Jumping Tips

A smaller board is disproportionately easier to manage in the air, but harder to sail and get speed up. Try on a big board then one day swap to a smaller and it all suddenly becomes sooooo much easier.

But - my top top would be unhook and then when in the air pull your back leg up to your arse and scissor forward with your front leg to head down wind.

The natural reaction is the opposite, pushing out with your back leg to point the nose up wind. This causes you to land on your back, luffed into wind.

For sure you will catapult a few times and the crashes are way bigger than the comparatively soft landing on your back (from which you are usually in the right position to water start away from), but in the end you will work just how far down wind you can point before crashing.

Just before landing you can straighten the back leg again to softly land tail first (but if you are only a couple of foot high don't worry about this too much for the first few times the scissoring down-wind in the air is more important - and also do the opposite sometimes to land nose first)

After a while stay hooked in and grab the tail of the board with your back hand. Then you know you have the 'pull back leg up' technique sorted.

Also - for your first attempts - wear a helmet, sail with somebody else and keep hold of the boom at all costs or you will headbutt the mast at some speed.

I say that catapulting is better then back slapping in the jump. It hurts alot more, breaks more gear but is closer to the right technique.

Also - trying jumping over the back of the waves on the way in - small white water first though. It probably forces you into a better technique than jumping on the way out - but it is harder and shallower and when you crash you then get pummelled by the white water.

Just to add to Carantoc's good advice - you will need to keep your arms bent and get the the sail in the right angle to get best results. Just as you 'launch', rake the sail in (a bit at first) and try to 'float' it keeping the mast close to horizontal and perpendicular to the wind with the nose of the board pointing up & also downwind. The launch is important, as is stance but once in the air, it's all about the sail.

As a 'chop-hopper' myself, it's a great feeling to nail the launch, gain good height & maintain body position, then float back down onto the water (downwind a bit) and exit planing.

Next time I'm up at SWR and you are out sailing, I'll try to take a video of you. My new camera has 35x zoom so if you are even a km away a good close up shot can be taken.

I can't give any advice on jumping as my jumps are crap. Only that tail first landings are more easily controlled and try to avoid flat landings.

Use that often at the beach?



Some good advice above
Phil, try and watch some video's too, the ones posted here from time to time from the 80's and 90's are good as they show a lot of flatwater mucking around sailing as opposed to all big wave stuff.

Like Rigmarole, or some of RIP (the Robby Naish vid). Some of that old school stuff was the best for basic moves, they just don't cover it now

Any sequence with a fast sailing chophop esp if shot from upwind and behind, will make the leg tuck and point downwind look more obvious. All the sail stuff is a bit less important IMHO (but still needed later).

EDIT found some

Rigmarole:
1:44
2:50-52 shows the front leg extension to push the board downwind.
More at the end but a bit far away




Or RIP:
Lots of deliberate pointing into the wind - you don't want to do that.
But look at 0:26 - 0:28 where the low fast chophop is very obviously steered downwind by putting foot up under the bum and extending front leg.

pretty sure thers a good segment in here on jumps,

kat.ph/beginner-to-winner-dvdrip-xvid-windsurfing-for-beginners-t483123.html

great tutorial,

That last clip of Robbie is sweet- and yep that is the dream! Friggen flying Definitly shows the rear foot tucked away and slightly steering downwind. That was sick to watch! Now saved if Favourites.

Cheers

Really good video, I have learnt a bit from watching it, but the guys hosting it are a bit on the lame side, though very good at what they do (sailing)