skispray

I had a top level ski when I started the course at 28 mph. Changed to a more forgiving ski on some good advice, and used that to get from 30 mph up into 36 mph, 22 off. I switched back to a top level ski at that time. I would 100% recommend this path for people learning the course. The intermediate ski was more stable and handled speeds of 28-32 mph much better. 36 mph is when I felt like I needed something a bit more aggressive, but ran into 22 off without issue on the intermediate ski. I think it sped my progression.

Turn by driving your knees where you want the ski to go.

Just starting this thread to say the Joel Poland edition of the Radar Graviton is awesome, and it’s nice to see because I’m a little bored with the relatively vanilla ski graphics that are so common these days across the board. I also think it’s cool that they’ve done an edition associated with one of their athletes. Just doesn’t seem to happen in this sport but I dig this.

I look at the buoy I'm approaching until I get to apex. At that point my head and my gaze go up (from looking slightly down at the buoy in front of me, to level) and across course as I find the next buoy. When I do this while slowly/smoothly releasing the handle, it seems to keep my inside shoulder up and gives me better balance at the finish of the turn. I also tend to over-rotate my shoulders less since my focus in on something in front of me (on the other side of the course). Since I'm fixed on that one object all the way until the next apex it seems to help my focus from finish of the turn until the next buoy. On this topic I think @Horton has absolutely nailed it.

It’s not unreasonable to deal with real, relevant political issues as they relate to water skiing without dragging the conversation into the decisive mud of everyday partisan politics. There’s a big difference between discussing proposed legislation that would materially impact water access and slinging mud about masks, taxes, immigration, or whatever other political topic. The former should be welcomed on this site, the latter shouldn’t be allowed. If you don’t think there’s a difference, then you are probably too intellectually lazy to be having political discussions in the first place. We can’t have a civilized, fraternal message board that focuses on skiing but that also allows free range political discourse. It just isn’t possible in times like these, so if you’re advocating for all political discourse on this forum you need to be careful what you wish for, because this place is the way it is now largely because that stuff isn’t welcome.

@DaveD I found an app called RFV that allowed me to reverse the video. However, I used the Wakeye app so there were many small videos to reverse and I found it to be a bit too cumbersome. Ultimately I ended up using an iPhone 6 specifically for ski videos and I don’t regret it.

@adamhcaldwell and @AdamCord are you basically saying the goal is to get the ski smearing as early as possible? By definition if you’re smearing early after edge change it would mean you’re starting the turn and also still continuing outbound.

@Dylan_wick I sent you a PM. The river course is located here: https://goo.gl/maps/LTfxKseo1p4kgav17

Anybody on this forum deal with Cubital Tunnel Syndrme (Ulnar Nerve Entrapment) before? I haven’t been diagnosed, but suspect I may be dealing with this now. It hasn’t yet affected my skiing much, but has gotten worse over the last few years and I’m starting to feel a little bit of awkwardness/tingling/reduced strength in my elbow at the end of passes. I’ve talked to physicians about what’s going on with my elbow and the response has not been very satisfying - basically “you should stop doing activities that causes an issue.” Okay... Not only would that potentially prohibit skiing but would definitely prohibit a seriously large number of exercises: pull ups, curls, snatch, any front rack barbell exercise, push ups, etc. I imagine that many here would agree that simply complying with THAT advice without trying alternative options first is simply out of the question. It seems like there’s some doctors who do ulnar nerve flossing as a treatment. Anyone have experience with that? Is it a western treatment? I’ve seen some reference to it when searching for info about this online, but haven’t found a doctor in my network that knows much about it or puts much stock in it (or any treatment, for that matter).

@jgills88 it sounds like you’re at the perfect place in your development for some coaching. If possible, I’d get to a ski school. If not possible, try to get some video coaching. There are a few amazing trick coaches on GiveGo. I considered saying to just ride the ski as much as possible, but I do think it’s important to learn to ride it correctly. Edging instead of leaning, making sure you’re standing properly on the ski, soft legs, handle in the right spot. The basics always matter on a trick ski, and can take you far if you learn them early and drill them like a Belarusian.

On the Marcus Brown episode of The Waterski Podcast he said he thought access to water is one of the primary ways to go the sport and that the U.S. needs about another 5 Okeeheelee Parks. I knew about Okeeheelee prior to that podcast but have looked into it a bit more since then. A county park built for recreation that has 5 ski lakes! The website for the ski club says they have 100 members or so, and on Google Maps it looks like dozens of ski boats on the dock. It does look like an incredible site. My question is - how did it happen? How did a county park end up with ski lakes? I’d be really interested to find out more about the history and if there is anything about this setup that could be repeated. As someone living in an area without a couple options but not a ton, the idea of more places like that sounds very nice to me.

I think these answers that reference acceleration are right. It seems like when you are truly stacked it's akin to the idea that when sprinting you want to be leaning forward as much as possible without falling over. The idea is to be leaning forward to the maximum extent possible without "outrunning" your legs, so that your legs moving forward are all that's preventing you from falling forward onto your face. This is the action that will achieve maximum forward speed. Likewise, in slalom it seems like you want the connection to the boat and your body position to be "ahead" of the ski so that the ski is always trying to accelerate in order to get underneath you. If you can get into that sweet spot where the ski is wanting to accelerate to catch up to you but you are positioned so it isn't catching up to you until centerline, then you will generate the maximum acceleration possible and it will be along the path of the handle. At the end of the day it seems like it's about generating as much speed in the right direction as you can, so that you generate the most centrifugal force possible to whip you up on the boat.

@lpskier wow. That is so simple and I could be wrong but it seems like it would really work. What I like so much about that is that, at least when I try it on dry land, it seems like it would both improve structural alignment but also shift your center of mass toward the front of the ski, into the optimal acceleration position that we're really looking for. Really looking forward to trying that out. Now I'm mad that's January. :s

@The_MS @ReallyGottaSki thats a screen capture from a video. The video showed gates, 1, & 2. The image is him going through the gates.

@Horton you mean to say you can’t do this?

@adamhcaldwell you are insane.

@jimbrake maybe I missed it when I listened, why do you say “picking on the old guys again”?

@MS so a girl can’t drop the F Bomb without people thinking she doesn’t deserve a sponsorship but... well, let’s think about what happens off the water for some men’s slalom skiers who still have plenty of sponsors and then, hopefully after considering, you won’t say nonsense like that anymore.

Elizabeth definitely seems to know how to promote herself. It’s refreshing to have someone on the pro scene with a bit of intensity and a story that’s a little different than what’s typical.

@sixmilelaker you’re in luck. Take a listen to the fourth episode from this season - Skiing in Adverse Conditions. https://anchor.fm/spraymakers

You can check out the webcast of the Hilltop Pro-Am, as there was data on heart rate and line tension displayed while people were skiing, or at least for the pros. The Swiss Pro Slalom webcast also had line tension data, I can’t remember if they had heart rate data.

In the same vein as @LOTW, you could do an episode on how to teach people new to the course. I often start with people skipping the gates, and the most common thing I see is they pull out to 1 ball too late, so they pull all the way until they’re at 1 ball, then try to make a quick direction change and get huge slack, with no chance at the course. Pretty defeating! Obviously we can work on those issues, but I’d be curious to know if you give them exact cues for timing, and even things like what to have them work on if they’re not ready for the course, what your initial approach to the course is (eg full course or some form of mini-course), what speed you recommend, etc.

Another idea, a little different, could be an episode about your best and worst memories from your lives in skiing. Could be highlights or lowlights of tournament skiing, or some amazing experiences you had traveling for tournaments. What are the unique experiences that you’ve had during your life in skiing that make for interesting stories? Basically just an episode that would be the equivalent of sitting on the dock listening to you two shoot the breeze about crazy stories you’ve heard, or funny things you’ve seen, memorable experiences, etc. Or, if that doesn’t work well, an episode talking about some of the most legendary performances in slalom skiing. Maybe give it some structure by making it a top 5 best skiers of all time type of list, and go through why each pick deserves to be on the list, etc.

Another topic of interest would be buying a new ski: when is it time? How do you know what ski to get? If you’re demoing, how long should you give it? Basically, what process would you recommend people go through when they think it might be time to upgrade skis?

How to get the most out of online coaching would be kind of an interesting topic, given the explosion of online coaching available (mainly GiveGo but many others too). Do you recommend sticking with one coach or sending video to whoever? How often should you send in video? In fact, you could extend this to in person coaching too. How long should you go to ski school? Should you do less than the maximum sets per day to stay fresh? How can you continue to make progress once back home? What do you see people doing that is counter productive? What have you seen people do that surprised you and you’ve found works well? I know some discussion was had about this during this past season, for example you talked about getting coaching as early as possible, etc., but with you both having so much experience coaching people, I’d imagine there are more ‘best practices’ that people could apply.