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A trip out to the
east coast made me re-look at the way some people are
riding.... made me realize how influential those videos
that Jake K made so long ago.
The target here is "the stomp". I'm going to stick my
neck out and say that the "stomp" as we know it is old
school, and is/should be dead. There's a new kid in
town, and it's called 'loading the line'...a.k.a. the
darkside.
I've seen people using the stomp, and walked them
through going to line tension. The result, 100% of the
time is more control in the air, and cleaner, higher
jumps, which will lead to higher inverts, and also make
them 100 times easier to learn because you will have the
line to help you.
I'm going to attempt a tutorial here. I'm sure others
will pitch in, please do! I'll probably miss something
typing in this little box.
So here it is:
Jumping Higher --- a tutorial
The best way to get what I am about to tell you is to
stop jumping altogether for a minute, and focus on your
handle and line. For these first few steps, don't jump.
Concentrate on your skiing. Concentrate on the pull of
the handle. Learn the feel, learn how to lean against
the pull, learn how to use the line to generate speed
and power. The ultimate goal here is to have your line
tight so you can use it to change the angle of your foil
to point up as fast as you can. A quick change in foil
wing direction to up = higher air.
First, shorten your rope to 65', this will give you more
control on the line, and you won't have to cut as hard
in these beginning stages.
Now, position yourself just outside the wake on the
driver's side of the boat. begin with a slight pull and
work on 'progressing' the cut as you get wider and
wider. A progressive cut means you add more lean to the
cut the longer you are cutting. What this gains you is
that this puts you cutting the hardest and fastest at
the end of your cut. If you don't use a progressive cut,
your hardest and fastest is at the beginning, and you
end up expending more energy and going slower by the
time you finally jump.
Repeat this, start from just outside the wake, and do it
until you can cut under control with a progressive cut
without thinking about it. Then, take it to the other
side. Just cut.... no jumping! Feel the force of the
line, use the line to generate more and more speed on
your cuts.
Once you get these down, swing to one side, and cut all
the way through the wake to the other side. Again,
PROGRESSIVE cut. You shouldn't be cutting that hard
until your leaving the wake on the other side. By that
time, you should be near 'full on'.
Do this several times in both directions. Pay close
attention to the force the boat is pulling on the line.
This will show you the kind of line tension you will
eventually be aiming for. You will have to lean away
from the boat to counter the strong pull. Remember the
feel of the pull on the line, you will be trying to
attain that from here on out.
The next step is to go back to just outside the wake. At
this point, one side will be more comfortable than the
other. It's ok to start with this side, but important to
work on both sides. Use the progressive cut method to
cut out. Get to 55-60 degrees from the wake. This
doesn't have to be exact, but you should be more than
45.
If you do the progressive cut correctly, you should have
strong line tension at this 55 degree mark and moving
fast.
Without flattening, without turning into the boat, begin
your jump. Don't "stomp" the board, but rather make the
foil go down by pressing with your feet a little harder
than you already are. Just as the board brushes the
water, pull the handle down and in slightly (the "in"
will straighten you so you don't get pulled over once in
the air) and release the pressure on your feet. You no
longer have to pull up on your knees. It will be tough
not to flatten and let the line slacken before you jump,
but if you do that, you will defeat the purpose of this
exercise.
The first few jumps, you will get pulled in to the boat.
By this, I mean the tip of the board will begin turning
in. This is actually good, and will teach you to use
this tight line. IF the board turns in, you counter it
by moving the handle in the same direction as the tip.
Moving the handle in with a tight line will move the tip
back out, and you will land straight and ski away
nicely.
Remember, jump with the loaded line. You will see that
it doesn't take any work at all to get the foil out of
the water. The stomp wastes a lot of energy on you, and
the momentum when the board hits the water. A loaded
line is your friend. Do this cut/jump over and over
until you feel the difference in your jumps. You may/may
not notice height immediately, but you will notice that
they feel different... better... more in control.
After you have gotten the air jumps down, cut at the
wake. Have the line loaded at least as much as it just
was on your air jumps, and jump at the wake. This will
teach you how to load the line for those big air rolls,
and how to time the wake.
I've seen this work, over and over. At first, it will be
scary, and you will want to flatten out before you jump.
When you first jump with a loaded line, you'll know it.
You'll also probably crash. Don't slow the boat down,
stay at your normal speed. Learn it like you ski it. The
crashing will stop soon enough. Remember to move your
handle to straighten you back out.
Take it big. We all have the potential for 60 frames.
Unleash it. |
