Some questions about waterskiing (slaloming)?

Question

1.I ski with my left foot in front (regular) and right in back, so naturally cutting from right to left feels fine and smooth but cutting from left to right is a bit shakier. Any tips to make better and smoother cuts from left to right?

2.If at all, which parts of the pass should you be adding extra pressure on the back of your ski? I know you should apply more pressure to the front when entering turns to slow it down, but do you have to push on the back harder ever?

3.I've been water and snow skiing for around 8-9 years now, but never really got very serious about waterskiing until midway through last year , and I've still only been able to go 7-8 times a year. That being said, without skiing in a course, what is a good time to shoot for to average on a complete pass, right side to left and back to right?

4.Any other special tips about slaloming that you think might be really useful?

Thanks a BUNCH!

Answer 1

for your off-side turn you need to concentrate on slowing the ski,keeping your hips up when at your greatest pull behind the wake, back arm pressure on your pull. make sure your grip is one up, one down with your left palm up.  supposedly that will help the balance thing on your off-side. don't tip your head down in the turn. keep it level. I try to look forward for a bit (kinda in front and past the boat)  then I look across the wake. if you look too early it can mess with body position. I also think the better you cross the wake on your on-side,strong, keeping hips up, ski really on edge with good leverage, the better you'll come into the off-side to create a better rhythm. you really shouldn't push harder on the rear foot. that will cause a wheelie effect.not good. the time thing doesn't mean anything cause the course doesn't go by time. once you are in a speed category (32/34/36 mph) that determines your time. the thing is - how much space do you loose cause your angle from buoy to buoy? without a course its impossible to speculate. just try to keep the angle you've created from your turn thorough the wake to the other side. if you flatten out or other errors then you will get pulled "down course"---it will take more length of space to complete the turn and resulting pull. that just confused me. i hope it makes sense to you!