MANU'S WINDSURFING BLOG

Latest news, Another TIP! These last months were a bit technical to land forwards. Heavy chop, gusty winds, rather strong, I had a hard time finding comfort and confidence to send them. So I went back to basics, head downwind, stay upright, straighten front arm right after the pop but, it was still sticky. I feared a bad pop as chop was moving around. So I told myself, I needed to try something different to gain confidence and rely on the fact that the board takes off properly. And this came from lifting up my front leg. It definitely helped reduce the bad pop fear. For speed loops, we need to pop and release the board to give us room to go around/over the nose of the board. Otherwise, we can lay down to the side but this requires more wind as the sail isn't as exposed to the wind. The rotation is slower, less whippy, more horizontal.

On a wave, we can simply guide the sail forward, bending our front leg almost without any pop. Initial speed and wave kick are sufficient, except... when heading upwind! So on an uncertain piece of chop, flat waters, or upwind ramps, I found that lifting up on the front leg lightened up the board and exposed its windward rail to the wind providing more push. The rotation is a bit quicker as the body gets more tucked. Also timing is simplified as thinking about lifting our leg delays the sheeting in action until the board's pressure is released and it's pointing upwards. In brief, we move our rear hand back, pop straight up pressing down with our legs, lift the front leg up sending the rig forward ahead of us sharply as far as we can then look back, tuck our rear leg under our bum while keeping the front arm straight and hang on until we land!

December 2018, Merry Christmas - Mission ACCOMPLISHED!!! Since September, I wasn't so happy about my landing success rate. Something was up and I couldn't quite pinpoint it. (See examples in the December Forwards video.) I was even getting some pain on my legs from landing sideways. When finally, a couple of days ago I focused on doing two things at the pop, really leaning forward with my front arm fully extended and wait to sheet in until after my front arm was extended and body forward. This immediately felt right and I landed my first one that you can see in the Early Christmas video. Now, I need much less speed and power to rotate them. The rotation feels good and natural. Even powered up the fact to really lean forward into it makes things less scary. I only focus to keep my legs tucked to absorb the landing. I sheet out a bit upon landing but at lower heights it's not needed. I can land 4 or 5 per session over 6 to 8. I can quickly waterstart off-straps out of the remaining attempts. On the last couple of sessions, I have been trying them on port tack. I feel like I know exactly what to do but my brain only lets me go forward when the mast foot is glued to the water or I'm nearly stopped :D !!! I'm hoping for a bit more friendly conditions on that side to start getting more familiar with rotating that way :)

Septembre 2018, First Speed Loop on GoPro! - A month after landing my last front loop, I was finally able to land another one :) August 2018, First complete forward loop! - That's it, I did it! Wow, can't believe it... amazing, unreal. The vid is from the day before when my wife filmed all afternoon while I was trying to land one! But, the next day (windy gusty 16-29 knots), off of a side-side-on 1m chop quite vertical, I popped nicely and aggressively, tucked in my legs, landed with a soft body touch and I was up, no need to waterstart. I am so happy. I tried on the other side, there's some work still :D ! A big huge enormous challenge defeated!!! Only needed 1315 attempts :) In July, I had a key moment where I started to pop in between the straps (as opposed to try and do a high jump basically). I would also get more upright above my board. Then I would throw my sail in front along with my body slightly to the side of the board. From there, the fear was quite reduced and I didn't need to pop downwind, the bearing off became more automatic. From this point, it took me 150 tries to land one. The nose of the board was still catching and slowing my rotation though but as I was moving my body farther and farther forward right at peak of the chop/wave, I was getting some good rotation. Then I landed one with straighter legs and it hurt my knee a little (weak one), so then I thought what can I do to protect it? Tuck in my legs of course. So the next tries I tucked in my legs and, possibly since I worked on front flips this past year, I had good synchronization between popping and tucking, wooooosh, it spun around much faster and voilà !!! FIRST LANDED FORWARD LOOP!!! Learned straps at 31 years old, waves at 38, both back and forward loops landed at 43, WOW! What's next then? A WHOLE LIST!!! Shove-it, shaka, push loop... Let's GO :D ! It was a fascinating, frustrating, depressing, and astonishing quest to be honest. I thought I was just in to learn forwards, in the end, I learned much more... and what is there to learn, you shall ask? Well... that's for you to find out through your OWN personal quest and I am looking forward to hearing about them! Sails up!!!!

June 2018, Approaching 1000 attempts! - ...and it's finally looking like the end of the quest! With better wind and cleaner water state, I had to go back to trying a few wymaroos to get back into trying them again. Only this time, I understood to bear off first and position my body ahead of the board. From there, crashes aren't as bad. The feeling was to do a pop (but not a leaning-back jump) downwind with a strong throw of the sail towards the wind (the opened sail will release pressure from the mast foot), straightening my front arm. Then, I try pulling in my back foot and back hand together while keeping my front arm straight all the way (my last battle) and even my front leg too (harder). Most of my attempts were done off of chop and I can now waterstart away but need to get out of the straps still. I'm slowly building up my confidence to try them on waves where it's nice since it gives me more time to think about the move. Now, I can try about 15 spin loops before getting tired every day and in any conditions (gusty, windy, weak, bad chop, etc.). November 2017, And more pain! - Darn, unbelievable quest! After being able to waterstart away with wet landings off straps, I'm now facing another doubting phase? Can't believe it! I hope it's just a fluke and that weak wind/wave conditions have their part of responsability :) ... More photos with comments here.

Beginning of October 2017, Approaching 600 Attempts! - My first waterstarts off straps, finally some tangible progress! I was able to do back-to-back sessions with a quick waterstart off straps. I believe what triggered it was focusing on pulling hard with my backhand, no matter what. The rest I can pretty much do automatically well enough to get around. August 2017, And going over 400 Attempts... - Still not quite! My body is more straight upon take-off, my front arm extends well, there are more landings with the board, more attempts per session, but still not a single one landed! It feels like it's taking forever. Lighter winds and difficult-to-read waves don't make things easy either. In a bit more onshore conditions, I have been heading more upwind to get into more wave meat, this means that commitment has to be top notch, otherwise punishment is rather fierce! My focus lately has been to leap up and throw my gear forward while leaning slightly forward to facilitate the rotation. Then I try to stay tucked in for as long as I can to try and pull off a waterstart. And when I thought huge bails and cracked board nose were a thing of the past, they come back in a fury! Wow... well at least I'm not getting whiplash and sore rib cage, haha... what a sport :) !

End of July 2017, Really close! - Probably somewhere around 300 attempts or more, I'm getting closer and closer each time which no turning back! For some reason, I can't seem to be able to keep the board under my feet, I believe it's happening for two reasons. One, because I'm too much behind the mast foot. I need to get more in front of it by leaning farther forward upon take-off. And two, because I don't feel comfortable landing with the board under me when my mast gets too parallel to the water, so I untuck and loosen up my feet. So my next step is to jump more straight, leaning slightly forward rising my boom high up as if to hang it overhead. The more I try them, the more I realize how important it is to help the sail pull us forward by leaning forward upon take-off, it should feel like we are slightly falling forward before sheeting in. July 2017, The ALMOST Loop! - On one of my last attempts, I felt the sail pull a brief moment in the air before the board caught the water and caused me to lose the straps. But, I hung on and completed the rotation sliding rather than slapping on my back. Next step will be to stay tucked in while keeping my front arm straight. For the first time, it ALMOST felt like a loop! Here is a summary of random thoughts I have gathered until now:
- Try powered to underpowered (planing with fairly firm water under feet)
- Nice ramp rather clean ahead which will allow to veer off wind once airborne
- Attempts don't necessarily happen on the first run, can very well be at sunset (my case!)
- Each attempt seems to carry a bit more speed, use a bigger ramp, in conditions more and more difficult
- Try not to let go of the back hand, or at least only if we know the nose of the board is clear
- I never thought, I'd be slapped around so much, even on backloops, landing flat on back, ribs, neck, whiplash, arms, everything is sore... June 2017, Resisting the Rotation - 20-30 attempts per session, comes at a cost! Pain is starting to show up but interestingly, it mostly came from landing on my ribs on a backloop attempt! Well then. Otherwise, unavoidable whiplash stiffens the neck a bit. But, I don't seem to care and keep at i! The more I do it, the more I improve and learn. More photos with comments here. So on these last attempts, everything ends up often in a catapult once the board hits the water. My back arm isn't enough back, my front arm not straight enough and above all my body not forward enough to set off the rotation. I need to concentrate on pulling up on the boom with the front leg bent (need to push on back foot to jump). Everything else isn't too bad for now. My head is looking back, the pop is fine with a good redirection off the wind. It's important to try not to let go of the back hand, if not the mast will dig in, off the wind it's ok, but it may hit the board or give whiplash from a flat landing on the back (adding protection to the board or the mast is a good idea). More photos with comments here. Beginning of June 2017, Daily Attempts! - I am now trying them quite frequently, on a wave or not, on both tacks. Sometimes it ends in a Grubby-like move, other times the pop is is slowed down by the rotation from timing being off. I need to focus on pop and front hand throw to load the sail. Mai 2017, More Attempts! - Ok, after some decent conditions with more organized conditions and solid winds, I have been trying a few attempts up to 20-30 per session. Mostly I do about 4 or 5 per session. I like trying them on both tacks. Sometimes my surfing side is better, other times my jumping side. I've been struggling with combining the pop (which lifts up the mast foot) and the sail throw (which drives down the mast foot) and tend to avoid throwing them when really powered or on big waves. Most my attempts are when nicely powered off of a nice clean small piece of chop or small wave that I can hit heading downwind with enough but low speed! More and more it looks like I'm going to have to throw them in the "real" waves to take it to the next level! It finally may be coming, woo-hoo! Aug 2016 - Apr 2017, The void - Well, since April, there have been a couple of (shy) attempts more but above all the wind has been mediocre at best! So it's been Surf Sailing for most of the year. On the other side, thanks to some friendly swell early in the year, I managed my first backloop attempts about 20 over the whole year. The forecast for February (an excellent month here) is looking really good so I am quite optimistic!

April 2016, The will is back! - For some odd reason, a few days ago something told me I was ready to try again. I think in my head, I could visualize the move and knew exactly what to do. Also, after watching a few videos of people learning to loop, it helped me understand what happens during the first attempts. With my sailing technique improving it gave me that extra boost of needed confidence. Although I have to admit that it does look like the loop can be learned without much technique at all, a confident pop and pull approach with lots of commitment can make it happen. The key points for me to throw an attempt again were:
- Finding a spot where I can try them and recognize downwind ramps
- Use kit which can pop easily, is light on my legs with good drive
- Being powered up just enough to be comfortable in the air
- Being fresh in the head but dedicate my sailing to loops
- Being highly motivated but accept that it may not happen
What happened that day was that for an hour and fifteen minutes, I couldn't pull the trigger, I locked up. Although highly inclined at first, the will slowly vanished with sailing. I found it quite draining as it requires a lot of concentration. So I headed back to the beach and sat on my board to wait for a few minutes. Then went back out and on nearly the first ramp, I tried one (see photo), I was a little tense and while the pop was good the sheeting in action lacked a little, the nose caught slowing the rotation, but the board passed downwind so the fall happened backwards instead of on the side, no problem. For my next sessions if I freeze again, I'll head more frequently to the beach for breaks. Another big difference was that I was able to let go and not get frustrated when not going for it. Looking forward to the next sailing sessions!

November 2015, Eye-opener - Well, voilà, after discussing the subject with many friends and family, I realized that I wanted to loop but without trying! For sure it wouldn't work so well... Therefore I'm announcing the return of the Wymaroos. The idea is to beat this darn loop with technique. With wymaroos, I will be able to do them faster and faster until I can clear the fins off of the back of a piece of chop or a friendly wave and avoid beating myself to death for not pulling what seems to me the impossible trigger.

October 2015, Frustration - After a few comfortable sessions with smaller waves, friendly chop, and medium winds, I thought I could go back and try a few loops, Not! Once again, my brain doesn't seem to think it's a good idea. On each good ramp, I realize late that it could have worked but never pulled the trigger, the end result: a big fat frustration. Furthermore, I've been struggling with my sail in higher winds and I'm not having as much fun as I'd like on the water.

February-August 2015, NIL - Now that I understood the sail throw with the exercises, I'm stuck waiting to pull the trigger. Maybe I should go back to Wymaroos ? For now, I'm working on regular jumps and steering my gear in the air.

January 2015, More Progress - It's so nice to not have the pressure on absolutely trying a loop with each session. Anyway, doing more exercises today, I wasn't getting the rotation I was expecting. So I tried sheeting out more, completely depowering the sail, this allowed me to swing the mast more towards the wind, reaching back farther with my rear hand and then sheet in. And voilà, I was now getting some really nice rotation with the sail landing with 3/4 of a turn systematically. Also, I wasn't jumping forward, I was being pulled by the sail, I believe that's a big difference into completing the rotation of a speed loop. One other thing I'm working on is to look back when throwing the sail forward and not after which slows the rotation.

Late December, Progress - After a few sessions without attempts, I was wondering what I was missing in terms of motivation. I didn't want to let my goal go away. Then, I ran across this tip which is quite simple: "start small, really small." It made sense to me, despite the feeling of the move being so far away, with each loop exercise I do, each jump I make, I feel like I'm getting closer. How can I improve without trying? You may ask. The idea is that I gradually get more comfortable flinging myself around, doing it with more authority, getting more rotation out of my exercises matching a nice ramp, getting into the habit of moving my hands back, throwing the mast forward while looking back and sheeting in. With each jump I make, I read the small chop better, understand how much pop I get and how fast I need to be. All of this is working towards making my goal easier to achieve by getting more comfortable with the environment. So as opposed to feeling down because I didn't try any loop on any given day, I'm now enjoying my sessions, keep doing my exercises, jumping as much as I can, and most importantly I'm having fun!

Late December - The wind is back and so are the tourists! Lots of people on the water. However, I'm still stuck and have no more attempt under my harness. I'm wondering whether this is even worth it. I am still having a lot of fun, especially wave sailing, but left with an unfinished feeling. Mid-December - We've been hit by a low-wind streak. Yet, I continue to work on loop exercises picturing myself in the air. The strong swell hasn't left us, big wave surfers are having fun and our shorebreak is eating body boards for lunch as you can see from the photo. The day I turned 40, we had no wind, so I took advantage of the day off and listened to Rocky's soundtrack, Europe, Scorpions, and other melodies from the 80's. Then, I had three strong wave sessions (2.3m+) but messy and hard to get through. So I took some time off from looping and treated myself to a well deserved mental resting period.

November 21 2014, First Attempts - One day before my birthday, in rather light conditions, I finally tried a few loops. The nice thing about having the camera mounted on is that I could analyze and see what I was doing wrong. The same thing had happened in the past where I didn't rotate. Well, after watching one of the best videos on the subject (the forward loop by Sam Ross), I realized that the mast had to stay forward through the entire move. I thought it was a two-step process, where the mast had to be sent forward and then back to tuck in. Also, while jumping, as the mast is thrown forward and across the nose of the board needs to point as high as possible.

November 20 2014, The freeze - There I was, just two days before the big 4-0 and I froze, out of 20 possible attempts, I couldn't find the courage to pull the trigger. At the end of the day, I felt defeated and thought maybe I could never even try! Despite this I was getting good rotation from my exercises.

November 18 2014, The exercises - Then, came the strap-less or board-less exercises, where I headed downwind slightly and jumped while throwing the mast slightly upwind to get the pull from the sail, get used to sailing with my hands back and to look back. I really liked this exercise especially when timing it with a piece of chop. It pushed me to throw the sail forward at a specific time and not just when I feel comfortable.

June 2012, The wymaroos - This is when it all started. About two and a half years ago, after coming across Remko's video I started to throw myself on my back. It was rather violent and with the helmet it would make my head "ring" a little. So this method wasn't as smooth as I thought it would be.