Just out of curiosity, when you chop hop completely out of the water, do you gain speed or lose it?
It has to be individual dependant... If you are, say, Elmo, it usually ends with RAPID deceleration
IMHO any brief speed gain is washed off (parden the pun) once you land as usually your board will sink a bit and put out a large spray meaning you have diplaced loads of water.
lose speed. you get speed by exploiting the lift generated by the fin. if the fin ain't in the water you have no lift.
) a feeling of great euphoria as you leave the water with a rapid acceleration in speed, promptly followed by a severe bout of depression as you re- enter the water, usually at a none preferred angle, like face plant, back plant and you surface to see your boards nose has disliked the huge de-acceleration (as it came into abrupt contact with parts of you or your rig) as much ones self impact with it water or rig, in a blink of an eye durring which your speed has all washed orff
Once you get in the air there is no lateral thrust from the fin slicing through the water courtesy of the force of the wind in the sail which is effectively what is powering you along in the first place. Ergo ( I got that word from the Matrix) it would stand to reason that there will be a decelleration once airborne as you are then prone to actually changing trajectory courtesy of no lateral force against the fin or board for that matter.
Actually, I have no idea what I am talking about and I've used too many big words. My brain hurts
imo you all ways lose speed while in the air, you just have to sail along side some one to see this..
I look forward to an informed reply ...... in the meantime I reckon that it would be similar to downhill skiing, as soon as you leave the surface your forward speed reduces. As sik em suggested the same is likely to be true for windsurfing. No fin in water and you start to be blown down wind and drag is all you expereince (rather than the forward force of the action of the sail and fin. )
normally you would lose speed because you are using the board to gain a lot of aerodynamic lift. This creates a lot of drag in the direction of travel and slows you down quick, as you gain height. Not only that but you are converting your forward momentum into potential energy as we fight gravity.
But... if you get a good gust, and a good shape ramp, and you bear off as soon as you launch, and level the board before you slow down too much, you can accellerate in the air. The rig does all the vertical lifting. It works- but you end up downind. I remember getting "teleported" like this- I literally gained 3 board lengths in a couple of seconds. I estimate my speed increased by about 5 knots. Watch the landing though
Ok i reckon you loose speed.Because when you do a chop hop you turn close to the wind and sheet in hard to get maximum lift off.Then when your at the apex of the hop you start to bear off.For a clean landing..
So all your forward speed/energy is directed into the wind and towards the sky,slowing you down , then away from the wind and back to earth.
Like throwing a frisbee into the wind and it comes back to you...At the apex it stops and returns to the point of the throw.
You lose speed for sure.
All the MTB/BMX guys try to minimise any loss of contact with the ground when racing. getting air is fun, but slower.
