Tips for waterskiing?

hypnopenguin

hypnopenguin

Member
I am going up to a lake in a few weeks and I am hoping that I won't completely fuck up while with people who do it all the time. I have gotten up on waterskiis, but thats about it. I've only done it a few times, but I fall pretty quickly every time. I have watched youtube videos and everything, but I'm still afraid I'm going to fall too much.

Any tips for staying up?
 
Think of it as being in a ball at first(almost fetal but still loose). Knees bent, keep the handle inbetween your skis and try to stay boyant and level before giving the thumbs up. HOLD THE HANDLE LIKE YOU WOULD A BASEBALL BAT. When you start to feel the full torque of the boat and are moving, youll "stand up" by coming out of the ball. Keep your knees strong, lean back and keep your arms fully extended. That is extremely important to keep the arms fully extended, DONT pull on the handle, the boat is doing that for you. Just stay relaxed and have fun.
 
ok, so if you're problem is staying up, then here's what you need to do.....

knees bent, feet shoulder width apart, back straight (this is the most important), don't hold the rope in close to your body like you would a baseball bat - keep it out in front of you to the point where you have a slight bend in your elbows. for reference, my elbows are at about 130 degrees most of the time when I'm skiing. this is a key point of control.....a lot of people break at the waist and this is where they go wrong and start wobbling all over the place and then crash...DO NOT break at the waist...keep that back straight!!!

you do these things and I guarantee you that you'll be skiing along. source - me. i've been water skiing competitively for over 20+ years.
 
slalom skiers - do you guys start with both feet in, or one foot out? My dad always starts with only one foot in, but I've never been able to stand up with that technique.
 
I would imagine you need extremely strong legs to stand up that way. I never tried it, but as a beginner it seemed much harder.

OP When i first started the one thing that helped the most was keeping my knees tight and strong as i stood up. Push back against the water.
 
only one foot in. the second (rear) foot stays out until you get up and moving. I do something weird with slalom starts in that I put the rope on the outside of my ski instead of what would amount to between my skis if I had another ski. When i was little and learning slalom deeps, I had a hell of a time getting up. I'd always tip over. Switched the rope up to the outside of my ski and bam - started making them. Been doing it that way ever since. Seems to help with balance when coming out of the water.
 
That's strange because no one actually does it that way. The only time people do a deep with both feet in are if they're wearing a double high wrap ski...i.e. a back binding that you can't put your foot in while you're skiing. Like a freestyle slalom jump ski, or a competition slalom course ski. Otherwise it's always with the back foot out.
 
Almost everybody I know starts both feet in, but that might be because most of the people I know have skied competitions at one time or another. Double boot is the way to go.
 
lol, i'm talking about competition skiing - show skiing. Like the shit you see at Sea World, Tommy Bartlett's in WI, etc. If you're talking slalom course competition, then yeah, that doesn't surprise me. But pretty much everywhere outside of slalom course, no one starts with both feet in. It's actually harder to start with both feet in as you have more weight on the back of your ski, which in turn requires a harder pull to get you out of the water.
 
Is water skiing even remotely similar to snow skiing? I ski, I surf, but I've never water skied. Assuming you could get up, would you feel at home quickly doing turns and stuff?
 
Yes and no. No, the turning sensation isn't really the same at all. On top of that, you're being pulled (by a boat and rope) rather than being pushed (by gravity down a hill), so it's different in that aspect.
 
just off to the side like there was a ski there more or less. some people drag it a little bit. i actually kind of have it out in front of me and up a little bit - picture someone standing on one foot and lifting the other up and out a little bit...kind of like that. I dunno, kind of hard to explain. I'll look for a picture.
 
when getting up on one ski I always keep two in. I'll take one out if I'm fucking around or something, but getting up always two.
 
Yeah, i've heard/seen people do that, too. Ultimately, there's not a wrong way to do it so to speak. If what you're doing works for you, then keep on keepin on. The only real "bad" thing about doing deeps with both feet in the back is when you're doing it with multiple people behind the boat. Since it takes so much more torque to pull you out of the water like that, and if you've got several people back there dragging along, you can see how that becomes a problem...even with a powerful boat. That's the main reason why we don't do it that way - it's too damn hard (or impossible) for a boat to pull 6-17 people out of the water like that...just too much drag.

 
whatever the fuck you do, DO NOT press forward in the boots like ski boots, you will die, and lean back but with slightly bent legs
 
Really? Getting up is the hard part. Most people let go because they don't realize another second they'll be standing up.

Not trying to be too critical but you ski but you can't ride straight behind the boat?

If you're doing it in chop try going in the morning or evening when the water is calmer, if the guy driving is going too slow or too fast for you let em know. Idk, good luck?

 
Makes sense. I learned to slalom ski with a double wrap binding (probably a stupid idea, but I was 14 at summer camp and just wanted to ride the raddest looking ski in the boathouse), so I never really gave starting on one foot more than a handful of attempts. That said, I'm 6'4" 200 pounds and can have trouble getting up on small boats, so maybe I'll put some serious effort into the one foot approach if it causes less drag.
 
yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all that you'd have issues getting up behind a smaller boat....especially on a competition slalom ski. If you have the opportunity - try to ride a fatter ski...especially one without a concave bottom. most slalom skis are so damn skinny so there's not a lot to work with balance wise on a slow pull. a fatter ski should make it a little easier on a slower pull...might make it a little easier to muscle through.
 
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