Bennetts 2009 - Wrapup - 3/29/2009
Well, our 5th Spring Break trip to ski school is over. We had such a great time that I almost don't know where to begin. Everybody had a blast. It was the Arrighi's and Criel's first ski school experience and something tells me they'll be back. Ominous weather threatened us all week but stayed at bay during the day, never interrupting our ski sets. Water and air temps were in the high 70's all week. No wetsuits needed. Ski school was a bit of a test with our kids— Jeff's 2 and 4 year-olds and our 20mo-old. Everything worked out fine though. They played on the docks, on our porch, and on the beach the whole time. Keeping an eye on them around the docks and boat ramps was quite a job but again, we pulled through it. Let's just say we really looked forward to naptime. Danielle offered to babysit, but we couldn't put her through that from a moral standpoint!
I skied every single set this week— 14 in all. 4 sets on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and 2 sets on Friday. We took Wednesday off. I split my sets exactly 50/50 between trick and slalom, which worked out well. I've never had more skiing gusto at ski school than I had this week. I couldn't wait to jump in the water for every set. We stayed on Lake 2 the whole time and were coached alternatively by Johnathan (can't recall his last name) and George Mayling. They were fantastic coaches. They are usually there every spring and are just awesome guys. George got me from zero tricks on Monday to 180 wraps and SS's and even 1 completed 360 by Friday. John got me skiing back to the handle with my weight centered on the ski by Tuesday. I felt real progress this week, and I'm totally ready for the rest of the 2009 ski season. For how much we talk about wake cross position here, it's not something that we worked on at all this week. We focused on gate pullout/turn-in and turns. Turns, turns, turns. We talked about ending up in the right position after the turn for the wake cross but nothing specifically about getting to that position in any way other than a good turn. This turn-focused approach really worked for me. The wake cross vs. turn "chicken and the egg" scenario is no longer a question to me. Good turn = good wake cross position, and that's it. That's my final answer on that one. The "lightbulb" moment for me occurred on Tuesday, when my brain finally processed what I was told on Monday. Standing up tall on the ski into the turn, carrying that handle with me all the way out to the buoy line, and extending the handle straight out in front of me was really an eye opener. Sitting in your chair right now, extend your arm out to the side. How much did your other shoulder counter-rotate? Not a lick. Now, extend your arm forward at eye level. How easily does that other shoulder now go back into a counter-rotation? All I thought of on Tuesday was extending the handle forward, outside of the buoy line, and I skied the course more easily than ever. The turns were automatic. I lost the feeling completely on Thursday, but somewhat regained it on Friday. On Friday I finally felt "skiing back to the handle" for the first time ever. I focused on leaving that free hand down by the hip and actually waiting for the handle to come to the hip. I get it now. My biggest flaws in turns have been dropping the inside shoulder way down and rushing the turn with my free hand and upper body. These two flaws are corrected (for me, anyway) by putting the handle directly out in front of me with level shoulders during my release and waiting for the hips to come right to the handle. This advice is the same stuff I've heard for years but the difference is that these coaches helped me visualize and feel it. Outstanding. I also learned that skiing slow speeds is not easy— it's HARD. Sure, I can get away with skiing a really shitty pass at 28mph all day. However, skiing that slow pass correctly is not easy. With squishy, slow water, any departure from "smooth and patient" will result in the ski stopping and starting in a herky-jerky fashion. I skied a couple of perfect early and wide 28mph runs and they were by far the toughest runs of the week, technically, for this 190 pounder.
And here are a couple other things: Equipment is generally not the problem. On Sunday at skoke's place, and then again on Monday, I recall thinking "man, this ski is just not turning for me". I felt really tail-heavy and just couldn't get the ski to talk to me in the course at all. I thought, geeze, do I move the bindings forward, shop for a new ski, or what? Then on Tuesday the ski was absolutely lights-out— killing the course all day. That mindset of going to the ski initially for the blame is dangerous until you get everything else sorted out, in my opinion. If I had my shoulders and balance and patience sorted in the turns and still wasn't getting what I wanted, then I might look to the ski. I recall also thinking on Monday that Zero Off felt very different and could also have been to blame. Not a chance. I never noticed a difference in Zero Off for the whole trip, after dozens and dozens of passes through the course. Neither did Jeff, neither did Alan, neither did my wife. We skied at speeds from 26-32 and never even noticed a difference in the speed control. Alan had a PB, and Jeff was nailing passes the whole time too. I talked to Jay at length about ZO and he is also a firm believer that for 99% of the skiers out there, the PP vs. SG argument is rubbish. No complaints from this group of long-liners.
What else can I say about Bennetts? Jay is an awesome host and he makes his guests is #1 priority all week. As usual we had a hospitality crawfish boil on Thursday night, and we ended up listening to Jay's hard-knocks stories of getting the ski school started for a couple hours. His industry wisdom and his ability to make his dreams a reality never fail to inspire anyone on the other end of a conversation with him. Anne, as usual, was also a wonderful host who still leads us through warmups every day of ski school. Finally, the facility. What is it about Bennetts that makes you feel so at home the whole time? I can't put my finger on it, but you just feel like you're part of the family the whole time. You get to know all the dogs, the employees, the skiers, and the grounds. Everything is easy to walk to and the whole compound is just plain "cozy". It's a real vacation— no cooking, no driving, no fuss, no muss. Pure convenience the whole time, largely because Jay tries to envision how the guests will feel being away from home for a week and anticipate those needs. Did I mention the hot tubs? There were hot tubs at each dock and right outside our cabins. What a nice touch. I feel sorry for Anne and Jay because they will never be able to see their home from the eyes of their guests. For the full-time corporate employees and weekend warriors, Tri-Lakes is nothing short of a waterskiing Eden. By Friday we were ready to head home, but already planning our next trip. We'll be visiting lots of different ski schools in the future, but Bennetts will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Comments:
h2odawg79, 3/30/2009: Well Joel, it sounds like you All had a Total Blast! And Just because I'm extremely Jealous and totally envious, coveting my neighbor and all that kinda stuff.. I still would never Harbor any, -well at least Not "too many" (O.K. maybe a couple!) Ill feelings or resentments towards anyone who was Simply out Having the time of their Lives, doing Something they absolutely Love while some of us (me...) could only sit back and imagine! I just hope for the next couple of days; -your voice is somehow Hoarse from laughter, your cheeks will be tired of smiling and your finger tips will be slightly blistered from all the posting you did Keeping us up to date!!! -ha,ha...jcriel, 4/6/2009: I'd recommend Bennett's. Great trip, Great Skiing !!
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