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How Much Throttle For Deep Water Slalom Start?


GrantD

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I am no pro slalom skier but learnt and was regularly driven by ones who are and I second having the driver slightly drag before pulling you up. Feels like an easier transition towards standing and not as much fighting, the important part is keeping the ski straight or slightly to the side of your front foot with the rope on the opposite. 

I would also recommend the V rope that allows you to keep the ski aligned. Makes a huge difference. 

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ahopkins22LSV
1 hour ago, UWSkier said:

I was like that for a long time too where I'd like a slow roll on from a dead stop.  Recently I've started with an "in gear" then "go" type of approach since that's what I was getting whenever I'd ski with pro coaches.  If you can stay aligned while you're being dragged, it's way less wear and tear on the arms, shoulders, forearms, etc.  But when you get crossed up on the drag after you say "go," it can be a bit of a rodeo getting out of the water.  :)

 

Haha I like to tell people that I refined my deep water starts at tournaments. They go regardless of you so you better be ready. I’ve been dragged a mile and I’ve had slack in the line when they’ve gone. I also had the boat run out of gas as I rounded 6 ball going out the gates.

One other real suggestion, since you have one foot in front of the other and the rope is on one side of the ski. It’s harder to try to keep the ski too pointed straight up and down or at noon. If it’s at 11 or 1 that is fine. Just keep it steady. Don’t fit to bring it to noon immediately as it will somewhat do that naturally go there once you gain speed and are standing. Just don’t let it go too far towards 2, 3 / 10 9. 

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Others all have covered the key points in detail.  To drive home the balance/muscle repetition of starts consider practicing starts from another angle;  once you are skiing, get straight behind the boat and have the driver slow you down (almost to a stop) don't let go and don't panic, stay in position and as you are starting to sink have them take you back up to speed again.  As you get better have them let you go "longer" or closer to all the way down in the water before pulling you back up.  That is the position you want to maintain as you come out of the water.  When our boys learned slalom we did this with them and it works like a charm.  You can do this dragging a foot or with both feet in the bindings, it does not matter.     

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I won't pile on too much to what's already been stated, but will add that wearing the most buoyant vest you have can make the starts easier by getting a bit of your mass out of the water.  I also like to tell folks to point their toes if they have issues with the ski going vertical and turning into a wall.

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Less fat/more ski if you are having trouble on the starts is the first place I would look.  I can get out of the hole when I am fat but it is a lot harder than when I'm not.  

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  • 2 months later...

Been trying it this past week using a wide body ski. Still haven’t made it yet. Used a v handle but realize that I prefer to just set rope on the left side of the ski. Was able to have driver gear idle and I maintained balance with back leg out. I keep trying to put back leg along side of the front leg to take off but also tried to drag it in back as well. When driver came on the throttle, I felt the pull and had arms somewhat bent since I cannot straighten my injured arm completely anyway. The ski started to plane but my body seemed to stay in the water and the ski went forward and I would end up lying on my back so I would let go. I then tried it with two regular skis an had driver throttle just like when I was on the slalom. The pull felt way slow but I still got up on two. I often ski on two so do not miss any starts on two. I wonder if the driver is not giving enough throttle when I’m on slalom? 

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Chest up, head up, knee to chest (physically touching chest), focus on tight core and butt, curl tows in front boot, and get the ski as level to the water as you can get in this position, freeze this position and then stand up after the ski starts to plane.  Driver should use progressive and smooth throttle (neither the extreme of slamming it or excessive drag).

With foot in back binding, keep the knees together and get the back knee as high up or higher than the front as possible and focus weight on front foot.  With rear foot out of back binding, keep the back knee and leg out to the side and make sure the back toe is pointed back and down and use your leg as an additional planing surface.

The first paragraph applies to either back foot in or out.  The goal is to get the ski planing quickly but not standing up quickly.    

Edited by jjackkrash
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  • 2 weeks later...

I agree with @jjackkrash.  If you are falling backwards, you are trying to push against the ski and stand up.  Doing that makes the ski much more unstable and greatly increases the force you have to hold.  Trying to stand up (pushing your legs out rather than compressing them against your chest) is the worst thing you can do.  Wait until you are completely above the water to stand.

Make an attempt to crouch low and put your weight forward.  In fact, I would recommend that you actually try to dump yourself out of the ski to the front.  If you can actually do it, you will find the limits of forward weight.  My guess is that you will get up long before you can roll out the front.

One thing about keeping your back leg out is that it can allow your body to bend more easily.  The front knee still needs to be at your chest, but some people can get their weight forward better with the back leg out.  The back leg should be as parallel as possible to the ski, dragging behind your body.

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I recently went back to dragging a leg after 21 years on double boots. It should feel like you're doing a split before you start. Get that back leg behind you. If you do it properly, your back leg becomes an additional planing surface and you can use the force of the water on the top of your back foot to help push you up and out. 

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