Skiing after Labor Day

Late Season Skiing

Okay, so if you live in Florida, water skiing after Labor Day may not be a big deal. But for the rest of us, this is when you show your commitment to be more than just a fair weather skier.

Despite the challenges of kids in school and work commitments, I was able to get out with my brother on Thursday morning this week. We, being the bright boys that we are, chose the coldest day of the season so far. Yup, we’re smart like that. Okay, really it was the only day this week that both of us could take the time to get to the lake, have our fun, and get home before we had another commitment.

I was reminded once again that a good dry suit is a wonderful thing. The water was barely 60° F and the air just peeked above 70° F. Could we have gotten by with wetsuits? Yes, we could have. I could have pulled out either the shorty or the full body wet suit that I have stored at the lake and been fine. (Well, probably a bit chilly in the shorty.) But, we were already in some pretty warm clothes and it was easy to just slip the dry suit over those warm clothes. I am constantly amazed at how warm I stay in a dry suit; I even took my sweatshirt off for my second set. In fact, I stay so warm that I’ve even considered using my dry suit for a snow skiing outfit.

It’s been how long?

The last time that I skied was… wait, I remember… okay, I’ll check my calendar for a clue… hold on just a second…

Okay, I found it. The last time I skied before this was Labor Day; that’s 2 September for those of you without your calendar handy, or not in the USA to know about that end-of-Summer holiday. So, it was only two weeks. That is, unfortunately, becoming the normal gap between sessions for me recently. This isn’t giving me great improvement with each set, but I guess it’s keeping me from regressing too far.

Lessons learned

I realized watching this video that I need to record myself skiing more frequently. While watching it I realized that I’m still fighting the same issue that Bob LaPoint tried to help me fix lo these years ago (and Marcus Brown reminded me of). Unfortunately. bad habits from my youth do not die easily. I have a tendency, as you can see in the video, to stick my bun out and get pulled over the front of the ski. Bad habit, bad! I know that I need to stay in a strong stacked position, but that’s easier said than done.

I did realize that in addition to focusing on keeping my elbows attached to my rib cage, that there is at least one other form improvement that will help me to work away from this bad style. I realized, while reviewing the video, that it is physically easier to get bent over when my upper body faces the same direction as my ski. When my whole body faces the next buoy, I can get pulled over easily. If, however, I keep my upper body squared and face down course it is physiologically more difficult to bend at the waist and get pulled over. So, I started thinking about his and putting it all together.

My free hand on the turn needs to bring the handle to the outside hip more forcefully to keep my upper body facing down the course. This ties the elbows pinned to the rib cage together. So, now I have a few ways to think about my exit from each turn. Any one of them can help my form and move me forward.

Next steps

The other thing that I thought about was some advice that Marcus Brown gave me when I interviewed him at the Utah Boat Show this past February. That advice was to keep my knees straight as I approach the wakes so that I have some compression left in my springs to cross more easily. Right now I find myself anticipating the wakes and beginning to flex my legs early. That reduces the amount of play that I have and increases my bump over the wake.

I guess that means that I need to get out again this season – at least once – to put this all together.

In the mean time, enjoy this video, and enjoy your time on the lake.