Technique Time

The burner was invented by 7-time PWA Freestyle World Champion - Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / NorthSails / MFC) - and it has become an essential move of the tour with it featuring heavily in almost every heat. The burner is basically a switch stance, front to sail ponch and we recently caught up with a few of the top freestylers in the world for their top tips on how to add this stylish move to your repertoire of tricks if you are a budding freestyler.

Max Rowe: (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Mystic):

- Try and stay as far across or even upwind as possible as this is what helps the wind to get underneath the sail and stops it getting stuck in the water which seems to be the no.1 problem people have whilst learning them. 

- Another top tip I have for keeping the sail high, clear of the water and also to make them much cleaner is to keep it moving, so instead of just throwing the sail and jumping over the top of it you need to keep the sail swinging with the momentum of the initial throw. 

Rick Jendrusch (Severne):

- It’s really important to duck the sail with a lot of speed, a bit on a downwind course. When you have ducked the sail it’s important to fill it up with power, you do this by pushing on the back hand.

- Take off across the wind (reach) to make the rotation faster. To make the move even easier a little bit of chop will help.

- Stretch yourself out to go higher. Firstly bring the sail all the way up to the front and then throw it towards your back (ankles). 

- It is important is to stretch out your backhand and pull in your front hand a bit to get the lift and don’t forget to watch over your shoulder to make the rotation better, watch where you are going - (this is really important like all windsurfing moves).

- On the landing it’s possible that there is a lot of power loading up in your sail so be ready for a lot of pressure in the sail - and to be ready to release it by sheeting out.

Dieter Van der Eyken (Starboard / Severne):

- Try to go switch as fast as possible before ducking the sail, this will allow you a bit more time after you duck the sail.

- A key factor in most power moves is to power up your sail just before you take off. You do by pushing on the backhand to build up pressure in the sail, at the same time you also have to carve a bit into the wind with your board so you get even more power in the sail.

- Don't just throw your sail into the water, but try to bring your backhand up in front of you and pull in the front hand at the same time, this will start the rotation.

- As you take off try to look at the top of the sail.

Thanks to Max, Rick and Dieter for taking the time to share their tips and good luck learning to burner.