Help in the Course

[MARK-S]

You can pull hard and get around balls but if you want to run up a serious ball count, you need to be efficient in how you do it. Your body is just a lever or hinge between the boat/rope and your ski. This explains why a woman like Karina Knowlan (5'6 110lbs) can run into 41off. If you think someone that stature can fight a 3000lb boat with 343 HP and win then by all means pull away.

[HS]

Hey, I am not an expert by any means but I think your photographs say quite a bit.

Take a look at photo 1 compared with photo 3. If photo 1 is a free skiing shot, I'd say you already know how to initiiate the turn in, and when you improve the timing, photo 3 will look like photo 1. Put that ball into photo 1 and you are there, IMO!

[BrennanK]

Hey, I am not an expert by any means but I think your photographs say quite a bit.

Take a look at photo 1 compared with photo 3. If photo 1 is a free skiing shot, I'd say you already know how to initiiate the turn in, and when you improve the timing, photo 3 will look like photo 1. Put that ball into photo 1 and you are there, IMO!

Thanks, all 3 photos are in the course, you can just see the ball in photo 1 off the the right behind the spray. That was a turn that was started at the ball rather then before...

[ClemsonDave]

Watch this video of Chris Parrish running 39 and 41off at 36mph. He uses leverage and lets the boat do the work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEN-WEAc7Kg

[Skier12]

I'm no expert at all but I recent found these articles on the USA Waterski website and they should keep you busy for at least an hour.

http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/instruction.html

[harddock]

You can pull hard and get around balls but if you want to run up a serious ball count, you need to be efficient in how you do it. Your body is just a lever or hinge between the boat/rope and your ski. This explains why a woman like Karina Knowlan (5'6 110lbs) can run into 41off. If you think someone that stature can fight a 3000lb boat with 343 HP and win then by all means pull away.

Perhaps I should have substituted the word hard with steady. Too often I see people go around one and stop the pull at the wake , cross the wake and then pull again making them way too late for two. My point was that the boat will be going straight at a consistant speed while the skier is navigating back and forth covering much more territory while being pulled by the boat. The skier complained of falling short of making the second bouy which in turn misses 3,4,5,6. Without being there watching his run it is hard to armchair quarter back what he is doing wrong.

[pj]

One more thing to think about. Man, you are going to have plenty of information swimming around in your head all winter. Here's my $.02.
At 26-28MPH if you are struggling to get wide enough, I would think that you are probably skiing right at the buoy and/or double pulling as mentioned earlier. Your turns look pretty good from the photos. At these speeds, you really don't need to think about the turn much. Be patient in the turn and gradually build your intensity during the pull so that you are at maximum effort right behind the boat. The key is to be progressive. You will be so early to the next ball you won't know what to do.

[MARK-S]

Lots of good points. Slower speed is harder to ski then faster due to the need to generate and then maintain cross course speed. HS is right on and his point is about perception of where you are and where your going. Seeing the ball across course will give you the tendancy to hang on until you get to it. Think about using your body as another 8-10 feet of line from your hand to your ski instead of trying to get the handle around the ball. This will help you ride out to the bouy line from the wakes.

[ClemsonDave]

Brennan, post a video and we'll have a better idea how to help.

[snowboardcorey]

Hey, I'm no hater. Even owned a CC myself and them were some of the best days yet!

[WakeSlayer]

I know, just teasin'