I'm super keen to get into some freestyle this Summer. I think it could help my fitness, balance, all round sailing, and give me some more motivation to get out on those light wind days. But where to start?

I have a 120L freeride board, 5.5 and 4.5 wave sails that I think will be a good light wind start, but only a big freeride fin. Should I stick a smaller wave fin on it maybe? I also have a 93L freestyle wave. All my other gear is freerace/slalom.

I played around with heli tacks years ago and my first plan is to get them perfect smooth. But where should I go from there? I would love to have a few goals for the Summer and to NAIL them

Upwind 360s then upwind 360s in the straps are good.. Plenty of light wind around to learn light wind 360s and you can try it in the straps every time you're about to fall off the plane heading into a lull.

Upwind 360s in the straps teach you about weight transfer and dealing with wind coming from every direction.. It's also a move that's not a gybe.

Your 120L freeride board should be fine to start with but you should definitely put a smaller fin in it (about 20-23cm). Depending on your weight you might find the 93L FSW might be a better option. In terms of light wind skills I would say practice the following to start with:
[1] Helitacks
[2] Ducking the sail
[3] Sail 360s
[4] Sail and body 360s
[5] Upwind 360s
[6] Sailing backwinded
[7] Sailing clew first
Sailing switch stance
[9] Fast standard tacks

You will probably favour one tack for most of these but a huge tip is practice both tacks from day one, saves you heaps of pain and time later on.

Hey Salty, Funny enough I bought a Skate 100 last week and am gonna bring it over so i'll give you a go on it if you're about.

yeah upwind 360s are the first step and all those other points are really useful when its light wind. You should be able to do upwind 360 in straps carving upwind from planing before you start learning anything further than vulcan. If you can already plane comfortably in the straps and can do decent gybes then I would start learning the vulcan. Upwind 360 has nothing to do with this move, its only useful for later moves. There is lots of info online about learning to vulcan!

what ever board you use you need to have central footstraps.. especially the back one. get used to sailing with them huge so your foot goes in up to your ankle.

Until your learning vulcans a small fin isn't super important but you might as well get used to sailing with a 22cm or 20cm, wave fin is ok to start with.

Good luck!

Thank you all so much!! That's a HUGE help! Can't wait to start!

You're coming back Tom? Awesome! Are you going to get into a bit of freestyle? Would love to try your Skate. I've thought about asking Adam if he needs someone to give his Skate a new home. I'm sure he doesn't need it now that he's super speed man

just my personal opinion here, but a couple of things that might be worth trying sooner than later, and will probably feel quite alien till you get used to it;

- once you get your straps inboard like a wave board, put the front ones all the way to the front, and the back one almost all the way to the back for a really wide stance (if you need to point right upwind you can pull foot out so that only toes are in the back strap which helps)

- like al said, open your foot straps up so that your straps virtually touch your ankles when you push your feet right in (narrow and tall works for me, so that sides of feet still grip the straps)

- practice sailing in the straps when you are off the plane (even barely moving) as it forces you to position your body weight over the front foot/mast track area, which tends to be where it will be for many of the moves created in the last 10 years

- enjoy it while you can before your bones get brittle (drink lots of milk, or beer?)

+1 for upwind 360's

again, good luck

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needsalt said..

Would love to try your Skate. I've thought about asking Adam if he needs someone to give his Skate a new home

I love the Skate so much Salty, I don't know if I could part with it. I have some new wave and cross over sails coming so will do lots more wavesailing and BnJ this spring/summer and just do the speed/slalom in big S-SW fronts. I will be getting a new big onshore wave/fsw board and if it is quick enough and fun for BnJ, you might just get your wish......maybe

Some good advice above - I have been wanting to improve the control I have of my gear, so i will give these upwind 360s a go as well before I jump into anything too free stylish

You know you won't need it anymore...

Heaps of great advice here!

Thanks Haircut! Will pretend I didn't see your ref to brittle bones tho

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needsalt said..

Thank you all so much!! That's a HUGE help! Can't wait to start!

You're coming back Tom? Awesome! Are you going to get into a bit of freestyle? Would love to try your Skate. I've thought about asking Adam if he needs someone to give his Skate a new home. I'm sure he doesn't need it now that he's super speed man

Yeah should be back in November, in time for some wind. Thought a FS board would be perfect for wallis lake and muddies - it gets going so early too!
Will be up for trying some moves when i get a chance.
You won't need a skate as big as Adams - i had a go on it last year and its great but defo made for someone 90kgs - my 100 even feels pretty big. AJ needs to get on with the freestyle while hes still got some hair. We can have an inaugural MNC FS invitational comp in the new year. Adams starts favourite though!