Still at it! We were out Tuesday and I feel like I'm doing better.
I was able to switch left/right though. That's a big gain. Body position helped to make that possible.
I still feel like I'm just skipping across the water with very little positive control. I feel totally unable to carve because I can't seem to get toeside engagement. Are my legs too stiff?
you hold the handle to your chest and your arms are bent. The boat's thrust is transmitted too high, and the impulses are worked out not by the legs, but by the torso and arms. Man is an upright animal, and everything that is responsible for maintaining balance works much better in the lower part of the body. The muscles of the legs work out balancing faster and more accurately than the arms and torso.
What you need to do: 1. straighten your arms. The trick is not to reach for the handle, not to slouch, not to let your shoulders move forward. Imagine that you are lifting a barbell and trying to lift it off the ground. Your arms are straight (you wouldn't do this with bent arms, your shoulders and spine are straight. The force is transmitted through your back - deltoids - buttocks - to your hips and heels.
2. You will be much more comfortable on the board if you slightly increase the water pressure on the board. The easiest way to do this is to go not behind the boat, but slightly to the side.
3. In order to even out the load on the second leg, try to let go of one hand and ride holding on with one hand. This will straighten your torso.
4. Load the board. Try changing the mounting settings a little. All people are different, there are no symmetrical people, the right/left sides of a person behave differently under load. Try to move/rotate the mount so that you feel comfortable on the ground. If you feel that the inner part of the foot is pressing more than the outer part, turn the shoe to the desired angle to make it comfortable.
5. I watched several of your starts. The board needs to be deployed a couple of seconds earlier. You've been driving across for too long. There's nothing wrong with this, you'll just get more tired.
6. Do you have normal vision? do you see well? If you wear glasses and take them off while riding, consider getting yourself some sports frames and wakeboard glasses. You can use prescription swimming glasses. This doesn't seem important, but in fact the progress in ride quality is fantastic when the rider sees where he's going.
