When freestylers catapult themselves metres into the air from mirror-smooth water using only technique and the power of the sail, it is reminiscent of a mixture of a Playstation game or "Matrix Reloaded". Power moves such as Kono, Skopu or Burner are real eye-catchers.
Several aspects are required for a good pop when jumping:
- Suitable material: Pure freestyle boards are designed in such a way that they have a lot of volume in the centre area around the mast track and in the tail area - this ensures that the jump impulse is not wasted but converted into height. Wave or freestyle waveboards with their narrower tails have clear disadvantages in this respect.
- Clean ducking: Only those who can duck their sail cleanly and carry as much speed as possible can pop out high.
- The take-off technique: Speed, the right course and sailing technique are crucial to ensure that it beams you into orbit on take-off.
Place before the"Duck" Make sure you have enough space on both sides, as things are bound to go wrong. Look for the smoothest possible spot without chop. The ideal course for the Duck is half-wind to light space wind. Speed is your friend: the faster you are, the lighter the sail will feel while diving through. This applies to switch and regular. Maintaining speed during the switch is tricky at first, but a basic requirement for a clean duck. The ducktack from series 1 is therefore a great preliminary exercise, as it is easier to maintain speed without standing in the loops at the back.
With the regular duck, on the other hand, it's not so much the speed as the twisted body position that is one of the sticking points. As in series 1, you can practise this well with the Switch Heli-Tack. In order to dive under the sail in the twisted body position, try to position it as lightly as possible. A backwards "pumping movement" from the knees in front of the "duck" (1-2 in the photo above) can help to get pressure out of the sail. As soon as your knees are stretched again and you are standing upright, start to move the rig diagonally forwards towards the windward and bow with your mast hand in the plane of the sail. Now you are already automatically loading the windward edge with the hacks (picture 3 in the photo above), whereby you should make sure that you consistently load the front hack more during the ducking, otherwise you will stifle the speed via a stern or unintentional leeward edge load. The same thing happens on switch stance. Also try to load the windward edge - especially via the front foot. Only in reverse, with the toes instead of the heels (image 1-2 below).
While you hold the mast hand close to your body and move the sail in the plane of the sail, it is important to understand which wind you are actually surfing with: The relative wind! This is a mixture of the atmospheric, actually blowing wind (3a, which comes exactly from the side at half wind) and the driving wind (3b, which always comes exactly from the front). The relative wind (3c) results from these winds and therefore comes diagonally from the front - and this is exactly where you have to move your sail when ducking to make it neutral.
Try to move it in a fluid movement and reach backwards crosswise onto the end of the fork (3-4).
If the sail floats neutrally, you have hit the perfect angle. Actively pull the clew under the body towards the stern so that you can reach far forwards with the new mast hand on the boom and keep the mast at a distance. In this phase too, the heels, or in the case of the switch duck the toes, always put slight pressure on the windward edge.
Once on the other side, keep the tension in your body and the pole at a distance with your front hand (6).
Error analysis
The angle for "ducking" always changes with wind strength, speed and course - that's what makes the technique so difficult.
What inSwitch stanceis actually not a fully-fledged trick and only scored low in the contest as a"Semi Switch Kono" is nevertheless an explosive trick, a jumped way to turn and the ticket to the world of crouched newschool freestyle.
With an original, complete Switch Kono, the sail is shifted during landing by suddenly releasing the sail hand at exactly the right moment. This causes the board to turn a further 180 degrees with the stern through the wind and you continue in the switch stance direction.
This makes the whole thing unnecessarily complex for beginners. To start with, we stick to the 180 degree turn into the wind, where the board shoots steeply upwards out of the water like a rocket and lands straight again.
At the beginning, concentrate on loading the sail after the "duck" by pushing with the sail hand, carving slightly but constantly into the wind and maintaining speed. Once these three criteria have been met, there is nothing to stop you from radically pulling the boom into the wind and up over your head with your arms stretched out (picture above 2-4).
Tip: Even if it looks like it from the outside, with the Kono (switch and regular) you never actively jump backwards, but only upwards and into the wind. The wind in the sail automatically does the rest for you. If you throw yourself backwards, you won't generate any height and will end up on your back.
Once you are in the air, you now actively pull yourself under the sail at the highest point - from the stretched body position during the jump - and adopt as compact a body position as possible ("from tall to small"). The aim now is to pull the board under your buttocks like a soft cushion for the landing (image above 5-7).
Bend your legs, pull your body towards the boom and try to shift your weight away from the tail and water, further forwards towards the centre of the board.
From switch stance, this is a little easier than regular. For regular, you should also make sure to keep the board upright by stretching your feet just before the landing phase so that it can land cleanly and doesn't hit the rail or nose first. At the same time, looking over your front shoulder can help with rotation and also allows you to aim for the landing spot.
At the beginning, it is easier to land the Regular Kono clew first and then perform the glide (8 above). As soon as you manage to generate the necessary height, you can also slide completely through in the air. The same applies to the Kono from Switch. If you land upright and without water contact (8 below), the next step is to let go of the sail hand just before landing and see what happens. Have fun practising.
