big wave skiing is here. Chuck Patterson at Jaws

[lionelhutz]

Cool and all but isn't this just waterskiing?

That's been around for a while right?

[SuperChief]

He'd probably be more comfortable on a pair of waterskis, with some soft bindings so he can flex his knees.

[Poop~Ghost]

Water skis are setup to be towed... which is a completely different body mechanic from skiing. His current setup looks like he is in more of a neutral stance - like being on a reverse side-cut on a groomer.

It's all about having fun - which it looks like he's doing, so more props to him... and NICE VAN CHUCK!!!

[roadgap]

funny, people used to tell me that many moons ago when i started snowboarding.

and anyways, what a 'real sport'?

Snowboarding is definitely not a real sport.

[Adamantium]

In a lot of those shots he looks less stable on skis than he does on a board. I wonder how much of that is due to the experimental nature of the equipment, or something to do with the nature of planing on water? Because our intuition is that skis are more stable than a board on snow. I hope he keeps working on it, because it'll be cool to see how much room for improvement there is.

[Sinfield]

What are you guys setting your DIN at? Is it low enough to blow the skis off if you get tumbled?

I highly doubt this will ever become a real 'sport', but I gotta hand it to Chuck, he made it look pretty damn good. I can definitely say that given the right right resources, it's really fun. The bigger the waves, the more fun it is. Of course, it takes balls of steel. Luckily, Chuck never got pounded in these sessions.

When you consider that the total number of hours of wave skiing done by humans is less than 100, I'd say it's looking pretty good. If somebody dedicated some serious time to this and developed some good skis, they could do some impressive stuff.

For the poles: I think it looks better with poles than without. Cody and I brought poles but they fell off the jet ski in the rough water before we had a chance to use them. When we were doing it, I kept thinking 'What the hell should I do with my hands?' As a skier, you use poles, it's just a lot more comfortable.

[jstarrski]

Technique-wise I think Chuck looked totally solid. I don't think it can be overstated how bumpy it was. Put him on a glassy wave where the consequences of a fall aren't as huge and the style goes way up.

The skis are rockered but not as rockered as you're typical water ski. And the binding mount is more forward to get you down the face.

There is a way to paddle in and ski waves without the jet ski using Stand Up Paddle skis and a paddle, but those skis are 9-footers minimum. Not to say you can't turn them, but they're not exactly snappy.

[skinipenem]

Sweet.

I'll have to wait until someone invents skins for those things. I can't afford a jetski.

[SchralphMacchio]

Because our intuition is that skis are more stable than a board on snow.

Maybe that would be your intuition on a packed groomer but not in funky pow with variable densities. A 170-200cm snowboard will be more stable in funky powder than skis will ... a board has less degrees of freedom for things to track and get squirrelly (since there are not two separate planks) as the water is chopping beneath your feet, and there is quicker response to shift your weight fore/aft than on skis.

I think the fore/aft weighting is going to be the challenge to get dialed on skis. Still, Chuck is killing it for only having done it a handful of times ... actually making some nice fall line turns on a monster wave!

[Diamond Joe]

That was sick. I would shit my pants just LOOKING at waves that big, let alone surfing em, let alone trying some crazy new hybrid water/snow ski on em...

this, after his footage of the great whites? man. talk about brass balls.

[MJbumper1121]

I can't even imagine how quickly that would drain your legs! Cool stuff

[Core Shot]

He’s ripping Mavericks now

[gimpy]

Siii-hick

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Sickter Scale = broken

[EWG]

TGR approved.


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[L82thegate]

Something McConkey might have dreamed up. Or water skiing on Spatula's, behind a fishing boat in Alaska. Can almost visualize it.

[tellybele]

A Maverick off the top carve, damn. Ok, but can be duck dive?

[powdork]

A Maverick off the top carve, damn. Ok, but can be duck dive?

Tow in. Pfffft. I wanna see him paddle in.

[Ottime]

You can’t paddle on skis.

Don’t you mean skate in? Hope of the boat and skate like hell till you nab one.

Skis will never be more stable than a board across water. Still pretty damn impressive.

[altacoup]

The wave Trevor caught ahead of Chuck was a straight bomb. Maybe one of the best waves I’ve ever seen from Mavericks.


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[muted]

He needs to get out of the backseat.

[EWG]

He needs to get out of the backseat.

8.5/10. Nice work.

[galibier_numero_un]

Boards, not skis, but an epic day at Jaws over the weekend:



... Thom

[pfluffenmeister]

/\/\/\ Holy Shit.

[Core Shot]

Mad respect for those riding the dragon.

Seen it going off from the pineapple fields on the cliff years ago.
Also years ago, pole boarding at uppers, I learned who that grom Kai Lenny was, riding the waves with me.

Would love to see jaws from a boat. No desire to ride it. Even in my youth.

The few dudes that rode left have big balls. Damn.
Right is a (relatively) easy exit