Greetings all.

I have been psychologically wrestling with the forward loop dilemma for over a year now. I had a couple of attempts over twelve months ago and gave myself a bit of a scare which put me off. I even have wonderfull dreams that i can forward loop (this is no joke!!), then i wake up, disappointed . (no bed is not wet when i wake up )

I met a french bloke here in QLD who can pull them off regularly, and gave me a tip. He learnt them by detaching sail from board and only using the sail while on beach. He says he used to jump off small soft sand dunes and land on his back, rotating the sail. Today I had a go of this while standing on the edge of a sandbar with sail roughly in sailing stance, sheeting in and pushing forward with front hand and spinning around to land in water on my back. I must have done about 30 of these in each direction, and now have instant sunburn on my back, but worth it coz i finally getting the jist of just how much you need to sheet in with back hand, and push boom forward with front hand, and getting the rotation sensation. Its starting to decrease the fear factor for me.

Has anyone else tried this, or does anyone else have any other great tips in order to overcome the mental barrier? Forwards are like the ultimate move to me, and really want to crack one before summers out.

Cheers!!



Haircut

Fang out towards a nice crispy lip, close your eyes and then chuck yourself over the handle-bars!
The End over End is the cool one.

Yep, forwards are technically easy but mentally hard! It took me months (years)to get up for it - Im still not completely comfortable with them, but Im an old bloke. try doing the sail thing you describe while sailing in light winds - bear off, take feet out of straps, and do it. You end up on the leeward side of the board, sail in the position to waterstart.

All the bollocks about "go for it" etc etc is true - if you dont, you end up doing a catapault onto the nose of the board which is painful both financially and physically! Something which helped me was to keep your eyes shut when you sheet in and look back - stops you being tempted to sheet out. Might be a girly thing to do but no-one will know - you wont have to spot a landing until you get good at a loop.



good luck1


steve

Hardie,
What,me crazy? - no way, I'm taking my medication.
Look, when Evil Knievel jumped the Grand Canyon on his motorcycle, was that crazy? No, perfectly sane!
When he jumped 15 double-decker buses in a row on his bike, was that crazy? Hell no!
But if he had attempted to jump 15 motorcycles while driving a double-decker bus, now, that's looney tunes!

Greenie,

You know I had to have my testicles removed because of a medical condition I thought that stuff would not be talked about publicly Thanx for letting the whole ****** world know I've go no balls

As for you Wavey,

I've just had my psychotropic medication dosage doubled, I think it's time for your annual check-up as well

Hardina (Exchange Student staying at Hardie's place)

Haircut, i was in the same position as you till yesterday arvo! After really wanting to do them for the last couple of years, i hit a ramp and closed my eyes and got around first time. I nailed about 5 yesterday out of maybe 15, there really quite simple when compared to backloops. But anyway my advice would be to do them really far off the wind because then you can do them really low and your halfway through the roatation when you take off. Also closing yours eyes should help as you don't see the water coming at you, and before you know it your around. Another thing is to make sure your feet are right in the footstraps as mine seemed to have a habit of coming out and causing painful crashes. And definetly wear a wetty, i'm hurting today!

davo where do you sail?
i wanna come watch and learn!!!!

GONE WITH THE WIND

If you want a step by step (including pics) of forwards plus many more moves you must hit www.roynbartholdi.com/ & goto the moves page.
ROYN is a windsurfing DemiGod - I kid you not.
I also agree with practicing on the sand, we made up a plank of wood with 2 straps & hole for the mastfoot. It's good for getting your feet/legs to come around correctly & gets you digging those toes in hard.
Anyway, backloops & pushies rule.

AB....

I've seen some mag with pic sequence very recent and it mentioned Judo forward rolls.
as a judo instuctor this pricked my attention and caused me to study the photos, and they were right.
Find a judo club, the first thing you learn is breakfalls of which forward rolls are a key element. you get fit and lose your fear of falling and become a forward looper all in one.

Backloops are way more fun and easier plus give you a real sensation of flying. just point the nose at the water to land.

And take a tip out the the learning to fly manaul. "any landing you walk away from is a good landing".

best winds
Tony