twhisper

I think the goal is to get wide without cutting long, right? How do you have enough time and width before the ball to be able to really commit, and finish your turn early? Speed and angle created before the first wake allows the skier to neutralize the ski at the centerline of the course. The tricky part is coming off of the ski's accelerating edge at the centerline of the course, but still carrying an outbound direction that creates space before the ball. If you're going into 1,3 the boat wants to lift your right shoulder as soon as you pass the centerline. If your shoulder gets lifted then you're going into the buoy straighter and narrower, so then you can't commit to the turn until you're past the buoy. The way I see it, I want my shoulders to be pretty much square and level everywhere. I want my chest facing (for the most part) straight down the course and I want my shoulders to stay completely level with the water so I can control my load and ski's edge more with my lower body than my upper body. The way I tend to keep my away shoulder from being lifted back in towards the boat is by trying to pin both of my elbows to my lower ribs through the edge change and pre-turn. If I have two hands on the handle, then I want my elbows pinned to my ribs. Yes, there is a a little bit of pulling in on my arms to keep my elbows in place. I think I probably error on the side of pulling in too much. My goal is to just maintain the position of my elbows relative to my core as I pass through the centerline and as I swing out to my full width. What I learned as I was getting better as a skier is that I was better off with my elbows in rather than out, so I developed the habit of really keeping them in. MB tells me that I pull in too much, so did Rini. I think they're both right. I think the ultimate would be no pulling in, but also not letting them budge at all either. Again, an easy way for me to think about it is if I have two hands on the handle then I want my elbows and core in total connection. So, how the hell do you learn how to do this? You have to be committed to stopping your cut. Divide the course into two halves... from ball to centerline of course is acceleration, and from centerline to the next ball is deceleration. Skiers feel that they're not wide enough so they cut longer. Not the right answer. Commit to having the ski be neutral right at the centerline, and then from there figure out what you need to do to achieve the right amount of width. You've got to load up on enough speed and angle into the wakes, and then from the centerline out be able to utilize it and allow it to swing you out to max width. If your core collapses at the centerline or if your arms and core separate then you've just lost everything you built up and you'll come up short. Here's how I visualize it all happening... Out of the ball, get your hips and elbows sealed together. Lean like hell and build some load into the first wake. Approaching the centerline, swing your feet from behind your upper body to out in front of your upper body while at the same time arching your lower back and pushing your hips up even stronger into the handle or hands. (Visualize this as if you were on a swing at a playground) As the ski has initiated its swing and is directly underneath your upper body then alleviate the pressure on the ski's cutting edge by allowing the knees to lift towards your chest. Flex your biceps just a bit, and push your elbows into your ribs using your shoulder muscles. Pin those elbows as if you had a bar running through both elbows and your core to hold everything in place. As you land off of the wake and start to set that inside edge let your hips rise and move forward so that by the time you are ready to commit to your turn your hips are lined up over your front foot toes. When you're ready to commit to your turn, the free hand can finally come off of the handle and the handle arm can be fed out. Stay level, stay square, turn like crazy and get your hips and elbows sealed together again. PULL DAMN IT!

If you want to get your ski dialed in you need to have one of these. We adjust our fin in thousandths, set our wings in half degrees, and then are stuck with our binding settings at either 0.25" or 0.5". I'm telling you there is sometimes a better setting for a particular ski than the choice your binding plate allows. I know it doesn't seem like much, but it can make a huge difference in how your ski reacts. Once mounted to the binding plate skiers are able to make precise adjustments in increments of .05 inches. Thats 5-7 times the adjustments that are on todays standard plates! I think getting the placement of the boots dialed on your ski can be even more important than the fin and wing. Too far forward, and your ski is going to run down course on the on-side. Too far back, and the off-side is sketchy. This little adjuster lets you find that happy place.

I found this...

I'm looking forward to building a long-lasting relationship with HO. In seventeen years of being a professional slalom skier I've skied for four different companies. About thirteen years for D3, three years on a Connelly, and one on a GOODE. It's a tough balance being a pro skier trying to make a living and ski on what works best, and circumstances and companies change over time. Thanks for the compliment on watching me ski. TW

I've been competing in waterski tournaments since I was about eight years old. I remember telling my dad when I was like nine or ten that I was going to be a professional waterskier. I watched every single tournament that ever came on TV, and I watched them thousands of times. I could tell you word for word how the announcing goes in any of those Hot Summer Nights tournaments. I loved going to Marine World to watch the pros compete. To me guys like Duvall, the LaPoints, Kjellander, and Andy are superstars and that's what I wanted to be. Pros give kids something to aspire to be in any sport, and I think it's necessary to keep those kids in our sport if we ever want it to become something bigger. I don't think it's the Big Dawgs that are hurting our sport, and to be honest I'm glad they seem to have something going on because in only two years for me that opens up another outlet for me to be a competitive skier. I don't ski for the money, and I know that not any of the top skiers in the world do. Looking at this season there are very few professional tournaments that I will compete in. That doesn't even phase me. I still went out two days ago in a whitecapping crosswind to ski because I love to ski. My first tournament from now? Couldn't tell you. Doesn't matter because I'm going to be training as hard as I can to be the best skier I can be anyway. I've skied in tournaments all around the world, and trust me if you add up all of the prize money and sponsor money I've made it doesn't even come close to the cost of competing. I have known Marcus, and have been competing against him since I first started skiing. He skis for the same reasons I do, and his interest is in making the sport what it deserves to be. He's not looking to get rich. He's just trying to make a living through waterskiing so that he can continue to ski like he always has. My only suggestion for the Big Dawgs is make it a little bit tougher by maybe going 35mph so that when they are skiing at the same venue as the pros their scores are not higher than the guy who wins the pro division. I think it takes away from what Willi and Nate are doing when they run three at 41, and then a Big Dawg gets a piece of four. Just my thoughts. The topic is a good one, and caught my attention.