i think those that tell u to simply
jump and sheet in are deliberately trying to scare people away from learning them
as doing that does hurt
- practice jumping UNHOOKED with front hand next to front harness line, and back hand 70 - 90 cm further back down the boom. Use this hand position for looping and initiate the jump with the hands already in this position, even when u go to do the loop. Generally the bigger the sail, the further back the back hand will need to be. For me with a 5.5m sail, about 70 cm or so does the trick
- lets say we are going to loop with our left arm/foot forward - jump with the intention of rotating the nose of the board down wind slightly and pointing towards the water once airbourne. You do this by pulling towards your right shoulder with the back hand, and forward+away from your body slightly with the front hand
- at the same time turn your back/shoulders towards the direction you were heading, and tilt your head down and slightly to the tail of the board. If you're like me, u either end up looking through the gap between the bottom of the sail and the board, or straight through the sail as you start to spin. As u have probably realised by now, u rotate so fast, most of it is a blur
- at the same time, lift both your feet up towards your bum, and keep pulling up further and further right throughout the spin till the board hits the water. Should your back hit the water first, don't stop pulling your feet up and don't stop sheeting in - by still pulling everthing in towards your body you can complete a full rotation and end up waterstarting away with feet in straps, even if u are at a really low altitude and your back touches the water first. This is something that I realised after about 4 sessions of constant practice.
hot tips!
1. make sure your feet are well in the straps, not just your toes! - i wear booties so my feet virtually get stuck in there and rarely come out. The faster u spin, the more likely the board will come off your feet
2. the further back you put your back hand, the more horizontal u will spin, so u need to do this for really low flat water loops
3. If u jump higher, the hands don't need to be so far apart, but u still got to sheet in just the same, and pull the feet up just the same, and you therefore spin more vertically. If u jump really high, u can ease off on the sheeting in a little and slow the spin down
4. there is no need to close your eyes
5. while learning them u don't want too much speed, just enough to stand upright over the centre of the board while u jump. Later u realise speed is your friend. My best ones are when i'm slightly overpowered and going full stick. The scaryness wears off quickly and u start trying them at higher and higher speeds. If it helps, just remember that most of the guys that do them on flattish water are virtually going as fast as your average slalom speed freak, and still doing a loop! Speed sailing doesn't seem so cool when you look at it that way hey
6.a. u don't need big waves (but any wave coming straight on at u definately helps! ie side shore type waves) 20-30 cm chop is enough!
6.b. while learning, don't point any higher than a reach. Find a wave slightly down wind if possible
(they don't exist here on goldcoast). The further upwind you point, the more you need to point the board downwind once you r airborne bofore spinning, and u will probably rotate more virtically, resulting in a high altitude catapult
7. DON"T LET GO under any circumstance! If u hang on even if you think everything has turned to sh!t and the board has come off your feet, you will still land under the sail and won't damage anything. If you find the boom gets ripped out of your hands, chances are you will land well away from your gear.
8. from what i've worked out, sheeting the arms/sail before or at the same time as pulling feet up is the key to flattish water loops. The other way around and you tend to lose altitude before u start to rotate. The higher u jump or bigger the wave, the less important the order is
I really think that once u have got the hang of them, u can do them on any board - slalom or otherwise. I am doing them on a 237cm x 62cm 97 litre board with a 30cm freeride fin, and i weigh about 70kg, usually 65kg. The biggest sail ive used while doing them is 5.8m, but i usually use a 5.6. U definately
don't need a wave board or a wave fin!
they really are a piece of piss to do once you get past the initial scare. After a while you don't even have to think, and u end up want to them as often as u can. Can u gybe? If u can, loops are technically heaps easier
cheers
just let me say bye bye to Tom Cruise, John Travolta, R Kelly, cammed sails and GPS'es
