Forward Loop Crash
Well, if I learnt one thing today, its that slightly over-rotated forward loops can hurt quite a bit!
All was going well, the wind was blowing, the waves were pretty big and I was out for a sail all on my own with my little JP Wave board and a 4.5m sail. First run out the back was good, I came back in gybed cleanly and started heading back out again. I had the fact that I’d promised Tom I’d try to get a forward loop on video in my mind so decided to just pull the trigger and go for one off the next wave. The wave was perfect, I actually got a fair bit of height in the jump and sheeted in hard, around I went and I thought to myself, “I’ve rotated far enough to land this one”, and then…..SMACK….
Cut Lip
I think I’d actually rotated just a little too far and continued to rotate a little as the board hit the water. The board and rig stopped, I continued and smashed my face against the boom. The result was a very thick lip with a big hole through it, lots of blood and a fair amount of discomfort too.
I sailed back to the shore, sorted the camera out as it had become a little dislodged in the impact and then went back out for another go. This time I didn’t try any loops, just had a few more runs in and out with a few jumps before deciding to pack up, head home and inspect the damage.
At least all my teeth are still there and I captured the actual loop part on video.
3 Responses
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
A few replies from elsewhere:
Silicon Beach said:
Facebook Comments:
The video footage may be from a slightly odd angle but it is quite good for reviewing my mistakes.
As far as this loop goes, the take off was ok, an ideal wave, and despite the fact that I made a couple of glaring errors the actual rotation was perfect. Shame I went a little too far and smashed my face!
The obvious errors were not moving my back hand further down the boom on or just before take off and not looking over my back shoulder. Both actions would have actually increased the rotation, nit necessarily something I needed her, but it may also have allowed me to extend the front arm a bit and to move away from the rig a little so that I wasn’t so close to in on landing / impact.
It’s all well and good pointing these things out now, but in the heat of the moment it’s just a case of plucking up the courage and the throwing myself into it and hoping for the best.
Al.