How To Ski Through A Slalom Course

Here's a well written and well thought out blog post from Where To Spray dot com's website (as in where to spray as much water as you possibly can in the form of a huge "Rooster Tail") on navigating a professional slalom course at various speeds behind a certified ski boat. What I enjoyed most about this article is the detail to which the author went in describing all the elements involved when negotiating a slalom course.

Do you like water skiing?  Have you ever considered water skiing through a slalom course like the pros or skiing on a private water ski lake?  If so, then graduating to a ski course will be a thrill.  Assuming you are familiar with skiing on a single ski in an open body of water, the primary difference in skiing through a ski course is that your turns are dictated by pre-set buoys in the water.

 When water skiing on an open body of water like a large lake, skiers will typically ski back and forth across the wakes from side to side, turning when they are comfortable.  A ski course, however, contains buoys which the skier must ski around – three on each side of the wake, alternating from side to side.  While the boat drives down the center of the course between the lines of buoys, the skier must aggressively ski around all six buoys through a pattern of quick acceleration, deceleration and turns.

A ski course is 850 feet long and will take less than 30 seconds to ski through.  While it’s short, it can also be humbling.  Even the most seasoned open water skiers will struggle at their first several attempts on the course.  But practice and patience will help ensure success.
There are a couple key things to consider when first attempting to ski the course.  First is to maintain a stable balanced stance on the ski with knees bent slightly, and to ski in a rhythmic manner with a taut ski rope.  It helps to practice at a slow boat speed.  Having the boat go 26 mph or slower will allow you to feel comfortable and in control.  A smooth turn will help keep the rope taut.  Most skiers will ski with a 60 foot rope to begin with.  Longer and shorter ropes may be more difficult to manage.
 
The second key is to practice crossing the wake in a rhythmic fashion.  In the beginning it is not important to ski around every buoy.  To get comfortable you can make your turns inside the buoys.  This is known as shadowing the buoys and will allow you some flexibility to turn when you are ready while still maintaining a rhythmic cadence from one buoy to the next.

Once you are comfortable traversing back and forth you can begin pushing yourself to get from side to side more quickly. Doing so is one of the most important aspects in successfully tackling the ski course.  After rounding a buoy the goal is to get the ski pointing to the other side of the lake, perpendicular to the wake and the direction of the boat.  This is known as creating ‘angle’ and will help accelerate the ski across the wake quickly.  Ideally you will get to the other side ahead of the next buoy, giving you ample time to set up for your turn.  You’ll want to decelerate and turn in a manner which allows you to finish your turn at the buoy.  If you are just barely starting your turn when you arrive at the buoy then you may eventually find yourself too far down course and without enough time to get to the next buoy.

Here's a very "close-up" and personal look at a very smooth water skier laying down a professional style run behind one very expensive ski boat in this YouTube video...enjoy..and learn..

Read entire article here:  http://wheretospray.com/how-to-ski-through-a-slalom-course

Related article:  http://sydneywaterskiclub.blogspot.com/p/videos.html