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***UPDATE***Alot of success with my forward yesterday day is due to a pre jump change in attitude. When Andy goes into a vulcan, he has this pre-jump routine where he sort of starts to bounce the board while still tracking in a straight line. He does this i suspect to get comfortable, and he gets progressively more and more air under the board, before going for the full monte.
Now yesterday i was pretty lit, and i just started playing with these little "pre-pops" as i was blasting along. Now I've thought about this since yesterdays most excellent rotation, and its beacuse of this change that I went for it. The pre-pops had the effect of centering me over the board, and basically gets you in a much more correct stance for flght off the wind, which is how you need to be going into forward.
In addition, as you begin to get more and more centered over the board, and the flight becomes more off the wind, the power in the sail begins to moderate. These prepops have the effect of getting you in flight off the wind, and that makes it pyschologically much much easier to huck it cuz your not holding onto so much power.
I'm totally stoked about this new revelation!!
Video from Frday at Tower
Sorry for lack of posts since December 1st. First off, my dry suit was off to Seatux in Florida for a warranty repair (which btw they did an awesome job). That caused me to miss a few good days. Also a refocusing of priorities for the off season if you will. So overall however, there is a definite feeling that we're transitioning into winter time conditions/rules where in I basically hope to get on the water, at least, every weekend. Heck, we had snow last weekend that covered the ground and we've had average night time temperatures down into the teens.
From our community Christmas Tree lighting last weekend:
That being said we still have (and will continue to have thru-out the winter)relatively warms days with temps in the mid-to upper 40s. Perfect weather for windsurfing!
Today was just such a day-sunny and windy. I arrived at the paved lot at New Road about 11am and rigged 5.0 on RRD. Initially, the conditions where up and down. I'd blast out for about100-200 yards until I see a lull approaching, then rip into a gybe and head back in, tack, and head back out. That was pretty fun for my first session, and then the wind began to fill in. Solid-lit conditions. And the wind was WNW which is sorta on-side-on at this venue, and for this direction today, the starboard ramps began to get pretty sweet.
Now I don't go out for a sesh and know that I'm gonna toss a forward. For me, they just sort of happen when I least expect it. Well today I threw a really nice rotation on starboard. You know, sometimes, I'm so lit up that there is no way I'd think I throw one, but I popped a jump heading out and before I knew it, I was committing the rig leeward and sheeting in. Oh yeah, it was a really really good one, felt effortless. I'm telling ya, looping is really easy, it just takes a lot of guts to throw that first one.
The water is still very warm, and when the sun comes out like it did today, you can even pull your hood off and ride without a hat on! I wore gloves, but thought about ditching em. Overall a great day of sailing on the Delmarva!!
I shot some helmet cam action so check back for that.
2 comments:
Nice George! Yea, pre-pops work great for flat water FWDs. Helps get the board bouncing to clear the fin.
Yea, soon you will be throwing FWDs all the time (whether landing/sailing away or not)! It becomes so comfortable, that the initial fears go away, and it almost becomes "routine." The FWD is likely the easiest windsurfing maneuver/trick to do once over the mental hurdle. Ironically, that is all it is....
The next Hatteras Loopfest will hopefully induct many new loopers?!
Bill said it, man! I think more about jibes than I do about forwards...
The pre-pop is certainly OK for loops, but I really don't recommend it for vulcans. A static loading of your core and rig keeps you low and spinny, leading to a nice smooth pop and slide for the vulcans. Pre-pops just get you bouncing and then you pop too high and out of control for the vulcans...
Sometimes, if I'm underpowered, I'll give a few pumps as I turn downwind, but I usually try to "settle" everything before I pop for a vulcan. Even if it's only for a half a second, it seems to keep everything under control...
Now, looping, on the other hand, the pre-pop can help you get some rhythm, and confidence, and as you said, better positioning to rotate around. So have at it, pre-pop, and loop away into the sunset!!
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