Ideal Gate Turn in

[Horton]

For a long time I have been trying to get as wide as possible and then turn in on my front foot and try to arc in so the boat picks me up late.

 

Honestly I suck at this but this is what I try to do. I seem to end up with the boat picking me up too soon and then I do not have angle and I freak out and try to stop the boat with a massive lean going to 1 ball.

 

I skied with @Milford today and I was sort of surprised when he just said to get super wide and just turn and go. Perhaps that is not exactly what @Milford said but that he said was you should be on the verge of going too fast, turn and go.

 

How do you think your gate turn in?

[Horton]

FYI @Milford did also say that @Dirt is a funny looking freak

[MillerTime38]

I try to use the same approach to gates, get wide and turn in with speed so you can build angle without load. It is a very strange feeling at first because you feel like you are turning in on slack. But that's the feeling you want, not slack but a free of boat feeling. If done properly the skier should not need to add any more load through gates, just resist the pull of the boat and maintain the angle you have. When I do this properly I feel like I am going 10mph slower into one ball and the entire pass is easier.

 

My wife does most of my driving and she understands that her driving entering course is just as important, if not more important, than driving in course.

[MrJones]

I believe most of us seek the comfort of slowing down before the move back to the gate. Likely because most us actually "lean" toward the gate vs. "turning the ski" toward the gate keeping our torsos behind the line. Leaning in with speed doesn't work at all. If you are slow enough it feels better, but it's not the way to go.

 

If you watch the skis of really go pros, whether they are wide or narrow, one handed or two, they almost always have enough water speed for the ski to rotate a long way back under the line before they load the rope. I believe the "freak out" moment Horton mentions occurs when you realize that you didn't have enough speed/momentum for the ski to get into optimal position and try to make up for it with the massive lean.

 

Or maybe not.... :)

[Horton]

@MrJones yeah I've been trying to be smooth for so long and always catch myself being too heavy at the wakes.

 

Next week I'm going to really try to do it @Milford style. Wide as I dare with as much water speed as I dare. Forget everything else.

[Razorskier1]

I like to get wide and turn in while still wide and carrying speed. The more speed I carry st turn in the less tempted I am to load the line too much later. It's all about speed.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

One of the big things I noticed wih trick mode was that I could turn in and establish my angle before the boat hit me. With normal ZO it feels like the boat is accelerating before I finish turning in and I'm behind from the start. Maybe "turn and go" isnt such a bad approach.

[ripa38]

@Horton, I did exactly that yesterday with Charlie behind the wheel and 38 went down off the dock. 39 start did not feel bad either. Super wide and turn in with speed/no load (ever). just stay connected off second wake.

[Horton]

@Bruce_Butterfield you need to be careful about judging things in trick mode. I don't know that the boat speed coming into the gates is actually correct. As you know slalom mode with the right bits and pieces stolen out of trick mode is really where the magic is.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

@Horton, at the risk of highjacking the thread, I have a fundamental disagreement with your premise that existing trick mode is not valid for slalom. The amount of initial overshoot before the course among the multiple brands and who knows how many software iterations has been all over the place since the initial introduction of speed control. Just because trick mode doesn't know that the skier is pulling out for the gate is irrelevant - the time between entry and exit gates will (should) still be "actual". Whether trick mode could be improved for slalom is another story. I suspect it could, but if I could take the existing trick mode over any of the slalom modes today, I would.

 

But, back to this topic - my comment was more of a "here's something I learned while screwing around with something else". It was to emphasize the importance of getting the ski on edge and establishing body position early - in my example before the speed control kicks in, but in other examples a similar result could be achieved by turning in with more speed. The biggest downside is the natural tendency to let up at the wakes when the brain kicks in and thinks you are too fast.

[Horton]

Crazy thing - the other day I was sarcastically trying to mimic what I think it looks like @Chris Rossi does on his gate turn in and I think it was magic. I hate to copy what an elite skier is doing without understanding what they are REALLY doing but I think it works.

 

He is extra tall and aligned before he turns in and just keeps that alignment. He seems to never push forward on his front foot leading up to the turn in.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPsqFIFPZXA

 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWvGL2FHmRX/?taken-by=rossiski

[Horton]

@Chris Rossi is my understanding close?