Hi,

I've been trying to chop hop the last few sessions, but not having much success.

Haircut reckons it's like ollieing a skateboard, unfortunately I've never been much good on a skateboard. I can bunnyhop a BMX though.

Is it sort of like bunnyhopping? Do you sort of sink down and then thrust the board down just before the crest of the chop? What do you do with the sail? Every time I try it I'm braced against the pull of the sail and so when the fin lifts out, the back of the board spins away from me.

I've heard about tucking the feet underneath my bum but never managed that.

Any tips from the experienced chop hoppers?

i bungle (and bingle) my way through with the hardman method - although i first got the feeling by pressuring the board by pushing down and then pulling up when planing without any chop around. I was amazed you can throw the board around so much.

And then again i may have bonged my head on some full pipe i was pulling...(windsurfers vs kiteboarding whos more extreme thread)!!!

hi nebbian,

agree with hardman. forget all the tips about pushing down the tail as you hit the chop etc. when you are learning that will only kill your speed and stop you from getting any lift. try that once your a bit better at the air time.
also don't try and jump, just sail along at full speed, when you see a chop in front of you then launch off it. wait for a biggish chop with a steep face.

once you have hit the face lift your front leg. that will start the nose upwards, then pull your back leg up under your bum. you will now float up and downwind. the front leg then back leg is pretty quick, almost at the same time. ie.. an ollie

the other things are your sail control. if you sheet in the nose will drop. if you sheet out the tail will drop.

when i first learnt to jump it was in 3 foot surf. what i did was to lean back when i hit the wave lip. at first i used to land on my back. then i started to lift my back leg up once airbourne and found that i could get my weight more over my board to flatten things out. this let me do long flat jumps. then i started to sheet in and out with the sail so i could start to get the landings more under control. sheet in for nose first etc.

edit... i forgot to mention, unhook first. doing this will make you stand more upright over the top of your board so you can control your gear better. it is from this position that you need to do the leg thing. if you try and jump hooked in you won't be able to pop as easily.

hi again,

once you get the jumps happening then start to try the pop method...
my previous suggestions were to get you airborne and in control. after you are doing that then the next stuff follows.

when i was trying to improve my jump height i spent 3 weeks just on the take offs. trying the pop thing.

this is what i discovered.

firstly, the push down with the back leg has to be very sutble. to heavy footed and you stall. a lot less pressure than i first thought. if you try too hard it kills things.

secondly, you should do the pop just as you hit the lip. not before the face or on the face. the timing is very important. doing it at the top of the lip will make you go from a 1 foot jump to a 4 foot jump.

a couple of good places to go to learn to jump are

shearwater and redcliffe. problem with redcliffe and shearwater is that you are always heading across the swell. My pick is the caloundra bar. you can head straight into small waves over shallow water. you will have no problem getting airbourne there. it is perfect.

best of luck...

And don't forget about downhaul to help in chop-hopping. I've found that if the sail isn't downhauled enough, it makes the board feel like it's glued to the water. Making sure you have plenty of downhaul makes the sail feel lighter, and more jumpable and controllable.

like Lars Petersen said - look for a piece of steep chop doon wind, crooch doon, take off, sheet in hard and look to de back of de boom, followed by, land

easy

Looking forward to trying all this next session. What't the chance of damaging the board by landing flat? (Presuming I only manage to get a foot or two off the water. )

I really like his second one Feed Your Soul Freestyle, if that's the one you mean. ALthough he oversimplifies the instructions like in his first video, the footage and skill of some of the sailors is unreal hey! Apparently the instructions were written by Jem Hall who runs his own school in some place all the poms go to. So i guess we can't put too much blame on Pete

quote:

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Originally posted by Harrow

What't the chance of damaging the board by landing flat? (Presuming I only manage to get a foot or two off the water. )

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very little unless you're using a super light speed only board. I landed a big jump flat earlier this season, made so much noise my wife heard it from our house!!! No damage at all, but my boards are reinforced for this, and I don't weigh much.