82 COACHING WINDWISE TECHNIQUE
Now let’s look at our second summer signing, the Sail … the Windwise way!
SAIL 360 SKILLS TRAINING
This is not about just sailing along and spinning a sail round 360 degrees, that doesn’t really do anything. We train
specific sailing lines, Touch Points and break it down into two parts. The first being the beginning of a duck gybe,
the second part replicating Rig@90 sailing and th en the Rig Rotator out of a gybe.
Recreational Uses: A sail 360 links in to clew-first (Rig@90) beachstarts, non-planing and planing gybe exits, helicopter
tacks, push tacks and duck gybes.
Pro Freestyle: You’ll see it in a whole host of unpronounceable ankle-wrenching tricks.
Sail 360 Sequence
The Set Up
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Vision/Sailing Line: Sail on a broad reach
(daggerboard up if you have one).
Adopt a wide, ‘heel weighted’ foot spread.
Keep the shoulders right back to oppose and
counter balance the ‘pull’!
Widen the grip and pull hard down on the boom,
both before and after ducking the rig.
Stance: Drop the body into a low sunken-7 position.
The Duck
Counter intuitively, break the opposition rule, so pull the boom in towards you and then slide it forward to
release the mast hand. This takes the ‘whack’ out of it.
When releasing the front hand it should immediately grab the boom behind the existing clew-hand, and towards the clew
end. Immediately release the old clew hand and put it behind you for counter balance. Let the rig drop into the turn – don’t
rush grabbing it! This allows the mast to swing round to you. The hand still holding the boom on the original side ideally
chucks the rig behind you to help make first contact in front of the forward harness line, but in reality a super quick shuffle
with the hands along the boom is how most people learn. But adopt a wide arm grip on the boom and pull down hard with
the new clew hand as soon as possible!