learning to barefoot

Why spread your thighs only to bend your knees to get your heels back? I go straight legs. If you've to a good glide with your feet I guess it doesn't matter.

I haven't really been following this thread, but the LLBD is probably the one trick I learned quickly and rarely if ever miss, and only then it is with a rookie show ski driver.
Besides the obvious differences between SL and LL, the one for me is butt lift. I still can't get up with a full grip on the LL. I learned low pylon with a two finger grip to allow my butt to rise between my arms. Now I use a 3 finger grip exclusively on LLBD's. I then switch grip to full once I am up. This change has helped a lot of beginners as the long line start needs a lot more hinging versus the full fisted start that is much easier on the 5ft.

Another thing that helped me was once I was reasonably consistent on the 5ft. I would only try LL starts until I couldn't stand it, then one 5 ft to get the feeling again; then back to LL. If you ski too much on the 5ft, the transition is brutal. If you don't have a high pylon I highly suggest the investment. It makes the backdeep much easier compared to low pylon or worse yet water level eye hook starts are not recommended lol. Best of Luck, and I hope the 2 or 3 finger start helps someone.

ps. After pulling Andy Sable on a LLBD Naked back in the day, I would say cups are much more uncomfortable to use unless you aren't getting an early plant and good butt lift. IE, the ride your thighs and jam your feet in at speed start.

Roy, is "plane out" just ~15mph? No acceleration.

I'm sitting here at my desk and I feel like I can point my feet outwards the same no matter what width my legs are. I think with a wider stance you're really just riding your legs more than just your feet/ankle on a narrow plant.

This is all very good discussion BTW! I'm learning a lot.

HW, I think as your legs go wider, your toes also tend to turn out. There is probably some medical linkage here, I could ask my wife about the body mechanics but she is at work...

Oh, I see what you're getting at Steve. If I did the splits the bottoms is my feet would be parallel to the boat! I guess you really just need to take as much width as necessary.

There are two basic types of BD. Quick plant with little plane.
Late plant lots of plane.
The feet are not on the water during plane.

I do both but prefer the quick plant because it's a little less brutal

See YouTube sacfooter Jerry Diablo 2   ....Jerry planes and then plants at 25

Hmmm

Never was a fan of dragging my face in the water. Back steps are the way to go.

Learning how to ride the ski backwards is tougher than actually stepping off.

Retrieval is the problem...

The biggest issue I had when I was trying to learn was getting a good driver as well as coach to tell you what exactly I was doing wrong.

LakeBoy wrote: Plane-plant-ski. Plane 0 MPH to 12/15MPH; Plant 12/15 MPH to 25/30; Ski 25/30 to 38/40 MPH.

So in competition, when they say; "slow, slow, 41" this is what they are referring to?

I like fast fast fast...there are 5 in the boat so it will be tempered pretty well.

It's out of the hole, over the rollers, and up to speed called

Line step position backdeep I go slow slow to 32...medium high boom lotsa fun...don't think I can do it LL

Maybe only outdone by the front flip. To the crowd the TT looks really tough, the flip does too (definitely at opposite ends of the easy to difficult scale). Perhaps the front to back or rather 360 or 720 might also be up there as a crowd pleaser, but again it just looks like your turning around. Crowds have NO idea...

Got out with Hollywood and Johnny last night. Conditions were not the best, we had a lot of boat traffic and then thunderstorms. Probably doesn't look much different from last week, but personally I feel a lot more comfortable and feel like I am making progress. Hollywood decided to focus on just riding the 3 point, and that was a good call, getting much more comfortable doing just that. With smooth water or a little more time I think I'll get it. Running commentary/self evaluation in the actual video.



So thankful for all the patience from Hollywood and Johnny. Thanks Guys!   

so using a double stack pylon or a SFH, will definetely help on the LLBD rigth?