Looping before the big 4.0 - crap only 6 days

[wind_addict10]

Looking like on the right track. Your back hand needs to go right back though and your front arm should be straight and extended forward. Slide your back hand right back, then think of punching forward with your front hand to bring the rig forwards.

[manuel]

Thanks for the tip, that'll be my next focus point (straighten front arm).

I think with a touch more speed and height it could have rotated. Here the nose caught and slowed an already weak rotation due to the bent front arm. Once the board was flat on the water I couldn't hold onto the sail and landed on my back.

But I found many positives, one attempt is better than none, the board passed downwind, hitting chop on a broad reach helped soften the fall and clear the mast from the nose I think.

Next step will be to straighten that front arm while popping.
The days turned out much milder than the forecast had predicted, that day was already quite weak and now we are hit by a no-wind streak...

However, backloop and front loop attempts, I'm starting to be totally stoked with my sailing !

Thank you to all of whom helped motivate me, I enjoyed Peter Hart's DVD who worked at getting pretty much anybody to loop.

I updated my blog with more details.

[boardsurfr]

No wind on Cape Cod, but the ABK Camp in Hatteras in coming up soon - made me think about loops again. One thing that had always confused me about the loop was the conflicting advice that you can find, for example "Sheet in hard" and "Don't sheet in", or "Jump downwind" and "Take off slightly upwind". I have come up with a "unifying theory" that tries to explain why all of these approaches can work. It's at http://boardsurfr.blogspot.com/2016/04/apparent-wind-fun.html (scroll down past the images to get to the loop section). Maybe it's useful to some of my fellow want-to-be-loopers.

[fishinator]

Don't forget the other thing that Wind_Addict10 says there, your back hand should be back much further. I believe this is a bigger part than the front arm but of course both those two things work together and allow you to shift the centre of effort forward relative to your centre of mass.

The full advice that I was given by a veteran local looper was to 1) bear off, 2) go off small chop and 3) huck like your life depends on it. It is hard to over-rotate off small chop, especially as a beginner looper and generally some degree of under-rotation is probably safer than over, especially when you bear off and you are already ahead of your mast almost the instant you start rotating. Part of hucking hard part is reaching WAY back with the back hand and then pull in hard and tight with the backhand and straighten the front. The speed of rotation depends on how much you displace the centre of effort from the centre of mass of you+rig which is controlled by this arm movement.

Satisfying! Isn't it!? Back in the day I was almost ready to quit over not doing them. It was ruining it for me. Glad you have made it over those hurdles!!

[manuel]

A quick update after a few more shy "attempts."

First, I'm still very much afraid in high wind and big swell conditions. I like comfy winds and a nice looking downwind ramp.

Two, therefore I only have 2-3 more tries but quite soft. A few of you wouldn't even call them attempts. Basically, I'm getting catapulted landing with the board downwind and me following.

At least, I'm trying something and little by little the apprehension seems to go away. I'm finding more ramps and learn to fall on my back.

My biggest mistake is not too believe and looking forward at the water and need to expose more of the sail to the wind instead of choking the rig towards me.

[manuel]

5 more tries today in underpowered conditions.
Being underpowered gives me more time to setup and go for it but it also means not much rotation! Bah it doesn't matter so long as I can throw some tries in.

My best effort was done when I quit being so preoccupied with downwind ramps and just focused on pressing down hard with my back foot and lifting up my front hand. Doing this made my front foot almost come out, I think that's a good sign, no?

It setup the rig much better for the pull. My board stuck to the water because of the lack of speed in underpowered conditions but doing it downwind and grabbing the straps with my feet firmly almost sent me off. The effort helped me get used to coordinating the pop and throw together.

[manuel]

Must be the season because I'm back at it! Many tries yesterday, more the days before. I realized a couple of things. I'm not throwing my front hand forward (and across the board) and I'm too far back. So the board sticks to the water whether on a wave or not.

Moving body more over board and straightening the front arm had immediate results. Conditions to stay optimal for a few days. Maybe it's finally time!

Here are a compilation of crashes from the past year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srMWudgR100
It includes some of last year's tries.

[outcast]

From the video...
1 Psychologically, I knew I would find the forwards towards the end of the tape

2 Hands too close together....back arm back....blah blah blah

3 Not compressed enough

4 Not getting yourself over and in front of the mast...you look like you aren't really moving your weight around...foward, and that needs to happen..that's the most apparent thing..

That having been said, you're going for it! keep going!

[manuel]

Exactly right.

My challenge now is to be able to throw the move right on a wave (before being airborne) but without choking the sail with my front arm. I feel like the jump pop has to be relearned a little as the sail isn't tilted back but forward instead!

I'm not popping right now (even on a wave) because I resist it, when I do pop it's too late or not in the correct body position. After many tries I now look at the water state differently and can throw the move on both sides just about anywhere anytime, this has helped me get some good progress.

For some reason, I thought it'd come without this much work ?

[manuel]

Raaah so frustrating! Tried tens of them today but with little result it felt like. Pretty much same deal, I bring the sail towards me and the pop is too weak causing a land and spin type of move.

It was a bit better towards the end with a better throw but still quite a weak pop. The positive side of things is that there are attempts and little by little my water state reading and front hand throw gets better.

So hard, this sport sometimes!