Answering these questions is always hard, don't want to insult someone. What size jumps are we talking about here?

I am no authority on jumps, having only been jumping for a little while, but some of these problems sound quite familiar.

It sounds as if you just aren't getting enough mast foot pressure going through the rough stuff and so you are bouncing around all over the place.

If we are talking about little chop hops where you are wanting to keep sailing fast after landing then you want the board to be pointing more downwind on the landing, not upwind so that the fin does not spin out when you land.

Going over forwards in the jumps sounds like you have just got the timing a bit wrong but on the plus side you are closer to a forward loop than me

What sort of angle to the wind are you going at when you are hitting the jumps? I seem to have real difficulties if I'm pointing upwind too much.

Are you lifting up and bending your legs in the air? I think that for starters that is more important than trying to do a mighty pull on the sail, which is always going to upset your balance quite a lot.

You really need to pull the tail under you by pulling the rear leg up and towards your body a little, also as the others have said you want the board to be pointing slightly downwind to the direction you are travelling when landing so it doesn't spin out when landing.

The other key thing to mention is that sheeting in the sail when in the air will point the nose down, sheeting out the opposite. It sounds like you are staying sheeted in to hard, sending the nose down. It's the sort of thing that comes with practice, knowing how to adjust the boards attitude in the air by sheeting in/out etc.

Of course if you find yourself in the situation of heading nose into the water, just sheet in harder and get your forward loop on

Sheet out on landing, yes.

But in the air you want to be powered up so that the sail sort of floats you along and stops you dropping like a stone... It's really hard to describe! You only need to sheet out just as you're about to land, as it drops the tail pretty quickly.

There are other things to do as well, like drop your bum, get the sail horizontal, angle the board so that the wind gets under it to give you more lift, that sort of thing.

Really it's all about practice, there's no substitute!

barn said...

"I am hammering along and all the sudden I feel that I have lost all traction with the water. "

That's you problem, trying to learn at full speed..

You can practice doing small hops at medium speed, like an olly on a skateboard... Unhook, and try jumping of any piece of chop.. using all methods mentioned above for the landing..

Ah! light bulb moment.. So fast but not over the top fast..

It such powered up conditions might be worth investing in a smaller fin/smaller board that will give you less lift.

Also with jumping and landing - you need to go out and consciously try to jump when the conditions are a bit less gnarly so you get used to the feeling of being in the air.

When in the air tuck you back leg up, try and point the nose of the board a bit down wind and lift the windward rail (point your toes). And do as bender says on landing.

FilthyAmatuer said...

It such powered up conditions might be worth investing in a smaller fin/smaller board that will give you less lift.

Also with jumping and landing - you need to go out and consciously try to jump when the conditions are a bit less gnarly so you get used to the feeling of being in the air.

When in the air tuck you back leg up, try and point the nose of the board a bit down wind and lift the windward rail (point your toes). And do as bender says on landing.

Point my toes when in the air? This may be a stupid question but wouldn't that mean that the board would slip off? I must be missing something.

Hit the ramp, pull the back foot up and drop my bum and point the toes, as well as pointing the board a little downwind whilst sheeting out on landing but keeping powered up whilst in the air with the sail horizontal.....

How am i doing so far?

I does sound like a lot to do consciously and I am sure that this is all second nature to you all.

I will try some small double bounce ollies this weekend and see how I go.

The little double bouncers should be good to help with getting the timing right for chop hop. For me it's more of a getting the timing right for the weight transition that makes for a good or bad jump.

You want to have the board weighted as you are going up the ramp, and as you are hitting the top, you want to be trying shift your weight off of the board and under the sail all in one smooth movement. if you get this right then you can tuck the back leg up. Like nebbs says, it's hard to explain but the best I can think of is like pushing the board out forwards from under you so that your weight is now on your arms.

As barn and filthy have mentioned, being too overpowered is not the best time to learn, and for me is when I have the most "going over the handlebars" jumps coz I can't control the sail more than the deathgrip i already have on it.

The pointing the toes bit is to get the windward side of the board higher, so that the wind can get under the board like a wing which gives lift and steers you downwind. To be honest, this just happens unconsciously for me when I concentrate on bringing up my back leg, so I can't tell you what I'm doing with my toes to do it.

You will certainly feel the difference if you do it right.

Meant to ask before, are you hooked in for these jumps?

For the more advanced jumpers here. Do you stand up marginally to weight the back of the board as you approach the jump, or is this a bad habit that I should iron out now?

someone once described it to me as drawing a square with your back foot...

bottom of the square is driving sideways (downwind) and down a tiny bit.

then go up

then pull tail (upwind) and up a tiny bit under your bottom

then lower the back foot

you do need your footstraps set wide so that your feet are properly in and you're attached to the board and lifting it with your leg muscles, rather than set small so that you're lifting it with your feet and shin muscles

]barn said...

Looks like one of my jump attempts.... really!!! Down to the landing!!!