forwards4cowards

Leaden Skies and South Easterlies

2011-11-12T13:02:00.001Z

Back to Kimmeridge again, this time for some South Easterly action. A South East wind is sideshore on the ledges and with a bit of groundswell can create some perfect wave riding conditions.

I’ve been here two days in the last 10 and the conditions have been small but fun. Yesterday the waves were smaller but the leaden skies broke for an hour for some misty, dreamy sunshine. It’s always great to be on the water at Kimmeridge – feels like home.

It’s dark by 4.30pm now and although still mild Winter really feels as if it has arrived. To compensate for this the forecast is looking good for more sailing in the next 7 days.

Kimmeridge Ledges, Timo Aerials

Ledges again

The Mexican Guillotine and Cornish Pasties

2011-11-01T13:41:00.000Z

The Mexican Guillotine, otherwise known as the low tide top to bottom close out at Mexico’s (just upwind of Gwithian beach) was my destination this weekend.

Staying clear of the BWA competition at Gwithian a few of us headed for Mexico’s for some uncrowded 19s 3m swell. To begin with the wave was as described, but as the tide pushed back in the wave started to peel, leaving open walls in the cross off 4.7m wind. The waves weren’t too big – shoulder to head high on the sets, but were moving faster than I have ever experienced before here and with so much space between them and mirror smooth. A lot of fun!

BWA comp at Gwithian

Hopeful of more wind the next day Harry, Bill and I met up at Gwithian on Sunday morning to the ever building swell and thunderous sets but hardly a breath of wind.

Sadly as the day wore on it was clear that the forecasted wind wasn’t going to arrive.

Congratulations to Bill for coming 2^nd in the masters!

Mammoth swell on Sunday morning

The sailors wait in dreamy light

Gwithian ambience

Gwithian ambience - the weather closes in

Pics

The weather closes in at the Bluff.

Kimmeridge Heroes

2011-09-14T20:00:00.018+01:00

(and Heroines)

Autumn has come quickly, there is a nip in the air and at Kimmeridge many of the trees already look stripped of leaves (though this maybe more a function of the relentless wind rather than the seasons changing).

Tuesday 13 September was a little bit special in that lots of windsurfers from (or connected to) the boards forum made the trek to deepest Dorset, from as far as Camber, Maidstone, Guilford and probably further. All lured by the promise of force 6 plus wind combined with a pumping 2.4m 12 second period swell.

The waves arrived the night before, especially to punish me - I squeezed in a late sail until my rig-parted company with my beloved custom board a long way out in the bay. I was in the process of getting a good pasting by a set of waves after having dropped the landing on a rather too end-over-end forward loop.

Luckily a passing sailor spotted my board and grabbed it, holding station until I reached him. Swimming with a detached rig and board is hard work and getting out under the cliffs at Kimmeridge at high tide wasn’t much fun either, with wave after wave throwing me up onto a bank of festering, stinking seaweed at the base of the cliff, but it was nothing compared to what some unfortunate sailors would experience the next day… and twenty four hours later after watching a few other people land on the rock ledges (below) at high tide I was thankful for the smelling festering seaweed, which saved my equipment from being completely destroyed.

Kimmeridge ledges

Back to Tuesday; It was a mixed day with the usual wintery Kimmeridge style apocalyptic squalls and wind drops, but in the end we all scored some up to logo high waves on the ledges on 5m (or smaller) sails. Pretty good in the September sunshine.

Andy Chandler (yellow sail) heads out

Andy Again

Half a dozen people stayed out on the ledges until after 7pm and with the wind dropping found it too hard to get back round to the slipway, so with no alternative tried to land on the ledges at high tide. This isn't a problem at low or mid tide, but at high tide the shorebreak crunches onto tightly packed fridge sized boulders that seem to have been carefully placed there to destroy windsurfing equipment, life and limb.

The shorebreak is relatively small, but the boulders that will get you...

Most escaped unscathed – but not all…

Landing at Kimmeridge ledges at high tide....

This left Andy Chandler and Russ and one other sailor out on the water, underpowered but absolutely ripping in the half mast (and now nearly sideshore) conditions. Jason and I watched as Andy landed a perfect back loop of a solid half mast wave, whilst Russ raced down the wave putting in some stylish and turns and an absolutely spectacular top turn into the breaking lip. Breathtaking.

All capped by this sunset over one of the most beautiful windsurf locations in the UK….

Kimmeridge sunset

Epilogue:
More! It looks like it’s going to happen all over again this weekend…

Summer Waves

2011-08-18T18:03:00.000+01:00

The South Coast of England has had some fantastic windsurfing conditions this summer, if you knew where to be to catch the wind and windswell.

I spotted that a small 9 second swell pulse would be racing up the channel for Monday August 8^th. A rare event for Summer. Combined with a WNW wind that could only mean one thing... Kimmeridge might work.

Dawn broke with calm seas and light wind, so after a leisurely breakfast looking over the bay with Jason and a few others we patiently waited.

Best place in the world to have breakfast - what a view

But would the sunshine and flat sea, bring any wave sailing conditions...? Or will the Moo stay dry...

And by 1pm both the wind and swell had arrived, so a beautiful afternoon of Summer wavesailing ensued. Even Timo Mullen (usually an eagle eye for any predicted swell and wind had got it wrong) – he appeared after we had been on the water for over 2.5hrs riding and jumping wave after wave.

Timo jumps, blog author turns

Blog author loop - Plenty of wind for some fun forward loops - this was a pretty clean landing

Timo backloop - I have a nice view from the wave I'm on

Wave after wave.... all afternoon

This was a rare summer treat, but the real story has been the endless fun wave sailing at Hove in Brighton.

Unlike Kimmeridge the backdrop at Hove (in Brighton) is a port and power station. The industrial scenery is atmospheric and makes a great sailing backdrop but more significantly the combination of the port and power station generate what has to be some of the best Summer wavesailing in the South of England.

Power stations

The harbour arm from Shoreham port protects the bay from some cross chop in the prevailing WSW wind and the hot water outflow from the power station has created a spit of shallow water protruding about 200m or more off the beach; this creates a regular windswell wave break, practically every time the wind reaches 20 knots (which has been often this summer).The cross onshore conditions are fun rather than challenging but great for perfecting loops and frontside wave riding.

Looking west toward the harbour arm

Windswell start to break off the pipes (poles) in the distance

July sky

The conditions here seem very special for this stretch of coast. Only 20 minutes west Worthing will be flat whilst head high waves roll into Hove breaking on the spit and sandbars 200m off the beach. I’ve sailed here some twenty times since May and it is never flat. May the windy summer continue!

4.7m sails rolled up after another great session

Another day 4.7 again...

Hove Sessions

2011-05-29T23:24:00.003+01:00

Two solid days of wind at Hove in Brighton (28 and 29 May), under unusual grey skies turned into an impromptu looping session with friends Harry, Andy and Jason...

So to bring this blog back on topic is a bit of forward loop technique critique:

First up is a technically perfect stalled forward by Jason - he's being doing these for about 12 years so he should be good at them, at least that is what I console myself with...

The pictures don't do this justice; the rotation was late and whipped him round perfectly.

Next below is Harry. He did some perfect rotations on Saturday, I can't remember if this was one of them. As always this move looks better in a succession of images, rather than a couple of pictures. Watching him my observation was, that like me, he needs to speed up his rotation quite a bit (even though we are both landing plenty).

This is one of Harry's friends below (sorry don't know your name) who was also having a good crack at forwards. On this picture below you can see the classic beginners problem of his body blocking the rotation by not flowing forward, and he is not looking back. It's the physical equivalent of his brain saying 'you must be joking'... Read a bit more about the psychological mountain that beginner loopers need to overcome here: Lizards vs Civilisation

However he's taken off down wind and is sheeting in, even though his body is blocking the rotation (look back further round behind you, push the rig forward much more and keep the nose up) Also he's committed and is not going to hurt himself so the loop will be his soon...

Now Andy below - he is going to hate this picture as he is brilliant at forwards and was banging out back loops today with consistent landings. What to say apart from great to be sailing with you - we'll get better pictures next time.

And a few more of Jason, single images from different rotations, high and very clean given the small onshore conditions.

Now onto the images that Harry snapped of me (below):

At low altitude I'm quite pleased with these I really seem to getting the rotation reasonably fast and quite sideways (single images from different rotations):

The problem is when I get a bigger ramp and go much higher, my stall is ok but then I just don't tuck up into the rotation and don't sheet in; resulting in a death pole vault, which I sometimes land, but it's pretty ugly.

On the next two images you can see the rotation being initiated slower and less aggressively as I get higher. They are both different loops and the last one really resulted in a horrible end over end mess.

I know I need to sheet in much harder, much more aggressively, but somehow something happens up there that prevents me... Darn, any tips gratefully received.

Finally here is Basher from the boards forum doing one of his 'not' jumps. Nice.

Shoreham Nuke

2011-05-26T20:03:00.002+01:00

Winter feels like a long time ago now, with endless sunshine and a lot of wind in the last month. Today I headed to Brighton to catch some of the famous sea breeze, that batters the town in the summer months - yes it's all true, it gets so windy here.

Today with a 22knot forecast the gusts must have been nearly double that. I battened down the hatches on my 4m and trusty Evo do battle with the overgrown chop of Shoreham beach. Lots of jumping fun ensued.

On the way I stopped off at Hove (which is where I probably should have sailed) to see Nik Baker and his brother Ant tearing the place apart.

Below Pushloop sequence and then lovely clean back loop by Nik - click to enlarge.

Back loop below

And on to Shoreham where a cluster of sailors did battle with the sideshore tidal rip and the chop (that wasn't too bad today), in between it was possible to spot some waves.

Blog author back loop below (crashed landing)

Stock air

I was joined my friend Bill: here he is boosting some air on the inside on his Witchcraft

But then he lost his board to the rip - here he is below swimming, while I boost a jump past him, sorry couldn't resist!

And another below, Going up....

Still going up...

Bill again below - rider and board are reunited after a bracing swim...

Suzy turns (she was boosting big jumps too, but evaded the lens)

Meanwhile somewhere out the back it has all got a bit much for Bill... (below)

And no blog post would complete without a portrait of the beautiful and intrepid photographer, thankyou B!

Gwithian Evening

2011-05-09T16:28:00.000+01:00

Bill and I made the long trip to Gwithian, St Ives for yesterday (8th May).

By midday the wind was increasing and increasing, Gwithian looked more like Tarifa than Cornwall, flat choppy with a gusty 30-35knots of wind.

Then as the sun sunk lower in the afternoon small waves started to appear, by this time I was on my 4m sail and Moo custom - the board was a bit big for that much wind, but as the wind dropped toward evening I was glad to have the extra volume.

Although the swell didn't make it into Gwithian until very late, both Bill and I scored some easy, mellow wave riding in the evening.

Here are a few (phone) snaps as I packed up:

The swell arrives late in the evening

Godrevy breaks

Below, Looking down on the rigging area. Sailing at Gwithian involves scrabbling up and down the cliff with equipment - Somehow a fittingly hardcore prelude to the windsurfing that usually follows here.

Looking down onto the rigging area - sailing at Gwithian involves scrambling up and down the cliff in the foreground of the picture

Timo and another sailor riding down to Godrevy as the tide pushes in

Shooting Gallery

2011-04-29T18:07:00.002+01:00

Another day, another point break... Well not quite: As has been the pattern for the last week the wind is a flukey F4. And the flyweight Fuerteventura wave sailors are having a ball at Bristol's / Shooting Gallery in the shadow of two enormous wind turbines. But this is about as close as I got to the water.

My last day here on the North Shore so it looks like I'll have to wait to sail this break until another trip.

Flag Beach Mellow 5.8

2011-04-22T15:05:00.002+01:00

Pictures from flag beach on Thursday 21 April, with mellow waves and 5.8m wind.

When Palm Trees Lie

2011-04-22T13:56:00.000+01:00

Here in semi becalmed Fuerteventura the Palm trees wave wildly at the slightest breeze tricking the unsuspecting and wind starved windsurfer in racing to the beach to expect 4.7m wind only to find a force 3.

Yesterday was a good example of this; nearly horizontal palm trees resulted in marginal 5.8m wind. Photos in the post above. Tomorrow promises proper strong wind... So will there be any palms trees left? Or will they all blow down? Tune in to find out.

La Caleta pictures

2011-04-19T18:50:00.002+01:00

A few pictures from La Caleta yesterday. Hopefully they give a feel for the break and general sailing area.
It's an easy place to sail, but hard place to sail well. Setting up for the wave takes lots of upwind slogging off the plane and then being able to spot and catch a wave that will wall nicely.

La Caleta fires

2011-04-19T18:21:00.003+01:00

World class conditions at La Caleta point break (North Shore Fuerteventura) yesterday. Four metre peaks were being groomed by a side offshore SW wind in blazing sunshine.

The last two days here in Fuerteventura have been a steep learning curve: with light winds and big waves, up to logo high plus both days has made for a very different sailing experience to the UK, or even Morocco where I often go at this time of year. The wind is also from the left, not the usual direction for me, but I'm getting used to the evil tack. Even quite enjoying it.

On Sunday evening we sailed Punta Blanca, some four kilometres west of La Caleta. It's similar rocky launch but the waves are lot more disorganised. Finding yourself underpowered unable to plane in the current that is sluicing water in every direction, facing a logo high close out set is a whole new learning experience... I made it out the back though and so far nothing broken!

It looks like the wind returns with a new, bigger swell on Thursday. After six hours sailing yesterday no wind today is a relief.

Watch this space for more reports.

Where Boards Go To Die

2011-04-13T00:48:00.001+01:00

Just one jump too many seems result in too many of my boards finding a more permanent home in landfill. Not only do they snap, but you can't even recycle them. Still better the board than my ankles or head.

Long may my Gecko helmet keep my (modest) brain beautiful, and long may neoprene boots keep my feet cut and urchin free.

Now where is my next board...

Mighty Kimmeridge

2011-02-28T15:48:00.004Z

Kimmeridge Bay in Dorset is one of my favourite windsurfing spots in the South of the UK. It has three entirely different types of wave environment to sail in: The Bay (a large horseshoe bay with a gentle wave, The ledges, a much bigger wave with more punch and finally the notorious Bench, a reeling point break upwind of the bay.)

The secret to each of these breaks are the long tapering rock ledges that protrude out into the incoming swell. They sculpt the wave into a predictable shape; A series of peaks with deeper channels on each side.

The wind needs to have plenty of West or even North in it for any of the breaks to work (they face SW).

On Saturday 26^th February that rare combination of a NW wind and solid groundswell marching up the channel combined to make the ledges and Bench probably the best place to windsurf in the country that day.

It wasn’t that easy though; a NW wind is almost always squally and unpredictable. Saturday was no exception and by 2pm the groups of expectant windsurfers were wondering if it was ever going to arrive – gusty or otherwise. Finally fingers of wind spread across the bay and a few of us launched. There was a clean head high wave in the bay but it was unsailable, so gusty that one moment there was enough wind to plane and the next not even 5 knots to waterstart in. I spent about 20 mins swimming and 10 sailing. Kimmeridge is usually tricky but this was ridiculous. After I’d swam back to the slipway (there is no beach at Kimmeridge – it’s a 3m wide slipway or a boulder landing) it was obvious the windline was moving toward the bay. A few people wobbled out and caught a gust, making it round onto the ledges in the cleaner wind. James Cox launched straight onto the ledges and into some beautiful riding on the half mast / logo high sets.

The ledges stir into action

Finally I made it out again but completely overpowered on my 5.4m sail, but the waveriding sooo good – with the wind slightly cross off multiple frontside waverides follow. The sun came out and the wind howled.

Solid size in the sets

On the inside it was still a bit sketchy and necessary to have a board big enough to wobble on. Up on Broad Bench a cluster of sailors were making good use of the perfect barrelling wave. The ledges was a tad messier but still fabulous fun. The air temperature even felt mild for a blast of North wind in February.

Sketchy on the way out, james Cox (Ezzy) and I blob

Below: Hopping over the sets.

Occasionally the wind fills in...

The best sailing backdrop you could wish for

The following day B and I toyed with heading to Newgale where the forecast looked better, but perhaps not so good it would be worth the 4.5hrs of driving. Kimmeridge also looked like it could work again, still with plenty of swell forecast. In the end we stayed, missed the wind, but had a relaxing day anyway. (The wind did come up for 45 minutes and the ledges looked spectacular, but by the time I’d rigged it had dropped.) We watched Gregg SUP the clean backlit waves – and I resolved to get one of these for next winter. Looks like fun!

Day 2 and Gregg drops into some clean waves on the ledges

Grubby (the dog) and B traverse Kimmeridge 'beach'

Mellow sections

The Bench on the far left on the picture

Gregg on another

And another

Drop In! Out there on Yellow ledge on his own

The man and his dog

You can clearly see why Kimmeridge is just so good for SUPs and Windsurfers, predictable sections, with channels either side and a pretty mellow wave.

Backlit peak on the ledges

The Road to La Caleta

2011-02-24T01:25:00.001Z

The UK Autumn was cut short by snow at the end of November. And after a desperate snowbound December I managed to get away for a quiet Non-Christmas on Fuerteventura's North shore.

It was a welcome surprise for the pumping swell (3m @ 15s) and warm sunshine to be accompanied by some S and SW wind.

B and I spent the first few days exploring. Looking for all the spots that I had read about, Majanicho and in particular La Caleta. The swell and light were spectacular, a world away from the greyness we had just escaped.

Looking for La Caleta

Could it be near here?

After a bump and jump session at Flag beach Stephen Gibson and Jim Brooks-Dowsett who both know all the windsurfing nooks and crannies on the island were sure that the legendary point break of La Caleta would work the next day.

Bump and Jump at Flag beach

Flag beach

Meanwhile the swell was building and from our Cotillo apartment we could see all the treacherous reefs just North of Cotillo town, particularly Puertito - that just looked unsailable.

Massive swell at Puertito and the Old Harbour

But where was La Caleta? B and I had spend some of boxing day trekking across the North Shore dirt tracks with half an eye spotting the various breaks and reefs. We found Majanicho, but not La Caleta.

In the event we met Jim Brooks-Dowsett for guidance. And after a few coffees and a whistle stop tour of the Witchcraft boards factory we headed out onto the dirt tracks to meet Stephen Gibson.

Stephen was my official guide that day and spent the afternoon snapping pics. You can follow his Fuerteventura adventures here - http://gibboinfuerte.blogspot.com/ he comes highly recommended as a guide and coach. In fact I'm back out there with him in April! On the PuraVida clinic that Jim is organising http://www.puravidaboardriders.co.uk - there are still a couple of places left if you fancy some of what is about follow...

Back to LaCaleta: The wind was just a breeze but I was desperately hoping it would fill in.

After a forced intermission to change one of Jim's tyres (the track is bumpy!) we arrived. The wind was very light and the wave looked huge with reefs all down the North shore spitting 4m high peaks.

Oops... Jim changes the tyre as I offer encouragement

Below the launch at Caleta. It's a big channel, but you step right off the volcanic rock... There was just about a Force 4 when I launched.

The launch spot at La Caleta, tucked into the deep water channel

Jim explains to B how the point breaks works

A couple of people launched. One made it out and started to catch wave after wave.

After much deliberation, and very slowly I rigged and followed Jim out.

Second thoughts...

Stephen Gibson, Jim Brooks-Dowsett and B

On the way out the channel never closes out, and the wave breaks completely reliably into the deeper water, making it very easy and very safe... So long as you don't make a mistake bottom turning on the way back in.

With the wind cross off the water state between the waves and well out past them was more like a lake. Easy sailing as long as a rogue set breaking wide doesn't catch you out.

Wobbling out half a kilometre to the wave

And slowly creeping upwind

The swell was bigger than it looked from the shore, but with big, big gaps between the sets.

Out on the peak

I played it pretty safe, well out on the shoulder of the wave, but lots of people were making it look like a world cup heat.

On the wave, with the wind whistling up the face and the added acceleration of having several tons of water push you along at 20knots, things were hectic. My 5.4m sail might not have been enough to get me planing on the way out, but on the wave face it felt huge.

Wind building

The following Pictures were all taken by Stephen Gibson

Full Power! Jim Bottom turns

This was the bit I stayed away from...

I take a more modest sized wave

Meanwhile the wind is building slowly and suddenly it seems the whole of the North Shore has arrived. Catching the waves meant slowly working back up wind and then jockeying for position upwind on the swells as they march in. Ensuring that you are never lower on the peak than anyone else. Apart from taking their wave blocking their exit into the channel could have serious consequences here. Often this means a long wait for a wave.

Getting busy out there

And just as big...

Firing!

Eventually I wobble back to the launch. Getting out of the water involves climbing up the rock and pulling your kit behind you. Somehow everything makes it back onto dry land in one piece.

Wobbling back

Nearly there

Meanwhile a kilometre upwind on a much bigger, gnarly peak called 'Acid Drop' Will Ward was doing incredible things... Once again the pictures are by Stephen Gibson

Many thanks to both Jim and Stephen:
Stephen Gibson: http://gibboinfuerte.blogspot.com/
Jim Brooks-Dowsett: http://www.puravidaboardriders.co.uk

Will Ward

Will Ward - more madness...

Winter highlights

2011-02-07T23:01:00.003Z

Windsurfing has been thin on the ground this winter. The warmer SW winds went on strike during December, they’ve now returned and the temperature is at a balmy ten degrees. Warm enough to go out with hood, mitts and boots.

Here are a few pictures from last weekend (5^th and 6^th February) and beyond…

We begin with a beauty of a back loop, captured by a beauty on the beach… She didn’t get the landing – which is a good thing since I crashed as usual. Nice height though. Spot the trifin set up…

Setting up: Speed = height

Take off: Hitting the wave as fast as I can

Upward and into the back loop at the apex of the jump

Hat, Boots, Mitts and 3 fins to keep the board warm

And then some pictures of Kimmeridge in a maelstrom Westerly wind in mid November

Silver Surf

2010-10-24T15:38:00.000+01:00

As autumn progresses and the sun gets lower in the afternoons the surf on West facing beaches becomes increasingly silver in the late afternoon light.

So it was at Kimmeridge yesterday in the sharp light of a West North West air stream. It is almost always sunny when I sail here, because the WNW wind is usually the result of the cold air behind the warm front that has passed by.

Silver Surf on Kimmeridge Ledges

Yesterday was a perfect example – The wind blew hard SW in the night with rain and cloud generating a decent wind swell and then as front passed over the cloud cleared and the wind veered from SW to WNW, giving crosshore conditions in the bay and on the ledges.

Small waves break in the bay - the ledges is usually a good metre or two bigger

Richard zips upwind on the ledges on the flat water back into the bay (thanks for the loan of the sail!)

Clearly a lot of people realised this was going to happen, the car park was packed with people having travelled from London and Wales. Great to see so many new faces.

Wow - busy rigging area

Bigbury Bay - Moo tastic

2010-10-10T22:34:00.003+01:00

With ENE winds forecast and the remains of a big WSW swell I set off for Bigbury Bay in South Devon.

I’ve been here three times and never sailed. It seems as if it is a fickle and unpredictable place, and very hard to score it right. E winds are unpredictable too. But apparently funnel down the river estuary to give strong cross off conditions. We’ll see…

Morning mist, light winds and some small punchy waves

I was greeted by misty, light conditions – with a wind so offshore it was very hard to catch waves. In fact most people weren’t – they were just pottering around in between the sets trying to catch a wave and failing.

Which makes this aerial even more remarkable!

Red sail setting up for the section...

..Smack - and aerial

Drifting in the mist and hazy sunshine waiting for the sets

Then the sun came out as the mist cleared and someone turned on the fans. I was stacked on my 5.4m, even though I was now using the Moo (in tri fin set up).

The fin set up worked well. Though it was a bit hard to tell in the dead flat water and super gusty wind (one minute barely enough to waterstart, the next 30 knots!).

It definitely went up wind very well and seemed to carve well enough feeling loose but not slippery. More tests needed!

Tri Moo...!

14cm fins at the front and a rear 16cm fin - nice, it sailed well.

Sunshine at last

Trying to catch waves was frustrating. The wind was so offshore on the way ‘out’ it was possible to ride the waves the other way for 50ms or so to gain ground upwind. The secret to catching them (as demonstrated by Andy King) seemed to be to stay inside where the waves were more critical and be moving very, very quickly to pick up the wave. Staying on it meant heading hard upwind, at least until it became very critical; so many times I got blown out the back by the updraft on the wave face.

I gave up after 3 hours or so, and as the tide pushed in the wave angle seemed to change a bit – though by now the swell was very small.

Small waves and many sailors

I opted for a vegetarian roast vegetable Panini and an organic coca cola instead. So luckily you get these photos, while I was munching on the sandwich.

Very small waves!

The odd larger set comes through

With the wind almost dead offshore it was hard to bottom turn...

Noticeably Andy King stuck to a freestyle board and playing downwind where it was smaller still but less offshore

Second pic in the backie sequence

Late afternoon - warm, glorious sunshine, organic coca cola... but very very small waves

It was a nice day out, but Bigbury remains as elusive. Perhaps I’ll come back here when we get a Westerly next, instead of going to Kimmeridge.

Finally dying off to a beautiful evening.

Moo Maiden Voyage

2010-10-06T20:30:00.001+01:00

Down the slipway she went, covered with white foamy stuff on her maiden voyage…

…to get to the other side of Kimmeridge Bay without losing any fins in the super low tide. The slipway in question was the notorious launch slipway at Kimmeridge with a gentle swell breaking across it.

Mission accomplished. And along the way thrown round a low power forward, and quick bit of frontside riding , with one hit on a shoulder high wave.

Moo with Broad Bench in the background

It’s all good. The board feels about the plan size of my much loved Evo75, but it pretty much floats me! So bogging around the bay and getting up wind in the marginal Force4-5 was easy. Tacks took a few goes to get the hang of: with the wide point so much further forward the volume in the Moo is very different to the Evo or my old Goya 95. But after a couple of attempts I was getting them every time – and wow is the nose buoyant.

Kimmeridge Moo

The board definitely takes a bit of wind to get it up and running (but not that much – sailing it alongside the 95L Goya). Once up and planing it feels small and very manoeuvrable - the one underpowered frontside wave ride I had felt very smooth and getting back round to hit the breaking section (even with the wind very onshore) was easier and smoother than the Evo.

Another sailor in the wonderful late afternoon light. What a backdrop!

Firing today... the range warden's hut

The best gravestone you could have...

...With this view

Rod's Moo

2010-10-02T18:30:00.003+01:00

My new custom board has arrived, made by Moo Custom - I haven’t sailed it yet but can’t resist putting up these pictures.

It’s been designed as a single fin, that converts to a trailer fin.

The vital stats are:

232cm long

59cm wide with a 37cm tail and the wide point pretty far forward compared to my 2008 Evo. It is quite a bit thicker than the Evo too, especially around the front / wide point, so I am guessing the volume will be around 85/90Litres, which was what I wanted for my 88kg frame. It has a full nose but the tail is still roughly the same dimensions as the Evo (though a bit thicker). I’m hoping this will provide a bit more support in gusty side off conditions (such as Newgale – see the post below) but still give good control when it gets windy.

The deck shape is a flat as Jon could get it with the extra volume, it looks very comfortable.

It is a non (Moo) standard construction, with an extra heavy duty double sandwich and strategic use of carbon, so I am hoping it will survive better than my Quatro, Da Curve and earlier Evo, all of which snapped.

It weighed 7kg at birth (with fins and straps).

Moo rocker - definitely a bit less than the Evo (below)

Evo 75 Rocker

http://www.moocustom.co.uk

Newgale Beach 24th September

2010-09-27T02:15:00.003+01:00

Summer is slowly turning into Autumn and as it does the low pressure systems are, equally slowly, starting to dominate the weather patterns in the UK once again. It’s been a long wait.

My summer sessions have not really been worth blogging about, but on Friday 24^th September I scooted over to West Wales to rendezvous with the swell from Hurricane Igor and a brisk early autumn Northerly wind that promised cross off riding conditions in that part of the world.

B and I met up with Harry, who had already been on the water at Freshwater West Bay. The waves looked solid head high in the sets and the wind was driving sand down the beach.

Freshwater West, with a Northerly wind

Freshwater West, Harry's kit on standby

We then headed North to Newgale beach to meet up with Steve and Lewis. We were greeted by similar conditions and a flurry of rigging was followed by some fun down the line riding on the small but perfectly formed waves.

Newgale beach, Harry heads out with the multicoloured Hot Sails Maui sail

Newgale Beach, Blog author after a nice ride

Newgale on the bigger sets, blog author on the way out

The wave at Newgale was not as heavy as I was expecting and the swell from Igor seemed to have gone elsewhere, nevertheless there was still enough for plenty of fun.

Newgale bottom turn

As the afternoon wore on the waves got smaller and the wind lighter, until finally even floating out through to ride back in stopped being viable. By that time we had had our fill and sunset was the prompt for the drive back.

Lewis aerials

Perfect end to the day...

...with beautiful light

Ringstead Reef

2010-07-17T11:24:00.002+01:00

Yesterday (16 July 2010) Jason and I headed to Ringstead bay, just round the corner from overcombe, the beach faces S and it is usually best in a W wind, so the SSW direction meant it was nearly onshore, which makes jumping hard work.

Nevertheless we were both determined to have another jump off. A few decent loops resulted, but it reminded me of just how frustrating dead onshore conditions can be.

Here is Jason arcing into a blurry back loop.

Ringstead is unusual in that it has a fairly large offshore reef that kick the waves up quickly and with some force. As the tide drops back the waves suck over the reef until finally near low tide the reef dries out. Although there is a small gap in the reef sailing here at dead low tide is not much fun. The waves tend to drop off as the tide gets very low.

Yesterday we arrived at high tide and caught the building waves as the tide dropped.

and another sequence before the sun came out

Overcombe Jump Off

2010-07-15T19:55:00.032+01:00

With a promising forecast that never quite delivered I headed to Overcombe Corner in Weymouth for some mellow looping practice with Gregg, Jason, Seb and James - with the intention of putting John Skye's coaching into action on home waters. The south coast is not Morocco that is for sure, but the just about 5.4m wind and small waves provided a few looping opportunities - here are the results:

There wasn't really enough wind for stalled forwards - but I had to give it a go. Everything seems more or less in place, I just needed some more wind! (click on images to enlarge).

After this loop Gregg tried to feed Grubby and I a month old sausage roll, I'm convinced he was hoping I'd get ill so his loops would look better, anyway I cunningly waited for Grubby to finish his first, to see if it had any effect on him.

Below Dan doing his usual skyrocket forwards

Grubby wonders if there are any more sausage rolls or sandwiches in the car, or in fact anywhere, that he could eat...

James Cox - Back loop

Dan waveride

Unknown sailor - lovely backloop

Gregg, below backloop sequence

Dan stalled forward

James Cox - Below Forward sequence

Moulay Highlights: Vickey and Phil

2010-06-21T09:12:00.007+01:00

And their busman's holiday.

One of the best things about this trip was the company on and off the water. If having John, Nayra, Boujmaa and Fettah spinning and looping past us every few minutes wasn’t enough other inspiration took the form of Vickey and Phil from Cape Verde, who were on a sort of busman’s holiday looking for some jumping in Moulay’s choppy wavelets. If you sail Ponta Preta everyday it’s working, and Ali Baba on a double mast high day coming to Moulay might seem like an odd choice – worse waves, brown water… but then it does have nuking wind and sky high jumps… and it was this they had come for.

Vickey

On day one Vickey (above) stacked on her 3.7m admitted she had never jumped on this tack before. Which was odd because I could have sworn that I had seen her land a great forward loop a few minutes earlier… She confirmed I had, “My first one” she said beaming, “Err how many did you try” I asked? (thinking of the four years, hundreds of attempts and endless frustration documented here, on this blog, that it had taken for me to land just one) “Oh that was my first try, I think I’m going to go for some table top forwards now, do you know how to do those?” Whaaat! My looping autism hasn’t even reached the ‘imagining’ stage of table top forwards, but then I was quickly realising that both Vickey and Phil had long ago dispensed with imagining how to do new manoeuvres – they just got out there and did it. Even on 3.7m sails, even when the wind was at its peak and I, with almost the combined weight of both them, was stacked on my smallest 4m sail.

Below shimmering 40 knots, perfect conditions for learning to table top forward... (click images to enlarge)

Moulay beach at low, low tide on a rare, flat day

A few days later I’m on the same beach (well there is only one beach in Moulay) talking with John (Skye) who is coaching a group of us. The conditions are hard; mast high waves in the sets and the wind is absolutely howling, yet again I’m stacked on my 4m.

I ask John if he is having a good sail – “Yes, but it’s brutal” he admits… “and Vickey keeps taking all the waves”. Sure enough Phil and Vickey are out there revelling in the conditions. John and I watch Vickey set up for turn after turn on huge (to my UK South coast adjusted eyes) snarling sets.

below: Vickey, stealing John's waves.

Later in the session I see Phil bottom turn up into a breaking monster, it projects him up, clean out of the wave and then he descends back down into it… oh no… The wave just swallows him up in three or four metres of exploding froth. For most people (including me) having several tons of water pound you is a daunting experience and yet somehow I just know that under that wave Phil is grinning. Just like both he and Vickey were when they finally got back to shore.

Vickey and Phil on lunchbreak

Vickey sets up another brown Moulay section

Phil, shortly before I accidentally ran him over (that's another story / post)

Moulay Highlights: Fettah Loops

2010-06-20T21:44:00.004+01:00

Somehow images of Fettah sky high eluded the post below, so here he is on another day, flying through a backloop at the main break in Moulay off some choppy small waves:

Fettah Loops at Moulay on Vimeo.

Moulay Highlights: The Morrocan Style

2010-06-20T18:18:00.008+01:00

I’ve been back for ten days or so now so time to post some more pictures and reminisce:

There were so many wonderful things about this trip it is going to take a few posts to work through them all. Perhaps a good place to start is the incredible jump off between John, Boujmaa and Fettah.

The wind was howling – some 35-40knots (I could barely hold on to my 4m sail) and Boujmaa, Fettah and John were all out on the water together, and seemed to be in some kind of manic, mad jump off. Every second I looked there was a board spinning around ten metres in the air, in front of me, upwind, downwind. It reminded me of the airshows my parents used to take to me too when I was a kid.

Below: John Skye push loop sequence

The acrobatics were incredible, push loops, stalled cheese rolls, fast cheese rolls, super stalled and delayed forward loops, back loops and then to cap it Boujmaa launched into an absolutely huge double forward: he went up, and up and up then finally – in a flash completed two rotations on the way down.

It struck me that that the super delayed and very fast rotations are the Morrocan style, with both Fettah (and Soufaine) also jumping like this. Everything is super tweaked and so fast that if you blink you miss the rotation and think they have just done a ‘stock’ jump. With a 40 knot side wind every jump is a soaring ten to fifteen metres, unthinkable on most UK beaches.

It’s incredible to watch, there is no doubt that at jumping the three of them are some of the very best in the world. While I was out holding onto my flogging 4m Phil and Vickey were snapping away with their camera, Enjoy the show:

Below: Boujmaa back loop

Below: Boujmaa stalled forward

Below: Boujmaa crazy pete sequence

Below: John Skye goiter sequence

All pictures by Phil Bennett

Mean Moulay

2010-06-06T01:27:00.008+01:00

A couple of pics of John taking time out from teaching us to demonstrate how you clobber a section properly. he did this sort of thing with aerials and goiters thrown in at other points. Yes the wave is as mean as it looks...

Click to enlarge

Pics by Phil Bennett

Moulay Morning Glory

2010-06-05T20:50:00.021+01:00

And then Moulay Hardcore:

I awoke to a new swell this morning (Sat 5 June). About 2m at 12 seconds, I was first up and third out on the water - the wind was slightly cross off and with a high ish tide it meant light winds in the break but clean waves reeling down the point.

The tides are crucial here - at low tide the reef is exposed and down wind mishaps can be punished by random boulders in the break and the odd urchin (Dan got one at lunchtime) however this morning its perfect. We head out, Nayra hot on my heels. The swell is a reasonable size and each wave yields multiple turns. It's the best waveriding this trip. With waves not too big and mellow enough to make it a lot of fun.

Teacher (Nayra)

Pupil (Rod) - Thankyou Nayra!

Phil - Happy Birthday!

After lunch the tide dropped and turned and the swell and wind increased dramatically. I don't have any photos yet, but the sets were solid mast high at times and I was well powered on my 4m.

Huge walls of water to contend with. With the channel closing out and logo high walls of whitewater to navigate timing in between the sets was crucial to avoid punishment. Mostly that seemed to work, but the odd, solid rinsing ensured that all my orifices feel as if they are stuffed full of sand: This was easily the most brutal conditions I've sailed for a long long time. I was happy just to make it out and ride a few back in.

Phil and Vickey revelled in these conditions. (Happy Birthday Phil!) The wave size is much closer to the kind of sailing they do at home on Cape Verde. Needless to say John and Nayra were ripping too.

Rod Top turn (needs work)

Building swell, This is low tide - it bigger... quite a lot bigger

And then somewhere in the stratosphere Fettah and Boujama were testing new quads...

Moulay... More

2010-06-03T23:09:00.005+01:00

Thursday 3 June, More wind, more jumps, small waves - here's Fettah high over the reef, my body is too weary to write anymore. Tomorrow we are having a jump off here, after being challenged by Nayra yesterday. So watch out for pictures and a report.

Misty Moulay

2010-06-03T00:20:00.013+01:00

We awoke this morning (in Moulay Bouzerktoune) to a dense sea fog rolling into the beach and the sound of 14 second period swell building slowly on the reef. Not huge – only 1.5m, but big enough to be potentially fun, the forecast promised wind but as the day wore on and the fog lifted and then closed back in giving bouts of dreamy, hazy sunshine we thought our luck was out.

Then at about 5pm the wind switched a tad offshore and came up enough for us to be able to pick our way out through the mellow swell. Out in the line up looking up and down the waves as they rolled through the haze it was serene and calm, with Moulay’s normal nuking 35 knots moderated to a gentle Force 4.

Vickey, Phil, John, Nayra, Geoff, Soufaine, Dan and I scored wave after wave as the sun dipped lower and lower. At times the hazy fog would return giving the shore a sort of washed out soft focus and then at other times it would come back into sharp relief.

The conditions were such that it was possible to chat in the line up, and Nayra was giving me tips as we gybed. Thanks, they really helped! Amazing to have such instant feedback.

Dreamy and wonderful and the last we see of light winds until the end of our stay. The Moulay Nuke returns tomorrow.

I take my last wave back to the beach

Sailing pics by Vickey Abbott - Thanks Vickey!

Moulay Evening Session

2010-05-31T19:56:00.010+01:00

Nayra and Vickey score the evening session at Moulay as the tide and wind drop and waves clean up.

Nayra heads out

Nayra bottom turn

Vickey top turn

Back for food

Mint Tea and Cutbacks

2010-05-31T18:08:00.007+01:00

Mellow wind today in Moulay, so we rigged 5.3s and headed out in the slightly onshore messy small waves to practice lightwind down the line. Nayra was great: hand down the boom, No, More!

My sailing will be totally deconstructed by the end of the week.

All polished off by Ahmed’s Mint Tea and coconut cookies while we watch the sun get lower over the break.

Moulay Sessions

2010-05-30T20:03:00.008+01:00

Second session at Moulay - with a dropping wind i rigged a 5.4 - then the wind came back to 4.7 strength, too late to change, but the extra power was good for forwards 3 tried, 2 landed with dry ankles!

hoorah for john skye and his coaching, the increased landings and more powerful rotations are down to his diagnosis.

The waves are still reeling down the reef as I type with about 10 people out - I grabbed these shots a second ago.

Moulay Nuclear

2010-05-30T11:54:00.010+01:00

It’s my 6th day here and I’m sitting in the bouj windsurf adventure beach house watching the wind ramp up yet again over the reef at Moulay Bouzerktoune. It’s a beautiful morning, blue skies and sunny and 25-30 degrees.

A lot of the windsurfers here look pretty broken after a few days of 35 - 40 knot winds. Yesterday the conditions were brutal, messy windswell and a solid force eight or nine, most were on 3.7m sails or smaller. Hard conditions to loop in, but local sailor Soufaine was making stalled cheese rolls look easy.

Though the conditions got the better of him later on and he now has a golf ball sized lump on his cheek from a crashed pushloop.

Other injuries included, a foot full of urchin spines (Harry) and a dislocated shoulder (Youssef).

Phil snaps me launching across the dry reef with a 4m.

Meanwhile I had a go at a few loops, totally overpowered on a 4m. Here is the result of one:

Oops the rotation was a bit faster than I anticipated. Time to let go and avoid snapped board and legs…

Today looks like a bit less wind, perhaps we’ll be more comfortable on 4m. The last few days have been a shock, having not sailed in that amount of wind (or anything even close) since last Autumn.

All pics by Phil Bennett

Moulay Madness

2010-05-28T21:13:00.003+01:00

Another nuking day in Moulay, Morocco today, where 4m sails are just too big in the afternoon.

John Skye and Nayra Alonso are running a clinic, and after only a few days on the water my forwards are already better and others are going for them for the first time. There is more wind to come, all our hands are still in one piece, just about...

All hail Queen Nayra

Fettah Lamara, huge back loop, click to enlarge

It hasn't snapped yet

Morning mellow conditions - only 4.7m

Best Of Three

2010-05-17T17:30:00.003+01:00

A warm, spring like breeze tempted a few people out on the water at Shoreham yesterday (16th May). The conditions were less than spectacular but plenty good enough to start properly getting to grips with spin loops off chop.

So Rob, Bill and I took in turns to film each other’s attempts (so I blame the bad camera work on them).

Here are the resulting best three attempts by each of us.

It’s hardly spectacular, but looping in these conditions is much harder than in any sort of wave conditions. Flat water loops demand precise and quick technique, which we are all working toward…

Watch below, or better in HD on vimeo

Shoreham Looping from rod on Vimeo.

Godrevy Days and The Timo Effect

2010-05-05T23:57:00.030+01:00

The high pressure blues in the UK continues, but somehow I and a few others spotted that the isobars would squeeze over Cornwall on May 2nd (2010)... So I made a run for Gwithian and Godrevy - the sandy beach break at the North end of St Ives bay, to be greeted with startling sunshine, a fresh NE breeze and some white crisp Cornish surf. Yes!

Obviously it was great to be back on the water and extra special at such a beautiful place .

Here is the scene on day 1 (2nd May) captured by local Paul who was also out there with me.

The slightly gusty wind made it better for riding than jumping, but just to keep this blog on topic I sneaked in a few forward loops. Here is a sequence that Paul took - thanks! (click to enlarge):

pictures by Paul http://www.galeforce8.com

Matthew Burridge from http://www.5-oceans.com sails took lots of close up action photos, you can find them on his site http://www.guavajelly.co.uk/2010_gallery.html

Jason and I had travelled down not really knowing if the unusual NE wind direction was going to produce sailable conditions. There was always the possibility that we could have been left admiring the view (whilst quietly cursing the high pressure).

As it was the Timo Effect occurred so we were on the water in a flash, as soon as we realised it had happened:

The Timo Effect is the sudden appearance of wave sailing champion Timo Mullen at any spot between here (the far South west) and Thurso, the North East tip of Scotland. Timo is famous for almost an almost preternatural ability for knowing when and where the best conditions are going to be - in fact he is probably more famous for this than his monster back loops, wave prowess, legendary enthusiasm and friendliness.

He is equally well known for the pathological distances that he drives to get to these places. Today is a case in point - he drove from Poole, where he lives, to Gwithian and back again - then came back the next day!

When you arrive at a beach and Timo appears you just know it is going to get good. And there he was out on the water when we arrived - along with Cornwall's finest (though I had the idea they all thought the conditions were a bit mediocre compared to the usual 4-5m monsters that they ride on the peninsula's scariest rock reefs).

Jason and I enjoyed the session and as the afternoon wore on and my arms got longer around 5.30pm the wind seemed to increase and suddenly the few people left on the water (Timo of course! Jason and Andy, who had just arrived from Weymouth) were powered up on their 5m sails bombing out of Godrevy bay, which was rapidly filling with water as the tide pushed also making the waves bigger. The jumping was incredible to watch, but I was just too tired to go back out there.

Day 2 (3 May)

After breakfast admiring the view, wind and waves had dropped a bit so it was mostly grooveriding in the big blue:

With the occasional mini wave ride.

pictures by Paul http://www.galeforce8.com

Paul and Jason were out there again, and a few others but the beach was pretty empty of windsurfers.

Then at almost exactly the same time as the previous evening the wind picked up and the tide filled the bay providing a long run up at the small clean waves. And surprise (no surprise), Timo and Ian Black arrive. Just four of us enjoy the fantastic jumping conditions with Ian Black and Timo doing HUGE back loops. I manage a few forwards and backie attempts. I took this final shot after I had derigged and if you enlarge it (click) and look carefully you can just see Ian Black, the last person to come in, on the shoreline. What a fabulous two days...

At Last

2010-03-31T00:01:00.002+01:00

A proper day of wave sailing in the UK! Kimmeridge fired and loops went down.

More tomorrow.... but even colder - and today it was freezing about 6-7 degrees, necessitating boots, gloves and hood.

The First Cuckoo Of The Year

2010-03-21T18:40:00.001Z

Like the appearance of the first cuckoo of the year surely the first forward loop of the year must also mean the start of spring. And the end of the dreadful winter that has beset most of Northern Europe.

So, I am happy to report that it occurred yesterday on March 20th in unremarkable conditions (gusty F4-5, drizzling rain and leaden skies) but nevertheless it was the distinctive slap of a badly landed forward.

According to the forecasts there is more wind to come as the temperature starts to climb to dizzying double figures.

Hoorah – watch this space.

Waves, Wind and Winter

2009-11-09T20:21:00.003Z

Over the last few entries this blog has had slightly less focus on my looping exploits. But as the months have passed I’ve started to land more and more forward loops – and there definitely is a technique to this – I'm now consciously moving my fronthand further back down the boom so that it is touching the front of my harness line, particularly when I am not that well powered up.

Apart from speeding up the rotation this definitely helps the rig stay out of the water on landing. With both hands further back down the boom the rig catches the wind and lifts me back on the board as I’m touching down... well, now and then anyway.

Most of this has happened at Kimmeridge Bay, my favourite sailing location, as readers of this blog will know.

Over the last two months there have been some great conditions – that sadly I mostly haven’t caught on camera. But this rather impromptu MOD (Ministry of Defence) sign really sums up Kimmeridge when there is a swell pushing up the channel and the wind is in the West... FIRING TODAY...

This other shot was taken by John Carter as I launched of a small ramp on the ledges in early September on a sunny afternoon and started to tuck into a forward, I landed a few near him (a bit too close sometimes... ooops sorry!), nevertheless this is a pretty lazy take off with my backhand hardly reaching down the boom… nice colour sky though.

Puravida Winter Wave Series Final 2008/2009 OR How to Win Wave Competitions and Influence People

2009-10-25T10:00:00.007Z

October 24th: Autumn is in full swing in England, with endless high pressure and no wind, but somehow one of those Atlantic lows managed to sneak through the high pressure defence and give us a typically stormy, windy autumnal day.

A typical autumn is my favourite time of the year - the water and air and still warm and the blustery stormy conditions often open up momentarily to reveal blue skies and white clouds skudding across the sky - before the next storm closes in.

I had headed to Newton, near Porthcawl to enter the winter wave series that Jim at Puravida has been running. My first competition since I was 18, that's 20 years ago (and a few more).

We arrived to completely flat water and gusty 5.3 conditions that quickly picked up. The format of the contest was a 20 minute expression session of all sailors on the water, the judges would then pick the best 6 or so for a final.

The waves had picked up with an outside sandbar jacking up onshore head high waves and on the inside there were occasional sideshore waist high ramps.

I went for as many forwards as I could, and didn't waveride at all. Not very good competition tactics! The whole thing was very relaxed and friendly. So relaxed I mostly forgot we were in a competition.

After the expression session Jim announced the sailors that would go through to the final. Although I wasn't on the list, Lewis, (Welshside on the boards forum) decided that I should be in the final... and persuaded the judge. After that faintly embarrassing moment I then asked if I could change down sails, from 4.7m to 4m - it was very windy! Where upon one of the finalists (I'm not sure who it was) told me that they were on a 4.7 and that they were half my size (which wasn't quite true, but much laughter ensued). So once again we headed out into the small waves and unbelievably windy conditions and I spent the next 15 minutes grooveriding completely overpowered with the occasional loop.

Imagine my surprise to find I came joint 6th! Here is the official report.

I landed many more of the forwards that I tried than on any other session, so it seems that competition makes you step up a gear and really push hard to complete moves.

It would be hard to find a friendlier group of windsurfers, I had a great day, and I get the idea that heading to Wales is going to become a regular feature of my windsurfing...

Boscombe Reef and The Beast of Kimmeridge Bay

2009-08-21T21:21:00.004+01:00

Yesterday, 20th August Gregg and I sailed the just finished Boscombe surf reef, to check out it’s potential for windsurfing. We had full on 4.7 / 5m wind and some wind blown swell that the reef bowled into a chest high peak.

But it wasn’t really much good for windsurfing – not even for jumping: the water in front of it and just to windward of the reef is incredibly choppy – almost like wind against tide – as the windchop gets refracted against the windward edge of the reef.

The wave rises from nowhere in a second and creates a small powerful barrel that is only about 3m across, a shoulder then sploshes downwind along the side of the reef. None of it is really fun to ride.

At low tide the middle of the reef dried out and the carnage began. The tally was one nose job (back loop), a ripped sail panel (getting a rinsing) and some slightly shorter twinser fins (oops, where’d the water go).

After some maximum effort trying to make the best of the reef we then headed downwind two hundred metres where the conditions were surprisingly good, and so much better than the reef – and just to keep this blog on topic I did a nice forward on Gregg’s RRD twinser.

We then had a proper wave sail at Southborne with a few other locals, including Mr Big-Salty-stalled-forwards James Cox.

Gregg’s observation that the reef was just too small to be useful was completely evident the next day when we sailed Kimmeridge ledges. Here the ledges shape and form the wave for hundreds of metres before it actually breaks. The wave walls up way out to sea – and today it was perfect, chest to head high sets rolling through clean and well spaced with acres of chop free flat water in between. We hurriedly rigged the 5.2/5.4s and headed out… the wind dropped… so we came in rigged the 6s… and then the waves dropped…

Never mind, we were at Kimmeridge, one of the most beautiful spots in Southern UK and it was a sunny, warm August day, perfect for a picnic and we had proper imported spanish Serrano in our sandwiches and a flask of fresh coffee… and then we saw it…The Beast of Kimmeridge Bay, his eyes were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he licked his lips. A catastrophe… the Beast had eaten ALL of our Serrano sandwiches. Bad Grubby, very very bad Grubby.

The Beast of Kimmeridge Bay after another sandwich raid

Kimmeridge Serves Up Some Summer Ramps

2009-07-30T21:57:00.008+01:00

It's been a quiet spring for wind, but July has been a bit better - and here is a report from July 30th 2009 at Kimmeridge bay:

Great day at Kimmeridge Bay, small waves in the bay and a bit bigger on the ledges. i arrived to find local Neil doing his usual man-alone-with-ocean at Broadbench scoring some nice waves. Broadbench is the peeling point break that sits on the Eastern tip of the bay.

Neil is a bit of an institution at Kimmeridge, he’s been sailing there for years and you can always find him upwind at Broadbench regardless of the conditions. I’ve seen him up there – 2km upwind - when the bay has been closing out with mast high sets in nearly dead onshore murky, wintery conditions and I’ve also watched him creep out of the bay in a light sideshore wind and logo high plus sets in mid December (when only a couple of other locals and pros made it out). Then make a long non planing upwind leg to the Bench to score wave after wave.

I still get intimated sailing the ledges and the Bench, even today, even after I’ve sailed them hundreds of times since 1982!

I felt a bit better today because Gregg turned up (thanks for the pictures!) and one of the downwind ledges, ‘Yellow Ledge’, was throwing up some mellow head high waves. So we played in the cross onshore conditions riding and throwing the odd loop. I watched Gregg float round some beautiful back loops and finally sail away from one. Meanwhile I was going for forward loops in the confines of the bay and then finally of a chunky lump on the ledges.

The ledges break well out to sea, sometimes up to a kilometre, and today looking back to shore in the sunshine the cliffs stretching east and west looked absolutely beautiful in the summer sun. Sailing out here you feel very alone, even with a buddy. The next stop downwind is the St Alban’s Head race, where the tides from Weymouth bay and Swanage collide in a cauldron of standing waves, while upwind there are more cliffs with craggy outcrops and sharp ledges that drop into the sea east of Broadbench. The drama of the scenery is matched by the water under your feet moving in every direction. The rips here are pretty ferocious, even on small wave days you can feel the water pulling and pushing the board and you pump it onto the plane to charge out at wave after wave...

Wind at last

Mellow waves, blue water, sunshine

Chop rotations

Beautiful backdrop

Harder, faster

2009-03-14T14:04:00.007Z

Finally some wind in 2009 on the UK south coast.

With the worst winter for as long as I can remember, with endless snow and no wind, so no sailing since September my first loops of the year were always going to be rusty… and so they were – but no less fun than the last time I did one.

My friend Gregg was there with his camera to record a few, and it’s clear from these sequences that I am not rotating anything like fast enough.
The consensus seems to be at low altitude I need to straighten my front leg and pull the sail across me a lot more than in these sequences. You can also see that I committed the worst looping sin of not putting my backhand far enough back on the boom!

Nevertheless I rotated!

Pleeeease can we have some more wind soon….

In this next sequence in dead onshore conditions, which is hard! because having taken off into the wind you have to bear off in the air before you loop.

All pics Oceansource.net

2009: Lizards vs Civilisation

2009-01-09T10:10:00.000Z

After 4 months break I should be on the water again next week, ready to start the next looping learning curve: landing more consistently.

In the meantime, just occasionally you read something that encapsulates a problem so precisely and so eloquently it’s really worth remembering; Here is what Andy, a sailing buddy, recently wrote about the difficulty of learning to forward loop.

"The big problem is that you have to override the lizard bit of your brain, which works much quicker and more effectively in this kind of situation than the conscious 'clever' bit, it is the lizard bit that goes whoahletgo and makes you let go without thinking about it before the conscious bit can say 'no hang on this might be fun er I think'. That’s why you need to get as many things done early as possible to give yourself a chance

Or as was originally the case with me, you are fighting so hard to hang on that you forget to do everything else

The loop is easy - anyone can watch a vid, read tricktionary visualise the move and write down the 6 steps to a forward loop, or 20, or 2 - the difficult bit is over-riding the 300 million years of honing the effectiveness of your lizard brained, when your conscious clever bit has only had a couple of million to get its act together.

It’s a very one-sided battle, and why learning it when you are young and stupid is a good idea. Or just pretend to be antipodean and listen to ACDC a lot…"

Exactly!

This was posted on the UK boards magazine forum in a thread started and contributed to by coach Jem Hall. Here.

The Final Count for 2008

2009-01-04T21:20:00.000Z

As 2008 drew to a close, my final count on successful forward loops was 4 clean landings and about 12 or more that I waterstarted away.

Let 2009 be the year of the stalled forward!!!!

Do It Before You Die!

2008-09-15T00:36:00.000+01:00

"Do it before you die!" – So my friend Jason urged me sometime last year. He was talking about learning to loop... of course!

I did. The current count is 4 landed properly, and about 10 waterstarted away.

Here is what my regular sailing partner Steve said about one of my attempts on August 17th (2008)
“Rod did a sweet forward right in front of me coming in. He was charging out nostrils flaring, eyes bulging, hit ramp full tilt, a sneaky stall and a proper rig throw, nice big rotation and quick water start. Sweeeeet!”

So what was what that made me able to overcome 15 (or more) years of accumulated fear and turn me into a looping addict?

The most important thing about learning to loop is REALLY REALLY wanting to do it, consequently you need to find a way / method so that you can attempt them EVERY TIME you go sailing. (I’ve managed this on all but two occasions since April, and on one of those days the wind was some 40-50 knots).

Technically it’s not hard to rotate and land painlessly on your back, under the sail, but psychologically it is a mountain. Which is why so many people can't loop.
So you have to find ways to persuade your body let you attempt it, because like every other windsurf move you have to practice to learn it (there seems to be a body of opinion out there that says you can learn it in a day, if you have the balls, or are lucky, or something...). Maybe a few people pull one off after the first few tries, but most don't, so the game is having an arsenal of techniques (both mental and physical) that allow you to attempt them regularly.
For me that meant the wymaroo route (see this post for an explanation), as i'm a coward and needed a easy, safe method…

Here are some of the other practical things that I did every time I went sailing.

Wear a helmet every time I go sailing (putting one on when you want to loop means you won't, or you'll forget, or you you'll think in a minute etc).

Make my attempts within the first hour of sailing

Learning carefully and slowly using Remko de Veerd's step by step wymaroo technique (basically a flare gybe). Find it on the extras of the “7 sons of Freestyle” DVD.

Coming back to the beach and rethinking everything the moment I attempted one and let go (usually this meant going back a step in wymaroo technique).

Seeking out the conditions that would be good for looping (small knee to waist high waves, sideshore-ish wind) even if that meant NOT going somewhere that might be going off.

Not sailing overpowered, if necessary use a bigger board so you can get away with a smaller sail (Less power = less fear, however once you've learnt you'll want loads of power).

Sailing with someone who can do them, getting them to watch you carefully and feedback your mistakes and partial successes.

Getting someone to film and photograph me trying them (the best way is to buddy up with someone else who is learning them and do 15mins stints each behind the camera; filming or photographing each other).

Doing all of these things infinitely increased the likelihood of me attempting a handful of loops each session. And this was the key: make attempting loops part of your everyday sailing routine, just like you would learning to tack a wave board, or any other move.

Some time ago this blog was more focused on my back loop attempts than forward loops, mostly because my forward loops were not making progress. If it appears that’s reversed now here is a pic of me mid back loop in Morocco during May 2008… I still try these every time the waves are steep/big enough...
close but not quite landed…

Pic by Harry

Epic Summer (Landed 2 more!)

2008-09-02T17:50:00.000+01:00

WOW - What a summer, capped for me by landing 2 more high, clean forward loops yesterday at Overcombe in Weymouth (1 September 2008). Land, hook in and sail away. Amazing.

On the south coast the wind has been blowing almost constantly for the last two months, during July and August. Conditions for looping have been exceptionally good and my technique is definitely improving:
I'm managing to delay or stall the rotation on bigger attempts and I'm also confident doing them in cross onshore winds...

The key to getting a good high rotation seems to be in concicously using the sail to pull or catapult you round. The rotation throws you around higher and faster.

Since April I've achieved something that I have dreamt about for over 15 years. This has undoubtely been my best windsurfing season ever!

Kimmeridge, Mast High And Beautiful

2008-08-16T13:32:00.000+01:00

Rarely does the South Coast of England get large waves, most of the time we have to put up with messy wind driven swell rather than the long period waves that cruise across the Atlantic, generated by storms off the east coast of the US.

Just occasionally these swells make it up the English Channel where they meet the rock ledges of Kimmeridge Bay that sculpt the breaking wave into a peeling, often hollow monster. The 9th December 2007 was one such day as the beautiful video below shows.

By Ollie

I was out there that day. It was hell; whitewater everywhere and mast high sets closing out the entire bay. Very, very difficult sailing and those in the video riding the big walls of water on Kimmeridge’s notorious point Broad Bench had to negotiate a gusty wind and close out sets combined with a 1 mile beat up wind. That is just to get there! It was cold too. About 10 degrees…

I stayed in the confines of the bay, this is a few month before I could loop so ‘tabletop’ jumps had to suffice.

Pic by Timmy

Beautiful Kimmeridge Bay

2008-07-09T12:23:00.000+01:00

Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset...Where else on the South Coast can you hear the rattle of small arms fire as you drive toward the beach. Sometimes shells from the nearby range land in the sea off Broad bench, kimmeridge's notorious point break. Today it's very mellow, there is only a small windswell and the wind is nearly onshore, nevertheless stray past the red sign and a soldier with a megaphone starts shouting at you.

You're only supposed to sail within the designated area, and these guys look and sound like they mean business.

It was less than ideal conditions for looping - 1-2ft of onshore swell (a bit like the picture below that i took in November 2006). Even so I managed about a dozen attempts. Although I didn't sail away from any this was my first attempts at them in onshore chop and rotated round easily on all but one.

Kimmeridge is a such a beautiful spot with a prehistoric coastline that inspires the kind of sentiment that the Victorians would have called sublime. Today only four of shared the whole bay and ledges, watched only by a seal.

Above: Broad Bench at Kimmeridge on a good day (click on the image and look closely at that second wave).

Above: More autumn sunshine in 2006, showing the grass rigging
area and tricky launch spot, from the slipway in the foreground

Done It! Landed a forward loop without even getting my arse wet

2008-07-06T19:18:00.000+01:00

Today was the day; its been two years of practice and fifteen years of procrastination before that, but today (5 July 2008) I landed a high, clean forward loop of a waist high wave at Overcombe, Weymouth. Four of my friends on the beach watched me do it.

Perfect take off, then a slightly delayed but powerful rotation followed by a perfect landing, I didn’t even get my arse wet and my feet stayed firmly put in the straps, I pumped and planed away. Unbelievable, what a moment. This evening I am as high as a kite.

THE FIRST LOOP I HAVE EVER LANDED.

Today was probably the best windsurfing session I have ever had.

It was also so nice to do it on the beach that I learnt to waterstart and wave sail twenty five years ago.

A huge thanks to everybody that has offered me advice and encouraged me over the last two years, Steve (stev0) Jason , Callum and Andy. So often I thought I would just never get there.

Now I need to land a few more tomorrow at Ringstead!

Black and Blue (Don’t believe it when they tell you it doesn’t hurt)

2008-07-04T13:22:00.000+01:00

Another day, another sunny shingle beach on the south coast of England, but this time with tiny waves that my looping technique is not yet adjusted too.

From the delights of Moroccan atlantic rollers to the busy chop of south coast UK was a bit of a shock for my learner loop technique. Trying to perform the same slow, vertical rotation that worked beautifully of shoulder high waves in Morocco was not as successful as I had hoped...

Here I am (above) with the same late initiation (“were you going for stalled loops?” someone on the beach said), the result, as you can see from this picture of me landing below, was some very hard slaps on the back – after about twenty my back felt vaguely jelly like, so I decided to stop for the day.

It hurt a lot more than you’d guess from this picture, but you can clearly see the large red weal on my back... Even so I had no fear anymore, despite knowing the next one was probably going to sting. Once again this is proof for me that the fear is TOTALLY psychological and you CAN beat it with technique.

A couple of days later at a similar beach a few miles down the road I consciously tried to pull the sail across me more, the waves were non existent so it was my first proper attempts doing them off chop. This seemed to produce better results, and now I’m ready to try them again tomorrow (5th July 2008). It looks like a great forecast for the next few days.

(All photos by Naomi, thanks for hanging out, hope you are sailing soon!)

Rotation Withdrawal Symptons (And, why the forward loop is really a back loop)

2008-06-03T13:29:00.000+01:00

It’s been three weeks since I rotated round in the air – and I’m getting worried that I will have completely forgotten how to do it…

The lack of wind in the UK has meant resorting to other more cerebral practice…
Like trying to visualise what happens as I jump off the wave – for me this has been a key method of cracking the rotation of the loop:

As I take off my back-hand is way down the boom and as the board releases I’m throwing the rig forward and across me and starting to look back, right back and under my arm. As the pop or jump takes the board up into the air it starts to rotate downwind as well as upward, tail first. As I look back my head leads my body twisting horizontally as I also start to go up and over.

It’s this initiation that is the most crucial and most counterintuitive moment of doing a forward loop. As long as you take off correctly everything else follows.

If you’ve been able to follow this description you’ll realise that a successful initiation means that the board is rotating tail first – the tail of the board and your head leading the rotation. The forward loop is effectively (from the sailors perspective) a backward rotation, literally going backwards.

You see what I mean, counterintuitive or what!

It follows that the best bit of the loop for me is when, with half an eye on the water (ok, ok I look back just a tad later sometimes), I watch the nose of the board disappear backwards underneath me revealing the water beneath. It’s an exhilarating feeling as the board comes up and over your head.

Every decent attempt I have had has been because of the solid, organised take off. You have to know where you are in the air, the trajectory of your body, and be comfortable with it. Jumping full of fear and throwing the rig in a panic stricken attempt will get you nowhere fast. Don’t do it! Read the rest of this blog and teach your body how to initiate the rotation. Unless you have no fear the Jump, Panic, Throw, Panic Again, Then Let Go method is never going to succeed.

The Boards Forum 2008 Moulay Loop Off

2008-05-13T13:52:00.000+01:00

Tues 6th May 2008 was our last day sailing at Moulay (Morocco) reef break. Instead of the normal maxed 4m weather the wind was a leisurely 25-30knots - just right for 4.5m. Perfect waist high ramps were lining the reef. A small day for Moulay but perfact for us.

Moulay with perfect waist high looping ramps. 28 degrees and blue skies.

Colin and Harry were keen to try some forward loops (After a bit of persuasion). I’d been throwing myself over the front with quite a bit of success (see the previous blog entry). Meanwhile endo master Stev0 had been going big on his trademark loops. As old school as they maybe they still look damn cool.

StevO’s “Go endo, or go home” attitude produced some predictably novel teaching methods. Never before have I thought that a mast extension could be intrinsic to looping motivation.

Steve (Stev0) demonstrates his up and over technique, that Harry tried to emulate.

The pre loop instruction quickly divided into two distinct methods: the brutal StevO Jump-then-do-it-or-else method, and my rather more nuturing technique, understanding the manoeuvre and controlling the fear via wymaroo practice and downwind sail throws.

Harry quickly signed up to StevO's method, believing he could somehow instantly rewire his brain to mirror the endo master, as a short cut to looping success. Though why anyone would want to share the same psychological outlook as StevO I can't imagine. It’s not so much the looping as all the other things: the dreadful guitar music you’d find yourself listening to and the chavtastic singlets and hats you’d want to wear. (At times we thought Stev0 had gone to the wrong beach, and had to gently tell him that we were in Morocco not Margate).

From the Left: Martin Ten Hoeve: H999 - he can already loop, so we ignored him most of the time, Colin: preferred the more nuturing approach, Harry: believed he could rewire his brain to loop like Steve, but wasn't aware of the side effects, Rod - Me: your narrator and general loop amateur, Steve: the man who thinks loop training is stupid and the only way to go is endo.

Stev0's tutelage consisted of making Harry recite "I WILL LOOP" on the walk to the beach, and then telling him he would beat him with a mast extension if he didn't go for them. I don’t recall much technical instruction, but no doubt Stev0 had told him to look down between his legs after he jumped, “That is how you go endo… Dude”.

Meanwhile Colin had been practising the rig throw, painlessly, on downwind runs for about an hour.

As Harry came into gybe StevO would run down the beach waving a mast extension, shouting obscenities, jumping up and down at the waters edge. Harry would duly select a wave, jump pretty high, bear off in the air and then very stylishly let go in mid flight. By attempt number three I was flat on the beach in hysterics. Other beach users looked at Stev0 anxiously. Imagine it from a bystanders point of view: all they could see was a mad bloke shouting at the sea and waving a 40cm mast extension. King Canute, Margate stylie.

Neither Colin or Harry managed to do anything really close to a loop, but they both now have the bug... It won't be long...

Your narrator on my daily 3 minute commute to the beach (someone's got to do it!)

I've wanted to do this since I was a kid

2008-05-09T12:48:00.000+01:00

This:

Then this:

A proper forward loop.

I didn't sail away from the landing, but I did land tail first. That's a 4m sail and i was well powered up. Total commitment required! It's something i've wanted to do since i first saw photos of people forward looping in the late 1980s.
Once you've rotated properly, with height, and watched the world spin around there is no going back, it's absolutely addictive. The day after these photos were taken I did about another 15-20. I just kept doing them until i was too tired to sail.
Finally 20 years after really wanting to loop, I've conquered my fear and i'm very close to sailing away in the straps. My rotations are already starting to get quite clean (cleaner than photo above sometimes) and the idea of jumping higher before I rotate now makes me smile, rather than fill me with dread. Somehow I've replaced the fear with a mad addiction to rotating. IT IS THE BEST FEELING I HAVE EVER HAD WINDSURFING.

The funny thing is that after you've rotated on a few you quickly realise just how easy it is, and how painless. Once you've overcome the psychological barrier the technique is so so simple, and rather forgiving.
Pop off the wave, Throw the sail forward and across and look under your arm. That's it, really... but getting to the point where your body will allow you to do this is a whole different order of learning, which is really what this blog is about.

Of course my loops at the moment are quite vertical and rather slow - some of this is probably down to the advice of the endo master Steve (stevO from the boards forum): "look under your arm, not over, dude". But at the moment I like them that way - you get to see more sky as you rotate.

Looping Videos

2008-04-17T13:26:00.000+01:00

This clip from Wave Sailing Secrets really shows how important the take off, tuck and throw are. Levi Siver is actually rotating as he goes up - rather than jumping, then rotating.

The closer I get to learning this move the more I realise that everything stems from getting the correct take off / initiation.

There is a great discussion about this and the best way to practice loops in a thread on the boards forum.
It includes lots of tips by loop-meister Jem Hall.

Practice Makes Perfect

2008-04-13T23:04:00.000+01:00

Another day on the water, another loop waterstarted away… though this time I tried about 30.

Perfect conditions at Pagham beach on Friday 11th April, well powered up with my 4.5m sail and an evo75 wave board, with knee to waist high waves breaking on the shingle bar about 150m offshore. Beautiful blue sky and water. A classic blustery spring day in the UK.

I really have lost the fear of going for them and some of the rotations felt good, though observers said that the loops were a bit horizontal and my back leg was not tucked up enough .

But the best thing about Friday was I LOVED GOING FOR THEM – for the first time I feel comfortable zipping off a waist high ramp and throwing the rig forward and looking under my arm. Result!

After 30 attempts I have had a few back slaps that vaguely hurt, but basically it seems to be a pain free manoeuvre, a bit like tacking! The danger is all in your mind!

Under Not Over

2008-04-07T13:07:00.001+01:00

The more I reflect on my attempts at forward loops last Tuesday (1 April 2008), the more I think that looking UNDER my arm was the key to my progress during that session. Previously I had been looking OVER my shoulder.

Holding the boom (on land) it’s easy to see how looking OVER your shoulder pulls the boom BACKWARDS as you twist your head round, whilst the action of looking UNDER your arm pushes the boom FORWARDS and straightens out your front arm (mostly because it is necessary to lift your arm to see underneath it - give it a try!).

As anybody who has read about looping technique will realise getting the rig forwards and across you after you take off is key to this move – and I am now convinced it is the very thing that has been eluding me.

My take offs on Tuesday were uneven, even the loop I waterstarted away from was a relatively low power take off, without much height (with a 5.8m sail), but it seems that looking under my arm created the magic rotation that I have been looking for.

It’s strange that this is never emphasised in looping tutorials / technique videos and articles.

It's All In The Mind

2008-04-01T20:43:00.000+01:00

After much haranguing from the bogan-endo master himself Steve (Stev0 on the boards forum) I headed down to sunny Shoreham with one thought in my mind – I have to land a forward loop today.

After seeing the dreadful photos (see below in earlier posts) of me looking OVER my shoulder Steve suggested I look UNDER my arm after take off – and take off less broad to the wind from something bigger than chop (the waves were waist high today) and WOW what a difference.

The rotation was completely different. It felt easier and much more committed. I think it also helped that I really wanted to spin upside down – I definitely felt my body was not blocking the initiation, as it has in the past. Perhaps more than anything this really felt different today. I was much more determined, with a better psychological outlook, and once I’d rotated once, much less fearful. In fact I positively enjoyed the feeling of spinning, once you know that if you hang on you will rotate, the fear of being catapulted head first onto your board is considerably lessened.

The result from about 8-10 attempts over a 2.5 hr period was 3 or 4 landed over the tail, rather than on my back (closer to a proper landing) but the rig was just too far back to recover on all but one. On this one my front foot slipped out of the strap but my back foot stayed put and the rig stayed flying so I waterstarted away. What a result!

I desperately need to repeat this again soon. One of my better attempts was also witnessed by someone I spoke to later (sorry I didn’t get your name).

The conditions were so perfect today and that definitely helped, but already I am craving more wind: I could definitely see how the more powered up I jumped the better the rotation.

WOW what a day – I want more!

Wymaroostylie

2007-08-29T22:52:00.000+01:00

Here is a forward loop done very much in the horizontal wyamroo style. In the first images, during the take off, it is very clear that the sailor is turning the board hard down wind by scissoring their legs and then throwing the sail across their body. This really does look like an old style flare gybe... done in mid air...

CLICK TO ENLARGE THE IMAGE

So it can be done, but the question is whether this is a better way to learn to them…

Here is the video version
http://www.windsurfjournal.com/frontblocks/video/default.asp
click on Guincho 2007, and its 02:45mins in.

and here is a direct link to the quicktime (.mov) version
http://windsurfjournal.perfect-ride.com/Guincho2007.mov

Kook Loops

2007-08-17T13:16:00.000+01:00

August 15th arrived with blustery sunshine on Avon beach in Dorset, with the South coast experiencing unseasonably strong winds for August. Myself and two friends, Gregg and Steve, had decided to hold an impromptu loopathon in front of Gregg’s rather nice 400mm lens…

The game plan was to spend about 30 mins going for as many loops as you could, then take a shift behind the lens, shooting the other two. We rotated shifts on the lens until we were all too knackered to take photos, let alone attempt loops.

There is nothing like the presence of a camera and two friends to force your hand. I tried about 8 forward loops and countless back loops in the ensuing hour and a half. Most of them were rubbish (well you can be the judge of that), and it has to be stated that my forward attempts are still awful, and there is some argument whether wymaroo training (which occupies much of the content of this blog) has messed up my coordination or whether I’m just really bad at them...

Steve, otherwise known as the Kiwi snake (watch out if you are on a wave near him), has been knocking out loops for about 18years. Like the Australian Bogan (yes it’s a real word apparently) Rock he listens to his loops are bit old school – end over end, or endo. Likewise Steve’s attitude is very ‘Bogan’, he thinks wymaroo training is stupid:
“Go forward, go endo, or go home” he shouts at me over the top of the worst guitar music I’ve ever heard, as we career dangerously down tiny lanes and blind corners toward Kimmeridge in his sleek black Mercedes vito. It occurs to me that I would be very sad if the last sound I heard on earth was Bogan rock.
Steve Loops

Gregg’s forward loops are very different, having recently trained under loop meister Sergeant Major Jem Hall. They are very ‘nu’ school, that is the rotation is faster and more horizontal. Although he hasn’t said so I suspect Steve is suspicious of this type of loop too.
Gregg Loops

At any rate at least both of them can perform something that looks like a loop… my attempts maybe loops in spirit but they certainly aren’t in appearance. Let me talk you through this one.

Obviously it’s a hideous mess: In the first instance I don’t have my back hand far enough down the boom, so the sail is nothing like forward and too windward enough.

Rather than exaggerating the sail movements to pull me through the loop I’ve thrown myself round horizontally with my body. This is COMPLETELY WRONG… I was also shocked at low I was when I saw these photographs. I have a long, long way to go, and really need to rethink my whole approach.

I think I should be much more focused on pushing the sail to windward and forward and letting IT pull me through the loop at some more height.

The only redeeming thing from this sequence is that I landed pretty much rotated with my feet still in the straps holding onto the boom and under the sail. Had I kept the sail flying I could have water started away, not that that would have been any prettier.

I feel even further away from completing this move…

Kit Carnage

2007-08-09T20:29:00.000+01:00

Since April (it’s now August) I’ve managed to break an awful lot of equipment wave sailing, none of it looping though (so this blog entry is a bit off topic)… Some of the breakage is through flat landings and other forms of even more embarrassing pilot error…

My poor evo…
The evo got destroyed after a very high jump that turned out to be just a bit higher than I anticipated. I flattened the board off prematurely and... WALLOP landed square on top of the next wave. The poor board took the full impact of 86kg of me and my rig descending at about 30mph… dead flat. The impact was so hard that it not only snapped the board but pushed the bottom of the board into the core creating a new style of concave…

and then there was the da curve in Morocco…

look more closely…
…and then a 100% skinny amex wave mast, two booms, a UJ, a da kine harness spreader bar and so the list goes on. And it's not even cheap shoddy equipment... My luck really ran out this spring. Oh dear… at least I've managed to replace everything bar the evo.

And so the rotation goes on...

2007-08-09T19:53:00.000+01:00

My looping attempts continue… with some success in Morocco at Moulay near Essaouira. I don’t have any photos of the attempts, but I’ve got some nice waveriding images instead:

I headed there with a group of windsurfers from the boards forum (forumites) for a couple of weeks. During 5 days of no wind there had been much talk of trying forwards (Moulay is perfect for learning them, with it’s solid sideshore wind and well spaced ramps). On the first day of wind I was first of the beach and on the first run out did my best attempt yet - I landed with the sail still flying, but my feet came out of the straps. That set the tone for the rest of the morning. Most people tried one the first run out: Brian discovered he can do them, consistently rotating but not quite landing. Steve rediscovered his endos – very impressive!

After a prearranged 30 minute warm up the loopers returned to the beach and split into two groups – each group was given 10 minutes on the water to go for it, being observed by the other group, Conditions were perfect, waist / chest high waves, sideshore 5.7 / 5.5 weather, and a cloudless sky of course.

Like this:

As each forumite hurled themselves over the front you could hear the cheers halfway down the beach much to the amusement of the local kids (who mostly seem to be working on their pushloops). As far as I know no one hurt themselves and the session continued with a similar level of enthusiasm and ambition. In small waves Moulay encourages ambitious sailing because it’s a comfortable environment to try out new moves. Solid non gusty sideshore wind and waves that are not too powerful (but longer, cleaner and better spaced than the S. coast).

When the swell increases the waves demand more respect, and on our biggest day the odd 3m set would come thundering through occasionally closing out the channel and sometimes mowing down swathes of forumites. Unlike the s.coast of England you can bury the sail, wait for the set to pass (getting painlessly washed by a few waves), then have minutes to waterstart before the next set. One of the surprises during that day that I had was discovering just how much white water I could traverse on or off the plane. By the end of the day I was happy negotiating well over head high steamrollers even off the plane. The waveriding was fantastic. I lost count of the number of full on proper down the line rides I had.

Too far backwards

2007-03-14T17:57:00.000Z

I’ve hurt myself twice over rotating a back loop – I’ve now developed a safety procedure – it’s called LET GO!

Here’s how it works:

The take off below looks ok and everything feels great... It was quite aggressive, but hey the wind was light (that's a 6m), a bit onshore and there were people watching – I didn't want to suffer the embarrassment of plopping on my back…

This (below) looks good too doesn’t it – I’m mid rotation – pretty high, arcing through the air… Well actually, NO, it’s all going wrong already. I’m not tucked up and my body is too far below the board instead of being tucked over the tail….

Inevitably the wind catches the sail from the back / clew and it’s all over. My body is too far forward and I’m sheeting out instead of in. I remember this loop and I remember thinking UH OH at this point… time to bail.

The board is going to over rotate - it's been spun quickly through the last bit of the loop by the power in the clew of the sail - and at best I could have hoped to sheet out very quickly to complete the rotation as fast as possible before touch down – but that takes a lot of nerve – if I’m not fast enough my ankles are going to take the impact… so it’s time to try out my new procedure:
LET GO
(pics by http://www.photowindsurf.com - nice, thanks Antonio)

Ahh it worked... no pain, and I’m ready to try again later in the session... but it would be nice to land one… one day…

Back to forwards: The right conditions are crucial

2007-01-18T16:02:00.000Z

On Saturday on 12th January I tried a few more forwards at Pagham beach (not far from Selsey Bill on the UK south coast.)

Pagham is perfect for learning to forward loop. It has small clean well spaced waves that break on a shingle bar off the beach. The shingle bar protects the launch and waves from wind chop.

I got all the way round the few loops I tried, so these were my best attempts yet and I’m sure it was because of the conditions.
The lack off wind chop combined with a good run up at the wave and time to prepare yourself makes all the difference. The waves were tiny, about knee to waist high and the wind was dead sideshore.

If you are going start attempting forwards these are the conditions you need.

Forget trying to learn on flat water. You need a launch pad to give you time to rotate. Trying to jump / pop AND loop is just too much (for my poor old body anyway). Flat water is useful for practising the wymaroo type manoeuvre discussed in earlier posts, but now I’m finding I need to jump off a ramp to progress.

2007 begins with a back loop (...attempt)

2007-01-11T11:12:00.000Z

I've had plenty of attempts in the last few days. At last I'm beginning to feel I'm starting to control the rotation and not over rotate. Twice last year I over rotated and landed hard on my ankle, resulting in no sailing for a while. The aim is to land pretty much dead downwind, rather than going 'right round' the loop.

A couple of tricks I discovered on Tuesday (9th January 2007) were to take off and sail / jump slightly more horizontally into the wind (particularly when overpowered) - so my trajectory was a bit less vertical than the sequence of images below. It seemed easier to control the kit on the way down, rather than a sudden nose first plunge at the sea, more of a controlled descent, and it was definately easier to stop over rotating.

I still sometimes forget to twist at the hips at the apex of the jump. Everytime I 'look over my shoulder' (the way most people describe the method for initiating the loop) I under rotate with my body too far forward blocking the sail. When it works for me i've almost always 'looked over my shoulder' by twisting at the hips rather than the neck. I think this brings your whole body over the tail of the board and out of the way of the sail.

more attempts...

2006-12-30T18:20:00.000Z

3 at avon beach - 13-dec 2006 and some backie attempts too in subsequent days... Still no cigar. As 2006 comes to a close i'll have to remember it as year of many loops... that lacked landings.

More Backlooping Crashes

2006-10-31T09:25:00.000Z

Finally some images - this sequence was taken at Overcombe in Weymouth (19th oct 2006)

The landing was ugly, but this is the last frame, something went wrong with the camera (really!) - I actually over rotated - and the board landed too flat - You can clearly see i have my back leg too straight and am leaning too far forward with the rig raked back far too much. the wind was very onshore so i'm nearly on a dead run in the last frame

Looking at this sequence I think that I am initiating the loop too early, and then not killing the over rotation by pushing the sail forward. It's hard though - the whole sequence only lasts about 2-3 seconds, so you really only have a second to orientate yourself, clock you are too high / going to over rotate and then push the rig forward....

One day I will land one....

Forwards AND backwards 4 cowards

2006-10-22T19:21:00.000+01:00

I’ve decided to include my backloop antics in this blog too. I can’t land them so I expect I’m in the same situation as rather a lot of competent wavesailors (of a certain age...).

So I suppose the Blog should be titled Forwards and Backwards 4 Cowards…

I’m not a coward when it comes to backlooping – in fact that is part of the problem. Somehow arcing into the wind from a big jump just isn’t as frightening as the controlled catapult that is a forward loop. That lack of fear has it's own problems though: I'm sure that over eager rotation has to be the no 1 injury that people suffer from learning to backloop. It happened to me today:
Up I went off a nice head high ramp that turned out to be a bit steeper than I had imagined… I don’t know how high I was, pretty high I guess at full power and full speed with a 4.5m sail. I initiated the rotation at the speed you would from a much smaller wave (bad habit). Consequently I’d finished the loop somewhat early, whilst I was still up in the air, and so down I crashed. I managed to sheet out a bit but my front foot took the full force of the landing as the board slammed flat into the water. OUCH.

I now have a swollen ankle – good job I can’t sail for another 5 days.

Still I got back out there after a bit of a rest – you’ve got to do that right? Though I didn’t go for any more loops…

Yet more loop attempts (When does the fear go away?)

2006-10-21T18:59:00.000+01:00

Some more attempts at forward loops today 21 Oct 2006, though I have the feeling this blog may not finish as quickly as i had hoped. My plan is to sail away from a forward loop by christmas, but at the moment that feels more and more distant.

Today I attempted 4 - 2 of waist high waves, from which I rotated and landed on my back. I'm still jumping very very broad (almost on a run, in true cowardly style) and trying to do them with low power and low height. At some point i am going to have to bite the bullet and try a less broad take off with more vertical rotation.

Although in some ways today was ok - at least i attempted some - they were both in the first half an hour of sailing - after that I found that a combination of a lack of ramps (waves) to jump off easily and being tired took its toll on my confidence.

So the lesson learnt today was try looping early in the session when you are fresh and eager, then sail the rest of session as normal. Otherwise it is very easy to spend the whole day sailing around not doing much else apart from beating yourself up that you are not going for them.

Lots of tips from ace loopers Jason and Callum at Overcombe Beach (Weymouth, UK) today. These two really know what they are doing. I love jason's attitude "Do it now because in 40 years you'll be dead or dyinng and wish you had". His 'we don't live forever' attitude is absolutely right (about so much more than just looping on windsurfer!). Thanks to both of you.

Both Callum and Jason's advice was don't take off so broad: ok guys I'm trying, I really am... but i'm a coward remember...

The wymaroo forwards:

2006-10-16T23:58:00.000+01:00

the following pictures illustrate pretty much the sequence that i've been practising:

[above]
its not me of course...! ...bearing of the wind, backhand way down toward the clew.

[above] starting to throw the rig - its really just like an old style high speed flare gybe.

[above] as your weight comes of the board it releases and starts rotating. Uou are still throwing the rig.

[above] you look over your shoulder at the clew of the sail - this really helps stopping your body from 'blocking' the move and preventing you from rotating.

[above] The sail stays parallel to the water and you never have the sense of catapulting.

[above] splash and sail away... right... that easy... hmm... really

The hard bit, of course, is turning this into a proper forward loop of waves... my ultmate aim

Oct 1 2006

2006-10-06T23:34:00.000+01:00

The wind was wild - Too wild in fact. A solid 35 knots most of the day - so i did the un-thinkable - something i had promised myself i would not do from now on - I bottled the forward attempts. I rotated nicely on a few quite high backloops, but really that is no consolation...

Imagine travelling at 30mph toward a peaking wave, the sail has so much power in it you can barely hold on, and the board is out of the water - skipping across the chop - throwing the sail to windward whilst bearing off in the air increases the power. You feel as if you are about to be hurled 10ft up into the air, or that the nose of the board will jam so hard into the water as you start to rotate you will be jolted out of the footstraps and land on your back with your head whipping backward. All this has happened to me in the course of learning to loop, but on sunday (1st Oct), in 35knots of wind I just wasn't prepared to risk it. Now i'm stuck in Germany for a few days... until next time...

The Remko De Veerd Technique

2006-09-30T23:03:00.000+01:00

The technique is explained by dutch windsurfer Remko De Veerd on the DVD '7 Sons of Freestyle'. The DVD mostly features 17 year olds twiddling their boards backwards and forwards (great if you like that sort of thing), then somwhere buried in the extras is the Remko De Veerd gem.

The technique is radical, and against the current wisdom that to learn to forward loop you need to jump or pop the board from the water. Of course you do have to get the board out of the water... but only once you have learnt all the rig / sail and body movements. You do this first, then start jumping the board (off waves):

What follows is a very basic step by step intrepretation of the technique (at some point to be fleshed out with pictures)

it goes like this:
STEP 1.
Do 20 flare gybes in the footstraps (not planing) except that as you exit the gybe throw the rig further than you would normally, with your backhand right down near the clew of the sail: you fall in with the rig on top of you.

=====
STEP 2.
Repeat the above but planing. This time you should feel the back of board break free from the water - if you don't you are not pushing the rig far enough to windward and holding the boom far enough back (i had to see a video of myself before I realised just how far you need to push the rig to windward). In fact it is more of a 'throw' really, 'throw' the rig to windward, and generally do this when you are nearly on a run, with the wind behind you.

It's a bit like doing a carve gybe and as you go through the wind you then throw the rig.

=====
STEP 3.
This is the crucial step, and will take many many attempts...

Repeat as step 2 but faster and start looking over shoulder just after you have thrown the rig, still- still DO NOT try to jump / pop.

At this point you should easily be able to get the board to break free of the water tail first every time, and you should start to feel your first increments of aerial rotation: But (and here is the cowards bit) you don't feel as if you are jumping / looping / catapulting or anything else remotely frightening.

Practice this step until you can consistently get the board out of the water. It will take at least several sessions.

=====
STEP 4:
Now repeat Step 3 as you go over a 1ft wave - You need CROSS SHORE conditions, cos as you bear off (nearly on a run) you need to be still going over the wave. notice NO REAL JUMP / POP yet, you just flop over the back of the wave. (and still no feeling of throwing yourself over the front .. i.e being scared).

=====
STEP 5:
Do the above faster at a steeper (1ft) wave and try to bear of just a tad less (a very broad reach) Now aim to jump just a bit, still with the board taking off on a broad reach - if you could do step 3 every time - you'll find yourself landing on your back every time, with the odd better rotation.

=====
STEP 6:
Where i'm at right now - learning to jump a bit more and tuck the back foot up with a slightly less broad a take off.

Why does this work?
Well I think it's because the forward loop / spin loop is a very counter inituitive move:
i.e the board goes one way (through the wind downwind) and the rig goes in another direction (across you to windward... darn i really need some pics here...) its a kind of scissors movement.

Added to this you HAVE to look back (to increase the spin of your body) which is also v. counter intuitive.

So despite what I've been told on the beach countless times ('you can learn them in a day', 'they are techincally very easy' etc) I think learning to forward loop is quite complex (like learning any other windsurfing move) and its damn scary doing it at high speed of a decent wave. This technique teaches your body what do until it becomes instinctive without even giving you the feeling of jumping, catapulting etc etc. It eases you into it under control and fully understanding what each bit of the move does.

Sunday 30th Sep 2006

2006-09-30T22:52:00.000+01:00

the wind is looking good for more attempts tomorrow and i have a willing camera woman to record the mishaps... watch this space...

Sunday 23 Sep 2006

2006-09-30T22:49:00.000+01:00

a few more attempts but with a 6.9m sail which is really a bit too big - added to this the wind was pretty onshore so to get a downwind take off (vital) i was jumping over the backs of the waves on the way in... nevertheless I still managed to get some rotation on 3 or 4 of the attempts. It was hardly spectacular, but I still feel that I am edging my way slowly to sailing away from an attempt.

why 4 cowards?

2006-09-15T11:54:00.001+01:00

I've been windsurfing for 23 years and for nearly 20 of them people have been looping windsurfers. For at least 15 years i've been good enough to loop and wanted to do it.. but not so much that i could overcome my fear of catapulting myself at the water (and possibly at my airborn windsurf board and sail). Crashing into the water is one thing, but impaling yourself onto 6kg of carbon and epoxy is something else entirely...

So what's changed? well i haven't suddenly become a fearless 18 year old. Nope, it's simply that I have found a technique that i think will remove the fear.

I also hope that my discoveries along the road to looping might be useful to other learner loopers.

Why a forward loop?

2006-09-15T11:54:00.000+01:00

A forward loop is probably the most important move in windsurfing. Supposedly its not that technically difficult, but it is deeply counter intuitive to do. You can divide windsurfers into those that can loop, and those that can't (or won't).

The biggest obstacle to learning to loop is overcoming the fear of literally catapulting yourself apparently directly at the water. The general idea (from a lay persons point of view) is to jump off a wave and cartwheel 360 degrees in the air, landing back on the water the right way up and continuing to sail forward.

To aid my quest in overcoming this fear (endemic in all windsurfers with IQs over 70) i will be practising a technique pioneered by a young dutch windsurfer called Remko De Veerd.

What does a forward loop look like?

2006-09-15T11:41:00.000+01:00

here is an example
example of a simple loop.

I won't be trying to go that high just yet...