Answering Horton's call for MattP video

[MattP]

@Horton here you go.

Have at it guys. I think we always dream of getting our best sets on video.. but that never happens. I think these are pretty typical of my skiing right now. @webbdawg99‌ @fizer‌ @wtrski6‌ @Craig‌ @SkiLady‌ are my ski partners that have to put up with watching this hack, thanks guys and lady.

Filmed with the Wakeye and Wakeye App on an iPhone 5

 

http://youtu.be/ZT52pbWipJE

 

http://youtu.be/wr8plIX7oAY

[Horton]

OMG I watched that video and now i am scared for life. It hurts. My eye. My brain it all hurts.

[MattP]

@Horton‌ I was afraid of that.

[Horton]

No wait seriously @MattP you have improved a lot since I saw you ski last. Good Stuff.

[gregy]

@mattp looks good. One thing that caught my eye was that your connecting with the handle high on 135 side. Few times just before turn in for the gates you set back just a little, last years I skied with Seth he had me keep my shoulders pointed down course on the glide and helped me with this.

[cragginshred]

Great skiing!! Radar Vapor? The site looks amazing,...where is it?

The wakeye seems to be bounced every time the boat gets hit. Having a buddy hold the iPad can be a pain but there are no bumps in the excellent footage.

[MattP]

@gregy‌ thanks, I'm working on those issues, but so much to think about for 16 sec..

 

@cragginshred‌ Thanks, Yes Radar Vapor. Yeah it is. I need to tighten a screw down and did not have my wrenches with me. It is Whitestone Lake Estates- Talking Rock, GA

[Ilivetoski]

One thing I noticed that I am now focusing on and when I feel it, I am smoking 32. Coming into 2,4 it looks like you are getting high sided out of the turn. When I really focus on keeping my knees bent and soft through the turn (2,4 being my offside) the turn is more fluid and I get loads of angle. You might be over skiing 32 also. For me I got my 28 absolutly perfect and then I started skiing 32 just like 28.

[skinut]

@Live2ski‌ I notice that keeping my knees soft at 32 really helps finish the turn. I've never understood the physics behind why it happens. Anyone care to chime in as to the why soft knees help in the pre turn and the turn.

[webbdawg99]

@Ilivetoski, did you just suggest to @MattP to keep his knees bent and soft in the turn? That sounds like great advice. But I get the feeling that he's heard that advice over and over and over and.......well, you get the point. SOFT KNEES MATT!!!!

[webbdawg99]

@skinut When you keep your knees soft, you arent pushing on the ski as much. When you push on the ski, you are forcing it out of the natural arc that its designed to make. With soft knees, you allow the ski to turn as it is intended. Pushing on the ski causes big problems!

[jhughes]

Looks awesome and clean to me, I'm really impressed. Great transition, great body position, shoulders nice and level, wish I looked like that!

[andjules]

@skinut @webbdawg99‌ I'd argue that when your knees are soft in the turn, if you do it right, you're rocking your weight forward (a little), engaging more of the forebody/tip of the ski, which helps it complete the turn decisively. I'd argue the right way of thinking about it (in the offside preturn/turn) is to bend the front ankle (which will make your knees soft as a result). Talking about knees sometimes works, sometimes makes people sit back, depends on the student. Bending the front ankle is (I'd argue) a better concept to make sure you stay over/on top of the ski.

[webbdawg99]

I don't disagree. Soft knees and ankles are important.....and so is being balanced on the ski

[skinut]

@andjules‌ flexing the ankles makes sense as well.

[TylerR]

@MattP‌ looking better every time I see you ski man

[Marco]

Soft knees (I do not mean bent or squatting) help absorb/spread out the intensity of increased load at the finish and hookup as well. Kind of like a shock absorber

[Ilivetoski]

@webbdawg99 @mattp I honestly feel that I can run clean 32's about 80% of the time (before this season, I had run it 1 time in my life) if my knees are soft especially into 2,4. I am also on the Vapor and I feel like the onside im just not going to mess up provided I am not screaming fast into the ball, and off side is fool proof if I keep my knees bent, and remember not to come out of my pull too soon. If you work on those things you should be smoking 32.

[gregy]

Since were talking knee bend. I've always tried to keep some knee bend but there are some really good skiers that appear to straighten there legs just as the apex or maybe just after. I think Rossi even said something like this in one of his slalom guru articles. What's this all about?

[MattP]

@webbdawg99‌ soft knees right I'll do that!

@Ilivetoski‌ It's not that I have never run the pass... I've done it hundreds of times... for me right now it's lack of water time compared to the past few seasons. So much to work on in very little time.

 

Soft knees and being patient at the finish of the turn are on my list of focuses right now.