HI Ive been watching some windsurfing videos lately after a long haitus
Back in the day the ultimate was the forward and the best looking forwards in my opinion were the full end over end one handed full planing and planing away off smaller kickers. Some guys seemed to be able to not even slow down and get the mast completely vertical. (also blokes at my local used to do) Even off larger waves they still seemed more vertical variation end over end instead of the wait till falling bear away and rotate style. No one seems to do anymore and I googled and it said largely disappeared? Is this because of breakage etc? or more improved consistent technique? the flat water ones i have seen look more like barrel rolls than end over end forwards?
i think mainly because over the mast rotation is hit-or-miss, with little options for control and as such more injury/breakage potential
Killer loops look impressive for sure. However, it's very difficult to combine them with other moves.
Watch Thomas Traversa double forwards, it's got a bit of a killer loop style which is cool to some.
The main issue with killer loops is lack of landing control generating stress on the rider and its gear. The cool factor of the whole thing flipping upside down makes it difficult to dampen landing by slowing down the rotation.
In a spin loop the rider heading downwind after the rotation can simply open the sail to kill the rotation and land softly. Spin loops can be triggered late too passed the apex of a high jump, and still be safe.
Spin loops are an evolution of the killer loop which lets the rider control both the rotation and the landing.
I can do a "decent" spinny loop of a moderate wave in moderate dead onshore wind (20 -24 knots).
Sail hand way back and looking back.
When powered up it's getting trickier and the attemps are very scary "Endo" (end-over-end), even when I try to stall.
Even landings on the mast with the risk of breaking.
Because of the small wind strength 'window' that I dare to loop, I want to improve this.
Any tips?
And what's with the first few reaches, there is no fear to do a spin/forward loop (each wave will do)?
The further in the session it's gets more trickier (to find a right wave) and scarier...
Overpowered is tricky because the sail will tend to pull early. The idea is to slice the sail on the windward side of the board always. A few tips:
- more sail tension so it feels light swinging side to side
- extend your front arm upwind
- pull your rear elbow up
- both hands should be way back (front one just in front of lines, rear one near the clip)
+ don't sheet in until you're actually father into the rotation, just let your front arm guide you around
- look back
- lean your body slightly upwind
Practice when you're well powered but not overpowered. It takes time to migrate from the sheeting in, head into the sail technique to a more sail movement type.
Practice on your wrong side too or maybe you're already do that?
Select to expand quoteDoggerland said..
i think mainly because over the mast rotation is hit-or-miss, with little options for control and as such more injury/breakage potential
Need to be higher and over rotation is likely unless you have consistant wave height and wind direction to get them dialed in and you definately have more momentum (of the body) to deal with compared to a standard forward which is more the gear spining around the rider.
I generally get too exited when conditions are suitable up in FNQ and go for killer style so have to bail on landing a lot (to protect the gear and body) 
A friend of mine loves doing them. Otherwise, another tip is to think long jump and maintain momentum throughout the jump. If the wave is to ripe then go for table top, backloop or start working on late fwd where you sheet in... twice!
