Jim, what I think Ron is referring to is that during transition, you relax the downhill leg, lift, tip, float and let the body move down the mountain. This makes the transition flow very naturally to the new downhill ski. No stem is involved at all.
Also JIm, you can float with no or minimul retraction. Retraction comes in during higher speeds and more varied terrain. My last experience with Harold at a camp and his Book 2. float was key.
Retraction was a very difficult concpet for me to understand although I did it naturally in transition. I really never had to think about it..it just happened.
The thing I do understand about what Ron was saying that in the slop if you stay flat on your skis to long you're abilty to carve MAY diminish. Now reasons for this maybe to get rid of some speed as in drifting, but if you're flat on the skis and don't understand the transition process, one could be in for a wild pony ride on the back of their skis.
Add to all this aggressive pole plants when needed, strong counter rotation and hey, we're all having a dilly of a day!
Gary