Looking for coaching on these videos

[Waternut]

So here is my latest skiing. This was from my first set today when I actually had energy and strength. My form went downhill from here as the day went on but these videos are about as good as I can ski so any advice is welcome. Passes are 32mph 22off, 34mph 22 off, and 34mph 28 off. Second video is half speed. I have a horrible tendency to lean forward on my off side too so if you have any recommendations for fixing that, I'm very much open to suggestions.

 

 

[gregy]

I think you need to get wider at the gates. You look like your skiing buoy to buoy starting at the narrow gates and its getting you in scramble mode. If you can counter your shoulders more and push you hips up coming into the turn it will help the bending over (leaning forward) issue, but you need to get wide and early so you can have to think about these things.

 

The other think is your rocking back on the tail going to the wakes which results in you flattening the ski out early. I'd say think about knees and hips pushed forward to get your weight more center on the ski. Its all related and tied together with proper body position.

 

The rocking back on the tail makes for more effort and wears you out a lot quicker. Get over the wider part of the ski and let the ski do the work for you. I saw on a video (think it was Marcus Brown) you paid for all the ski so use it.

 

Your doing very good actually so keep practicing.

[ToddL]

I'll add: Ski through the edge change with both hands on the handle. Think: Lean, Edge Change, then Reach - these are separate phases. During your edge change, think about moving your hips up and over your front binding such that your front foot is supporting your weight. When you do this, you can keep your head up and shoulders up and back more through the turn but still have hips forward and front foot pressure. This will put you in a better position at the finish of the turn. Some people find that looking down-course helps to keep the head up and shoulders level through the turn. To do this, you would look at 3-ball while rounding 1-ball, look at 4-ball while rounding 2-ball, etc. In this heads up position, the finish of the turn should just happen. If you ever find that you need to initiate the finish of the turn, you do this by sliding your hips sideways just a tiny bit to the inside of the turn. This motion is moving your center of mass in the direction you are wanting to start going at the finish of the turn. So, as you are turning 1-ball, you would slightly shift your left hip to the front-left. This means that your hips finish the turn before your shoulders do. You should be able to get the ski to come around a touch more before you load the handle. This will allow you to load less at the start of the lean, but have a more efficient path across the wake. In other words, when you turn the ski farther before loading, you need to just be in a strong position, but don't lean hard at the start of the lean. Rather, a more progressive lean should follow.

 

Practice this for a set or two at your opening pass. You will know when you get it right because counter rotation and space before the buoy will just happen.

 

Finally, doing all of the above will shift your weight over the ski and change how it rides. So, don't be surprised if it rides very differently as a result. If you have been tweaking your fin/bindings away from stock to accommodate your current style, you may find that you need to return to stock setting while learning this new stance.

 

[Waternut]

@gregy I'll work on countering my shoulders and see if I can make it work. The knee forward and hips up really do help but it doesn't feel natural for me so that aspect has been a work in progress for a long time. Lastly, I've never had any success with a wide gate. Maybe I hit too hard at the start of the turn but with a wide gate, I'm screaming into the wake with the ski going flat at the wake which then puts me out of control with a ton of speed at 1 ball.

 

@Toddl I've played with fin and bindings a little bit but mostly it was trying to get things closer to stock settings. Once I was pretty confident I found what the stock setting truly was, I tried to make a couple minor tweaks which made everything worse so I went back. I actually thought I was holding on to the rope with both hands too long if anything. Am I letting go too quickly?

 

I have noticed, on average, my wake crossings look and feel cleaner at 28 off. I don't know if it's the wake itself or if I'm hooking up later which puts my peak load in the wake instead of before the wake. Just thinking out loud...

[gregy]

@waternut I agree it doesn't feel natural to me either. You may be loading early on the wider gate, its timing thing, you can play around with timing on easier pass and just about go through the gates with no load at all, but to me you want to adjust timing so you move your work load area further toward the wake.

 

Screaming into one ball I think is from the ski flatting and you going straight at the ball like i had mention before. When you get out to the glide try to push you knee and hips up and start you lean in in that position and keep it. The goal it to get more angle with out loading up early, keep that angle and ski on edge. You get more angle through the gates you'll be wide and early. You'll have more time and space to make your counter and control the speed.

[ToddL]

Watch these edge changes and then the reach/release...

 

[BlueSki]

Having your driver take a straighter boat path would not hurt either. It looks like your driver ran over the left exit gate and swerved a bit on you too. Perhaps he is watching the mirror more than the boat guides.

[Waternut]

It's totally the boat and not the driver. Our boat is a nuetral steering boat with some play in the steering just to add to the complications. It's exceptionally hard to keep in the course especially if you have a skier who pulls out near the buoys. Even when I'm not pulling a skier, it's hard to keep that thing straight.