Fangs - 9/1/2010
I came across a great quote the other day while browsing The Water Ski Forum.com. The quote was from forum member "OB", and I hope he doesn't mind me posting it here:
"Cheesy as it sounds, a lack of fear of speed, the feeling of falling all the time, and pushing the envelope on the water is required to get good...I find most skiers I'm around don't "get their fangs out" and ski hard enough to get it done"Sounds familiar. Until last fall, nobody in the boat had even caught a glimpse of any figurative "fangs" on this skier. My most recent change of skis wrung this out of me quite a bit last fall, throwing me out of turns with enough angle to really "feel" speed cross-course. Add 34mph to the formula and boom— love of speed officially discovered for the first time in all my course skiing. I've come mostly out of that (dangerous) "defensive" wake-cross position on the off side because of this, and have had nary even a minor OTF scare this entire year, even with the addition of speed and intensity. Come to think of it, at no time on this current ski have I ever felt like I might go OTF over the wake. Out of each turn I just can't wait to hook up and GO! I would say if there is one single thing that has improved my skiing this year, it's the feeling that I can go just as hard on the off-side as I can on the on-side wake cross. That really sums it up for me.
Here's a somewhat separate topic that's been bouncing around our boats lately: Is starting several loops back on the line for a pro skier really the same as a -15'er starting several speeds behind? Since I don't have several loops to cut it's hard for me to say, however, I've been keeping the boat at 34mph lately and I've been... fine. I literally have started my sets with my "hardest" pass and I don't think it has hurt me one bit. In fact, 34 just feels "normal" now. I do know that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity, and staring my sets at 28, 30, then 32, then possibly touching 34mph is something I've done for the past 5 or so years. This year I've really focused on 34 and have completed the pass multiple times. I'm having more fun behind the boat and I'm feeling better about my skiing. I typically cut to -22 after the first few passes at a-15, regardless of how well I ski them. For a skier who will probably only end up with around 20 sets this entire year, I think pushing myself a bit more this year has been helpful. I don't think anyone can argue that higher speeds and shorter lines are less tolerant of bad form, so once you can attempt them safely, what's the harm? My buddy Jeff is even more extreme (and albeit a better skier)— he has been starting at -22 and even dipping into -28 this year. I would say he looks better than ever behind the boat.
So, fangs, no fangs, high speed, low speed, long rope, short rope. I suppose it comes down to different strokes for different folks. Whatever works whoever is probably the best way to go for that individual, but these are observations and thoughts from our boats this year. Thoughts?
Comments:
Chef23, 9/2/2010: I think starting a few loops back does make a difference if you are skiing tournaments. You need to have a number of passes in your pocket before you hit your hardest pass. It is easier to clean up problems at slower speeds than it is at your higher speeds when you are only running a couple of buoys.I understand the differences between skiing slower speeds vs faster speeds. My son is facing that right now as he starts his tournament rounds at 26 mph and hopefully gets into 34 mph at 15 off. The difference between 26 mph and 34 mph is huge.
In practice we may start bumping him to start at 28 mph but he doesn't make 32 mph every time. Until he is making that more cleanly I won't drop the 26 from tournaments so he needs to practice it some.
