Ok, so i have relatively no experience but a willingness to disregard equipment and my own health and safety for the humor of others.
I want to attempt my 1st forward loop and i'm after a few tips.
Angle of attack?
Speed?
Height?
When to sheet in?
Any tips would be great before i go out and just X myself.

I can tell you what you shouldn't do... I am in a similar phase as well...
Do not start the rotation directly while taking off, because you'll lose the board and just fly over your gear. Air first then sheet in... :)

Sail across the wind, maybe slightly broad. Do a small chop hop. Move your back hand a half a foot further back on the boom from where you normally have it. Then yank your back hand so hard, as if your going to break your boom. Don't think forward, if anything, lean out a little. It's a helicopter, not a forward. You will learn to do end over forwards once you master the helicopter forward. Commit, don't let go. If you pull the boom hard, even if you don't fully rotate, worse case you will land on you back on the water. Remember, a forward is an easy move, probably less technical than a tack, just take some balls at the start. Good luck!

The biggest thing to overcome with a forward is the 'catapult reflex'. From the first moment you start windsurfing your muscle memory is honed and trained to sheet out whenever you fell yourself going over the front. A forward loop is just a controlled catapult and that reflex can be incredibly hard to overcome. You'll sheet in but without even thinking about it as soon as your body feels itself going over forward it will relax the sail hand and sheet out, or at least reduce the amount of commitment. Looking back under your rear arm is the biggest way to overcome it.

The second biggest learning mistake is sheeting in before the board and fin have cleared the water, which just comes with timing. As said above the forward isn't a hard move but it takes big commitment and timing to learn. Just don't ever let go of the boom, wedge your feet in the foot straps nice and hard and it's pretty hard to hurt yourself trying though

Using this technique got me to being able to do them as its very low and feels safe. Once you can do step 3 consistently you will be ready to go for a real one and you will have a good idea of what to do with your head/arms/legs/rig etc as you are building up your muscle memory.

My best tip look back towards clew as you sheeet in

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Scotty Mac said...
Don't think forward, if anything, lean out a little. It's a helicopter, not a forward. You will learn to do end over forwards once you master the helicopter forward.

this is the best advice......

there are lots of tips around saying things like jump, sheet in hard and hang on to your nuts...... that will put you in a hospital ward if you do it on flat water. i punished myself and broke a lot of gear trying that method.

by the time i'd lost my nerve to try them it was explained to rotate horizontal and not vertical.

Thanks for the advise everyone.
I will try and get some footage and post it on here so you can laugh/critique/cringe

spin loop video above worked for me, nice and easy way into it if you follow it step by step

best advice i can give when learning is dont go into them thinking you need to be going full speed. you need power in your sail, sure, but not necessarily to be going that fast

hucked my first forward today! three attempts. 1 super crash and 2 I landed on my back, very excited to try again. glad for wetsuit to stop the slap.

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barbarian said...
hucked my first forward today! three attempts. 1 super crash and 2 I landed on my back, very excited to try again. glad for wetsuit to stop the slap.

Well done !!

At least you have wind over there.....

Ok ,firstly apologise for no footage.
I attempted a couple of spin loops ending up nowhere near completing them.
Thought i was getting the catapault/forward motion sorted.
Session ended upbruptly with a snapped mast in the shore break.

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bowsa said...
best advice i can give when learning is dont go into them thinking you need to be going full speed. you need power in your sail, sure, but not necessarily to be going that fast

thats its, with out the power in the sail theres no round the fronty, you're better off with a sail full off power then going for it at mach 1

now the key is to feel that power, and hold it from blasting through to popping