Posted by Robby Trimble on Sat, Mar 06, 2010 @ 12:17 PM
The comeback of pure water ski design by Nick Parsons
If you've been skiing for several years and you've been hunting for an increase in buoys and overall better performance, then perhaps the next generation of skis might be something you need to invest in. Over the past decade materials for skis have changed drastically. Between the amount of carbon used and the types of cores within the skis almost all manufactures now produce top world cup stock skis. Now, to narrow it down a bit, ski shapes have drastically started to change for the better. At the moment four ski companies have really started to think out of the box and get back to actual ski shape design. There is a new phase coming in water ski design where water ski companies are designing skis with and for pro athletes. In previous years there has been a lot of ski shape copying only to make small changes and then call it their own. Ski shapes now are starting to be built with a specific style and person in mind and the shape design starts from scratch. These are the fundamental elements that make up pure ski design.
The wide ski from Goode was one of the first skis to begin to think differently and focus on helping a fluid style of waterskiing and to get back to the roots of ski design. As of now Goode ski technologies offers two very different type world cup ready skis. The 9900 SL WIDE RIDE AND 9900SL. While both skis are for high end competition each ski is for two different styles and/or purposes. The 9900 SL WIDE RIDE was designed to maintain speed through the finish of the turn for aggressive skiers while also allowing an abrupt sharp finish for short line turns. The 9900SL was designed with having a more rounded smoother arc in mind and has essentially been one of the most successful overall shapes and has been one of the highest selling skis of the past decade. If you're as into waterskiing as I am and are wanting to find that extra edge to improve your skiing then I would suggest looking into purchasing some of these new age skis.
Ski at the Ranch this season
Written by Nick Parsons
Posted by Robby Trimble on Thu, Feb 25, 2010 @ 05:19 PM
Give Yourself Two On-Side Turns
We naturally have an "on-side", and an "off-side" turn in slalom. What many skiers try to do is to overcompensate on the off-side by trying to turn, and rotate the whole body to get the ski to rotate around. This just makes the off-side worse. Why do we have an "on-side" and an "off-side" turn? It's the stance... On our on-side turns our hips are naturally opened up, making it easier to keep the shoulders level, and get the lower body weight moving over the inside of the arc. The off-side is more difficult because our hips are closed up.
To improve this situation, what can we do? Well, think of a snow skier. They have two even, or on-side turns. By being able to move the feet individually of each other a snow skier can open equally well on both sides. Approaching a left turn, the outside foot will drop back a bit making the skier essentially a left foot forward skier. On the other side the left foot will fall behind the right foot a bit making them a right foot forward skier.
A slalom waterskier isn't allowed to make quite as much change in stance, but we can improve our off-sides by making them more like our on-sides. As you approach your off-side turn try to mimmick that snow skier movement as much as possible. If you could you would drop that outside leg back. Well we can't move our feet, but we can move our hips. Try taking that outside hip back as much as possible. If you're a right foot forward skier approaching the 1 3 5 buoy side twist your hips to the right. Bring the right side of the hips back, and the left side of your hips forward. You're trying to open up your hips so your left hip is now more over your front foot, and your right hip is brought back more to the middle of the ski. A left foot forward skier will do this on the other side of the course, on the 2 4 6 side. Bring the right side of the hips forward over that left foot, and allow the left side of the hips to trail, staying over the middle of the ski.
Ski with Terry to develop your two on-sides!
By opening up the hips as much as possible into and through our off-side turns we can make the ski turn equally well on both sides of the course.
Written by Terry Winter
Posted by Robby Trimble on Wed, Feb 17, 2010 @ 01:11 PM
Ski Lighter, Ski Earlier by Terry Winter
One of the hardest things to do while slaloming is to not overdo the pulls. You always feel like you're running just a bit behind, and pulling harder is going to get you earlier to the next turn. Problem is, it's easy to get the angle at first, but much tougher to maintain that angle long enough to be beneficial.
Remember that with the new Zero Off boats the harder you pull against them the more gas they give you in return. What happens is you get to a point that you can no longer increase or even maintain that kind of load, and then you lose everything you had just built up including your outward direction into the next turn. It's more important to have good direction from the second wake out to the buoy than it is to have lots of speed and angle from the buoy to the first wake.
One thing you need to experiment with is how light you can cut, and still get to the next turn in good position. Instead of coming out of the turns and immediately pulling as hard as you can, try this... think about completing the turn, and getting your best possible body position right away. Once the ski has turned and is pointing towards the wake, and you have your handle close to your hips just see if you can maintain that all the way from the finish of the turn right through the second wake. Don't try to pull any harder than what you have from the finish of the turn, and don't let your body change positions.
What you'll find is that by skiing lighter you'll be able to maintain better body position, and you'll be skiing earlier in the course. Proper body position is much more effective than a hard pull.
Getting the bug to ski? It's 71 today in California!
Posted by Robby Trimble on Mon, Feb 08, 2010 @ 10:34 PM
Waterski Lesson: Pre Season Slalom by Terry Winter
I often get asked about how I start the season. Pre-season skiing is tough, especially if you're skiing in a colder climate. Muscles are cold and stiff, and not as strong as they were in the summer. Cold hands and feet make it tough to get a good feel for the handle, and what the ski is doing underneath you. Also, the ski rides differently in the colder water, riding higher and giving a sense of less stability and more speed.
What I like to do when I start is make it as easy as possible to get back in a good rhythm, and give my body a chance to get used the strains and hard pulls again. I typically start off at a slower speed. I'll drop it down to 34mph for a while, and go through the line lengths. This gives me more of a sense of how it usually feels when I ski, whipping up wider on the boat and making some harder turns. If I go back to my top speed too soon I usually can't run too many line lengths, and it takes longer to get a good sense of skiing well.
When I do feel comfortable again at the slower speed I'll go back up to my top speed, and stay at the easier line lengths for a while until I feel that I can run each one very well. I'll run a lot of 32 off's until I feel that I'm really dialed, and have some of my strength back. Then I'll go shorter, and try to dial in the next pass. The point is if you're first pass is sketchy or tough the next one is going to be worse. Give yourself some time to feel like you're really used to your ski again, and your body position is back on point.
Give yourself plenty of time to work back into skiing. I might ski slower for a couple of weeks, and then go faster and stay at the longer line lengths for another couple of weeks. The more time you can spend getting your ski and body position dialed at the easier passes the faster you're going to progress through the tougher passes.
Come to California and ski with Terry this spring!
Spring is a great time for a water ski vacation in California, by April the air and water are warming up here. Skiers from colder climates get a start in more favorable early season conditions then semi frozen lakes, here water ski lessons taken in the spring give you techniques to work on all season.
Written by Terry Winter
Posted by Robby Trimble on Thu, Jan 28, 2010 @ 08:01 PM
Written by Terry Winter
One of the more common struggles I witness while coaching slalom skiing is how to manage control of the handle and body position throughout the edge-change process.
Many skiers make the mistake of combining the release of the handle with the edge-change. What achieves greater results is separating the two... the edge change should occur somewhere close to the center of the wakes, while the release of the handle should be done about half way out to the width of the buoy from the center of the wakes.
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What you're looking to accomplish is maintaining a hip-to-elbows/handle relationship that stays the same all the way from the completion of the turn, through the wake crossing, and up to the release (again, about half way out to the buoy from the center of the wakes). As you complete the turn feel your hips and your handle come together. You should be able to feel your elbows pinned against the sides of your vest. If you have any gap at all between your vest and your elbows, then your position is not as strong as it could be. As you approach the wakes soften your legs, and allow the load you have built up through the cut to release the ski from its cutting edge on to its inside, turning edge. The key here is to keep your body's core tight. Maintain your position of the hips, the handle, and the elbows. The only body position change here is in the lower body. With your ski on the inside edge, ride it out halfway to the buoy's width. This is where you can start your handle release. Allow your self to ski out, and away from the handle.
By maintaining this strong body position through the edge change, and waiting longer to release the handle you will set yourself up for much earlier, wider turns. That's it for this weeks water ski lesson, your feedback is always welcome...
Click Here for Lessons with Terry!
Written by Terry Winter
Posted by Robby Trimble on Fri, Jan 22, 2010 @ 07:17 PM
Hi Nick,
It was great to read your article as i've recently purchased a new ski and feel i haven't quite got it set up right yet. Whilst i'm uncomfortable making fin adjustments as i don't have the knowledge or tools to do it i have tried moving my bindings. As a basic rule how does binding adjustments impact the performance of the ski. i.e. By moving them forward does this put more tip in the water and cause a sharper turn? Are binding adjustments similar to fin adjustments in terms of impact on ski's performance?
Cheers, Simon Posted @ Sunday, January 10, 2010 7:56 PM by Simon
Simon,
The basic rules for binding adjustments are as follows. A forward movement with the bindings (from stock position) will add more nose pressure and make a smoother slower or longer arcing turn. Backwards is the exact opposite. A backward movement with the binding (also from stock position) relieves nose pressure and makes the ski carve a tighter arc with a more abrupt finish.
There are fin adjustments that can simulate binding movements. It's almost opposite of binding movements. Moving the fin backwards is a similar movement to moving your bindings forward and forward with the fin is the opposite. If you are unsure in your fin adjustment abilities I'd recommend leaving the fin in the standard setting. Try experimenting with forward and backward movements of the binding and see what works best for you. If you are interested in increasing your fin and binding adjustment abilities I'd recommend a one on one water ski lesson here at the ranch with either Doug, Terry or myself.
Cheers, Nick
Come ski with us!
Posted by Robby Trimble on Sat, Jan 16, 2010 @ 12:40 PM
Want to ski with Terry?
As I give a waterski lesson, one of my primary focuses is on a skier's body position. There's lots of different styles of slalom pulling positions, but whatever it looks like you have to have a strong, leveraged pulling position to get across the course effectively.
One way to increase your leverage, and therefore increase your ability to get across the course on an earlier line, is by counter-rotating. Counter-rotating means opening up your body so that your hips and shoulders are facing more down the length of the course as your ski is pointed across the course. For example, say you're turning and cutting to the right. As your ski is arcing around to the right you're trying to make your shoulders and hips twist a bit to the left. With a good, countered body position the observer in the boat should be able to see the fronts of both of the skier's shoulders.
What countering allows you to do is soften your legs better, and get your hips or center of gravity leaning away more from the boat. This will shift your body's weight so that you have more pressure over the ski's cutting edge, and make it possible for you to hold a better line cutting more directly across the course. This will set you up for wider, earlier turns. If you close off your hips and shoulders, making them face across rather than down the course, your legs will tend to be straighter and stiffer and your hips or body's weight will be placed more over the center of the ski. This will lessen your ability to hold your ski on a solid edge, which leads to shallower, faster approaches to your turns.
Written by Terry Winter
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Posted by Robby Trimble on Thu, Jan 07, 2010 @ 09:52 PM
To move your bindings or adjust your fin?
Growing up waterskiing all I ever heard from Water Ski Schools and in Water Ski Lessons about fine-tuning your waterski was fin movements. Fin adjustments, fin adjustments, fin adjustments. It's my personal belief that the binding movement is the most underrated waterski adjustment that you can master.
Within the past 5-10 years waterski bindings have really seen advancements. These advancements include the way the bindings can be adjusted. Bindings for the most part have only been able to adjust in ΒΌ inch increments. Bindings now come straight from the factory with the ability to move down to the 1/16 or even the 1/32 of an inch. With the ability to make adjustments this small you can accomplish the same results as fin adjustments if not more and with more control and less time.
Skiing at several different lakes throughout the summer it's necessary for me to make ski adjustments in order to have my ski ready for competition. Depending on how the water feels my ski usually requires a forward or backward movement of my bindings of a 1/8 - 1/16 inch. When skiing at home and dialing in a ski my binding movements often get down to a 1/32-inch. All these movements usually occur with little or no fin adjustments. I typically start with a standard fin setting and go with my binding movement routine. If I had to give advice to a fellow waterskier looking for that extra 1-2% edge to get him a few more buoys, I'd say master your binding adjustments and spend less time with your fin.
Written by Nick Parsons
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