My two cents for what it’s worth…For me, gates at our level (15-28 off) are all about consistency. I break up the gate movement into the following steps when I ski:
1 – Point at which I pull out
2 – Distance boat travels for me to achieve desired width
3 – Distance boat travels for me to match boat speed
4 – Point at which I start my turn in
5 – Distance boat travels for me to ski through gates
I use the distance the boat travels as a yardstick so if I change the intensity of a pull out, what I’ve done is change the distance boat travels for me to achieve desired width. This needs to be compensated for in one of the other 5 steps. My aim is to be as consistent as possible with steps 2-5 and simply adjust step 1 for different speeds. For different line lengths each point changes slightly, but being consistent allows you to learn what’s changed and how to compensate.