What bindings are you using?   I've heard that using the "boot" style bindings, e.g. HO Approach, versus the more standard type, e.g. HO Animals (which I use and although I am a slalom course hack struggling at 15 off 34 mph I have the same knee issues) put you in more of a knees forward, ankles bent stance which should relate to more bended knees.

That it great advice Jason.  Thank you for posting that.

Garn

horne38 wrote:

Thanks for the advice.  I feel as though I straighten my legs to push and turn the ski.  I am told that throught the wakes Im in good position, its my turns that suffer and mostly on my off side.  I think that is why i need something else to think of so I dont "push" on the ski. 
Would trying to "sit" on the bouy help? 
Jason say hi to Tom

I know someone who is in a simular situation and he reinforces his thought pattern by thinking - "Soft Knees"... - he even coined the phrase: "the Soft knee's prayer"!

I have a different situation myself. But, I feel so much of our little problems stem from muscle tension... (over thinking it, over skiing it and over gripping it...)   I have found that for me, a "Heavy grip"  translates into a stiffer, tighter body. Kinda like one sets himself right before gripping & lifting something Hvy. (i.e. the boat trailer tongue, etc...) So, I am trying to "Ski light" with a lighter grip that doesn't promote a counter productive physical response from the rest of my body...

Good Luck!

I also straiten my legs in the turn. When this happens I find that my turns are not as tight and controlled. But when I think of bending at the knees and ankles in the turn and let the ski turn the way it was designed it works! Trusting the ski it will turn quick and not force it around in the turn allows for a better turn and more speed and angle.

My .02

Horne38, ok so... This is my take on what could be going on.  If the problem is more so on your off-side it is something coach's see almost every day.  My guess (again, no video evidence "a picture is worth a thousand words" blah blah) you probably have a pretty decent onside cut, where maybe it feels sick BUT you could be overloading the line and picking up a ton of speed.  Maybe even cutting a little long.  A lot of people feel uncomfortable with their offside, so they go like mad on their onside to make up time, only hindering the offside even more.  So, if this sounds like it might be the case work on hooking up smoothly out of your onside, not trying to stretch the rope too much and getting a nice effective edge change.  This SHOULD set you up with a little extra time for your ski to set up and let you be more patient (softer lower body) through the finish of your offside turn.  I would not recommend thinking "sit on the buoy", lots of angulation will result in too much separation from the handle.

One of the most important aspects of my skiing is that I never push on my ski at any point of the course.  At least when I am skiing well:)

"Bend your ankles not your knees"

    Whenever I hear someone telling a skier to bend their knees I almost want cringe.  This mostly comes from my experience as  snow ski instructor but I have found it applies to water skiing as well.  Most of the time if someone says you need to bend your knees in the turn, what they are really telling you is you are pushing on the ski as Wade and Jason have already talked about.

  The second thing that bothers me about "bend your knees" is the bio mechanics of how it happens.  A few people have said something like "when I bend my knees I get my weight back on the ski", so lets look at whats going on.  Whenever I am teaching snow skiing I never say "bend your knees" or "athletic stance".  I challenge you to stand up tall and then try and bend only your knees, what happens?  Your butt will move back and down and your weight will move backwards.  Now stand up tall again.  This time think only about flexing the ankles forward (we call this closing the ankle in snow skiing), and what happens this time?  Yes your knees will bend as bio mechanically they have to, but this way they only bend as far as they need to in order to keep you in balance.  The most important part is that even though you are flexing the lower body (knees and ankles) you still keep that "hips forward" positioning that every one talks about in slalom skiing.  This is the same whether you are in your pull behind the boat or in the turn around the buoy.

   So if you find yourself about to say "bend your knees" I would ask that you try and rethink your choice of words.  Wow, this got a little long sorry.

Skiing last week W/E I thought I understood soft knees, skied Friday night and I was back to banging through the wakes, even though I thought I was 'pushing' through the ankles.

This is what I logged for my two sets today:

Just skied today and instead of thinking about "bending your knees", I took TW's advice about tucking my back knee into the side/back "pocket" of my front knee, form the start.  Instantly I noticed the ski move better for the pull-out, I could feel myself over the centre of the ski. The ski turned better and therefore  did not 'ping' the handle on my on-side as I usually do at least once in a set.

And in line with advice from another post about sticking to learning one thing at a time, only worked on this for both sets at one speed, and came home a happy skier.



If you finish your turns with your back knee tucked in against your front knee you'll be finishing with "bent knees".

Tucking in your knee does help because I think it lifts your hips forward and open to allow the ski to turn and get angle... 

I really like video.... If you have someone who will video you take advantage of this and watch it in slow motion...  Then watch some other folks who you look up to and compare where the shoulders, elbows,  hands, hips and knees are throughout the pass.  Especially pay attention to how they are making the turn (knees bent, straight, tucked or whatever)  ...  You never know it may not be your knees at all but how you are positioined through the wakes and/or how you counter and utilize that proud stance on the ski!

Happy skiing~