Offside turn help...

[WVUSKI]

I am a left-foot forward skier and use an obrien synchro. I only ski open water (no courses as of yet) and was trying to fine tune my ski to maximize performance for me. I looked at some pics and noticed i was skiing more on the tail than many of the others, so I moved the bindings forward a notch. Seems to be more stable, and the on side turns are fine, but have trouble initiating off-side turns, and seem to get knocked off of balance on the off side turns when crossing wake. I ski at about 32 mph. Would moving the fin forward have an impact on this at all? What about the wing on the side? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

[BrianM]

Don't know for sure but Goode has a good explanation of fin movements on their site http://www.goode.com/wstfinadj.htm

[Jesus_Freak]

I am a left-foot forward skier and use an obrien synchro. I only ski open water (no courses as of yet) and was trying to fine tune my ski to maximize performance for me. I looked at some pics and noticed i was skiing more on the tail than many of the others, so I moved the bindings forward a notch. Seems to be more stable, and the on side turns are fine, but have trouble initiating off-side turns, and seem to get knocked off of balance on the off side turns when crossing wake. I ski at about 32 mph. Would moving the fin forward have an impact on this at all? What about the wing on the side? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

I am merely a novice course skier (get a few balls at 32MPH, 15'off). I dont claim to know a whole lot, but allow me to go out on a limb here and suggest you leave your ski alone for a bit. If your ski is set up reasonably well (some posted settings somewhere), then you can make a whole lot more of a difference with body position.

I have found that I can ski extremely well one day and horribly the next day, like night versus day. In those two days, I have not changed my monza, perfect pass, rope, etc. at all. It is all me, and what I am focusing on while in the course. If I get my knees tucked in together, get my weight shifted over the ski, and do all the other things I know I am supposed to do, I will have a good turn. All this assumes the monza is in a good mood. When it is not, there is really nothing I can do.

[Willski]

I agree. Just my personal opinion, I would not mess with the ski too much if you are not in the course shortline. I find that I tail the ski off-side too. Bend your knees and rock your hips forward more.

[WAT8415]

This might be to much information but it helps explain what the different adjustments will do to the ski http://www.schnitzskis.com/skitips/skituning.html

[WVUSKI]

Thanks for all of the suggestions! I'm sure I need to work on form. I'll give those suggestions a try this evening and see how she goes.

[bret]

Try pulling a bit longer on your off side. When you stop your pull, make sure you're still pointed in the direction you were going. With BOTH hands on the handle, as soon as your back arm starts to feel pressure, start to flex your ankles and knees, putting more of the front of the ski in the water: LET the ski rotate, you stay centered and then as the SKI turns, start you're pull, as you get back into postion.

[WVUSKI]

All of the suggestions were a great help! I moved the bindings back to the original location. I also focused more on rolling hips forward and was able to ski really well last weekend. I think Jesus freak hit it pretty good as far as not being able to get in a rhythm some days...I think that was a big part of it.

[Jorski]

While I agree that technique, and learning how to ski properly are really important, I also believe that on today's skis, set-up is critical.

I have been on too many skis that are set up far from optimum. By the way, I have never received a new ski (and I have bought a lot of them) anywhere near the stock recommendations. In fact, one time I got a smokin' deal on a twice used HO CDX because the guy thought that it was unskiable. Turns out that he had this thing set up so funky that I could barely stand on the thing. Back to the dock, break out the calipers and measuring tape and bingo it becam a very stable and predictable ski.

My advice, would be to get to a ski school, and tell them you would like them to set up the ski for you. They will watch you ski, make few adjustments, then lather, rinse, repeat until they have it set up comfortably for you. Then take lessons.

You will improve much more rapidly with a properly set up ski, it will simply be much more predictable. That will give you the necessary confidence to trust the ski and to therefore develop a repeatable rythm.

The only exception to the my experience in getting skis that were poorly set up was when I bought a used Goode 9700 from Cottonwood. I still made a few small tweaks, but he is a competitive skier and is involved in the Independant Ski Tests, so he knows what he is doing.