front swing is the initial movement of the ski, and then from closer to the boat to farther away from the boat is the latter part of the movement. You start the swing with your legs strong moving from back to front. Right at the point that the ski is under the upper body the legs go into absorbing and allow the ski's edge to roll from accelerating to inside edge. It seems to me that in snow skiing the move is more similar to the latter movement in slalom where the ski is rolling edge to edge rather than from back to front. The added pull from the boat rather than gravity complicates things.

Jim, I think you have to have some intention in letting your knees absorb either the wake or trough. If the legs remain strong/extended, then the only way to come out of the lean is for the upper body to get pulled up way too far to the inside. I think it's all part of the process of lessening your leverage or lean away from the boat as you're approaching centerline. Decreasing lean away from the boat and the legs taking pressure off of the cutting edge of the ski are happening at the same time. I don't have to think about this anymore, but maybe it's something that needs to be practiced by skiers who haven't got it dialed yet. It's one of the benefits of growing up at a time where the wakes and rooster tails were huge compared to today's boats. As a sub-100 pounder running passes behind Ski Supremes you learn to absorb the wake pretty quickly.

A couple shots to see how long the inside elbow stays close to the body. "OLD PHOTOS"