The slalom site for the rest of us!
Got out both days this weekend, just like last weekend. Awesome.
Yesterday I skied like there was no tomorrow. I started off right at -22@33.5. Had a really crummy first set, then killed it on the second set, making it around 5-ball multiple times and even getting around 6 and exit gates on one pass. It was a little windy out so conditions were far from ideal, but it felt great.
Today we snuck out between rain storms. Conditions were better but my skiing was not. I just had nothing in the tank. You know how when you are super tired, and try to turn at 1, and your body just says it's not turning? Not happening? That's how it was. I even tried -15 and still couldn't make much happen. Still great to be out.
I don't know how much legit slalom skiing we have left this season. The water isn't numbingly cold yet, but it's cold enough to make getting my foot into the rear toe loop difficult. The water doesn't feel too hard/fast yet but it's getting there quickly.
Finally got some footage of me in the course at -22. One thing that really struck me in the video was how shoulder-leading and rushed my 1-3-5 turns were. Zero counter rotation there. I knew they were bad (they felt awful) but the video really confirms it. What's amazing is that even though I lock in before turn competion and have a shoulders-forward wake cross, I still survive the passes. That's just due to strength and a lot of time behind the boat allowing me to "cheat" a little. It tried to work on a little more counter today on the off-side turns but I just had no energy.
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See some good stuff going on.
See some good stuff going on. Here's a non professional opinion of what I would do next... I would not concern myself much with counter rotation, anytime I've ever worked on that it has not benefited me. I would work on moving slow from the load position to a fluid 2 handed reach postion that moves fluidly to the single hand reach position. Think of sking outside of the buoy line with 2 hands still on the handle. This will keep good line tension and carry you wider and feeling slower (even though you'll be going faster). The reason you feel worse on that side is because it's the side where you let go with the outside hand the earliest. Once you let go with that outside hand, speed starts disappearing quickly, closely followed by instability. If you allow yourself to ride the arc longer with 2 hands you will go wider earlier and can pick your turn spot better and you'll have more speed at the turn finish which will allow you to connect to the handle easier.....these steps will create more efficiency in your skiing, which will allow you to ski faster speeds and shorter ropes.
You are on your way amigo, nice skiing.
You know what? You are just
You know what? You are just plain RIGHT about that. I just went back and re-read Butterfield's handle control article and that's exactly what I need on 1-3-5. I'm really going to try to focus on that. You are right on the money saying that focusing on counter-rotation while coming into the ball without handle control is not going to be productive. Thank you!
If you have tension into the
If you have tension into the apex, the act of letting go with outside hand will give you all the counter you need. I never think about counter at all.
Your skiing has improved quite a bit, work on getting that completion percentage up though.....feeding slow with 2 hands will help.
Yeah Joel!Your skiing has
Yeah Joel!
Your skiing has improved immensly this season. I'm jealous!
My 2 cents... What BD is saying will be a lot easier if you get a good 1 one ball. Remember Seth's coaching? I'm sure he would have gotten you a little bit higher (not faster) on the boat during the pullout. That will get you a little wider and less rushed at one. You will then have less tendency to give it back to the boat in the preturn and BD's advice really kicks in.
You need to find a place to ski this winter to keep these sensations alive!
Got out tonight and I really,
Got out tonight and I really, really, really tried to squeeze my elbows in, particularly my right elbow going to 1, 3, 5. I think I felt the difference, too. Which is nice. I'll keep trying- I like what I've felt so far.
That's the way I kind of
That's the way I kind of started on working on my connection (make sure the handles low). I haven't thought about it much lately, but perhaps I should.
Watched a lot of video of
Watched a lot of video of skiers who are much better than me on YouTube last night. One key thing I'm noticing is that when they have the elbows in during the pre-turn- THEY ARE STILL TURNING. When I was trying to keep tight in the preturn last night I was thinking "You know what, I'm turning better, not slam-dunking, but gee, I'm LATE as HELL. I was keeping the handle in, but not turning.
What I'm getting at is you still have to turn, you just do it with the handle and elbows tight and in for the first 1/2 of the turn. I think I was riding flat out, then releasing later, turning later with more speed but way further downcourse.
I THINK this is where the
I THINK this is where the less is more comes into play. We want to maximize our outbound direction AFTER the wakes. If we take to much into the wakes, it becomes difficult to continue riding the arc of the rope because we get pulled in after the centerline. What I'm attempting to do (sometimes I can, sometimes I can't) is to ride just enough energy (along an arc) to a spot just wide of the buoy line so that the ski WANTS to start coming back in on it's own. This (to me) is how to stay in a rhythm with the course. When I can get this right, it's a fairly effortless ride through 32 and sometimes 35. Back during the Ice Age, I could pull it off at 38....actually it's the only way I could run 38. The key to me is gentle progression to connection without load.
Put another way, most skiers lose angle and tension after the wakes, finding out how to not do that is the key to becoming a really good skier.
When you say the skiers you watch are still turning, they are riding the arc of the rope which means they are keeping tension on the line into the apex. I'm glad you wrote that....hopefully it will keep me from playing bumper cars this afternoon.