In light ob BD's common reflection of trying something new, I decided to re-visit where I was looking in the course.  A little back ground  first.  Last summer when we had Lucky up for a clinic there were a few things that stuck with me.  One of his main focusses was gates, and also where to look: Don't look down the 2,4,6 buoy line look at the angle of the rope with the engine box to determine how wide you are on the pull out.  You can see this on the video of Joel's lesson.  

Since most of my skiing was outside the course prior to last summer I asked Lucky about ways to practice while free skiing.  How do I know how wide to go out if I have no buoy line to reference?  His answer was the same.  Look at the angle of the rope with the engine box.  During one set of free skiing he was sitting in the boat and he said in no uncertain terms (as only Lucky can do) that I should ski and do 6-10 turns without EVER taking my eyes off the pylon.  At the time this was meant to gauge the width for where I should turn and to get me to forget about the wakes.  It worked very well for me

I have continued to do this whenever I free ski but I did not do it in the course.  In the course I would look across-course about 15 feet upcourse of the bouy I was headed to.  Although to my klowledge this is an old school technique, my thought was look where you want to go. When I tried looking upcouse (pylon) last year I fouled it up because I felt like I was looking everywhere and it didn't work.  I had no rhythm with it.  So, I had felt REALLY good outside the course (but then again who doesn't) and in the course it was hit or miss.  

There has been a whole bunch of discussion about vision and where to look as keeping one's head up helps maintain body position, etc, etc. in recent months.  I decided I'd give it a shot again in the course.  Although it was only one set, it felt way more comfortable then when I tried it before and the results were pretty apparent.    I  kept my eyes on the pylon until I felt the bump of the wakes.  After I felt this I would transition my view towards the buoy to make the turn.  Once I knew I would make the buoy, I focused back to the pylon.  Two things were immediately noticable:  Looking at the pylon allowed me to keep my head straight and allowed me to lean at the right angle to maintain good tension, body position etc.  Second, looking at the pylon until after I felt the bump of the wakes allowed me to pull long enough to maintain good outbound angle and speed to the buoy.  The result was that I was early and wide.  I ran 30mph twice.  It felt so easy it was laughable.  Bumped up to 32mph and again felt wide and early, feeling very comfy. I messed up one pass because I hit 3 ball due to being too early so I guess that isn't all that bad.  And I managed to fall around 6 ball on another..."So early and wide, you've got this in the bag! Stand up cool guy, you nailed this one!"  "Looks like you stood up too fast dummy."  I did take a shot at 34 but I was tired at that point.  Made it to 3 ball twice I think but the good thing is that it didn't feel fast or out of control.  

Got out for my first set yesterday.  On Saturday, the last "iceberg" on the lake floated out of our channel.  After putting in two 10 hour days putting in new flooring I was tired. However, the sun was out and the lake was calm.  A little push from Capt. Original was all I needed...."You want a set?"  I don't own a dry suit but did well with what I had...full wetsuit with my neoprene socks and hood. I used the hood last year with good results but this was the first time I used the socks.  They worked pretty well. They are .5mm so they are thin enough to get my feet into the ski and they worked really well....no numb toes. Since it was so cold I wasn't going to screw around too much so I made about 5 passes concentrating solely on the lean drill. Felt good to be back on the water. 

Still going up here in Illinois...at least as of last weekend.  Hadn't skied in 3 weeks prior to that.  Took out boat, pier, and lift out then took some open water sets.  Weather was rainy but we were able to get the stuff out between the rain.  Air temp was in the upper 60's and I have no idea what the water temp was but I'd guess upper 50's lower 60's.  It is wetsuit and hood season again.  Despite not skiing in 3 weeks I felt strong and took a lengthy open water set bumping up to 36 for the heck of it.  I like the feel of the speed...very easy when there are no balls in front of you.  Then I put on the combo's for a joy cruise around the lake because I don't do that enough.  It felt great to be back on the water until the next day.  2 long sets in the cold after lifting the pier and lift out left me pretty sore. 

With the impending start of school about to seriously interfere with my ski schedule I spent all of last week up at the lake. I took in as many sets as I could and the end of the week was capped off with 9 sets in 4 days.  Not sure about you folks, but that is a lot for me. By the end of the week I was definitely physically tired.

Slalom is making progress.  I put the wing back on the ski and it seems to help the attitude of the ski stay flatter and the turns seem easier.  I'm still working on consistency.  32mph is still a bit of a mixed bag.  I have run some that are super smooth where the speed feels very slow and easy, yet others are still a bit scrappy.  Also, I was able to run 33mph thrice out of maybe 6 tries. 

Made some progress with the trick skis as well.  Side slides on both sides are very consistent now and the surface O's are becomming easier.  Even though these are easy tricks, it feels good to make tangible progress nearly every time I ride the trick skis.  Until last September I had never in my life even put on a pair of trick skis.  Its nice to have a positive reinforcement diversion to slalom and to be able to say "What's my next trick Capt. Original?"

I have been doing a lot of skiing lately with a guy I met at our Lucky Lowe clinic.  John lives on the next lake over and has a permenant course set up.  I have skied with him 4 times over the past 2 weeks or so and that has allowed me to log 7 sets.  Including the sets with Lucky this is the most sustained practice that I've had in the course...ever. Open water is great, but there is nothing like getting practice in the course.  John is a great guy who has been around skiing for a long time.  He has done a lot of show skiing, is a great long line footer, and jumps and skies into -35. John is a great coach too. Some simple pointers, watching some video, and building on what Lucky told me has me making some good progress.  

I'm done with 29 mph.  I can run that in my sleep now.  My turns are more smooth with less tip rise. I'm feeling the leverage position more.  It is becoming more frequent that I botch a pass because I'm too early and I don't know what to do with it. Taking Lucky's advise, I'm turning in for the gates like I'm turning a ball.

I've been alternating 30mph up the course spinning and running 31 mph back the other way.  The 31 mph pass is well within my capabilities.  I've run it twice now.  The good news is that when I don't run it it's not because I can't, it's because I just found a simple stupid thing to mess me up. More time should make this more consistant.

On a side note, my 5 year old and my 7 year old are past the point where they need the tow rope tethered to the trainer skis. (The rope is still attached but I've adjusted it so that the pull is coming 100% from their handle and the rope that attaches to the bar between the 2 skis just dangles there.) The next step will be to remove that visual crutch all together and move them to a slightly larger pair of Jr. skies that only has the rope between the skis rather than the bar.  The good news is that on Saturday John had them going through the gate and then rounding the boat guides on the appropriate side (the mini, mini course).  Even with that bar attached to the skis they figured out how to turn the skis to cut back and forth.  My 7 year old daughter made about 6 full and complete passes.  She loved it and my son wanted some of that too!  I think 2 new buoy heads were born this weekend.  

Sorry it took so long to post more about our Lucky Lowe clinic.  I was without TV, phone, and internet for a whole week.  Instead of cancelling an order, they cancelled my whole account....idiots! Anyway, here is some more....

One of the things that Lucky addressed with four different skiers was their gates.  This is where everything starts and if you have a bad gate the rest is likely to go bad.  When you ski on a portable course without 55’s you start minus one reference point that is there to help you gauge a good start for the gates.  The first thing that Lucky stressed (and you can see this in Joel’s video) is that when you are just starting to learn the gate you need to use the boat as the reference point.  More specifically, the pylon is the best reference point because it is always the same distance to you regardless of which boat is pulling you.            

The second thing that Lucky said is that you have to totally commit to your turn in and it has to be the same every time.  The mistake that everyone makes trying to make the gate is going through it, but doing so differently every time.  There shouldn’t be any thoughts of “oops I’m going to miss the gate, I’d better adjust so I go through it”…. at least not in practice. If you pick a reference point to turn in for the gate and every time you miss the gate by 2 feet,  that consistency means that your mechanics are the same every time and therefore all you have to do is slightly adjust when you turn in.  If you are going at the same time and sometimes you make the gate and sometimes you don’t…go back to the drawing board.

Your turn in for the gates should be exactly like turning a buoy (zero ball so to speak). You can’t swing out and glide for too long.  The boat will pull you back in towards the wakes.   On the other hand you can’t neglect to go out far enough and you also can’t  swing in too soon. Think of a swing: there is a perfect point/time to turn in.  If you are having trouble with your gates Lucky recommends doing a two ball start so that you get the feel of what the gate should feel like every time. He started me with a two ball start then we did a one ball start then we worked on the gate (intentionally missing it early).

In order to make the gate consistant and like a zero ball Lucky recommended reaching with your arms. Instead of merely keeping your arms in front of you and turning in, reach and pull regardless if you are doing a one or two handed gate.  This will allow the ski to turn in easier (and probably with more angle as well). If you watch the video that SA posted of Lucky skiing you can see him doing this every time he turns in to the gate.

Just got back from our trip to see the mouse.  While we were there I was able to sneak away for a couple of lessons with Jodi Fisher.  This was the first time I skied with Jodi and would definitely go again.  His place is about 10 minutes from disney and it is a beautiful site.  

Thus far this season I have not been in the course but have been working on things in the open water.  My previous sets felt really, really good.  I had been working on getting more comfortable crossing the wakes at faster speeds and was having success with what I was doing.  Nothing better to make that feeling dissappear than to get me some lessons and put the balls in front of me.  

I don't know about anyone else but I have never felt like I have skied well at a lesson and I have never felt good after a lesson.  This is not to imply that I don't like Jodi or the coaching he gave me.  I do and I certainly learned a lot.  I came away with lots to think about and a lot to work on.  I always hope to come a way with an "A-ha!" nugget that will give me immediate success to the next speed or line length.  I have some things to think about, but they are going to take some time and practice.

I tend to ski with my legs very straight. Jodi stressed that this in turn does two things: It causes my hips to be angled with the ski and it causes me to put more weight on the back of the ski rather than riding it balanced.  This becomes problematic for two reasons: It becomes harder to carve a nice smooth turn (with the front of the ski) which then leads to bigger hits when reconnecting after the turn and it promotes using lean to generate speed instead of using ski direction to achieve the same result.

We worked on skiing with my hips square to the ski (everything pointed in the direction that the ski is going). This felt very different for me because it was comfortable with straight legs and that made it easier to keep my hips up.  In order to keep my hips square with the ski I had to bend my knees a lot more than I was used to.  I felt like this was causing me to take steps backward and ski with my hips trailing.  However, Jodi showed me that this was not the case.  On the onside pull, if your hips are square with the boat there can be a small gap between your hips and the handle.  If you keep the handle in the same position and turn your hips square with the ski (closed) then your hip will automatically be closer to the handle.

I worked on this but felt like I was taking steps backward because I was struggling to make it through the course at 28.  However, I did see some progress with this and I felt what it is like to get speed from proper directin as opposed to lean. (I get it..this is 15 off and slow..I shouldn't have to lean like I'm into 35 off.)  

I was still a bit confilcted though. I thought I was doing what I thought everyone was teaching and although Jodi was telling me to do the opposite things I could see the benefits of what he is teaching.  When I saw posts on BOS that were advocating the things that Jodi was telling me not to do I posted for some clarification.  That is where the Marcus quote came from that Deke posted.  To be clear, I'm not trying to offend anyone or doubt anyone...I'm just trying to figure this out.  I think it would be silly to repeat what has already been said so here is a link to the discussion http://ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/5441/different-ways-of-thinking-about-the-same-old-stuff/p1.

I will say that I'm going to give this closed stance a chance to see if I can get anywhere with it.

Got a quick set tonight.  Took the wing off my ski.  I have known that I should do this for some time, but I was resistant to altering the ski from its factory setting.  The ski felt great tonight and I'm glad I did it.  The ski felt faster yet I didn't feel any notable difference in being able to slow the ski down. I focused on keeping my shoulders open to the boat and looking at the pylon. I like what this did for me! Thanks Prof!

I felt really good for the first three turns and then went OTF.  That was a dinger.  Joel, when you broke your rib on an OTF I thought it was a freak incident, but after tonight I get it...totally possible.  My ribs hurt. I need to keep my arms straight. Anyway, I still like the way it feels when I look up.

I'm feeling great at 30.  Very comfortable and I feel like the ski was mire on edge although I don't have video to prove it.  I decided to bump up to 32. Things felt a bit out of control at first, but I kept it there and just worked on duplicating what I am able to do comforably at 30.  The one thing I do notice is that the wake seems noticably harder at 32.  What I felt may have been a product of the ski not being on edge at much, but I don't think it was only me.  Anyway, I think that is what I'm going to work on for the next few sets.  I booked a few lessons with Jodi Fisher in a few weeks. Looking forward to that.  Immediately following our Florida trip, we are going to host another Lucky Lowe clinic at out lake.  Will keep you posted.

By now you've seen Joel's post about our sets last Sunday.  I'm sitting in my kitchen with the front and back doors wide open and it is a very comfy 75 degrees outside.  Hard to believe that 72 hours ago we were freezing our butts off trying (and failing) to get our sets in before the rain.  Couldn't find my neoprene hood so the bald guy suffered again.  Ouch.  

Joel skied very well.  He free skied -28@34 and looked really, really good.  He had his business together despite the cold temps.  I skied next and felt just OK.  My last sets were 4 weeks ago and I was battling the cold.  Not to make excuses, Joel and Captain Original skied the cold same as me and killed it.  However, I felt it and although my passes weren't the worst, I've skied better.  

Captain Original got the short end of the deal.  It started raining at the beginnig of his set.  He tricked first followed by slalom and skied well as usual despite the conditions.  Once he finished, Joel took a trick set that I couldn't see much of because I was driving the boat in a downpour.  I was just trying to see where I was going and keep the boat on a straight path.  

I have attached video and would like your input.  I think my onside pull looked pretty good but my offside pull wasn't as connected.  I could feel it as I skied, and it shows on the video.  The water was cold and fast which I've skied better before but I just didn't want to fall.  BD, I did feel the back arm pressure you have written about. I am still trying to figure out my off side pull position.  The thing I'm trying to figure out is that if my hips are square with the ski, how much should my shoulders be square with the ski vs open to the boat?  Still a work in progress.

I can't believe that on March 19th (still officially winter!) I feel behind because I haven't had a set yet.  Incredible weather!  Looking to get on the water maybe next weekend.  This summer my goal is to go from being 28-30 to 32-34mph.  Also going to be doing some more free skiing at 34@-22 now that i know what I'm supposed to be doing behind the boat.

Had a chance to do some open water skiing Saturday.  Weather was not good.  Sun was out bit was in the mid 50's and wind was in the teens.  No water temp gauge, but if it was low to mid 60's 2 weeks ago, it had to have been in the upper 50's by now.  After skiing 2 weeks ago with Joel and feeling good after those sets, I knew it wasn't going to get better.  I pulled out the slalom ski anyway. First turn I wiped out.  Water felt really hard.  My ski didn't even really catch a good edge to turn.  It just kept going outward and slid out.  In other words I went to turn and it didn't.  I know people adjust the ski for different water temps but I'm not that confident in my ability to do so and I'm not that motivated at this point in the year.

So I said screw this.  No trick skis in the boat.  %#&! I had to go slumming!  My only option was to go wakeboarding.  Only the second time in my life I was forced to do that.  Honestly, it was fun and I was glad to do it. But I for all the crap I have given my brother for being a wakeboarder, you can imagine the guff I heard when I called for the wakeboard.

Hey bra, that's what you have to do to salvage some of the last sets of the year!

Finally got to ski with Joel yesterday.  We have been trying to hook up literally all summer long.  Joel is a great guy and I really appreciate his enthusiasm for this sport.  His personality really comes through on this website and through the videos he has posted here.  I felt like I've known him for a long time even though we only met yesterday.

It has been VERY cool here the past week.  Highs in the 60's and lows in the 40's.  With that in mind, I prepared for arctic skiing yesterday morning.  To my surprise, the conditions were perfect.  No one else one the lake, winds were low, sunshine quickly warmed up into the high 60's or low 70's, and the water was still in the mid 60's.  I had not been in the course since the weekend after Luck Lowe came to visit a month ago.  Also I haven't even free skied in 2 weeks since Labor Day where trying to stay standing amongst the rollers was all I could do.  

I felt really good about my sets yesterday.  If I remember correctly I had 3 or 4 full passes at -15@28 and I missed another one or two deep in the course.  I am feeling very connected behind the boat, the turns feel good, and thinking about the bumps as I cross the wakes has become a thing of the past.  I had tried messing with my boot position and it really messed me up, so I felt right at home after I put it back.

Another thing that stuck out about yesterday was that it was the 1st time I had ever skied with cruise control.  It took a bit of getting used to, so my 1st two or three passes I got pulled forward as I was coming out of the turn, but I got used to the new feel fairly quicky.  Once as I was coming out of 3 ball (I think) I got pulled way forward.  I mean way forward....arms out front and bent over at the waste.  However, I was actually able to recover from it an make the next few balls.  I have never been able to recover from something like that  and make the next ball, much less make the next few (I think that might have been one of my full passes, but I don't know for sure).  I think that is a tribute to the fact that I'm "getting" this, my skiing has improved , and that feels great.

Black Dog, Deke, and everyone else, as I've said before your descriptions of how you ski and what it should feel like and what you strive for have helped me tremendously. Kudos.  As a side note, I could only see a bit of Joel's skiing yesterday (through the rear view mirror) but he was tearing it up! When I saw his tweet this morning I was not surprised to see his progress after our sets in the morning. Nice job.

This is an addendum to my previous post about Lucky messing with my grip.  Up to this point, I have never given it a second thought.  I did what felt natural and probably couldn't even have told you which palm is up and which is down on the handle.  I am right handed and I ski RFF.  I have always skied with the right palm down and left palm up.  Lucky wanted me to switch.  I did and it felt slightly awkward, but not too bad.  

Lucky kept focusing on the fact that I was doing better with this new grip. Personally, I think it had to do with me pulling all the way through the wakes and having enough passes to feel confident that when I reached my ski would make it around the bouy. 

Lucky said some things that made sense and others that didn't.  He made the analogy of shooting a rifle.  He said there is a certain way you stand and hold a rifle.  I took this to mean that if you are shooting with your right shoulder on the stock then LFF, right palm is down, and left palm is up when you hold the gun.  OK Makes sense.  Then he said which way you hold the handle might have less to do with which foot forward or which is your dominant hand, but with which is your dominent eye...  Not sure that I'm buying that.  

When I got home I went online and looked at as many pictures of as many pros as I could find (JB, Rossi, TO, Mapple, Chris, Bob and Jennifer Lapoint, CP, MB, Asher, EVERYBODY!).  Every single one of them followed the same trend.....except Lucky himself.  Since I don't know which skiers are righty or lefty I looked at which foot was forward.  All RFF skiers skied with the right palm down.  Vice versa for LFF.  However, Lucky is LFF and skies with the right palm down.  

Is this just a comfortability thing (like which foot you preferred to have forward when you learned on one ski for the first time) or is there something more? Lucky seemed to put a lot of emphasis on it, but I'm not so sure that the switch was the cause for success.  Maybe it was his way of getting my focus on something else so I wouldn't overthink my pass.  Maybe he tricked me into not sucking.

I had a great time this weekend.  Went up to Milwaukee Saturday to watch the Malibu Open.  Saw the end of OM slalom 2nd round and some women's jump before I had to head back.  Was able to catch the finals on the web cast when I got home.  I love the head to head format. Much different than the best-score-wins format at Nationals.  Couldn't believe CP went out so early.  

I hope they keep doing the Malibu open there.  Great venue.  The air and water show was happening at the same time which made traffic a bit crazier, but I think it added to the festivity of the event. It is very cool to be there and see the pros just walking around and enjoying the event like everyone else.  Saw Regina Jaquess, CP, Will Asher, T-Gas, Nate Smith, Marcus Brown....I would love to sit down and B.S. with any of those guys and talk ski-nerd stuff.  

Today I went to Wilmington to see M2 tricks at Nationals.  Also saw a bit of W2 slalom.

Great weather all weekend.  Saw lots of great skiing and put lots of miles on the car.   Can't wait to ski! 

I did some skiing last Thursday and Friday before the lake got crazy for the holiday weekend.  Some friends dropped the course on Thursday, but it was really windy by the time I got there so instead I did some free skiing on what calm water we could find.  All I focused on was what BD and Deke mentioned last week: handle to the hips, not bending at the waist, hips up, point my hips/stomach in the direction I want to go, and do this through the 2nd spray line as opposed to stopping at the second wake.  Didn't even carve a single turn.  Got myself set, focused entirely on crossing the wake, stopped on the other side, got myself set again, went the other way, etc. Only focusing on one single thing.

It felt pretty good.  Skied the course on Friday and was able to see some results.  I got further along on the passes that I did not make than I did last time out and I made two full passes.  On one or two occasions I did feel what BD talked about: "feels kind of like my body is bow  shaped with my stomach leading the way and my shoulders kind of behind my stomach and the core is carrying the tension and there's very little load on my arms and shoulders."  Amazing.

Have hit the water a couple of times now over the past few weekends.  Free skied both times.  I've skied only occasionally over the past few years, but have been fortunate enough to be able to do so behind a tournament boat.  Memorial Day weekend I was able to apply some stuff I learned during my spring break lessons.  Mainly: arms in, ski back to the rope.  That really made a difference for me.

Last weekend I took a set behind an outboard.  Wake wasn't even that big, but was big enough for me to go "Holy Moley! What the heck do I do with this!?!"  Hence the title of this post.  It doesn't take long to get spoiled by the virtually nil wake of the tournament boats.  Anyway, I decided to turn off the slalom training mode and just skied around the lake looking at the sights.  I have to tell you it was refreshing and fun.  I wasn't thinking of all the crap that I usually think about, good set, bad set, what did I do wrong.  I just skied and enjoyed the set.  I should try to make this a priority more often. I got the new issue of Waterski this past week and there is an article about this same thing.  Free ski, trick, foot, tube, whatever.  It is all lots of fun.