Re: never skied, need advise
I've done this sport for years and taught many first timers. A few have ignored me and insisted on trying to get up on one ski right off the bat. Nobody has done it yet. You have to crawl and then walk before you can run. Here's what you need to do:
1) Get yourself a pair of beginner combo skis. Don't buy high end yet, because you are not good enough to warrant it and you won't be able to handle it either. Yes, 2 skis!! One of these is going to have a toe strap behind the binding. After you are proficient on 2 skis you will start to use it, but for now, just ignore it.
2) Form to get up is that you let your lifejacket float your body while you keep your ski tips up and shoulder width apart. Your knees should be bent as if sitting in a chair. Your arms should be straight. The driver guns it and you just slowly stand up as you roll forward.
3) Once up, practice turning.
4) After a few runs like this, try shifting all your weight to one ski. You don't have to lift the other ski, just put virtually all your weight onto the one ski. This is preparing you for trying slalom (one ski). The foot that you put your weight onto is skier preference. This is the foot that will be in the front binding in slalom and most use the left foot for this, but it's your choice.
5) Next step is to learn to drop a ski. You slacken off the binding of the drop ski before you get in the water. If you can't get it slack enough just step on the heel piece so that only your toes are in the binding. Once you get up on 2 skis and the boat hits normal speed, just step out of the ski. Heel out first and then let your toe come out as the ski falls behind you. At this point you will probably fall multiple times. It seems to take people quite a few tries before they get it. You put the rear foot into the rear toe strap and away you go - now you are slaloming.
6) Next is deep water start: there are 2 ways - both feet in, or rear foot out dragging behind you. If you have a boat with good power then both feet in is possible. If power is poor then you'll need to drag a foot.
7) Now that you've learned how to slalom, go buy a better ski, and then later guy buy a better, better ski as you improve even more. Whatever you do, don't go out buying the high-end professional slalom until you are ready for it. These slaloms are wonderful for those that have the experience to be able to handle the wicked acceleration and fast response that they deliver. For a beginner they could be a bit dangerous.
Then you just hold on, and the skis do the work!
