Hipsup

Crashman I feel for you buddy! As my name suggests I have been struggling with the same issue for a number of years. I have spent years having short spells with my skiing when everything goes well, when I can get stacked and make reasonable offside turns and my bouy count goes way up and then bang! its all gone and I can feel myself being dragged around the lake unable to get free of the boat and get my hips up again. The trouble is I've never really been able to isolate what it is that makes the difference. However, I had some great coaching in April and a few small things have finally sunk in to my little brain and seem to be working. The first and most glaring thing I see in your video is that you start your turn in for the gates with your shoulders - this just leaves your hips behind you and once you get under load in that position it is just impossible to get your hips up and carry out any direction to 1 ball- in effect you are now just a passenger and the problem will stay with you all the way down course. In my experience, you should just try and keep it as simple as possible by doing the following: Stand tall and "in line"on the balls of your feet, stay over the balance point of the ski - getting your hips up does not mean leaning back!! When you make a move- either pulling out for the gate or turning in just concentrate on moving your hips forward and over the side of the ski where you want to go first (alternatively just think of starting the turn with your feet) . The important bit is to ensure that you start all your movements with your feet or hips and that you do not fall backwards on the ski. Your shoulders and upper body must not start any movement or lead at any time. Try to keep your shoulders level and open (pointing directly down course) for as long as possible -you could think about holding your outside shoulder back. The important thing to remember is that you cannot get your hips up by trying to get your hips up- it just does not work like that. Think about separating your lower body from your upper body and staying "in line" and over your feet at all times. If you do this correctly, then you will swing out fast and light with your hips connected to the handle, you will be tall and free and remember why you fell in love with this daft sport in the first place!! Good luck and keep the faith.

Steven, no I didn't check the fin. Just took the shops word for it and strapped on the bindings. As I said, I only gave it one set so it wasn't much of a test.

I was on the 67.5 and the bindings were at stock so that might explain why I felt so uncomfortable. Having said that, my technique leaves a lot to be desired and I'm sure the ski would be great in more accomplished hands- just didn't work for me.

I'm not a great skier (can just squeak into 32 off @ 34 mph on a v good day) but for what it's worth I tried the S2, Strada and Fusion a few weeks ago. Coming off a senate C, I absolutely hated the S2 - seemed really unforgiving to me and I disliked it so much I only gave it 1 set. In contrast I loved both the strada and the fusion. Strada is quicker, both are really stable and forgiving, but I chose the fusion in the end because it just turns and turns even if you stamp on it.

Thanks guys - It seems that nothing in slalom is straightforward! It amazes me that the ski manufacturers make life so complicated for us skiers. Why publish stock numbers if we don't know how they were measured and we can't verify any repeatable measuring method? Its just daft- much like selling skis without all major binding pattern inserts! If they put factory markings on the ski and fin we would at least have a definite starting reference point that we could rely on, without messing about with callipers, slots, fin tools etc...

I've just acquired a new 68" D3 fusion (very happy with it!) and for the first time ever after more than 10 years skiing I decided to measure my fin. After getting some callipers, the first thing that surprised me was that the fin, as supplied, measured nowhere near the stock settings published by D3. Measuring the length and depth was pretty simple, but the DFT is a joke. I could measure this 100 times and get a different reading every time. How are you supposed to hold the calliper against a short, angled surface and then measure the distance to the bevelled rear edge of the ski with any degree of consistency? I've got the same problem whether I do it flat from tail or needle to tail and according to D3 there should be a 0.04" difference between the flat and needle measurement - not when I do it there isn't! Am I doing something wrong and does anyone have a fool proof method? Also D3 have white reference lines drawn on the fin itself - why don't they also put reference lines on the bottom of the ski so that you just have to line everything up to know that the fin is in its stock position without getting callipers out?? I'm starting to wish I didn't decide to measure it now - ignorance is bliss!!