RazorRoss3

Sorry @Horton, with a full time job I don't think I have the energy to add "Baller Dictionary Editor in Chief" to my list despite how much it would boost my resume ;)

 

I vote for a Minnesota/Midwest stop, might even pull a younger crowd if you do ;)

It's fine to chase goals as long as you aren't hurting yourself. It's easy to rush to heavy weight and do a big lift wrong, it's better to focus on doing everything correctly and using the right muscle groups. So long as you are lifting correctly you can be as competitive as you want with yourself.

I skied an O'Brien Elite for 4.5 years, top to bottom it was really thin in the front with taller sides but an indented middle. One of the lightest skis I've held. It seemed to have a relatively small "sweet spot" though. In honesty I think I owe a lot of my body position and technique to that ski because it forced you to stand on the ski correctly because you'd be sitting in the lake if you weren't. The skis I've had since have certainly been more forgiving in that regard but I think I ski better on them because of my time on the Elite.

Best thing you can do for the pull up is keep your knees bent to your chest/stay tucked in a ball until the ski starts to level out, that should keep the strain to a minimum. When skiing, your knees are your shock absorbers, keep some bend to avoid being airborne through the wakes.

Thankfully it was well above 1 set most months. Good to see some Midwesterners getting December water time as well!

Yeah, it's a bit different down here... go skiing on December 3rd and it's 70 degrees and glass. Too be fair it was so foggy that you couldn't spot the gates until the boat was in the 55s so both skiing and driving were challenging but that didn't stop me from a December 32off. A half blind attempt at 35 didn't seem like a smart decision though.

After moving to Texas in August of 2016, 2017 has been my first full calendar year in a state that does not ice over for 5-7 months. As a Minnesotan, I couldn't let this opportunity slip away so I am happy to say that after last weekend I have skied at least 1 set in the slalom course in every month of 2017! Thank you to the UT ski team, and the Ballers who have put up with me for helping to keep me on the water this year

@AdamCord I can vouch for that last part. I was riding a 68.5 inch mapple 6.0 at 36 with the boots maxed forward and the speed felt great at -22 through -32, at -35 it was a shit show composed of a Hail Mary at every ball. I’ve moved the bindings back a hole and while it’s different it is far more forgiving at short lines

There’s a difference between keeping the ski in front of you and riding back on it. If you get too far over the front the ski doesn’t always try to turn. When I glide for my gate I am actively keeping the ski in front of me but my mass is all driving down into the front foot.

@Horton, I think about it that when we are skiing there are 2 connection points that make everything we are doing possible

1) connection to the water, if the ski leaves the water you're in trouble

2) connection to the boat, without the boats pull you literally can't go anywhere

 

If you give up control of the handle you are giving up control of one of the two connection points and are no longer in control. Reach to early and you are at the mercy of your pull hoping that you happen to glide to the right place and are able to turn. I've described it before as just a big controlled fall all the way to the buoy, maybe the ski comes back through in time to keep you from falling, maybe it doesn't, but it is not within your control either way.

 

I have no idea what effect it does or does not have on smear but keeping with your handle longer has been to my benefit regardless of what ski I'm riding.

@Horton, to your last point, coming off the handle early definitely makes you more likely to tip in and fall to the inside of the turn. If you give up the connection to the boat it is much harder if not impossible to stay in a good balanced skiing position the rest of the way to the ball.

@Bill22, I twist my hips/point my hips across the course. This works best when you have good glide speed. If you start slowing down and the ski starts drifting behind you then it is hard to convince it to move through the turn in without falling backwards into a loaded pull.

If you are RFF you should have your left palm up, right palm down, it will make all of your pulls stronger.

 

I can't speak to what those skiers are doing but I have a couple of things that work well for me

 

1) be in the right body position BEFORE you pull out. The first thing I do when I get pulled up is get myself set in good body position well before my pullout point. I see a lot of skiers standing lazy and then hoping they can magically turn the ski for the pull out and achieve a good body position simultaneously... Narrator: "they did not"

If you are standing well on the ski and set before you pull out then it is much easier to be standing well on the ski when you pullout, glide, and turn in.

 

2) pull out longer and slower

If I pull out long and slow I have time to watch the gate as I'm coming up on it and make adjustments to timing to compensate for wind, water, etc. If you give your brain time to do the math, it is really really good at doing the math

If you pull out with a "hit and glide" mentality then you just have to hope that you happen to be in the right place, at the right speed, at the right time... good luck

 

3) Keep my handle close (and a little ahead)

It is important to feel tension on the line throughout the pull and in the glide. If you lose tension in the glide then by definition your gate turn will be turning into slack line which will always be less effective than turning into tight line. This is much easier if you are adhering to the #2 above because it is easier to control tension when you are moving in and out of your pull in a controlled fashion than if you go from standing, hit hard, glide in jerky motions. If you transition smoothly through the pullout it is easier to maintain tension.

(and a little ahead)

In the glide I try to keep the handle at near-hip height but about 4-6 inches in front of me and in-line or slightly inside my right hip.

When you are pulling, your handle is between you and the boat, it might as well start there. If it starts beside you then you will have to fall away from it before you can pull because it needs to get between you and the boat eventually.

 

Putting it together,

After getting up be sure to get set into good body position pre-pullout.

Pull out longer and slower so your brain has time to do the math to put you in the right place to turn in.

Keep tension on the line throughout the pullout and glide with the handle leading you slightly

Turn into tight line with good connection to the handle.

 

I make no assumptions to what the pros are thinking about but I've noticed that they do seem to be standing in good position pre-pullout, their pullouts are smooth and connected, and their handles tend to be leading their bodies a little as they come up on the gate.

 

@6balls, I don't think I will be in attendance since I haven't signed up and have no flights booked, I would be potentially quite dangerous to the opposing team in tug of war though, plenty of power and more than enough torque to put it into the dirt

Congratulation on getting one to college, skiing in college is among the best decisions a kid can make second only to "showing up to class" and "graduating".

 

Good luck finding a replacement for the winter months and look forward to seeing your kid come back as a three event skier because it's going to happen... say hello to the 3 event bag

@eleeski, trust me, I'm more than capable of turning green and smashing a few buoys when things get ugly but I'm always going to try to ski correctly. I get plenty of practice recovering from form breaks from the unintentional form breaks, don't need to make any of those on purpose ;)

@adamhcaldwell depends on your definition of "lazy". "lazy" for me is making mistakes that I know I shouldn't be making but the ski lets me get away with. If I do that at my early passes it's fine but it will come back to haunt me at 35 and 38. If I make sure to be skiing correctly and not making those mistakes at my early lines then I am typically set up for better skiing as I get down the line. The top "lazy" mistake I make when I am early to the ball is losing my connection and/or falling inside the ski instead of keep the handle with me and staying on top of my feet.

@Bill22 if you are off balance coming into the ball be careful you aren’t giving up the handle to soon. You need to connect to the handle when you turn in, and then maintain that connection longer. The rythm of the handle changes between skis, the more time you have before the ball the better you need to be about sticking with your handle

The problem with fast/slow is that none of us use them the same. When I’m realky early I could only have achieved that by going fairly fast but it feels slow because I have so much time to think before the ball. Perception and reality get into an argument with each other and confuse everyone

fast ski = early to ball, fast/slow water is the can of worms you don't want to open

It can certainly happen, especially easy to run into balance, direction, and handle control issues off the second wake if you suddenly find you have more time coming into the ball.

I think the sun in general helps. 50 and sunny vs 50 and cloudy are two very different 50's

The brain freeze you get once the air gets sub 50's is brutal. I'm well on my way to skiing in every month of 2017 though so I won't be stopping yet, just need December to round out my calendar.

So coaching the UT waterski team we camped at the lake Saturday night into Sunday morning, drinking, Hammerslongin', camp fire, and so on. Come Sunday morning we wake up to 39 degree air and water in the mid 50's but the water was glass so we skied. We also had a Bald Eagle spectating so the Freedom level was high ;)

 

Anyone else ski through some chill this weekend?