This saddens me a bit Dar as this video is the first one I reference in my loop quest blog ;) !!!

Funnily, I was thinking about this video while sailing and that amazingly this guy doesn't land them. But yet some land them on their first day of trying? I just don't get this move?!? Fascinating. This guy is trying them in beautiful conditions though, still the commitment is nuts with nearly full endo loops. And again he can't land them (or wasn't able to).

My tries seem like total chicken tries in comparison.
Here is my latest album... I'm one step beyond this album but not by much anyway.

www.facebook.com/Manus-Windsurfing-Blog-204083476593704/photos/?tab=album&album_id=513055989029783

Teaser:

Dar said..
Hey Manuel... don't stress.... you are so close. It took me a couple of attempts but once you get it it is actually a very easy move.

Go big, go high, look back and yank that back hand with all you have!

I'm waiting.

keep the feet attached or you will never land one.

Cant wait to hear ya after the first one sticks.

Well, as the wind has been gone and that we are now waiting for Maria I can't really work on anything except... in the pool! (yeah I know, rough life... anyway :D !)

Indeed, it's quite interesting since I believe each move where there's a rotation such as 360, front flip, back flip, etc, it's difficult to know where we are through the rotation as things spin around us pretty rapidly. So I find the mental work has some similarities. We need to understand that at some point we won't know what's going on, like a leap of faith once into the move. I was actually surprised to feel how it could help with learning front loop windsurfing.

That said, the front flip is quite a bit easier as elements are nice and still! There's a light mental work and a technique to figure out. I haven't tried backflips or side flips but I'm going to. It's cool to notice that the first 4-5 tries feel pretty good and then we get tired and don't improve that much. Again similar to working on front loops. The difference is that on the water it's much harder to get good tries (even more so on some spots) since the conditions and kit vary so much.

Some interesting videos...

While round 1 was at high tide, waves reaching up and destroying the beach... winds lower but 20-30-40 knots.
Round 2 was at low tide, waves stay farther out but winds reach 60 knots+ and was a a bit scary!

I'm sorry, I know its childish, but I can't resist:

"Are we there yet"

Watch out... top comparison !!!!!

Same day, same ramp (exactly same spot), same timing on the ramp, same conditions, same everything, hardly do better to compare the forwards!

Tiki, front loop expert (landed in 1 day, or so he says):
- Sail sheeted out
- Straight arms
- Hands above head level

Manu, loop beginner aspiring to land them (near 600 attempts):
- Sail sheeted in
- Bent arms
- Hands at shoulder level



Voil?, here I have all the day I need to understand how to turn them faster...
Yesterday in 20 tentatives, I tried waterstarting 5 times in the straps, no luck, just nearly drowned ;) Quite tired from the previous sessions, my brain was a little foggy.

Do you see other things in the photos?

Huge conditions on my last session before a well-deserved break! Side to side-off, 3-4m waves nice and powerful, 16-26 knots, 5.0 (well powered with y 67kgs) First time I felt such a blast of wind coming out of the eye of a wave.

2 days prior my friend has noticed a large dark grey sharkie looking beast. He is used to surfing with them and got a bit spooked. Great !!!

We were 4, only locals. After crossing a mean looking reef, jumping probably as high as I have ever jumped, I chose this 2m ramp to throw a forward in front of my buddies... gotta go for it, yes-no, HUUUUGE forward attempt, not sure what happened or whether the 5.0 surprised me (hadn't sailed it over 20 knots in a long time) , but I didn't sheet in, still I'm hanging on, upside down, time stops, I think of my wife and 2 daughters, everything must have an end... then I drop and slap down on my back, wow... CRAYZY!!!

Then I wanted to try another one fast before the fear creeps back. Turned around, got some great rides on these beautiful stunning waves. And on my way back out tried another spin loop. Only this time it was much more manageable, the gear spun around nicely without losing momentum. Upon landing the gear did something that happened once before, it spun all the way until beam reach!!! Perfect for a waterstart, the sail catches a bit but too light !! Darn... I get off the straps and get up immediately after, wow, still pretty good!

The wind drops a bit and it's now a strong surf sailing session, we ride until we can hardly move and head back to shore. Some of us get rinsed in the powerful shorebreak. I drop and get shoved in shallow waters but not too bad. Nothing damaged.

I get to shore and there I look at my cam, it's turned off? Weird... well it was full of water! The small door must have gotten open somehow. So no photos/videos just a nice little write-up!

Seems like the waterstart in the straps is right there. Maybe a 43 y/o bday gift :)

It does sound like the waterstarts are happening faster and faster. Every time I went out I could see a slight improvement. On one session I focused solely on sheeting in, just that, of course with the intent to try to loop. Maybe it freed up the last bit of rotation I needed.

Latest true (no-wave) speed loop attempts (I'm a handful shy of 700 attempts now including bails):





And my first ever landed backloop, oddly enough, it wasn't really my goal and came pretty much unexpected!

Took me a better part of 1000 attempts before I stuck my first back loop. Yet took only a half-dozen attempts for a forward...

Goes to highlight, that we all have our strengths and weaknesses ...!

I know its been said before but you really have to push the mast forward to bear away at the start of the jump.

This is what you need to think of a the start of the jump....mast forward and windward. Image trying to bear away into a gybe using the sail only. In every video you are pulling the sail back not pushing it forward.

Excellent work on the back loop!

I just had 2 days, pretty nice, small waves, lighter winds and I couldn't pull the trigger. It seems that my current technique only lets me do it when the waves are "right" and therefore may hide possible flaws which show up when heading upwind or trying on smaller waves.

What a psychologically painful quest...

On the last couple of days, with a semi-plane out of the straps (light winds) I tried to time
ramps with the throw and this helped me realize a couple of things.

1. Wait until the front arm is extended and driven across/forward before sheeting in
2. Sheet out a touch before step 1.

If the sheeting out action is too light then the front arm might feel too heavy to tilt the sail towards the wind.
It isn't a big deal but that's the difference between a rotation over the mast foot and around the mast foot.

These are my attempts from September where I almost had it at the time, trying to waterstart out of a few attempts.
My best one wasn't filmed where I waterstarted away out of the straps immediately after landing.



I'm not sure what happened since then. I had a break in October, a couple of lame attempts in November.
We had hardcore conditions with either crazy winds, big swell or light winds.
But even during light days, I just haven't been comfortable. Is my body trying to tell me I'm not ready?

Anyway, a long long quest for me, the greater the reward, maybe :D ?

Manuel7 said..
I've been stuck and might have found out why. You guys were right!

It's only taken you 10 months and 151 posts to work that out!?

With more comfortable winds and waterstate, I seem to be back at it :D !

Here is what I'm aiming for...



And this is what happened in 11-19 knots, my body is a bit more ahead of the board than in the past.
Now it seems that my sail should be way more forward with my camera pointing down at the water.



This is an earlier example where I tuck the board under nicely but my body isn't sent forward and ahead of the board.



I'm planning on concentrating on sending the sail forward and twisting my hips to the back and possibly delaying the sheeting in action so I can focus on following my front arm rather than pulling in with the back one.
Does that seem like a good plan?