Hi,

im 16 and well during my holidays in greece me and a couple of my mates were looking through your book and seeing what we can try and do and i was set the challenge of the forward loop i can chop hop but the only problem i found was of course the psychological side of it and i was wandering if you have any tips to get your self to do it haha well my holidays are over but im taking my sail to england and buying a board in england so i can windsurf there and see as far through the book as i can get during the next year but my first goal is the forward loop any help would be great full

cheers seraphim,

also just a quick question what freestyle board would you recommend because ive been looking at the starboard flare because i can get them quite cheap here in england ?

Hey Seraphim,

Great to hear that you want to learn the forward loop!!!

When i learned it, it was also hard for me to overcome the psychological barrier...
At the end, i just wanted to do the forward so bad, that I just thought about it all the time... trying to imagine and understand the rotation,... then one day with a very small sail and board (3,6 and 60 liter board,...) i tried it about 5 times and landed on my back in 2 of them already...

So, i would say you should see the book, watch the DVD, if you have it... see the Speed Loop section and the Forward Loop section in the wave part... read it and imagine how the movement must be.
Do the preexercises - on purpose catapult and imagine the movement on land... you might know how the loop will feel, before you ever do it...

Guess you did most of that already...

... best conditions to try is when you have a little wave that you can hit sailing across the wind. Small sails and boards are a lot easier to loop!!! (5,0 or smaller and a waveboard 75 liters or smaller is great to learn!!).

To finally overcome your fear, it helps to be out there with your friends... make a bet who tries it first or sail together while you try first one and then the other... when a friend is behind you, watching you trying, you kind of "have to" try it...

Keep in mind that it is not that difficult. You can do it because you know how it works. Usually it is not that dangerous if you do the movements properly (and to do them properly, do the preexercises)...


It IS goin to be kind of a big thing, a big step in your windsurfing life... a small percentage of all windsurfers worldwide ever learn the loop...!!


Board: Starboard Flare is good! Don't get it too big... what is your weight?
Anyway, as said, to learn forwards, it helps to have a SMALL wave or steep chop and pretty strong wind so you can go on a small board and small sail... then you will get the rotation a lot quicker...

Take care,
Rossi

cheers i think my weight is around 58 kilos so im not exactly the heaviest guy so i thought id get the 99lt board

one more thing....

in your opinion which is best the jp freestyle board or the flare hahah sorry for all these questions im not exactly swimming in money so when i do buy my board i want it to be the right one


cheers,
Seraphim

hmm - hard to say which one is "better"... both are great boards, you won't be wrong with either of them.

I think both are planing equally early and fast, pop equally...
They just have a bit different style... which might influence your style when you learn moves... see the style of Kiri or Taty compared to Bubble or Antxon... you can see the difference in their style when doing manoeuvres. Of course the riders all have their own style, but the board also defines the style a bit.

The Flare will be very smooth in rotations i think - has lot of control and is pretty forgiving...
The JP Freestyle might be more aggressive when sliding and might jump a bit better, but still forgiving...

Both are great boards and will support you a lot when learning freestyle manoeuvres!

Hmm... about the size - 99 liters... i would actually take the smaller one... i know that the Flare 88 is a really great board also! however, bigger board will let you plane earlier and support you more in slides and so on... it depends,...
What sails will you use mostly??
how much wind will be as average??

going to sleep now...

All best
Rossi

Hi,
i was lookingat the measurments for the 88liter and the 98 liter flares theres only 3 or 4 centimeters difference and considering i dont weigh that much 88 would probably be the better option.

The most likely place i will be windsurfing is in whistable south east england as its more or less the nearest the wind there on average is 5-6 beaufort so i thought about getting a size 4.8 sail i have a north voodoo 4.5 that has suited me in most conditions and is more or less bulletproof but for 5-6 beaufort i need something a bit bigger so yh im thinking about a 4.8

cheers

seraphim