Jolly_O wrote:
I'm a beginning boarder, with four days under my belt. I can get down
the blue slopes (Eastern) with wide turns side-to-side, staying on
alternating edges most of the time, but I have a problem on the
flatter areas. If my board is flat to the snow, it will slowly drift
sideways, catch the edge, and I get body-slammed. Ouch!

My question - on the flat areas is it best to barely use your edges to
prevent getting slammed? Am I doing something wrong that causes my
board to drift sideways. Am I missing something else?

Thanks a bunch,
Jack

I remember those days. Don't worry too much it will sort itself out as
you get used to the feel of the board. My girlfriend (who I'm teaching)
was having similar problems too but she's almost past it. Her problem
happened to be that she was leaning to far back with a straight front
leg and a bent back leg. She managed to improve a lot when I told her to
bend her front leg more.

To improve stability you really want to be rocking from heel to toe so
that you are always in control. As you get more confident, your turns
will become less severe until you are rocking only very slightly and
virtually going in a straight line. When you get a feel for the board
the twitching won't bother you, because when the board starts drifting
you naturally lean into the drift to regain control. Until that time
rocking from edge to edge should keep you stable. So I would say, aim
for using your edges more to avoid slamming. It might slow you down
more than just keeping the board flat, but it saved on pain until you
get a better feel for things.

Octes