learning to barefoot

Greg, improvement is what it is all about. I am glad you go through that mental checklist in your head. Dawn Farrell, Willie's wife who is a legit comp footer turned me onto that idea of a metal checklist. Willie called it a "progression" The key is synching up the clock in your head (running real freaking fast) with the pull of the boat (not so fast). The more you can slow down your head, the better off you will be.

About your picture: What looks really good is all the spray is behind you and you are not in a big ball of water. What you can also see are two things: One is "duck feet" turned way, way out.. You gotta crank these in. You mentioned "defensive skiing" in an earlier post, and this is defensive. What happened is once you finished plane-plant, you stopped progressing. In my "progression", the last thing to come off the water is my chin. My @ss is up high, the boat has pulled me out of the water, I am skiing, and my chin is down low. It is then I bring my feet together, NOT when I am full upright. Once you planted, it looked like you never turned your feet down. Two: What are you looking at? You are face down in the spray. This one will take some time, and trust me it is not your neckbrace doing it. Once you get your feet straight and closer together, you are going to want to get some knee-bend. This was a strange concept for me, because they did not want to bend. Willies said to think of it as "decreasing the distance between your knees and your belly-button. You can try this on dry-land. David Small further helped me by getting me to bend more at the waist and stick my @ss to the handle. All this will have the net effect of getting your torso a few inches more vertical while still gliding with the bent knees. These are subtle move of an inch here and inch there, but next thing you know you can see the horizon which you want and need for balance. Anyway, enough of that, I hope this helps!

Andy (GlassSeeker) is a huge fan of dry land practice. He told me "if you can't do it on dry-and, you will never be able to do it at speed on the water." The muscle-memory is the same on the water or dry-land. The key is to do it right on dry-land. Let's just say dry-land is more forgiving. You do it wrong at speed you get a headpacker. On dry land replicate the positions, the knee bend, the hand position, head position, etc. the best you can. BTW those guys at the WBC know what the heck they are talking about. I have been in about half a dozen clinics with David Small over the years. Every one a gold mine of learning. Try to ski with accomplished skiers. Often I found myself in the boat with Andy McCarville, Willie Farrell, and Joe Jacinto. Between them they had like 90 years of total experience. Intimidating, yes, but again a gold mine of learning.

Tower cam shot came across the wire

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Carl, needs to learn to stand tall. Plowing is not skiing. I'm sure I'll get some crap but that is terrible body position.

http://www.barefootcentral.info/MikeSiepelBIO.htm

This is good position not the picture above. It does take practice but backwards honestly is easier than forwards. Stand tall and on your feet.

Not sure if this link wil work or not

Greg

More back-arching, press that chest into the water right awaywhen you are setting the glide.

Lower the feet to the water sloooowly

Things won't feel right till that handle is kept just above your az, really press it against and keep it there throughout.
Must get the pull to come from the center of your body.
On the start it requires a lot of pressure, like your trying to bend it across your self, it else it will bounce off.


I see a lot of 'pushing' with your foot. consciously pull your foot up to flatten it on the water

You got this

Looking good Seb.
Thanks for the info on the GoPro but the one I have is an early model that does not have the wireless capabilities. I am stuck with what I have and when I pay attention (and remember my glasses) it works fine (although the wireless viewing on the cell phone would be nice!)

Sebastian, looks like you had some good longline runs. And yeah, your wife did a respectable job pulling you. She is a keeper. hard to tell what you were doing back there cuz the image was small. However, you voluntarily let go of the handle every time, and that is always a good sign! LOL. I could omly judge by the engine sound, but it sounded like a HOT start, which is never my preference. If you like it and it works for you, totally a personal choice. Only suggestion is move around back there, cut in/cut out, get busy. Sometimes I do the same thing, get hypnotized and stand there. A wake crossing is in your future. Edge out, and cross the wake deliberately and firmly. It is fun and it will enhance your footing. Nice work!

Add/Get one extension on the boom, then angle the boom more forward to the bow. That should get you mostly out of the spray

Yes, please go for it! And definitely get on video.

Toertel wrote: Steve, will try this How about the Kapla version and get the boom up higher and do the belly flop jump up (I'm sure there is a name for it). BTW so u think jumping out of the boat is (yet) a foolish idea hahaha

I believe that is called a "Dolphin Start"

I am with Hollywood on the jumping out of the boat start, please video tape.

All kidding aside, the trick is to land in the 3 point.and keep the rope tight. I never was able to get it...

Grrr still don't know how to embed youtube vids other than plain link
Anyway after Steve and Roy told me to get active when on the long line, here my first wake crossing
Not purdy but I just wanted to get it done
No cut out before either, just got up and went over
http://youtu.be/IJvAs-pT1i0

Jonny Quest wrote: ripster92 wrote: If you don't have a suit. WEAR A CUP!!! +1 The spray will shoot up your legs/thighs right up to the naughty bits. (Even a standard 3-mil wetsuit is typically not enough)

Oh, pish-posh. (1972 - before all the fancy equipment/technology innovations)

^^ that would be enough to scar anyone's memory.

Larry
Thanks for searching out the picture that best hides the banana hammock

The Lanier crew had some fun and we did some footing in the AM
Mike, thanks for pulling me
I know tumbled on the wrong side haha and once more was just hypnotized
https://youtu.be/vjBDFQqn57I
No pics from the long line but tons of CCF buds as witness