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WATERSKI MagazineFrom the time I was a little kid, my friends, coaches and even my dad have said the word “lean” at least a thousand times. It's one of those concepts that's been around water skiing as long as skis themselves. And it's a word I'll try not to use again.
The problem is, most people associate “lean” with muscle and upper-body strength. That was fine in years past, but there's a better alternative today that allows you to put the workload on the larger muscles in the lower body: leverage.
A leveraged skier has more control than a leaning skier. If you use leverage in your legs and torso, you can basically be as controlled as you want to be through your pass. Your control will be like the volume knob on a stereo; you can turn it up or down until you have the leverage and balance you want. You can hold it there or move it, which a leaning skier can't do.
Balance and control will beat brute strength any day. You can have the brawny 200-pound slalom skier with the wicked lean. I'll take my chances against your guy with a 90-pound girl with perfect leverage.
Slalom instructional editor Chet Raley is on the HO Sports and MasterCraft water skiing teams and is one of the world's top coaches.
