OK I'm officially soft.
I'd watched the looping DVD, done some practice spins on the beach, put on my float coat (for extra padding), psyched myself up, and hit the water.
The first wave wasn't quite sharp enough, but the second one was perfect. I bore away, hands back down the boom, hit the ramp, sheeted in, and...
0.1 seconds later, some primitive part of my brain said "Don't be such a f***n idiot, let go!"
And I didn't get round. Same next time.
Anyone got any tips on how to disable the self-preservation part of your brain?
or, just realise that you are soft, learn to live with it, embrace it even.
Know that people will always kick sand in your face, that old ladies will push in line in front of you and little girls will tease you. Know that you can never again call yourself a real man.
or, get in the straps, sheet in and go for it...do it for yourself, do it for all men, so we can once again hold our heads proud.
Aren't you meant to look backwards once you launch? Probably focus on the sailing away afterwards component of the trick too - take your mind off the fact that you're throwing yourself through the air upside down!
Another trick I've heard is to put your harness lines way back, and go into the loop hooked in.. that way you don't have the choice of letting go, so your brain cancels that out as an option.
Anyway.. what's the worst that can happen.. you'll get wet! So what.. Convince yourself that nothing bad can happen and you'll be fine.
Forwards are the safest sort of loop - you get flung away from your gear if you get it wrong.
I can't do them either, but the fact that you have the balls to try puts you ahead of most guys!
nebs - it's the gps, take it off 
or come and suckle my gold nipples for some wonderwoman power milk
Jump, close your eyes, look back, pull in hard and DONT LET GO!. If your feet come out the straps keep holding onto the boom, you should land in a waterstart position
i suckled the nipples and all i got are some man boobs and a bit of extra hair man!
i reckon just do it nebs.
think to yourself. i'm sailing every day, i feel good, and my back leg is the way forward. 
if that doesn't work,
say out loud,
if gestalt can try, i can try!
p.s. hope your havin fun!
I reckon looking back at the clue is the biggest help, also helps with rotation. There is something difficult about looking at the water approaching you at a rapid rate, thinking you're going to face plant it :P Also imo never bail from a loop, do it or don't and never let go of the boom, otherwise it's a one way ticket to the windsurfing shop to replace gear and/or the ER.
there is a good section on the end of "seven sons of freestyle" movie, it shows you on flat water, how to build up to it without getting nailed.
Harty must have released his learn to loop dvd by now.
However Nebs, you will never loop until you are ready to die. Just say to yourself "I'm tired of this sucky life. I am an unworthy waste of resources. Breathing is tedious and girls don't like me." That should do it.
Just tell people you can do em. That way you'll still have friends, get the girls, be able to push in front of old ladies. That's what I do and everybody thinks I am hardcore.
Nebs, I'm not there yet either, but I think I am one step closer than you. I too have done heaps of forwards on the beach and even better, in ankle deep water. But even closer to the real thing, I've done some forwards out of the straps, so the board does't rotate, just me and the sail. I'm a little happier now that I know what the rotation feels like on the water- it's actually quite a hoot because you end up with a huge painless splash.
So doing this is closer to pulling the trigger- just shooting blanks. But it still ain't close enough.
I've done a full forward underwater, does that count??
came off a steep lip, nosedived, just kept rotating, came to surface in waterstart position, wonder if it's possible to sail away, anybody done it????
I got these Great flu tablets.
Codrel.
I took them when I was snowboarding last year in NZ cos I was full of a flu and didnt want to miss a day. They are fab and trippy.
I am going to try these and then loop.
dunno about looking back at the clew, but looking down at your mastbase and lifting your feet up to your arse makes you spin providing you have beared away heaps as you leave the wave, like going into a gybe.
also having an anger helps remove the fear in brain cortex..............so(it's for your own good nebs )
YOU'LL NEVER DO THEM, YOU'RE TOO SOFT SPONGEBOB SQUARENEBS! HAHAHAHA
I did them on flat water first. That way you learn how to do a forward without being 10 feet in the air.Even if u don't land when practising flat water loops, you'll get used to rotating. My first few attempts were 180 rotations and once you start doing that its a piece of piss. You can do em on flat water, just bear off slightly as if u were going in for a gybe, hand far back on boom, pop the board/chop hop it and go for it. Even if you only sheet in a little and don't really commit you will still sort of rotate and get over your initial fear. BTW DO NOT do that off a wave! If you don't fully commit doing a forward or you bail from a forward off a decent ramp you'll either break yourself or your gear!
Set aside $1000 in a special bank account. Promise yourself that the minute you've either looped or smashed your gear while trying to loop, you get to spend that thousand bucks on shiny new toys.
Dont think about it...
its all psycological..
I remember psycing myself up for a big drop or something riding DH. just do it.. dont think..
You will be thinking about it.. then the second it leaves your mind go for it
And again.. water is soft
Did you know that actuarial data says men die at more than twice the rate of women.....
Just a thought.
NotWal said-
QLD
Australia
842 Posts Posted - 51 minutes ago
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Did you know that actuarial data says men die at more than twice the rate of women.....
Thats because there so sick of their women pestering them about going windsurfing that they eat too much, drink too much, stress too much about not having the latest whizbang sailing gear and dropdead
Nope, its testosterone, the wonder hormone. It makes women attractive, so you commit to those suicidal relationships called m*****ge. Then you dont get to exercise or exhorcise the urges that the wonder hormone provokes, so you have all this unresolved aggression to deal with. You get drunk, you drive fast, you loop your sailboard etc....
Yep 90% of male deaths are due to insufficient fks. Its a womans world.
nebbian I'm going out for a sail in an hour or so. I am going to attempt my first ever forward loop. If I don't post back here within a day with some degree of success I want everyone to call me a blouse wearing poodle walker
Good onya Bails.
Boards magazine has a thread titled "Loop club", in which all the loopy wannabes post how soft they are, and how they're attempting to harden the fk up. Hopefully this thread turns into something along those lines...
Best of luck, I have no advice to offer as I am soft mc softery and no girl wants me. I am a waste of oxygen. There is no use me continuing on this earth. And most of all the nose of my brand new board needs a big fat crunch because it's looking too pristine at the moment.
Do you want to pass away in your sleep in some nursing home, or die with your footstraps on, like a real man?
What was that line from Gladiator? "What we do in life, echoes in eternity!"
Heh heh...speaking of which, I saw some wipeouts yesterday which will DEFINITELY echo in eternity - OUCH!!!
