When it's been blowing for days on end, a day's break can do you a world of good. But as soon as the next day with a gliding wind is longer than you'd like, it's time to get out on the water anyway. Because a light wind session can be much more than just a pastime.
Back riding in particular, also known as leeward riding, is one of the most important building blocks for much of what comes afterwards. In "normal" windsurfing, you stand with your back to the wind and the sail develops leeward pull from you. When backing, it's the other way round - you're downwind and the sail develops counter-pressure from windward. This may sound a little strange at first, but in practice it happens more often than you might think: from basic manoeuvres such as the helitack (there's a video tutorial on the surf magazine YouTube channel), to classic planing manoeuvres such as upwind 360, ducktack, carving 360 or backwind jibe, through to freestyle moves à la Spock, Kono or Burner - there is always a phase in which you stand back for a brief moment.
The requirements for baking
The Leeride is best practised in light winds, ideally two to four wind forces. A board with sufficient volume is recommended, such as a windSUP or longboard, but a large freeride board without a daggerboard is also possible without any problems. At the beginning, it is also advisable to choose a small, handy sail without camber, so that you can practise the movements well.
If you have a feeling for sailing in light winds, you automatically do a lot of things right in strong winds."
Crucial point: controlling the sail pressure
The absolute sticking point is controlling the sail pressure during leeward sailing. Backing can be tricky, especially in stronger winds. The most common problem is that the back pressure in the sail becomes too great and pushes you off the board to leeward - as you can see in the sequence above. Even with planing manoeuvres such as the Upwind 360 and the Carving 360 or light wind tricks such as the Helitack, this problem occurs again and again at the moment of backing. The cause is always the same, namely that you respond to the increasing pressure of the sail with counter-pressure.
The golden rule when backing is: the mast arm keeps the sail at a distance, the sail arm remains deliberately passive. Sometimes it helps to place only two fingers of the back hand on the boom or even let go completely (picture below). This allows the sail to open, the pressure is released and you can control the backstroke better even in stronger winds.
"The front arm keeps the mast at a distance, the rear arm does nothing at all - that is the golden rule for all manoeuvres with port tack."
The Leeride is a building block for these manoeuvres
If you have mastered backing in light winds, you will benefit from this in numerous planing and jumping manoeuvres. We will soon be presenting some of these manoeuvres here on surf-magazin.de. Here are a few examples:
Upwind-360
This move is also called a donut. Luffing upwind, pushing the sail back and dropping back from the leeward position, until the outhaul cuts through the wind and you are travelling in the old direction again. The crux of the matter is the moment when you turn back.
Carving-360
One of the absolute classic manoeuvres that belongs in the repertoire of every strong wind surfer. Here you carve a jibe with the sail laid flat to leeward and continue into a complete 360-degree circle. Here, too, it's all about sail control from the back.
Spock
The entry-level move into the world of freestyle is the spock! This involves jumping an airjibe, i.e. a 180-degree turn in the air, and then sliding fin first through the second half of the manoeuvre. Those who can control the back pressure in this phase are at a clear advantage.
Flaka
Another classic from the world of freestyle! The first half is jumped, the second half is skidded and must be performed from the back position.
