TECHNIQUE
112 JULY 2019
Solid gybe but too
oversheeted and front
knee needs to drive
more forward.
PHOTO Nicolas Jones.KIT
The main kit areas I see that limit our improvement are below.
- Using or owning the wrong kit. It might be too big or too small, too fast
or too slow, or just unsuitable for your level. - Wrong combinations. Sail too big on a small board or vice versa, sails and
boards too close together in size. - No tuning. Not taking the time to change footstrap sizes or positions or
adjusting outhaul. Both are 2 easy fixes. - Changing kit. Going out with one setup that is not working and then
sticking with it in the hope that the conditions (or even you or your ability)
will change. For example, wind comes up and we don’t increase outhaul and
change down board size.
SOCIAL
Who do you sail with and how do they affect you? Perhaps their external
dialogue can affect your internal dialogue. We know the person who is often
saying it is too windy/gusty/light, avoid these drains on your potential. The
collective can be very powerful and I notice this a lot by how the peer
group’s positivity and resilience can really help everyone improve on my
coaching clinics.
LOCATION
Are you choosing the right place with the forecast on offer and will it help or
hinder your progress?
Flat water or waves, you know where these spots are, but it is you that has to
want it and who will take the option to drive there. Perhaps this is heading to
flat water to nail your tacks, or driving further to waves, rather than carving
huge grooves in the ocean on your same old choppy local waters.
THE MAIN MOVES
I will now impart the main inhibitors of progress across key moves and
aspirational ones too.
STANCE
You may have heard me say it before, but a bad stance really can be the root
of all evil and a major stumbling block in swift progress. If you have the
‘trinity’ nailed you will develop way faster. As a reminder, the ‘trinity’ is plane
early, sail fast, and get/keep upwind. The public enemies are:- Gear gazing.
- Hands too wide apart.
- Front hand too far forward.
- Stiff hips, i.e. not working with the wind.
- Poor wind observation.
- Front knee bending too much; a symptom of tight footstraps sometimes.
- Back leg too straight; too short harness lines can be a cause of this.
- Too close to the boom and excessive arm bending; again too short harness
lines can be a cause of this. - Oversheeted back arm.
- Front shoulder lifting up.
STARTS
Our starts are an extension of our stance, so read the above list to see where
our beach and waterstarts can fail. The errors I mainly see are:- Poor wind awareness.
- Bad stance leading to poor power control.
- Poor steering, worsened through gear gazing.
- Back leg too straight, forcing nose into the wind and lowering available lift
from the rig. - Pulling in on the boom on the way up.
- Oversheeting the sail at the top of the start, which leads to losing the power
in the rig or going into a catapult. - Poor back foot placement.
“A BAD STANCE REALLY CAN BE THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL.”
Nice one-handed jump
here, but I took off into
the wind and my tail
needs to be up.
PHOTO Nicolas Jones.Better technique in
beach starts leads
to learning and
improving waterstarts
faster! PHOTO
Nicolas Jones.