Sometimes hitting chop at full speed can be pretty scary. We have all heard the saying \u201cspeed is your friend\u201d and most of the time it is. When most people see chop coming at them, their first reaction is to slow down. When that happens, they straighten the legs and head up into the wind and usually end up hitting the steepest part of the chop and get bucked off! Sound familiar?
\nWhen I see chop coming at me, I hit the gas! I usually bear off the wind, bend my knees and stick my butt out so that I can absorb the bumps. My \u201cSEVEN 7\u201d stance turns into a \u201cSIX 6\u201d. Bearing off the wind also takes some of the edge off the wind chop and won\u2019t send me flying. This is where those LONGER harness lines really help out! You are able to get further away from your rig and stay in control.
\nIf things are really out of hand and you are getting bounced all over the place, get out of your harness lines, drop your butt down into the water and hang downward on your boom. This stance forces you to bend those knees and get low..... It isn\u2019t the prettiest looking stance but it will do the job and save you from getting flicked around. The name of the game is being in control and having fun!
\nEquipment setup for choppy conditions has a couple rules I like to go by-
\n\u2022 Having the mastrack forward helps keep the nose of the board low and down- this equals less tail walking.
\n\u2022 Putting your foot straps further inboard will give you more control, especially in the turns.
\n\u2022 If you are spinning out a lot, move your fin further back or your foot straps forward if your using a powerbox or tuttle box board.
\n\u2022 Make sure you have enough downhaul in your sail- too little and you will be getting thrown all over the place.
\n\u2022 The more overpowered you are, the more outhaul you can pull on- This kills some of the power in your rig and makes it easier to control.
\nNow all you need is some wind and water- get out there and GAS IT!<\/p>\n
I like this shot of Kevin in his high wind stance, weight is LOW, Knees are BENT, Rig is upright, Arms extended and he is in perfect control and ready for anything that comes at him. How long do you think those harness lines are??<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes hitting chop at full speed can be pretty scary. We have all heard the saying \u201cspeed is your friend\u201d and most of the time it is. When most people see chop coming at them, their first reaction is to slow down. When that happens, they straighten the legs and head up into the wind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n