Technique Time

Advance into the world of backloops with these top tips

Everyone dreams of sailing away from their first backloop and then moving onto perfecting them. The backloop is one of the most technical jumps out there - requiring plenty of feel - so we caught up with a few of the world’s elite sailors for their top tips. Read on to find out how to crack the backloop now.

Levi Siver (Quatro / Goya Windsurfing / MFC):

“I think a lot of people get so wound up about making the rotation straight away that they don’t even get the take off right, so make sure your regular jumping is fully down. Make sure you get good projection on your jump and then when you reach the top look over your shoulder and bring the nose around, whilst spotting your landing. Once you start to get a feel for the rotation, just make sure you hold on!”

Maciek Rutkowski (Patrik / Point-7):

“I was always rubbish at jumping - it took me ages to learn backies, so I went through all the phases of "almost getting it". First step would be going more vertical than you think is necessary. Forget the normal straight jump thing everybody told you - I never jumped so vert. The straight up and down ones are always the easiest to land. To do that just point your head straight to the sky and extend your front foot. Don’t rotate straight from the wave - you might land a few like this by mistake but generally they're hard to control and look rubbish. Take off with hands rather narrow, shoulder width apart and once you take off pull the boom in as close to your body as possible. This will maximise the height, but also kill the unwanted power of the sail and give you control. Once you feel you’ve reached your highest point turn your head over your shoulder and spot the place you wanna land - from that moment on just keep looking at that one place. Once you’ve almost finished your rotation (facing straight downwind) slide your backhand down the boom towards the clew and sheet in gently - this will stop the rotation and make you avoid the "into-flaka" landing. Don’t be scared of height - it’s actually easier to land the slightly bigger ones as you have more time to prepare for the landing. It sounds all really complicated but backloops are a feeling move really as every single one is slightly different and everybody got slightly different styles. Don’t let go and find yours!”

John Skye (RRD / MFC)

“Really focus on where you want to land. Everyone says look where you want to land, but you really need to focus on a spot. Not just look over your should at the ocean, but look down and focus on an exact point to land.”


“Think of the backloop as two parts. Most people suffer from over-rotation as they just throw the loop and hope for the best. To stop this I think of the move as two parts. Firstly just do a high vertical jump. Then when you reach the apex, look over your shoulder FOCUS on the landing and start the rotation. 75% of the rotation should be done on the way down.”

Martin ten Hoeve (Goya Windsurfing / Point-7):

“Finding a steep ramp when you are trying your first backloops is quite important because you need to be jumping straight into the air and almost coming straight down as well. As you launch into the air make sure that you keep yourself close to the boom. At the highest point of the jump you need to bring your body weight from being underneath the gear to more on top of the gear. The backhand in a backloop is your control hand. If you open your backhand you will immediately start to over rotate, so it’s really important to keep it closed. On the way down keep your weight on your front hand and front foot, whilst tucking up your back leg. Then you just have to really commit to the landing.”