Technique Time

Want to take your jumping to the next level? Help is on hand with these pushloop top tips

With the new year still less than a month old, why not make learning to pushloop one of your new years resolutions. The pushloop still holds psychological barriers for many, but is less technical move than backloops for example, so if you’ve hit a wall with your backloop attempts why not take on a different challenge - after all a change of attack often leads to success when returning to moves you are currently stuck learning. To help you with adding pushloops to your repertoire of tricks we asked a few of the best sailors in the world for their top tips when it comes to pushloops. Make 2017 the year of the pushloop.

Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing / MFC): “I like to find a ramp that’s pretty much the same as a backloop ramp, so it’s going to send you nice and high. There’s no need to be in a rush with the rotation, so wait until you feel like you are as high as you are going to go look back at the tip of the mast then your body kind of follows what you're looking at. You’ll get to a point where it feels like you are right above your kit, which is fine and what you want, from here you just have to push out with your backhand until you feel like you are back up right. At this point you can sheet back in to control the rotation and land.”

Jake Miller (S2Maui / MFC): “Firstly you need a lot of speed and a good sized ramp that will ideally let you get 10-15ft in the air. I personally like to spot a ramp that will send you straight up - then you want to carve up into the wind a little and throw your gear over you - when the board is above you look at the tip of the mast and this makes you sheet out, which kind of brings the sail underneath you. When you feel the sail underneath you this is when you want to really push out with your backhand to complete the rotation and aim for a tail first landing. Usually on your first few tries you won’t rotate all the way round, but instead of letting go you really want to commit even more to pushing out and looking up with your head to encourage the kit to come around.”

Adam Lewis (Fanatic / North)

“First of all the best conditions to learn to pushloop in are when you are really powered up and on as small a sail as possible because this makes the whole rotation really easy. One of the most important things is choosing the right ramp, so you are looking for a ramp that is like a backloop ramp, but not quite as steep, this helps you to keep some forward momentum as you come round to finish the move. When you jump you want to throw your head right back so that you are looking at the mast tip. As you did this you need to pull you front arm in and push out with your backhand. To try and make the rotation a bit easier try and tuck in your with legs to make yourself more compact.”

John Skye (RRD / RRD / MFC)

“The number one thing is to make sure you have a lot of speed and power. You definitely don’t want to be underpowered for pushloops. When you take off throw your rig slightly more into the wind than a backloop. One of the key things for me is really pulling your front hand in as you go through the wind. As you come round, having your front hand bent then allows you to straighten it to stop the rotation.”