Offside Pull

A couple of things come to mind:

The force applied should not feel excessive.

Think of square the hips behind the handle...ie the rope line should  basically split your body at the hips area...

Trailing arm pressure (with some openess) should put your hips where they should be.

Don't be in a hurry, slow off the handle, slow on the handle. Don't lean until the free hand gets back on the handle....then don't be in a hurry to load.

We all make this sport harder than it needs to be.

The turn is not a rotation...rotating the shoulders drives your hips the wrong way. Stay open and don't be in a hurry to finish the turn.

If some of this confuses you, don't hesitate to ask for clarification, most of it is counter-intuitive.

Thanks BD.  I think that the turns are a separate issue and I know that I rush it sometimes.  But my problem has nothing to do with the turns.  I start my session with some pullouts (and hold) beside the boat to feel the position and I can do that quite well on both on- and offside.  So, being LFF I can pull out and hold on the starboard side of the boat with lots of edge and just "hang my body mass" off the rope and I feel really comfortable.  My coach says that my body position when I do this is perfect.  So then I swing over to the left side and edge the ski (gently at first) into my offside pull.  I am trying to increase my lean to max right behind the boat and not "get in too hard too fast".  I think I am doing all those things.  But here's the thing...as soon as I get near that wake something in my head says "back off...danger zone".  Of course, I know that backing off is the last thing I should do and that this can easily result in an OTF crash which I've had my fill of...

BD, I feel that this whole thing is in my head...but how to change that?

How much angle are you trying to ski with through the wake? 45 degrees should be the most you try to ski with. What I would do in your shoes is start with a 10 degree crossing at slow speed get comfortable and gradually increase the angle and intensity and try to never max load the rope. 

The turns can absolutely affect your crossings. If you lead with your shoulders either by rotating or dipping your shoulders, your core will be separated from the handle. Try to turn with you upper body vertical and slide the upper body behind the handle...but not in a hurry. I went back and looked at your videos and you tilt your shoulders in to start your movement.

Not sure this will help because I'm still figuring this out too.  However, instead of running at 32 and shadowing the balls maybe slow the boat down and try to make them.  In order to do that you'll need to pull longer and that might help you get the feel for it.  Trying to get a slight bend in the knees/ankles without bending the hips is a bit weird at the beginnig but someone put it to me like this:  Drive your knees across the wakes.  A drill (open water) that was suggested to me was to pull out all the way to the side of the boat and glide untill the boat "catches up" then pull hard the WHOLE way across to the other side of the boat untill you can't feel the boat pulling any more. Then repeat many times.  This will help practice the lean position in addition to what you already do. The last thing that helped me....honest to goodness...was to have a coach in the boat yelling at me to reach and pull. The notion of "pull dammit and get your butt to the next ball" helps.  Not that your over pulling with your arms but it gives you a kick in the pants. Lastly, keep the handle low and to your hips and this will avoid OTFs.  There are a few OTFs somewhere in the previous videos that I've posted. Watch those as inspiration for what not to do.

Welcome back to the site.

Position behind the boat on the offside is awkward and scary because IT IS awkward and scary. We naturally get in a defensive position across the wakes on the off-side because our mind ignores the fact that we are hanging onto a power source and that power source is a pretty unique aspect of waterskiing relative to most sports. 

Our mind has to un-learn that defensive position and for most people that TAKES TIME. Maybe I'm just a bonehead but in my journey into 34mph and shorter lines NO tip (and we're talking 8 ski school trips, tons of coaching, and running this site) gave me insta-results as far as comfort behind the boat. It's been time, repetition, and more time. Part of un-learning the defensive reflex is to be comfortable having angle to the water with the body behind the boat on the off-side. It's a really weird feeling when you start truly feeling that lean on the off-side. You'll get used to it.

Another aspect is fear of true speed and accelleration. With proper angle you get what feels like crazy speed behind the boat. Being comfy with that speed and learning to love it is a big part of this. Again, time.

For me, exit of my off-side turn was key to feeling that off-side lean/angle (to the water). You learn to kinda throw your hips/core into the wake. Looking at video of recent passes, even if I totally break over out of my 1/3/5 I will still throw my core across the wake first which gets me across SAFELY.

I will say one helpful tip was from April Coble-Eller. She had a great visual of pretending there is a box with 4 quadrants directly over your head. In the top left quadrant is your ski, in the bottom right quadrant is your body. (picture S as your ski and B as your body below going from 1 to 2 ball):

S X

X B

OTF falls are NO JOKE. I've personally had 2 blown eardrums from them and witnessed at least 3 others. They are truly devastating falls. In many cases these falls are from "trying" to do it "right" too much. Rushing the process can put you into positions that you may think are correct but are even more dangerous- I have had plenty of big bell ringers from trying so hard to "stack" properly when my turn finish gave me no chance of correcting anything behind the boat.

Don't get discouraged and don't rush it. You will get there. Just keep skiing.

Thanks everyone for your comments.  The reason for my delay in response is that I was up north for our 2 week holiday at our cottage near Parry Sound.  Unfortunately, I spent half of that holiday in hospital.  Yep, ski accident....here's the story.

Firstly, on the Tuesday I went out skiing with my buddies who are pretty good skiers and they were reinforcing many of the comments you guys have made re my offside.  So I was trying (too hard) on one of my pulls and basically buried the ski tip in the trough after the 2nd wake and hit the water really hard with head, shoulder, and chest.  Ski stopped dead in the water and I blew out of both bindings no problem.  But I was pretty winded.  I got back on the horse and skied home more gently. 

On Saturday, a friend came over on his SeaDoo and just for a lark I asked him for a pull.  Assuming the SeaDoo had limited power I made the (fateful) decision to use my old combo slalom ski that I haven't used in 4 years, thinking that the longer wider ski would assist with pullout.  No problem as it turned out.  I skied around a bit and then headed for home.  NATURALLY, I wanted to spray everyone who was sitting in my boat moored at my dock.  After doing my final cut toward my dock and releasing the rope I discovered that this ski would not turn like my D3.  So I made the split second decision pop the front of the ski up (back foot pressure) and spin and land on my back to basically bail.  Unfortunately, my back hit the water and I skipped like a stone and slammed into the ladder on the back of my own boat. 

I broke ribs #8 and #9 on the posterior right side.  Two minutes later my lung collapsed.  I had to be bodyboarded out of the water to hospital.  Chest tube to re-inflate the lung, etc.

The CT techician just happened to mention that not only was my right lung collapsed (pneumothorax) but it also had a contusion on the front side of the lung....uh huh I said to myself...I know when that happened...on my Tuesday crash.

I am out of it now for probably 2 months.  Pretty much ruined my skiing for this summer and most every other activity too.

I am quite depressed about the whole sordid affair.  I know that the two incidents are not related but I'm either going to give it up or I'm going to press through to solve this offside issue.  But I can't keep doing what I'm doing....my 55 year old body is at some risk even though I'm very fit.

That's some scary stuff there dwallar.  Sorry, but the first thing that comes to my mind is, "What were you thinking?!!"  I'm 55 too and know of a ton of ways to get hurt in this sport without self inflicting it.  Anyway, I hope you recover fast.

 About that offside turn though, why don't you take a vacation to one of the warm ski schools this winter after you recover?  You'll have fun, get out of the cold weather, and will learn more than you can imagine.  Coaching at our age (in any sport) is critical so we don't waste precious time doing it wrong and then having to relearn.

Hi Deke.  Thanks.  Actually I am a member of a private ski club near my home and have a coach who has certainly been trying to get me to unlearn all the wrong things and do the right things that you guys have been also reinforcing I need to do.  Joel put it well though when he said that the bottom line is time, time, time.  Time on the water...no substitute.  I'm probably not getting anywhere near enough.  That's why I'm tempted to just pack it in.  To get the time is expensive.

Assuming I did want to do a warm ski school, which one would you recommend.  I know that Seth Stisher is amazing but he isn't exactly in the warm part of the US is he?

I've been to Ski Paradise in Acapulco.  It's spendy but wow!  Great food, accomodations, site, coaching.  Probably the ultimate.  Definately was once in a lifetime for me.  I have friends that also went to Waterski Costa Rica and loved that too.

Seth's would be great in the spring.  And Charleston is really a nice place.  I went in the fall.

I have not been anywhere in Florida.  Perhaps someone else could chime in?  Also, Joel goes to Bennett's in the spring.  There are some writeups on this website.

I'd like to hear other's take on this as well because I'm due for another trip.

Brutal news on the ribs and lung. I've had 2 blown ear drums at ski school TRYING to get the right position behind the boat so I know exactly what you're talking about. As I mentioned in my last post, trying too hard to do it right can unfortunately result in some brutal spills.

When I broke my #5 rib in 2011 it was fully, 100% broken in half and the two ends would sickeningly click and snap as I moved around. That was an OTF into the wake out of a turn (not across the wake). Brutal. I can't believe the rib healed, but it did without any outside intervention at all.

I would not get discouraged but instead work on free-skiing and maybe even think about a new ski. A new ski might force some new feelings through the system and turn some lightbulbs on for you. 

Deke- definitely doing Ski Paradise for our 10yr anniversary- 3 more years to go!!!

Hi Guys,

I finally got the video and edited it for YouTube.  Here's the link but will embed below if I can remember how.  My coach tells me that the mistake I made was trying to change direction.  I was proceeding to my right and tried to turn left.  He said any ski I was on (including my D3) would have kicked up like that and given my speed, would have resulted in the same things...oy vay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFbkY3XxTsk

I just noticed that my video was not public so you guys haven't been able to see my famous crash back in July.  I guess that's why more people haven't weighed in and told me how dumb that was and that I'm not 15 anymore or something like that!!

Anyway, it's viewable now.  Let me know Josh if you can't see it.

So it's been three months since then and today I did something that was like a dream...I went to the club (Summerski) and skied!!  It was 20C here in the Toronto area and the club was still open.  I felt that I really wanted to end the season with just one ski so out I went.  I've been running for awhile now (back up to 10 kms) but hadn't skied.  I did 6 passes with one at 32 mph and I perfectly shadowed all 6 balls and got both gates too.  It felt great....so now, I feel I can look forward to the Spring.

Hey...if you're gonna do stuff like that, at least let the video run so we can see the agony of the moments afterwards.

Seriously, don't be doing stuff like that, that could have been your last day skiing....ever.

Oh, I did not enjoy watching that.  The boat is not a bouy.

Hope you are on the mend.