76 COACHING WINDWISE TECHNIQUE
WARRIOR FLAT WATER WAVE RIDING PLANING
This is fun! Get your speed up, tuck the feet right into
lose fitting straps, check the coast is clear, unhook,
accentuate everything, then get carving massively
upwind and then downwind, trying to keep on the plane!
Don’t ‘foot steer’ (I hate that expression) or wiggle your
hips from one side to the other. This is a whole body
Carving upwind:
to carve upwind, dig the heels, look upwind, chin near or on front/leading shoulder, hands right up the boom, rig
back, body leaning forward massively in Warrior to keep the board flat. This is a great skill for cross on-shore
windsurfing. Just before the board comes off the plane, come up, push out on the clew hand to help turn the board
downwind – just like your Warrior tack ending, then drop into Warrior for the downwind (bottom turn).
WARRIOR WAVE RIDING
Okay, so we are now actually on a wave and all that
practice will pay off. In fact, in my coaching experience,
those who genuinely practice our FWWR in all
conditions/boards, find that their wave riding comes
incredibly quickly, be that on a windSUP (you don’t need
to be able to waterstart to wave ride) or a fast ‘down
the line’ ride. In most cases, turn upwind first to climb
to the top of a wave for a fast bottom turn, which
should start at the top of the wave!
Turning upwind on a wave = back side wave riding
Turning upwind on a wave is called ‘back-side’ wave riding (your ‘back’ to the wave) and it’s the easiest way to steer
on a wave. It’s just like our Warrior tack ending. So if you can rake the sail back and lean the body forward on flat
water, you can turn on a wave.
Turning upwind:
look upwind in Warrior over that flexed knee, chin on front shoulder, hands up the boom, rig downwind to ‘oppose’.
Upwind back side riding
The speed of the wave enables you to really carve upwind. Note how the same skills are in place! Looking upwind
towards the wave, lean towards the wave and rake the rig back – body in accentuated Warrior! Then body then
momentarily comes up, shifting the hand touch points massively forward (you can even let go with the rear hand)
to transition across the board towards and move the rig the opposite way to the body – classic opposition!
uk
WIND
SURFING