I'm catapulting on landing a bit lately.Whiplash landings and my shoulder is killing me..
I suspect its because I'm trying to pull the tail to windward in the air and over doing it so I land too far off the wind and the sail slams me..?? Does that sound right?
Your probably sheeting in when you jump which pushes the nose of the board down, You'll land very flat or nose first which could be causing your crashes. If you sheet out (or at the very least don't sheet in) just a tad as you jump you'll land tail first and keep going.......
I usually seem to be able to land flat or nose first ok but it's only been since I've started trying to adjust the board in the air that I've ben stacking it.It's not a nose dive or board thats causing the problem but the sail..?
I sheet in when doing chop hops to get the extra height (not needed so much in waves) and let the clew out a little on the way down to help for a softer tail landing. I think nose first landings look neater but are a bit more risky; backed off on those since I'm finally back on the water after missing last season from leg injury.
You need to tell us more about what's happening with the sail and board??? Are you just landing overpowered, hooked in and just being pulled over the front. Are you extending you back leg when you land so that you plant the tail???? Or are you crouched up in a ball when you land and just falling in a heap???
Lots of things could be going wrong, try Sheeting out to dump power on landing, your lines may be too short to sink your hips and control the power, Your straps could be too tight not enabling you to grip the board with your feet causing you to slip and stack???
Get someone to film you stacks so we can have a look
Actually the way my upper back etc has been this week I may have to ease off and avoid stacks as it's affecting my ability to work.
) but I don't know how to upload it.Its HD.
I almost guarantee that when you are pulling the tail to windward with your leg you are sheeting in, it's probably an involuntary action. The fact you mention that you go over the front when you land confirms that you are sheeted in, both in the air and upon landing...otherwise there is no other possible explanation for that scenario.
As Jase said this is fine, but you have to sheet out and extend that rear leg before landing or you'll land nose heavy which without significant sail and board control is sketchy.
There are two options here: practice modulating that power buy sheeting in/out in the air, you should get a feel for it pretty easily...or option two, sheet in harder and do forward loops.
ones..
It doesnt look like you're oversheeted and your position after take off looks good, so good in fact that if you push out with your front arm and sheet in hard you'd easily do a forward - much less painfull than a catapult
How do you bear off in the air? I thought maybe I landed too far off the wind and thats why the sail got ripped out of my hands??? o I haven't borne off enough in the air and its the rail catching rather than the sail getting ripped out of my hands?
From what it looks like you are taking off quite off the wind, or 'downwind'. This has the same effect as sheeting in as the instant you lose speed, IE at takeoff, the apparent wind angle increase which is exactly what happens when you sheet it. This is compounded somewhat buy pulling the tail up and in quite aggressively which pushes the mast base off the wind, once again similar to sheeting in if you keep your sail hand sheeted in, which you do.
Probably the easiest way around this is to 'steer into the ramp' upon takeoff. That is, turn the board into the wind slightly on the way up the ramp, then continue as you do. As 174 says though, probably a little to aggressive on pulling up the tail for the height you are getting, you don't have enough time to get the board back into the right position for landing. You are also landing fully powered (sheeted in), this is fine but you need to have the board straight if you do this or it will trip on either rail and you'll go over the front, as shown :) Sheet out slightly before landing will be more forgiving in terms of board position.
End of the day it all comes down to sail control, and honestly the best way to learn about sail control and the effect it has on board attitude in the air is start doing forward loops haha. Seriously your position in that video is almost perfect as robbo said, sheet in hard with the sail hand, push out with the front hand, boom, loops ^_^
Too old..
You're nuts.
I mean that in the best possible way - full credit is due here.
Just watch the "4 steps to forward loop" on youtube - seriously, you're most of the way there.
A crashed forward from that height is going to be a more pleasant experience that that stack.
Good work.
EDIT - that back leg tuck is waaaaay better than mine on a forward. Must make a note of that and work on it.
I'm desperate to get airborne..
That was my first run that day.I did 2 chop hops in the first 100m and both ended the same way so I pulled my head in and just sailed. That was the day where I had too big a board & sail ( 25 - 30kts + 4.2m + 95ltre board ) and ended up getting picked up and thrown downwind . I got multiple injuries that day and I still haven't regained full confidence.I used to just go for it and not worry about the board skipping all over the place and getting airborne.Now I know how much it can hurt I start to worry..
Now if the camera hadn't been there I might have been a bit more careful..
The only reasons to bear the nose off is to prevent spinout and possibly to keep planing if the wind is lighter and you dont have as much speed.
I have sailed board with a bit of vee in the tail where I didn't bear off at all on landing.
I'd say forget about concentrating on bearing off. You only land bearing off enough to prevent spinout, so under-do the bearing off rather than over-do it and when you do it just enough to prevent spin-out you are doing it right. Under-doing it, you may get spin out but you wont be catapulted.
You can see in this instruction video that its just about getting the board scooped up into the air, tuck your back foot up as you fly the sail (by sheeting it out slightly), extend your back leg to land tail first but use the power in the sail as you bend your back leg to land lightly on the tail. (If you click on the arrow to go full screen you may have to use the ESC key to go back to the smaller screen)http://www.boardseekermag.com/technique/jem-hall-chop-hop-095.html
Thanks. Sounds easy when he describes it. 20kt SSE today so might get some practise although my shoulder is still b sore from last week.
I hope my gybes and waterstarts improve dramatically as they saw a great white shark in the area I usually sail..
The camera was there wasn't it?
loosen the back footstrap up so you can actually plant your foot where it should be - your board will go faster if it is level and shouldn't bury the rail on landing because you can control it better
Booties make it hard to fit straps comfortably and safely but are a necessary evil for some locations
I'm no expert but your closer to doing a forward than chop hops! so forget the hops and go for gold
I looks like you pushing the board downwind with your front foot and bringing the back up up under your bum is helping it push away. i tend to sheet out a little and pull both feet up under me. not sure that text book but works.
Of course if the wind is onshore and you have to carve hard upwind on the wave to get a steeper ramp for take-off for a jump, you would have to bear the board off at least as far as your origional course for landing, which is where you can see quite a lot of bearing-off midair.
Its a lot harder to do then because you have turned so much up into the wind that you have to be very exact with the sail to push the nose off the wind, but its a bit like recovering from spinout in midair.
If you are just adding a chop hop into a run, then you dont need much bearing off (depending on things like skill level to avoid pressuring the back foot on landing, fin size and if the board has pronounced vee).
