November has been a slow time for windsurfing over here on Maui so not much going on lately....... It is nice to have a break but after a few days, the craving to be back on the water still eats me up!
I got a quick question today via email asking about some forward loops techniques- so wanted to share it so anyone else out there might pick up a few tricks!
Question: With overpowered forwards and high forwards do you have the same control as those at 10-15 feet? I worry about getting blasted on the landing but assume you just shoot downwind and throw a more downwind rotation.
Answer: Yeah, well the higher you go the slower you need to rotate. As you are going up, you want to be stalling out and delaying your rotation so you don’t just over rotate and obliterate yourself….. i think you have more control the higher you go because you have so much room to rotate that you just fall into it. I don’t start my rotation till I reach the apex of a big jump over 10 feet! You don’t want to pull as hard with your back hand as you would when doing a quick one not that high off the water- or you might find yourself entering into a double forward- and let me tell you a 1.5 forward really wakes you up!
If you have never done a forward loop before but have that burning desire, here is a video to learn the steps in working up to your first one!