Is this how it should be? - would like it to be Grabbing the Handle - Ah Ha Moment!

[Skoot1123]

Ok, so I had this ahhhh haaa moment this past weekend where I figured out that just because you get your hand back onto the handle doesn't mean that you have to load/accelerate right away! To some this may just seem natural or intuitive, but sometimes these types of things are just in how our learning process goes! I know that I have felt this before, that's when my skiing feels effortless and "easy"! Part of my problem is that sometimes I feel like I need to grab the handle for balance. I would think that means I didn't carry enough speed into the turn. Another benefit of waiting or patience after we grab the handle is the increased angle we achieve. So often I find myself pulling slack in trying to get the "rope back" when in fact I just need to have patience and let that ski come around. Part of letting that ski come around and "finish the turn" is a function of being centered/over your ski and speed something that has been mentioned before. There is probably more to add to this, but thought it would be beneficial to at least share these! Anyone else have experience with "learning/figuring" this out?

[Razorskier1]

@Skoot1123 -- sometimes (today) when I am skiing an easy day I actually watch the tip of the ski until it is clearly well under the line before hooking up to the handle. The difference in angle is dramatic, and the handle is literally back on your hip when you re-grip. I think for many of us we are in such a hurry to get back to the handle and lean that we don't get the ski finished, don't get the angle we wanted, then can't figure out why we are skiing straight at the next ball. I ran a couple 28s and ten 32s my first set this morning and I just watched the ski come through, then gripped the handle and I was cross course and so early it was stupid. Good observation.

[gregy]

@skoot1123 and @Razorskier1. Great feeling, I'm still very much in the learning phase but if I'm not getting the ski around seems like no matter how hard I pull I just ski right at the ball. When its working like skoot says its easy plus you just keep setting yourself up down the course were there all easy. There's days I fight to get through 15off and other I'm getting into 28off. For me being patient and letting the ski come around seems to be the main difference.

 

Next step for me is making sure when I hook up with the handle I'm in a stacked position. I need to take some videos, but sometimes I'm getting pulled over and brake at the waist. I've notice a lot of the pros are really on top of their ski in a stacked position coming into the turn. I'm thinking I'm may be reaching forward (braking at the waist) at times a little coming into the turns which transfer into a poor pulling position.

[BlueSki]

How many others watch the tip of the ski come under the line as mentioned by @Razorskier1?

 

I think it probably something I should be far more attentive to, but I am usually thinking about where I am headed. I do often catch in my peripheral vision how much of my ski is in the water through the turn, but I probably have not caught a glimpse it in relation to the line like I should be.

[SkiJay]

@ Gregy Interesting comment you made, "... seems like no matter how hard I pull I just ski right at the ball."

 

Finding yourself skiing right at the ball is usually the result of "where" you are "pulling hard." If you are pulling too hard too soon, like immediately after the ball, Zero Off will likely pull you out of position behind the boat and fling you straight at the next ball. Likewise, if you are still pulling hard after the second wake, the geometry is against you and you will not be able to get your ski wide enough early enough, and will find yourself carrying a bunch of speed right at the ball.

 

Ideally, you want your angle and the intensity of your pull to build progressively into the first white water on your way to an edge change that should occure somewhere between directly behind the boat and the second wake. Strive to make this one sweeping motion rather than a turn, then a cut, then an edge change.

[gregy]

@skijay, I don't feel like I'm getting pulled out of position. I do pull after the second wake at times. What if feels like to me is whatever angle I have coming out of the turn is the angle I keep across the wake. When I let the ski come around and get the proper angle my edge change naturally happens behind the boat, I don't really feel like I have to do anything to make it happen.

 

@blueski I never made an effort to look at the tip of the ski. However, last week the passes just seem really easy, I remember thinking to myself as I round the ball that I don't usually see ski in front as much.

[Razorskier1]

@Blueski -- this is just a technique I use on my easier passes to make sure I'm letting the ski finish before trying to lean and pull. If you try it just do it at a line length that you pretty much never miss. But also remember, in a sport where what you do 50-100 feet earlier pretty much determines what happens at the ball, you need to be leaning right, edge changing right, controlling the handle right, etc for the pass to start feeling really good.