I'm still sheeting in with both hands for sure. There are a bit too many things for me to focus. Finding a decent ramp with good wind is already a mission! I wish I could try to simply pop downwind without much help from the water state but I find it quite challenging psychologically. So I look for something that drives my board up and focus on leaning forward, sheeting in hard.

Got two good days before a 3 week break so will try to get in as many attempts as possible.

Mate here's another tuition vid from Windsurf tv "How To. Forward Loop - Ricardo Campello"

Yep thanks for posting. I will refrain from criticizing the video but do appreciate to see more forward content online.

20-25 attempts today in weaker winds... grrrrr!
It's really too bad the cam is out because you all missed out on some great crashes. Some kind of endo-cheesish loops, really nice. Since I'm more comfortable with the attempts, I set them off on nice ramps and woah! Anyway, after a couple of nice cartwheels, I thought I needed to adjust something if I didn't want to rip a strap insert out or worse a vertebre!

So I took care of setting up nicely on the next tries and understood that I needed to throw the mast more upwind on the jumping side, it's weird because it feels like the sail is masking the exit but after that it was a lot better and easier to get the board out of the way upon landing.

No cracks today, yee-pee! Otherwise, rotation-wise, it wasn't that great. Of course, I'm getting used to getting flinged around but I didn't think there was a spark or anything like that. Without much wind, it's hard to build up sufficient speed and wind power once airborne.

Tomorrow, last day because a break, I'm gonna try to get out early since today I missed out a little bit by going out late.

Hoping for a waterstart upon after crashing at least, we shall see... :)

The first picture here tells the whole story I think. A leap with arms up and mast towards the wind, he then proceed to wait until sending the mast forward because of the height starting at the third pic, it's a bit delayed but the pop is similar to any forward and something I don't do well on my jumping and working on correcting!

The first attempt of the day can take some time to show up... today first ride boom! Off to a good start! Nearly one attempt every time I was planing pretty much unless when lacking bumps or not going fast enough.

Finally some rotation today, not often with the board but I did land on my back after spinning quite a bit. Good feeling in the air. Not a whole lot of crashes more like low wind crapped out loops. I understood that my commitment was directly affected by the size of waves. So it's more worth committing 100% over a clean chop than to do a semi-committed one on a wave (although it helps to have a bit more air time).

Session shortened by a storm which cut the wind suddenly, I had to swim back for at least an hour, maybe the heavy current caused by large tides made it more difficult. There you go, back at it in 3 weeks, hoping to get a working cam by that time.

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Manuel7 said..
Thanks for the detailed feedback. I do turn my head but I guess what you are saying is that I should turn my hips/shoulders and overall body towards the rear more, correct?

Like I said everyone says "but I do turn my head"! Based on your videos I'd say you don't turn your head enough. Not early enough, not far enough and not long enough. Definitely don't go looking at your back foot or anything like that when you're learning. You could look at your clew or a sailor behind you. The further and longer you look back the more you will naturally sheet in your back hand which will get everything happening for you.

I really think it's the final and only missing link to get you from where you are now to at least waterstarting out of your forwards.

Good luck - don't over think it or practice bad habits - you should be thinking that you need one more attempt to get it... not 20 more attempts. You can do it! Good luck and have fun!

I understand. Thanks for the details. One more attempt is exactly what it feels like I need when on the water. Not on the first one but especially true after an attempt that felt pretty good but failed because of a "small" issue.

Some good progress! Tens of tentatives with more than 25 during my last session, yes I'm pretty beat, nearly broke my elbow, neck, foot (x2), I can hardly walk, but it's all good :) ! Seeing the faces of people, encouragements on the water from just about everyone reminded me why we do what we do!

Got lots of footage and great pictures from getting thrown about, I also added a "Donate" button on my website so anyone willing to contribute to my work now can! It's free to test the new feature :D (windsurfing.lepicture.com/)

Lots more to come!

Here are photos a little more representative of my current level, the body is there, need to get the board over with me, keep rear arm bent and front arm extended so I can have a chance to waterstart.

Sometimes, I don't throw my sail towards the wind enough to my liking and feel like I'm jumping over my gear, not such a great feeling, the case in the second photo, I find it somewhat artistic though!

Latest attempts, fun times, enjoy!!!

I recommend Day 3 obviously, 1:25, 1:35, 1:48, 2:18 (ouch!) and 2:22.

While Day 1 was a little difficult, Day 3 looks promising with some nice momentum on a few tries. I remember being shy on sheeting in on those good tries and didn't stay well tucked throughout. Key points for the next times.

Today, I was only able to do 4 (lack of wind) but focused on quality of ramps.

First, good ramp but lacked wind.



Second, great front arm, a bit too much leaning back at the pop.



Third, I think the windiest attempt, and I tried to move a bit more over my gear once in the air (still too far back though), the board gets closer to me upon landing, with a bit more wind I think something could have happened.



Fourth, body much more straight!!! Only lacked a bit of wind (and technique) to wrap it up.
Honestly, I was a bit surprised to see the photos because it looks like I'm a lot closer than I thought on the water, tomorrow I will LOOP :) !

If its light wind, it might be better to do some training drills on how to bear away with the sail. You can also work on this with a broomstick at home.

There are heaps of forward loop drills on the internet but I found the drill were you bear away the sail and catapult yourself over the front (without the board) very useful. You can do this drill in non planning conditions.

Those drills have made me more confortable and familiar with sail action for sure! What I found the most challenging was to combine the correct body and sail positions upon take off. Just as a reference I'm going for spin loops as opposed to forwards (too scary!) or speed loops (too fast!).

On the last try, it's clear that I extend my front arm after the fin is clear (photo 2), it should already be extended on photo 1. My center of gravity is still too far back upon take off (to protect myself from launching basically) and then I switch and bring it over on photo number 4. The lack of wind and speed hurt the rotation further and my board grabs early.

If we compare this nice spin loop to my last photo, I think it's pretty darn close! With more wind I think I could have landed it despite small adjustments to find a bit more rotation speed but today shall confirm this!

Yesterday, the wind was quite good and strong 16 to 28 knots, however the water state wasn't as friendly with more disorganized onshore still decent-sized waves. In these conditions, I started to get shy on extending my front arm and backing up my rear hand. I also bailed a few times because I wasn't feeling it on got too much pop, it wasn't pretty (or maybe it was!).

In these conditions I tried to focus on keeping the board under my feet to try and get to waterstart away out of, well at least one, and I almost did!

The session had 3 acts.

Act 1, got some good attempts all losing the board. I believe I lose the board for two reasons, one because I'm too much over the mast foot, I need to get ahead of it and lean forward more upon take-off. And two, because I don't feel comfortable landing with the board under me when my mast gets too parallel to the water, so I untuck and loosen up my feet.



Act 2, then got a few bails and got frustrated.



Act 3, cleared mind, tried again and got better ones. Funny how all these emotions can come in just one session. Even on this one when I tried to keep the board with me, I still lost it before being in the water, need to work on that !



For this next step, I'm going to focus on only one thing which is to lean forward upon take-off, just leap forward with arms up as if I wanted to "hang" my boom overhead. So close, so close!!!

More PHOTOS here -> www.facebook.com/Manus-Windsurfing-Blog-204083476593704/photos/?tab=album&album_id=492947241040658

Manuel7 this is a great journey that you are sharing with us.
Your pictures are awesome too! Are they frames pulled of your GoPro?
We are all waiting to hear your "WooHoo" of success very soon.

Thank you, a lot of time is going into going through videos, extracting photos, touching them up and posting them! I do hope it inspires others and advertises our sport too, along with providing entertainment to us all!

My GoPro hero finally broke after taking in too much salt water! I now have a Session 5 which is fantastic. Reminds me I need to submit my videos to them.

I have a video showing my camera mount on my YouTube channel Manus Windsurfing Blog.

In your vids you are showing:
- you are popping the board
- you are even looking back
- you are making the board rotate

As you said, you are leaning back much too far -> stand up straight.
You still aren't moving you hand back far enough.

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mathew said..
In your vids you are showing:
- you are popping the board
- you are even looking back
- you are making the board rotate

As you said, you are leaning back much too far -> stand up straight.
You still aren't moving you hand back far enough.

Adding to this.... your front hand/arm is not leading the mast AWAY from you. In nearly every single shot your front elbow is tucked up against your ribs. You have got to push out that front hand so the mast can catapult off the wind and your body will follow. At the moment you are pulling everything back and away from the rotation you need. Dedication and commitment is not an issue... I can see you want this.

Just go out and try jump a bit off of solid waves...... jump up and off the wind a bit. Concentrate on keeping the front arm extended and tuck your knees up. Once you are comfortable jumping a few times then go for the spin forward without the board or jumping.....

Let the wind catapult you and make sure you push out and sheet in HARD.... you should swing over and around quite easily....get the feel of the acceleration and power of the catapult. Don't dive over the board, if you are sheeting in hard and letting the mast take you the rotation will come easily.

You need to teach your front arm to lead the way and the back arm to violently sheet in.... try and get your back elbow to to come right behind you. Best way to describe it is like drawing a bow and arrow. Front arm out and away with the back arm pulling hard. The more you move your hand back the harder you can sheet in. In the sequence you posted you can see the guy has even moved his front hand back onto the harness lines so he can let the mast swing away even more as well as enable him to get further back on the boom with the back hand.

Once you have the catapult feeling without the board then go for it!

You're right, I should have added keep the front arm straight. It's relatively easy to straighten it upon take-off, so long as the conditions aren't so hardcore, but it's not as easy to keep it straight as we tend to hang on for dear life. Now that I think about it I have been raking the sail back when sheeting in, hmm... :D ! The sail should be all locked in around the rear arm if I'm not mistaken ;)

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Vince68 said..
Keep at it Manuel I'm watching this process with great anticipation I and i think most of the seabreeze windsurf forum members here really want to see you succeed

What you are doing is my goal for this year although i doubt i'll pull one off

Yeah, me too, I've been dogging this one for far too long, at 41 I can't keep putting it off - time to pull the trigger and get it done!!!!!

Great to see your commitment Manuel, keep it up.

It may teach you bad habits but wymaroos got me into doing them I think but they tend to be done too far downwind to help much. Above all, easier conditions with good wind/wave/chop direction, being comfortable with the gear and the spot.

You do have plenty of time to learn them, although I don't think my neck will ever be the same after a couple of whiplash! I'm not sure how people near their 60s cope with the pain!

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Manuel7 said..
The sail should be all locked in around the rear arm if I'm not mistaken ;)

Your sail/boom should be up and forward of the mast foot as per the first 2 slides previously posted
Your back hand is then sheeted in to your chin as per slides 3+4
Without the "Up and Forward' position your rig will never rotate and you'll end up landing sideways due to board rotation but no rig rotation

If you look at the pics of the spinloop above take a close look at the guys body position as well as the mast. Notice that he never gets inverted ie head pointing to the water. Also note that his mast never really does either. The harder you pull your back hand the less inverted you go because you are forcing the rotation around the mast or the vertical axis. This makes the move less daunting because you never really have the water flying straight at your head.

Point out with the front hand and yank HARD with the back hand. You'll spin fast............ If you pull in with the front hand you are doomed.

Keep at it!!

Hey Manwel...
I've being doing forwards for around a year now .The best video ive seen to date is https ://
The main thing i notice in your pictures is your way to far back,and you need your back hand back further.
Basically when you jump clearof the water steer the sail(not the board) so far down wind YOUR ****TING YOURSELF ,then look back and pull the back hand in HARD AS YOU CAN.If your not getting around go faster,further down wind,pull harder.
May the force be with you

Man get that gopro fixed. I want to see you pull it off.

haha ! I got a new one (Session 5, great cam!) And today, I coped with 2h+ of flick/flacking around in 12-22 knots winds to pull off 6 or 7 attempts. One went quite well but lacked wind for sure! That said I kept my front arm straight much longer with a boom nice and high. Tomorrow they are calling for 18 knots, should be pur-fect, I can-not wait! (one more sleepless night :D !)



Also, I was always wondering what would happen if the fin didn't clear, well nothing really, because of the sail lift, there's no pressure on the rear fin and therefore the board can slide and rotate freely. In the photo below the fin never cleared and yet I spun around 180 degrees, pretty cool! So no worries about the fin not clearing so long as the sail throw happens.



And finally, it seems that my eyes want to lock up around in front of my rear hand and not all the way around, I feel like it's more natural since we want to lock the sail right there, correct?

I reckon you would just want to smile straight into that little camera of yours. It might help your rotation and I'm sure it would look nice!

I heard that looking back was more true for first attempts but once that the rotation happens nicely then it's no longer needed. I feel like I need to concentrate on locking up on my rear arm more than get my body twisted backwards. What do you think?

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Manuel7 said..
I heard that looking back was more true for first attempts but once that the rotation happens nicely then it's no longer needed. I feel like I need to concentrate on locking up on my rear arm more than get my body twisted backwards. What do you think?

You posted a sequence-pic of Ricardo Campello... this fellow is easily in the top 5 in the world for forwards... Look at his head in pic 3.