The single biggest problem with learning to water ski is that so many people have tried the wrong way and then told all their friends about the experience. It is too easy to just give up or never even try if you get taught by one of these people. But what if success was guaranteed? What if you could learn without ever falling?

Learning by simply trying harder or getting the boat to go faster are for amateurs. You are about to get insider information that will help you look like a pro. Do not listen to the stories your friends tell you, and avoid anyone who has never taught someone else to water ski without falling. You are going to blow past their failures as if they did not even exist!

Learning to water ski or teaching someone else is easy if you master the 4 Keys to learning without falling. If you master the correct standing and sitting positions that are critical to all water skiing disciplines, then you will be able to learn and teach others effortlessly.

Lesson number one. Where ever you are right now, practice rolling your shoulders from front to back and then keep them in the back position so that your shoulder blades are pinched together. No expand your chest and arch your back. This upper body position is what I will refer to when I talk about “Posture.”

While holding onto a ski handle, I want you to get into good Posture and then lean way back until your hips come within 8 inches of the handle. If you are holding the exaggerated upper body posture, and are learning back enough to get your shoulders behind your butt, then you should feel like the pull of the rope is going directly to your hips. This is called “the Power Band Position.”

The third part of the standing position is all about your knees and ankles and is called “Glide.” While holding the “Posture” and “Power Band Positions,” adjust your ankles so that they are slightly behind the front edge of your knees. This will put your shins in a slightly forward angle and this is how you achieve great “Glide” that will make you feel light on the water!

Lesson number 2 is simple, but critical to your success. Now that you know what you should look and feel like while you are skiing, you need to learn how to sit in the starting position which is also known as the “Three Point Position.” Still holding onto your ski handle, squat down with your knees together and your feet as wide as your hips. Your arms should be completely relaxed so that your handle is in front of your knees. You need to learn this position until it is relaxed because it is the first position you will practice while on the water.

Here is lesson number three. Now that you know the correct standing position and sitting positions (Three Point Position), it is time to discuss the next biggest mistake that amateurs make when trying to learn to water ski; never try to learn behind the boat first. The biggest insider secret that the pros do not want you to know is that you learn on a barefoot boom before ever going behind the boat.

A barefoot or ski boom is a solid aircraft aluminum pole that attaches to the front of the boat by two stainless steel cables. Designed originally for beginning barefoot water skiers, it is now the biggest insider secret to learning to water ski without ever falling. After mastering the correct technique on land, the barefoot boom is the next safe step to mastering water skiing. After that, you can add a five foot rope to simulate skiing behind the boat. Only then, are you ready to go behind the boat where you will make your very first attempt.

Now that you know the proper progress, it is time to practice your Three Point Position on the barefoot boom. While holding onto the boom, simply have the driver pt the boat “in gear.” This is simply the slowest possible speed that the boat will go while being in the forward gear. It is usually about 2-3 mph, and is just enough speed to test your Three Point Position.

For getting up on a slalom ski, I recommend letting your rear foot drag behind you as you practice the Three Point Position. Once you can hold this position in a relaxed manner for 5 seconds, you can tell the driver to slowly accelerate to a speed where you can stand.

After showing you are relaxed for at least 5 seconds, simply have the driver accelerate moderately to the slowest possible speed that you can hold your Posture, Glide, and Power Band. For children, it might be as slow as 10-12mph. For mid sized adults, 15-20. For larger adults, 20-25mph will suffice.

Once you have established the fact that you own the correct standing position, have the driver slow down and see if you can get comfortably back into the sitting position. If you can go fluidly from sitting to standing and then back to the sitting position, then you are ready to move on to the five foot rope. The same rules apply to getting to behind the boat without ever taking a fall.

The driver’s role in learning without falling is to be vigilant in watching the skier’s form. If the skier breaks from the correct form in even the slightest amount, it is critical that the driver slow down to a stop. By adhering to critical form in conjunction with boat acceleration, the skier will always be able to learn without falling. Although this can frustrate an aggressive skier, it is critical to mastering world class form and to avoid completely unnecessary falls.