Most windsurfers in our group worked on jibes, fall jibes, and jump jibes. The fall/jump part in the fall/jump jibe was reasonably easy, but the clew-first waterstart in 35-40 mph was something rather different, even with the 3.7-4.5 m sails we were on. After a few failed tries, I remembered that Andy had called the Shove It a great move for overpowered conditions, so I decided to work on that instead. I did not make much progress, although my tries got me to the point where I can start making theories about the move. For once, however, I'll wait until I have tested my theories before I blog about them. At least I'm not alone with not getting the Shove It right away - other windsurfers have needed several months of practice or more to learn it. I also found some nice hints on the Windsurf Canada forum that explain the importance of front foot carving and the similarity to the laydown jibe. The same posts include a link to a Shove It by Taty Frans which is not as tweaked as most other Shove Its, and therefore probably more similar to the Shove Its a beginner would do.
The last day of the ABK Clinic was another light wind day. Nina and I worked on Reverse Duck Jibes and Duck Tacks. I managed to complete one of each on my Skate 110, although the Duck Tack included a duck rather than a nice throw. Andy made me sail on a 140 l board with a 5.6 Loco rig that was ridiculously light, and I made a Duck Tack on that combo within the first few tries, and also a few Reverse Duck Jibes. Maybe the 6.5 m sail is a bit big for learning new light wind freestyle moves after all.
We had 3 planing days in our week in Hatteras (plus one crazy day with winds from 20-50 mph and rain where we did not sail). If we had stayed home, we would have had about 6 planing day instead. But we definitely would not have learned as much here as we did there, so I'm definitely glad we went. Now I just hope that the water up here stays warm enough to practice freestyle for a while longer!
