Freestyle riding technique: How to get airborne – in switch and regular stance

When freestylers use only their technique and the power of the sail to catapult themselves metres into the air from mirror-smooth water, it’s reminiscent of a cross between a PlayStation game and *The Matrix Reloaded*. Power moves such as the Kono, Skopu or Burner are therefore real eye-catchers.

• ​Freestyle Basics Part 1: Straps, fin, trim – the right equipment settings for performing tricks
• ​Freestyle Basics Part 2: Ducking the sail – the Duck Tack and Switch Heli Tack as warm-up exercises

The key to a good pop on take-off

• Suitable material: Pure freestyle boards are designed to have plenty of volume in the centre section around the mast track and in the tail – this ensures that the take-off momentum isn’t lost, but is converted into height. Wave or freestyle-wave boards, with their narrower tails, have clear disadvantages in this respect.
• A clean duck: Only those who can trim their sail properly and build up as much speed as possible can pop right up out of the water.
• The take-off technique: To ensure you’re beamed into orbit when you jump, speed, the right course and sailing technique are crucial.

Here’s how to dive through

Before doing the ‘Duck’, make sure you have enough space on both sides – things are bound to go wrong sometimes. Look for a spot that’s as smooth as possible, without any chop. A half-wind to light downwind course is ideal for the Duck. Speed is your friend: the faster you go, the lighter the sail will feel as you duck. This applies to both switch and regular. Maintaining your speed whilst switching to switch is tricky at first, but it’s essential for a clean duck. The Ducktack It’s therefore a great warm-up exercise, as it’s easier to maintain your speed without standing back in the straps.

With the Regular Duck, however, it is not so much the speed as the twisted body position that is one of the key points. This can be achieved with the Switch Heli-Tack Practise this thoroughly. To dive under the sail whilst in this twisted position, try to set the sail as lightly as possible. A backward ‘pumping motion’ from the knees before the ‘duck’ (1–2 in the photo below) can help to take the pressure off the sail. The moment your knees are straight again and you’re standing upright, start shifting the rig diagonally forwards towards the windward side and the bow using the mast hand, keeping it in the plane of the sail. You’ll now automatically shift your weight onto the windward edge with your heels (picture 3), though you should make sure to consistently put more weight on your front heel whilst ducking; otherwise, you’ll lose speed due to pressure on the leeward edge or an unintended load on the leeward edge. In switch stance, exactly the same thing happens here. Try to apply pressure to the windward edge – particularly via your front foot – but in the opposite direction, using your toes instead of your heels.

Duck into the relative wind

Whilst you’re holding the mast hand close to your body and moving the sail within the sail plane, it’s important to understand which wind you’re actually surfing on: the relative wind! This is a combination of the atmospheric wind – the wind that is actually blowing (3a, which comes exactly from the side when sailing half-wind) – and the headwind (3b, which always comes exactly from the front). The relative wind (3c) results from these winds and therefore comes diagonally from the front – and that is exactly where you need to move your sail when ducking to set it to neutral.

Try to move the sail in one fluid motion and reach across your body to grip the end of the boom from behind (3-4).

If the sail is hanging neutrally, you’ve found the perfect angle. Actively pull the clew under your body towards the stern; this allows you to reach far forward with your new mast hand on the boom and keep the mast at a distance. During this phase too, your heels – or, in the case of the switch-duck, your toes – should always apply a slight pressure to the windward edge.

Once you’ve reached the other side, keep your body tense and hold the pole at arm’s length with your front hand (6).

Fault analysis

As wind strength, speed and heading change, so too does the angle at which you need to ‘duck’ – that’s what makes the technique so difficult.

The Semi Switch Kono as your ticket in

What in Switch Stance doesn’t actually count as a proper trick at all, and in the contest it only scores a few points as “Semi Switch Kono” Even though it’s not highly rated, it’s still an explosive trick – a jumping way to turn – and your ticket into the world of crouched new-school freestyle.

With a genuine, full Switch Kono, you switch the sail during the landing by suddenly letting go of the sail hand at exactly the right moment. This causes the board to turn a further 180 degrees with the tail through the wind, and you continue riding in switch stance in the direction of travel.

This makes the whole thing unnecessarily complicated for beginners. To start with, let’s stick to the 180-degree turn where the board shoots straight up out of the water like a rocket and lands upright again.

To begin with, focus on loading the sail after the ‘duck’ by pressing down with your sailing hand, whilst carving lightly but steadily into the wind and maintaining your speed. Once these three criteria are met, there’s nothing stopping you from pulling the boom radically into the wind with your arms fully extended and up over your head (picture above 2–4).

Tip: Even though it might look that way from the outside, when doing a Kono (Switch and Regular) you definitely don’t actively jump backwards – you simply jump upwards and into the wind. The wind in the sail does the rest for you automatically. If you throw yourself backwards, you won’t gain any height and will land on your back.

Once you’re in the air, at the highest point – from the extended body position you had during the take-off – you actively pull yourself under the sail and adopt as compact a body position as possible (“from tall to small”). The aim now is to pull the board under your bottom, as if it were a soft cushion for the landing (picture above 5–7).

Bend your knees, pull your body towards the boom and try to shift your weight away from the stern and the water, further forwards towards the centre of the board.

Next Step: The Regular Kono

From a switch stance, this is a little easier than from a regular stance. This is because, from a regular stance, just before the landing phase, you need to make sure you keep the board upright by spreading your feet apart, so that it lands cleanly and doesn’t dig in with the rail or the nose first. At the same time, glancing over your front shoulder can help with the rotation and also allows you to spot the landing spot.

To begin with, it’s easier to land the Regular Kono with the sheet end leading and only then carry out the shift. Once you’ve managed to build up the necessary height, you can also complete the shift entirely in the air. The same applies to the Kono from switch. If you land upright and without touching the water (8 below), the next step is to let go of the sail just before landing and see what happens. Have fun practising.