Adjustment for tighter radius turns?

[JC McCavit]

What adjustment will cause the ski to make a tighter radius turn on both sides of the course?

[SkiJay]

In order of most recommended to least:

Technique - Turn with your hips further forward over your ankles.

Bindings - Try moving your bindings forward on the ski.

Fin - Increase fin length in .005" increments. Over-doing this will cost you width and/or make your ski hook up too hard at the finish of your turns (especially on your off-side), breaking you at the waist.

Wing - Increase wing angle (will also cost you speed and width).

[Than_Bogan]

First rule of adjustments: For every adjustment recommendation there is an equal and opposite adjustment recommendation.

 

In this case, a lot has to do with exactly why your radius isn't what you want. If the ski feels "loose" and is sliding instead of turning, then increasing fin length (aka lowering the tip) could help.

 

But the more common problem that I personally have had is the skiing "over-tracking" and refusing to start coming around when I want it to. In that scenario, I have been successful by slightly reducing the fin length (aka raising the tip).

 

I recommend 0.01 increments personally. At .005 there are differences, but it's going to be hard to separate what's really happening from what's just in your head.

 

Then again, I've sometimes found that fin experiments make me a better skier even if I end up right back where I started! So that "in your head" thing can be pretty darn useful!

[Rich]

Hold onto the handle longer, make sure you counter rotate with both hands on the handle as you move out toward the ball. The most common reason most skiers have a large radius is because they lose angle off the 2nd wake and ski towards the ball.

[A_B]

Fin forward. Boots back. Less depth.

[Dusty]

I've found that improving one side usually affects the other negatively a little. Adding length or moving fin back assists off-side, but may not be so great for my on-side. If you are deep enough already, taking out tail seems to benefit both turns... Countering properly works wonders for both sides without any ski tinkering at all...

[TylerR]

@ab I agree

[A_B]

@scotchipman, page 8 of the Goode Technical Manual, at bottom.

 

If your ski is over turning, move the bindings forward.

 

http://www.goode.com/images/wstm050811rev001.pdf

 

 

[A_B]

Always a balancing act. Adding length helps offside but hurts onside, that is why I went with less depth, as this in effect puts the fin longer relative to depth, and less depth makes the ski easier to push around on your onside. At least in my thousand or so fin tweaks, which by all account is ten times more than I should have.

[Zman]

Test

[A_B]

Move fin forward a couple thousandths and take out a fuzz of depth.

[Steven_Haines]

It's funny how one thing works well for one guy and the opposite for another. It's definitely a black art!

[A_B]

Sure is! I know I have gone out and tried some things that I read in published articles, and came back and re-read them over and over, thinking I surely got it backwards.

 

One thing I do know, is if an adjustment works, do it some more until it doesn't then back off a little.

[Steven_Haines]

Ya, Rossi wrote that article about adjusting for water temp. I'm sure he knows what he's talking about but I found that going in the opposite direction worked for me. It just doesn't seem that there's any rhyme or reason to it!