Freestyle board in light winds.

[boardsurfr]

Does light wind practice on a small freestyle board help for planing tricks? How much - more than using a bigger board?

I'm asking since I just got a 110l freestyle board. Love it in planable conditions, but had a hard time in low wind. I'm 200 lb, so not much excess volume - I have usually used big boards for light wind freestyle. I often see freestylers practice on their small boards in light wind. On the other hand, Caesar is always on a big board when doing his light wind magic in Bonaire.

So - is it worth starting over again on the small board, or should I bring the big boards, which are much more fun in light wind right now?

[DanWeiss]

I think its great to use a high volume board to practice shortboard freestyle when the wind is light. The sail still works the same, just a lot more slowly and, therefore, feeling the pressure changes in the sail is so much easier.

If you are forced to do the hula dance just to remain afloat I think it is nearly impossible to practice new moves. For example, I come from the old days of longboard freestyle, back when we just called it messing around on a Windsurfer. I managed to get pretty good but never could hit a duck tack. I tried for years on all sorts of gear, but the 99% chance of a swim discouraged me from keeping at it.

Then came Mike Burns who encouraged me to take out a huge, fat shortboard (AHD Zen) and with his tips, I hit the duck tack almost right away. Maybe it took 5-10 attempts. All that stability allowed me to break down the move into its components and put them together at my own pace. Two days later I was out wave sailing on a 72 liter potato chip of a board. I figured I'd try it while planing yet not terribly powered up. I hit the first one, the second and biffed the third.

Had I not practiced in 10 knots and the huge board I know I never would have hit that elusive move and a small board.

[haterrater]

the small board is great for honing skills already learned in planing conditions, but for learning new moves I highly recommend dancing around on a larger board.

Dan,
great testimony!

cheers!
-the haterrater

[boardsurfr]

Certainly, learning new moves is much easier on big boards. It does make sense to learn a move first on a big board - the question is if it also makes sense to then practice the move on a smaller freestyle board on light wind.

Maybe the answer depends on the move? I can do a light wind duck jibe any day on a big board, but had a really hard time the first day I tried them on a 110l board. Doing a planing duck jibe on this board would have been a lot easier since speed = stability. But for tacks like heli or nose tacks, speed goes close to zero at some point during the move, anyway, so perhaps practicing them on the small board in low wind makes more sense?

[human_catapult]

[ctuna]

When't back an bought a 150 liter board after years of planning and jibing.
Started doing sail spins and Helis etc.. Everything is so sensitive on a smaller board if you can at least have your sail manipulations on automatic it helps a lot .

[LeeD]

Modern freestyle is all about centered axxis spinning tricks, so only planing conditions.
If you're not planing, you can still Gecko, Heli, Hoss, and pivot, but they are NOT planing condition tricks for new school freestyle.
So learn old school on big boards (except Gecko), new school spins on your current board powered up.

[ctuna]

But they tend to not be mass challenged and highly skilled. If you weigh 150 to 170lbs on a 110 you probably have about the same floatation as a 200 + pound-er on a 150 liter. Every year when I come back from Winter I notice the board sits lower in the water .

[jayturcot]

I do alot of light wind stuff in Vancouver on 160L boards (I'm about 170lbs).
That being said; you get a feel for things but eventually you won't end up in the water and the big-board practice has run it's course and you'll stop learning (the light-wind practice has given you all it can).

Cruising back n' forth switch stance on a 160L board made me comfortable enough to come out of a planing gybe switch for the first time and not freak out. Sailing clew-first in lighter winds for hours let me nail my first clew-first waterstart without troubles.

Planing tricks are a whole new ball-game. I can upwind 360 a floaty board, but can't even properly initiate one on my 96L in planing conditions. I'm sure once I get that part figured out the rest will flow much better from my practice, but they are different beasts entirely.

[christopher_cf]

I work on a light-wind freestyle move only after I have it totally dialed in on a big board. Although some aerial freestyle moves have light-wind moves that are somewhat equivalent (e.g. Flaka <--> Gecko), others like the Vulcan and Shove-it have no useful light-wind equivalents that have so far helped me. Nonetheless, I have practiced the light-wind Lollypop on my 109L--only after nailing it on my 200L--so that I can do it as an exit from a Willy Skipper.

Andy Brandt, Kiri Thode, and "Freestyle" Bob Reay are the only guys I have seen consistently doing advanced freestyle tricks on their 100ish Liter freestyle boards, and these guys are ridiculously skilled at it. In contrast, Caesar and I generally do our light-wind freestyle stuff on big 200ish Liter boards. For my part, the big board makes it all way easier. In Caesar's case he is doing things that are nigh impossible on smaller gear

Doing moves on a small board gets much harder the lighter the wind is. Some moves like the helicopter tack are actually much easier to do on small gear in moderate to high wind, even though you aren't planing. I have found the upwind 360 to be the easiest non-planing move to do consistently on a small board; it's even easier than a heli tack or duck jibe. Conversely, moves like the duck tack are really hard because once you let go of the rig, your balance on the board has to be almost perfect.

Cheers
Christopher