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Thinking about what I do and where I try to do it and where I actually do it. I'm a big reader of what thinking minds (in this sport) write about. I don't just read it once, I read it lots of times. Chris Rossi seems to have written about everything I've ever had a problem with and I can find an article of his that relates to something going on with my skiing. Now the guys that make their case with formulas, I generally don't grasp. I deal with formulas at work and know where to find them if I need them. But I don't think formulas assist me in my skiing.
Load application/location is propbably where I need to focus on next. The one thing I took from our past tournament is how light I was moving out of the apex into one of the top 5 strongest headwinds I have ever encountered in a tournament (one of the other top 5 headwinds I have ever encountered in a tournament was the previous round). I took 2 different approaches with the headwind 35 off passes. The first approach was heavy force, extreme load and hard work...I could never get the ski to move out and barely got around 1 and 2. In a similar wind the last round, I knew I wouldn't get far if I took the same approach so I decided to go turn in slower, not lean on it nearly as hard, drive the core and move slow. Not only did I run it, I got to 5 in really great shape....now the only place I screwed this up was off of 5...by applying to much force to quickly.
My question to skiers looking to inprove is on a scale of 1 to 10, how hard are you working and where do you start working hard? Another related question is how fast are you moving and what are you trying to accomplish with your movements?
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and then there are perceptions...
I think that's why guys refer to "light on the line" as opposed to "load" or whatever. There is a difference between loading the line and loading the ski and it is a real source of confusion. Here's an example... Drew Ross said in his video a few years ago (referring to pressuring the ski) to "load from wide" or "set the load from wide". If you do that a couple of things happen. First, setting the load from wide doesn't create line tension due to the angle from the boat. Second, if you load from wide you don't need to increase line tension by leaning more through the middle since you are already moving. The trick is, in order to load from wide you have to have the turn completed from wide which is different than simply creating drag out there. So you need to be moving at just the right speed and to be "quick" moving back to the direction you want to go. If speed dies, you get line tension. One more thing, you can't be light when you are narrow.
Anyhow, I've been thinking of this approach again because I think all of the "light on line" stuff is so easy to misinterpret. Maybe it just boils down to in order to "get wide" you want to "start from wide" and in order to "stay wide" you have to "be wide." Doing this would allow you to stay light as you pass through the center and not get pulled off edge prematurely.
I started thinking about this after looking at the comparison photos of Joel and Seth and also the Marcus video. The one thing that stands out the most to me is how the pros start from wide with a little more speed and how quick they are from that wide point to complete the turn, set angle, and get moving. I don't think that creates tension in the rope and it allows them to reduce tension or just maintain it as they pass through center because the work is done.
BTW, there is a pendulum analogy here, but I'm leaving it out.
Now that gets me thinking.....First I need to give my interpretation of "light on the line"...in my case, it directly relates to lean (especially in the spray zone). Unfortunately a lot of my early teachings related to lean, so I spent way to many years with the thought of the more lean and more line tension the better, not realizing that the more pressure/force exerted on the ski itself tended to get the ski stuck underneath or behind me which caused a teeter/totter edge change. Now I TRY to lessen that load by not applying so much lean (closer to a 45d lean as opposed to 30d lean...relative to the water surface)
Loading (the ski) wide is fine as long as the upper body is near vertical until approaching the efficient work zone. This is why I posed the question about "where does Nate hit the throttle?" He's very good about having a vertical upper body and also loading the ski from out wide without line pressure until the right spot. He's also very good about riding the handle with 2 hands out to the buoy.
In a related question, Is riding a swing the same as riding a pendulum?
I think so. To avoid the "math" controversy, it is a pretty good analogy. The thing about a skier is they can change things along the way which is why some argue the pendulum. More quiet = more like pendulum.
Back to the applied force thing. You know I'm far from being any sort of expert so take this for whatever it's worth. Another way to think about it would be resistance as opposed to applied force. Sort of a wait until it comes to you. I think our anticipation of what we think will happen can throw us off, like jerking a gun when you pull the trigger. I think i'ts more about resisting what load comes to you and thinking more about the path you want to stay on. All that after being where you need to be in the first place.
You know, I think I'm going to watch that Drew Ross Video again. There may be some good things in there worth bringing back out. It is funny how trendy waterski technique is. Underneath all of the latest trends is some basic stuff that no one ever seems to get to the root of.
I guess you can tell I haven't been on the ski for a while... all of this theoretical stuff. Put me back on the water where reality hits and it's a different story!
That's when I feel the pendulum....when I'm quiet and ski to the end of the line.
If I reach to the boat to early (as opposed to skiing away from the handle) I feel like I'm grabbing onto a moving train.
Oops, this one didn't end up in the right spot.
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