Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

mnypitboat

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First of all, a little history. I skied when I was in high school, a lot. The people we skied with had a nautique. My first year or so skiing was behind a Stratos 185 bass boat. I learned how to tow a skier, and ski, and got pretty good, but I cant seem to teach my daughter how to do it.

Fast forward 24 or so years. About a year or so ago my then 12 year old daughter started talking about kneeboarding, skiing, and wakeboarding. I found a ridiculous deal on some toys. The kneeboard, between last year and this year she has gotten pretty good. Last time out we tried out the skis. My boat is not a ski boat. It is a little sluggish out of the hole, but will do 60mph. That being said, here are my questions

1. The skis are O'brien Freestyle II MAX and are about 61" or so long. She cant keep them up in front of herself. They seem heavy for her. What can I do to make it so she can keep them up in front of her so we can get going?? We do not have a beach or anything to start from so we start in deep water.

2. What is the best method for me as the driver to help her get up?

Any and all advice is appreciated. Seems like it was so much easier for me to get up than it is for her when I first started. I was up the first try behind a bass boat in a choppy inlet and never looked back. We have tried dozens of times and cant get her up. All she ended up with is frustration and bruises.
 

kmarine

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

As someone who has taught a few children how to waterski, I may have some suggestions from teaching my 11 year old daughterand friends.
1. get aclimated in the water to skis prior to starting boat.
2. body position knees together and tucked up to chest.
3 arms extended out. do not pull them in
4 for the first timers I stay in the water with the skiers. reinforcing postures.
5. after 5 failed attempts. have someone else ski and let skier rest. mostly mental phatigue
6. have a friend whos children are learning help you out.
note. I teach an average of 3 new skiers every year and we ski about 3 days per week in the summer.
 

mnypitboat

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

As someone who has taught a few children how to waterski, I may have some suggestions from teaching my 11 year old daughterand friends.
1. get aclimated in the water to skis prior to starting boat.
2. body position knees together and tucked up to chest.
3 arms extended out. do not pull them in
4 for the first timers I stay in the water with the skiers. reinforcing postures.
5. after 5 failed attempts. have someone else ski and let skier rest. mostly mental phatigue
6. have a friend whos children are learning help you out.
note. I teach an average of 3 new skiers every year and we ski about 3 days per week in the summer.

I wonder if she is not tucking her knees in? I am the only driver, and she is the only skiier, so. After 3 tries we let other people tube/kneeboard, or just hang out on the water for a while. We dont know anyone else that skis.

I have her getting acclimated to the skis in the pool before the next trip. I plan to get in there with her and make sure she is doing it right.
 

kmarine

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

there are also some good books and videos you could check with your library. one from Carol Duvall comes to mind.
 

skibrain

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

"can't keep her skis in front of her" is sort of vague.

Skiers typically are pulled over onto their face or come out of the water and fall backward. As mentioned above start position with knees together and arms straight. Let PFD do the floating and ski tips out of the water on either side of rope. Even if you feel your boat is doggy out of the hole, you may need to use less throttle. 12 yr old on fat skis shouldn't need much to get up. Sometimes a slow pull before hit it helps: with rope tight, boat put into gear and then trolling through water for a couple seconds before hit it.
 

Chip Chester

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

When I was first taught to ski, my "instructor" said that the boat had lots to do with getting up quickly. (In addition to the advice above.) If the boat has a good hole shot, the skier does, too. You won't need your boat to do 60 for skiing, so maybe a different prop is in order for those trips?

Chip
 

mnypitboat

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

OK so the skis are not too big for her? Looks like we just need to work it and get her technique down. I have always though a hole shot type prop would be better then what we have. We cant do more than 25 on the river anyway, so it wont be bad to have a lower top end.
 

haulnazz15

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

Hole shot is not going to be an issue with a 12yr old. Unless she weighs 200+lbs, lol. Get he acclimated in the water, and 61" skis should be just fine for her to manipulate. Many young kids are forced to get up on 66-68" combo skis which add to the weight. I would do as skibrain suggested and put the boat in gear (obviously with all of the slack out) and then do a slower pull out of the water. Don't drag her along, but the idea is to keep from ripping the rope out of her hands or pulling her forward out of the skis. If she keeps her feet in front of her she'll be fine.
 

skibrain

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

Last summer my 13 yr old niece on those exact skis:
I think I was pulling her about 20 mph. Maybe 18.

402546733.jpg
 

Chip Chester

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

Looks like I didn't write exactly what I meant -- my bad. Her weight is, indeed, insignificant in the equation. What I meant was, if the boat is slow to get moving, it can extend the time she's half in/half out of the water... which can be an exhausting position to be in. So the goal would be to get her up as quickly as her arms can handle it, without extending her "drag time". Chip
 

mnypitboat

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

Thanks guys, Looks like we have some work ahead of us. We went out today, but she didnt feel good so we just went to lunch and did some exploring on the river. Next weekend we will try it again.
 

CaptainKickback

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

When she is trying to get up, how does she fall? The answer will tell you a lot.

Is she eventually pulled over the front of the skis? I've seen this when the skis were not big enough. Sounds like that is not the problem here.

Is she in good position but rope just gets pulled from her hands? If the boat is slow out of the hole, she just may not have the strength to hold on long enough to get the speed to pop up.

Does she stand up and then fall backwards? If so, she may be trying to stand up too soon. Many new skiers try to stand up too soon.

Does she fall to the side? A new skier is generally not stable and if the boat takes a long time to get her up, she'll easily lose balance to one side or the other. In this case, tell her not to fight the direction she is going. Go with it and she will maintain balance until the boat speed is enough to pop her all the way up.

Good luck.
 

86 century

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

This has worked for me countles times

Sit knees against the chest

arms around the knees rope between skis

Lean back tilt skis forward like you are trying to set on them.

I have used this way many times behind many differnt boats from nasty fast outboards to slugs with 3.0l works every time.
Wost case get some one to get in the water with her to help hold her in the right position.
 

Slide

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

Golden rule of combo skiing: Arms straight, knees bent. Golden rule of skiing in general: Shoulders behind ankles at all times. That's a simple way of telling the skier to keep her center of gravity behind the feet. This gives you a stable platform and keeps you from faceplanting or ending up with bent-arms-itis when you get some unexpected slack in the rope.

As far as getting up on combos, see the first rule, and make sure her knees are tucked into her chest. Once the line is tensioned, she should just lean back against the rope, use her legs to press against the water resistance, and stop thinking about what's going on. As the skis and boat plane her body will naturally follow suit. Just keep those shoulders back or a faceplant is a-comin'.

With combos particularly, don't be afraid to put the hammer down a bit to get her out of the hole. Dragging in the water saps your strength a lot harder than a fast start. With so much surface area to press against on the combos, she should pop right up out of the hole.
 

mnypitboat

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

Golden rule of combo skiing: Arms straight, knees bent. Golden rule of skiing in general: Shoulders behind ankles at all times. That's a simple way of telling the skier to keep her center of gravity behind the feet. This gives you a stable platform and keeps you from faceplanting or ending up with bent-arms-itis when you get some unexpected slack in the rope.

As far as getting up on combos, see the first rule, and make sure her knees are tucked into her chest. Once the line is tensioned, she should just lean back against the rope, use her legs to press against the water resistance, and stop thinking about what's going on. As the skis and boat plane her body will naturally follow suit. Just keep those shoulders back or a faceplant is a-comin'.

With combos particularly, don't be afraid to put the hammer down a bit to get her out of the hole. Dragging in the water saps your strength a lot harder than a fast start. With so much surface area to press against on the combos, she should pop right up out of the hole.

Everything you said is exactly how I was taught and how I learned, and what I told her. I think she must be not taking these things and using them. It seems like everytime I try to hammer it, she loses her grip. She got up once, but the skis started "sliding" from side to side. From observations, I would swear they were just too big. I am going to work on her stance and technique in the pool this week before we go out and hopefully we can have a more productive day on the water this weekend.

Thanks all. This has given me a lot to work on.
 

mnypitboat

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

OK so, we went out and had a person that taught water skiing several years back. He got in the water with her, showed her how to sit in the water, how to hang on, how to hold the skis. She still could not get up. We tried for hours, with breaks in between. We even had her sit on someone else's ski platform and pull her off, with no luck. Our "instructor" said maybe a set of trainer skis might be in order because she cannot keep the skis straight. When I pull her one ski shoots off to the side and she cant keep them going in the forward position. It got rough and we stopped. She kneeboarded and tubed the rest of the day.

So do they have a way of hooking the skis together, or do they have trainer type skis for a 13 year old? Most I have seen are 100lb limit. Or can I just drill a hole in the current skis and put a peice of wood or aluminum between them to keep them together???
 

rallyart

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

She will get up on a wakeboard and feel cool about it. They are a lot easier to learn on. (Sacrilegious, I know, but still true)
 

Slide

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

OK so, we went out and had a person that taught water skiing several years back. He got in the water with her, showed her how to sit in the water, how to hang on, how to hold the skis. She still could not get up. We tried for hours, with breaks in between. We even had her sit on someone else's ski platform and pull her off, with no luck. Our "instructor" said maybe a set of trainer skis might be in order because she cannot keep the skis straight. When I pull her one ski shoots off to the side and she cant keep them going in the forward position. It got rough and we stopped. She kneeboarded and tubed the rest of the day.

So do they have a way of hooking the skis together, or do they have trainer type skis for a 13 year old? Most I have seen are 100lb limit. Or can I just drill a hole in the current skis and put a peice of wood or aluminum between them to keep them together???

When I was a young'un, we had a pair of kid sized Snoopy skis that had eye loops drilled onto the inner edge of the skis, one pair front and one pair rear. They were then tied together with a length of yellow nylon rope. Works great for learning, doing the splits is pretty common.
 

haulnazz15

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

When I was a young'un, we had a pair of kid sized Snoopy skis that had eye loops drilled onto the inner edge of the skis, one pair front and one pair rear. They were then tied together with a length of yellow nylon rope. Works great for learning, doing the splits is pretty common.

Learned to ski on those same Snoopy skis, lol. However, the first 4 or 5 time I tried to get up, the boat (which was tied to the skis) kept pulling the skis out from under me! My dad got out the knife, cut the loops that held the skis together and handed me the regular ski rope/handle. Sure enough, I popped right up!
 

imported_John o

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Re: Several questions about new skiers and wakeboarders

So do they have a way of hooking the skis together, or do they have trainer type skis for a 13 year old? Most I have seen are 100lb limit. Or can I just drill a hole in the current skis and put a peice of wood or aluminum between them to keep them together???

Yes they do. I have two sets of skis (I'm so new at this I don't even remember the brand) one set of 67" and one set of 57". They both have screwed inserts and a bar that goes across the front (top) to hold them together. It works great. (Or I assume it works great. We've not gotten good enough yet to really know. We get up and fall down, get up and fall down etc)
 
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