OK, please be gentle. Even though I've been skiing for almost 40 years now, I took a 30 year break, and am only just getting back into it. I have a new boat, new ski, I'm out of shape, etc, etc. Also, I have never done a course before, and, unfortunately, probably won't be doing one any time soon.
But, what I would like to do is work on my technique for getting better and quicker cuts. I took a video today and I hesitantly am sharing it (because I'm probably doing all kinds of things wrong). Feel free to skip to the half-way mark -- the beginning of the video I was waiting for some smoother water.

The first thing I notice is my hands/arms. I do this thing where I lift them up, trying to manage the slack in the rope from the turn. It doesn't seem right to be, but I'm unclear what I should be doing instead?
PS - I'm skiing at 32mph, and the rope length I picked to put me in the best spot for wake crossing at this speed. However, for this video, I have a bunch of extra people in the boat, so the wake shifted, and therefore I'm not crossing at the best possible spot.
Comments
Seriously though, try to get much taller (stacked). If u have to take a few steps back like shorter width from side to side do so.
Whip drills and Lean drills will help too. .
Whip drill
Lean drill
The taller (more stacked) u r in the Lean drill will be felt by how far up on the side of the boat u get. Lose the stack and you will drop back. Regain it and u will move further forward up in the boat.
And when u get better at it, you will find skiing to be physically easier on your body while the ski travels faster then when u were not.
Taller means move hips forward, chest up, stand tall and get the weight off the back foot and stacked into a line balanced over your front binding. When tall and stacked, turn your hips into the handle and try and keep the handle connected to your hips instead of driving or stearing the ski with your back foot. And then stay tall and stacked and connected to the handle and keep the ski moving.
At least that's what I'm working on.
In my opinion, the shorter the rope, the more you have to nail your edge change, pre-turn, make a decent turn, then be in a good position for the boat to pick you up and swing you across. If you pull long, or pull again after the wakes (which you are doing), I find that 28 and shorter just ends up being a mess with a lot of slack. For me, that slack mess happens both in the course and free skiing. Many people say that 28 is the start of shortline skiing.
Your Prostar has what are arguably the best wakes at almost all lengths and speeds, especially slow speeds and longer rope lengths. I’d try -15. 32mph is fine, but also don’t be afraid to go slower, so you don’t feel the need to let up at the wakes and pull after. It takes time to build confidence at speed.
I would work on holding position through the wakes, and as soon as you’re past the trough and over the second wake, change your edge. You can still continue to cast outwards a bit on your inside turning edge. Roll your ankles forward, soften your knees a bit, and stand proud (hips and chest up) with the majority of your weight on your front foot, and when you’ve bled off some speed with your pre-turn, start your turn, let the ski turn for you, and, as smoothly as possible, connect back with the handle and head back towards the wakes. Easier said than done, and I often mess it up pretty good.
Pulling long and going right into a turn doesn’t allow the ski to slow down and turn how it wants, and creates the slack/hard hits you’re dealing with.
We’ve all “been there done that” and since you recently had a thread trying to learn deep water starts, you’re obviously progressing nicely. Keep at it, and have fun!
This should be your default position after you get up., riding straight. loose this stance, stop, correct it before trying anything else else reinforce bad stance
Do not pull outside the last wake, that is where your high hands are coming from
width is a result of energy from the cut. Stand tall on flexed ankles. You should feel your torso between your upper arms. if not your azz is behind you before you even start.
run narrow as you can until you build that energy
I just spent a week skiing with my wife behind a strong boat. I had a bit of an epiphany when she pulled me over on a few starts and thought of your issues with your new boat. We settled on an almost two part start where she pulled me for 1-2 seconds at low throttle and then smoothly accelerated after my ski planed. Worked like a charm every time and was very easy on my back.
Here's my two cents: The advice to listen to SprayMakers is solid because the main reason you are getting slack is that you are not generating speed from your turn and into the middle of the wakes. What I see you doing is turning, not generating much speed, standing up to absorb the wakes, and then pulling again once you are past the wakes. That "second pull" past the wakes is what is causing that slack. I would suggest that you pull out a LOT wider at the start (roughly twice as far as you pull out now) and think about building speed so that you are still accelerating through that first wake. Then, past the second wake change edges and get wide for that next turn and then do it again.
Also - you should put this on GiveGo and get some pro advice! Then you can post it here and you might win a GoPro.
The wake seems worse and I'm not sure why. I'm going to try to actually use the ballast tank on the observer side since only my wife is in the boat for this run. Perhaps I should consider a different speed and/or rope length? I feel that I get very unstable going over the wake.
With that said, your wake feels big because rather than skiing through it on your cutting edge, your essentially stopping at it, avoiding it, or skiing really flat across it. I was on combo skis yesterday and was reminded how horrible wakes are if you're not cutting through them.. even with a great boat (same as yours)
Once you're able to carry more speed and angle through the wakes, you can use some of that built up energy to ski wider, and allow the ski to cast outside of your center of mass. That lets the ski turn like it's designed to, without having to force it with funny movements.
Notice in Seth Stishers Whip Drill video posted above by Wish: he's always on an edge of his ski. Either his cutting edge (from turn through wakes) or his turning edge (after wakes through turn). On the contrary, you're basically standing straight on top of your ski, pretty flat in the water, almost all the time. Doing so keeps the ski from working as it should.
Just my $0.02 and I'm certainly not a coach.. I hope this at least makes a little sense. I was exactly where you were at in 2019 so it's pretty fresh in my memory. I'm still continually trying to improve.
Also, what speed were you at? Don't be afraid to experiment and try -15/28 or -15/30.. it's pretty smooth back there.... I've been there a ton. -28 isn't bad if you cut through with some energy. -32 gets real smooth but it's a pretty short line to learn basics with.
but still kinda riding it like a surfboard, eg just pushing down, loosey goosey.
stiffen up isometrially, and control not only your core but also your legs, control amount of extension by engaging the back of your leg not just the front, and fully control the ski. this also reinforces the knee
Hips forward, put your chest inbetween your upper arms till you can feel it there
Your front-leg torso angle is still closed down. open it up to beyond flat, 181 degrees, that is what locks the hip joint so you don't fold on the bump, pull-out, nor cut.
Sometimes whats missed in beyond-beginner instruction is the amount of tension in the legs and core to control the ski's attitude and angles with high precision, especially in the wakes
You have a bad habit of some fear of the wakes. You approach, back off, squat a little, cross, then lean again. Also, you start hard, but can't maintain it into the wake. That is the opposite of what we want in slalom skiing. This is what we need to address.
There are two things that allow a beginning slalom skier to progress: Posture and correct effort. Posture is pretty easy to obtain, but easiest to lose once things get real or when effort is applied incorrectly. So both are needed together to make progress.
Obtain posture: You can do this on dry land, then repeat it on the water while riding straight behind the boat. Stand up as tall as you possibly can. Think eyes higher than the Bimini of the boat. Now, while keeping your back leg strong and mostly straight, bend your ankles with focus on your front ankle. When you do this, your front knee will move forward and slighting down. Also, your hips will move over your front foot. You may feel your shoulders slightly forward at this point. Freeze everything from the waist down and simply lean your shoulders back to the point that they are straight above your hips. Use a mirror if you need to verify your posture. You should be standing with your hips over your front foot and your shoulders over you hips (or slightly behind them). You should feel like the majority of your weight is on your front foot. (You may even be able to exaggerate this enough to slightly lift your back foot off the ground for a moment.) Your ankles will be bent and your knees will also slightly be bent in harmony with your ankles. The focus is only on the ankle bend. These ankles are your "shock absorbers". When you flex your shock absorbers, your waist/hips should remain forward with no bend. It is almost as if there is a straight line from your front knee up to your shoulders.
Do this posture drill on the water, too. Once you obtain it, then you want to freeze your body in it and explore very gentle movements side to side. Keep it narrow and low intensity. You have to stay within the realm of confidence whereby you can keep that posture. If you find yourself dropping, squatting, bending your waist/knees for the wakes, etc.; then you are beyond your confidence realm at the moment. Move back behind the boat and repeat the process to regain correct posture.
With the above posture, you will be more stable and stronger so as to eventually be confident to cut through the wakes in a single movement. Explore this new posture's strength by gently crossing the wakes while focused solely on maintaining the posture. Which leads me to #2.
Number two: correct effort. We need to progressively explore holding a lean and crossing the wakes in a single, fluid action. To get there, start about where the edge of the white water is (roughly 8-12 feet outside of the wake). Check your posture. Start correct/stay correct. Start to turn your hips slightly to point toward the other side and gently lean on the rope WHILE staying in correct posture. Stay tall while you start to lean. Don't excessively "absorb" the wakes. Only your ankles are flexing as shock absorbers. Stay tall throughout. The goal here is to move from one side of the wakes to the other side in a single, consistent, controlled leaning motion. Initially, this might be very slow and chill. That is OK. As you move from the start of the crossing to the point at which you are behind the boat, you should feel the load grow slightly in the handle. You are leaning only as much as is necessary to maintain your lean, and not let the handle pull you up and out of your lean. Since the load grows as your approach the wakes and centerline of the boat's path, so does your effort. This is what is meant by a progressive lean. The end of the turn is not the peak of effort. The start of the lean is not the peak. Rather, the peak is at the first wake to centerline. So, we start gentle and progressively increase as we approach. That is why this method is called a progressive lean.
As we approach the other side of the boat's wakes, we need to also be progressive as we reduce this effort. This is how we move from the lean to the edge change. After the centerline we do NOT want to generate additional acceleration. Rather, we want to manage the speed obtained prior to that point. Thus, we start to ease off our lean intensity. (No 2nd effort pulls on the other side.) This process starts sometime around the second wake. We are still in our lean posture, but the intensity is going to slowly reduce to zero. This is a progressive release of lean. Doing this will reduce/eliminate slack, make the edge change more predictable, improve our ability to retain good posture through the edge change and into the turn. All of which means that the finish of the turn will be smooth, and the next wake crossing will start with good posture.
When practicing correct effort, there is no goal of getting wide. It is about building confidence to cross the wake in good posture using a method that ensures retaining that posture while crossing in a single flowing event. As your confidence grows due to the above means of posture and effort, you will find that you will be willing to turn your hips more across the boat's path, lean a bit more, and thus generate more speed to cross the wakes. This alone will provide more width. Most importantly, it will be width with good posture and the ability to slowly initiate a turn with a tight line.
I hope the above was clear enough to get you going. Find your posture, effort, and flow.