Softer Gate

[Horton]

If I had a dollar for every time someone has told me to go softer on my gates I could buy a case of good imported or micro brew beer.

 

I understand that I need to be lighter on the line. Lean less... For some reason this is a struggle for me. Anyone have a different way to think about this?

[9400]

move slooower, try not to try, turn the intensity dial down, don't be in a hurry, try not to get to 1, don't spike the load, be lighter, don't lean so much, go 5 on a 10 scale, sneak up on the gate, hide from the boat.........sorry I thought it was a contest.

[Than_Bogan]

The closest thing I have to a secret is that this whole "softer gate" thing really only applies when it is set up properly. If I don't make a concerted effort for a long slow pullout, get as high as I can on the boat, begin the turn with a strong knee bend movement, AND make sure to complete the turn-in before loading, then a softer gate doesn't work.

 

If I DO do those things, then all I have to do is transition into handle control mode sooner -- almost as early as the centerline.

 

I hate to call it ending my pull, because that makes me think about standing up and starting a turn, which I don't want to do. I want to stay down and maintain control of the handle near my body, but no longer focus on leveraging against the boat.

 

In the past, I've done this right about 0.1% of the time. Last year I really worked on it, and I think I might have increase it a hundred fold to about 10%...

[Texas6]

I also think a lot of this has to do with the speed you are carrying when you initiate your angle toward the gates. If my speed matches the boat speed when I initiate my angle towards the gate, I feel light on the line. Too little speed by default leads to a harder gate for me

[MattP]

I could be totally wrong here I am no skiing theorist but if you are free of the boat in your glide and are able to turn in with a more gradual turn loading the line gradually as well , setting into position and try not to fight the boat you should be early and ok to 1 ball. remember gates to 1 is longer than 1 to 2 so try to stay quiet and easy on the ski or relaxed..

 

People tell me to go easier on my gates and when I think about the above and just stay relaxed I usually run the pass with ease. I do do a 2 handed gate, @Horton If I remember correctly you are a 1 handed.

 

wow I hope that is coherent if not just disregard

[Ryno]

@Horton you do a one handed pre gate turn right?

 

I have always stuck to two handed as it's easier to control loading the line, and ultimately your speed through the gates.

[Horton]

One handed. Pull our when the green balls pass the back of the boat. Try to keep shoulders level and go soft out. Maybe I just brain freeze when I see those two orange balls.

 

Jungle Jim from WaterSkiCostaRica talked to me a lot about how I have too much water speed at one so I am thinking a lot about it.

[skidawg]

Turn in for gate wo using rope tension (takes lots of timing). Take your time getting into your max lean thru gate (let the load pic u up later rather than earlier). This should lead u into wide and early path w lots of space and speed! I know u are a bit challenged and like to over complicate things but K.I.S.S. counts for skiing also!

[The_MS]

A progressive pull out and a progressive pull to the edge change on the gate roll in. Dont bring any more speed then you need to run all 6.

[tsixam]

I´ve got a tip from a coach at Lacanau that helped me a lot. When you have all the basics set, high on the boat, the same speed as the boat and your cm in the right place. Just point the ski in the direction you want to go and let the boat do the work. Don´t try to take more angle or load on the way. It´s much like a bow and arrow. Once you have let the arrow go you can´t change the flight of it. Does it make any sense?

Tsixam

[skidawg]

Nice tsixam, he may get that

[ral]

You need to follow the best.

 

Take a look at Nate's gate. See it several times in slow motion. Repeat it until you realize there is no way on earth you can do that gate.

 

Then go to the lake and try something else...

[MattP]

@ral sounds like some Luck Lowe advice to me.. I think it went something like this

- You see how Andy skis?

-Yes

-Okay now forget all of that because you will never be able to do what he does

[brooks]

gates, always a fun topic!

 

I think the easiest way to think of it is you want to carry the same speed from your pullout through the turn in for 1. If you pullout hard you are going to have to slow down and then speed back up to get speed through the gate. If you are slow you are going to have to pull hard in for the gate. By continually carrying speed through your pull out/turn in you never have to spike the line with a pull from a wide point. By continually building your speed from a wide point you allow yourself to release and carry speed off the 2nd wake as opposed to dumping your speed and ending up inside.. some keys to remember. if you move out with your shoulders you will get pitched back to the boat so initiate with your core. if you move away until you move back in you never have a point where you are stagnant and imbalanced. by carrying the same speed through the pullout and back in you can gradually build your speed to a point that is containable. Width is your friend on the gate. A lot of people focus on one ball too early and are narrow from the start

[MattP]

I think @brooks hit it on the head. I said the same thing or I thought it.... he just said it better...

[Horton]

MattP brooks

[Bruce_Butterfield]

Horton, I think "softer" is a terrible description for how to approach the gates. It just sets the wrong mental image of a wimpy pull. "Strong, smooth and controlled" is how I would phrase it.

 

Brooks' description is excellent if you can get it through your thick head.

[MattP]

@Horton watch it. and I think what you were going for was MattP<(is less than)Brooks ... get with the times and lingo. Or were you trying to say MattP is less than brooks; and MattP is greater than brooks, could also be interpreted as MattP=Brooks. Wait did I just dis myself in my own comment?

[Horton]

I was just saying not equal but I like less than better.

[The_MS]

Brooks and Bruce hit it dead on.

[brooks]

@MS horton told me I needed to start making fun of you when I post, that will never happen if you keep agreeing with what I tell people!

[brooks]

@mattp > Brooks purely because he makes awesome apps like ballofscores

[MattP]

@Brooks thanks! There is some more cool stuff in the works as well.

[The_MS]

"Brooks Rocks"

@Horton your antics did not work on a smart young lad and fellow Strada rider.

[Roger]

I agree with Bruce. Sit in the boat and watch Nate, Andy, or any of the Big Dawg skiers and come back and tell me they are light on the line... You want the turn-in to be free of line tension (or light tension at most), but behind the boat you should be strong.

[skidawg]

Don't waste ur breath, Horton prolly isn't even reading this, he's a bonehead, that comment won't even get a resPonse

[Drago]

I agree, as usually, with Bruce. If yer doing a one- hander, it should feel similiar to the 2 ball. I call it thezero ball. Otherwise, your faking it. Get out there like a man, don't look at the orange ones cuz that means you rotate, set your hip and don't ever, ever say, "Soft gates", again. Shame on you.

[ForrestGump]

The discussion of being light on the line has never meant anything without detailing where to be light on the line. Not to mention, rope tension is a function of what happens before you turn in. That's why I always laughed to see people just barely skiing and saying they were perfecting being light on the line or hiding from ZO. As Roger said, the Elite skiers are anything but light on the line at the first wake. Even the women. You watch Regina from the boat and she is raging from the first wake to the centerline. Trent's article on the front page is a great tie in to this discussion.

[brooks]

I think there is a misconception of what light on the line actually means. It doesn't mean that you are "soft" or not pulling on the boat. The idea behind being light on the line is that you are not loading the rope in an immediate manner. Being "light" comes from building your speed progressively. You can pull as hard as you want but if you build all your speed in a gradual manner it is theoretically light on the line.

[ForrestGump]

Exactly. A lot of people think it means to pull like a 6 year girl everywhere. You can do that through 28 and 32. You can't do that as the rope gets shorter.

[brooks]

No 6 year old girl pulling people!! no offense to any 6 year old girls that frequent this forum

 

[jimbrake]

None taken.

[Razorskier1]

I hear softer all the time too. Not the right way to think about it for me. Think about the physics of load and your position against the line. When you turn in you are high up on the boat. Whatever amount of lean you take at that point, there will be a certain load. If all you do is hold that amount of lean, load will build as you run toward the wakes to the centerline because you will be pulling more directly against the boat as you approach the wakes. Rather than trying to manage the load, I try to manage my position. If simply set my direction and lean and hold, then I will build load as I approach the wakes and it will release as I cross the center. If, however, I lean harder as I approach the wakes, I will overload the line and get pulled up fast and narrow. For me just turning in and holding my position works for the gates.

 

In the course this is also ideal for me, but when the line gets short sometimes you have to improvise. So if I come out of the ball without a good angle set, then I'm going to honk on it to the first wake to get my angle and speed back. At the gate that shouldn't ever be the case.

[PT Mike]

Now that this thread is almost done I would like to add my 0.02 I tangle with the green loop here & there & what my buddy preaches to me is your 32 gate is the same as your 28 gate is the same as your 22 gate and so on. It works for me, the only thing I change @ the shorter rope is my intensity behind the boat. I agree that "soft" is not a good term.

[MrJones]

Just noticed this thread John. I agree with all the people who are saying to carry more speed through the pullout-glide-turn. This may be less of a big deal for you as a one-hand-gate guy, but for me as a 2 hander it makes a big difference.

 

The other though is to stay "tall". Trent gave me to work on last fall. I tend to get low (sqatty) on the turn in and drop against the line with my shoulder. Staying tall seems to keep me lighter and helps me stay more over the ski into 1.

[A_B]

One of the biggest problems I see in gates is people "sit back" on the ski, thinking they are leaning away. In order to edge properly and efficiently, you need more tip in the water and sitting back raises the tip.

 

It is a fine balance between just right and too much. Too much, and if your friends are videoing, you will end up out here. Too little, next skier...

[ForrestGump]

PT MIke, that's a good point. Watch Regina. Her opening gate at 28 off is as aggressive as her gate at 39 off.