Finally cracked the hooked in/footstraps planing AND Water starting in the same Session!!!!

Muchos Thanks for all the useful tips everyone.
Well done Nebbian for waterstarting! That got me trying again

Also apologies to anyone at Pelipoint yesterday who was deafened by woops and screams of jubilation as I zoomed along

How do you chop hop and jump?

No worries Katy,

Glad that I inspired someone! I was starting to think that people were annoyed with all the nooby questions

Well done on the footstraps!
I'm still getting there, I'm sure that you'll hear my whoops of disbelief if I ever get back that far

Katy,

Not much of a "legendary jumper" but my tips are as follows:

Chop Hop/small jump:

Look forward and find a piece of chop with a sharp face or one coming at a slightly sharper angle. (I am aloways looking 20-50 meters ahead for the right piece of chop) You need to find something that you will hit close to a crest (just before (say 90% of the crest) is usually OK and sometimes better as you get less lift and more control - good for beginners) If it is breaking you are probably in the wrong spot - I like to be about 1-2 metres up wind of the breaking part of the wave/chop.

At full speed, As you move up the chop push down on the back foot to bring the board up into the wind and sharpen the angle of attack on the chop - sheet in a little (you can stay in the harness ropes). - as you hit the lip of the wave/chop lift slightly with your front foot and "voila' - you are in the air.

As a beginner I would advocate being out of the harness ropes - this usually means less catapaults as you land. The bigger the wave/ jump the less likely I am to be in the harness ropes.

The trick now is to stay in control and land well.

Drag that back foot in behind you (and up) and let the board drift/sail down wind (sheet out but keep pressure on the sail to maintain power) to get max fly on the jump . Try to land soft - I'm no expert in this area but I aim to land the board around the mast track or just behind with some forward motion. If you come straight down (vertical flat you will know about it). Once you have landed sheet in to put the power down again.

Try to be gentle on the back leg when you land to avoid 'railing up' into the wind and stalling.(Don't sheet in too hard) If you are not careful here you can also suffer spin out. Sail down wind - get back on the plane and off you go.

Best tip: go and watch some folks doing it. Ask the locals: - Every one will have some slightly different tips.

FYI. It is possible to jump 12 foot boards - so most of the modern equipment will get airborne if you know how.

You will have plenty of stacks and catapaults and spin outs; you will land the board flat and plant the nose - this is a 'normal' experience- keep trying.

When you nail the first jump and sail off you will be hooked!!

-J

PS I always jump hooked in but thats up to you

Ah, great to hear your lerning curve stories.

As a seasoned sailor,You forget how frustrating it is as a beginner, learning the basics, and the joy you get when you finally pin it.

Theres nothing like the feeling of full blast planning in 20kn+ on a summers day. I remeber back in 91 i hire some gear from a woman down at Applecross and she asked my sailing ability. i had been sailing wallies for a few years,but no shortboard experience, and she gave me a shortboard with a 5'7 sail. the grin on my face was a sight to see. nothing like it.

Keep us posted on your further 'challenges'

G

unhook, bend your legs and pushdown hard as u hit the chop and feel the board lift... u will prolly stack it a few times, but its all part of learning :) oh yeh... sheet in as your jump...

Katy

Windsurfing is one of those sports that is very hard to teach. Best to just go out and do it. You land on in water so its never to bad :-) Only advice i was given when learning to jump is to

'sail in the air' do what you would do it you where on the water

Have fun, you will be looooping in no time

nope... but i would when u are learning otherwise u can eat **** or get catapulted...

I normally jump in lines now, unless its a big wave, staying in lines means u stay sheeted it... which can cause u to land nose first, probably isnt good while u are learning

Just sheet in real hard, let your weight go forward, pull your legs up and you will be jumping like a trooper in no time

Good on you Katy. I was going to give all this a go over the weekend, as I have been working for the past two weeks. We have had great afternoon sea breezes here in Perth during that time. Of course this weekend is forcast to be less than ordinary, so I will probably have to practice mowing the lawn and washing the car instead

Thanks NotWal

As promised, the wind this weekend has been rubbish, so no chance to do anything imaginative. I will be holding my breath for next weekend.

Hahahaa Jezza that is a secret code name, I dont' think even a parachute will help me jump in the pants no wind though such a sneaky seabreeze today do'h not got kit and at beach darn it there came seabreeze and there came the lucky people with cars to carry kit AAAAAAARRRGGHHHH my sail will shrivel up

learning to jump hooked in only hurts a few times but u learn to jump better i rekon.
plus it sets you up for doing 1 handed jumps, rail grabs and even puts u towards doing 1 handed fronts etc!

i nearly always jump hooked in unless:
* the wave is over 1/2 mast
* wave is fully vert
* i'm tweakin a jump

each to their own with regards to jumping styles. it wont take long until you work out your own style and what u feel most comfortable doing. the best thing is to watch what some good sailors are doing snd try to imitate.
B