Pop Tips

Aerial freestyle windsurfing is now at a staggeringly high level, but whether you’re doing a double culo in the PWA or a cheeky chop hop at the weekend, it all starts with a ‘pop’! So how do you ‘unglue’ your board from the water? Finn Mullen speaks to Fanatic, Duotone and Severne for design insights, while John Carter asks the men and women of the PWA for their ‘pop’ tips.

- John Carter, Finn Mullen, Gollito Estredo, Raoul Joa, Klaas Voget, Oda Johanne Stokstad Brødholt, Yentel Caers, Taty Frans, Balz Muller, Ben Severne, Amado Vrieswijk, James Hooper, Dieter Van Der Eyken, Phil Soltysiak, Adam Sims & John Skye. 

GOLLITO ESTREDO

It’s all about speed! If you don’t have the speed you will not take off! For double moves you need to be full speed and have a lot of power in the sail. You have to load the sail at the right time for maximum ‘pop’. Also the best equipment helps and my Duotone sails are perfect this year.

“ IT’S ALL ABOUT SPEED! ”

RAOUL JOA - DUOTONE WINDSURFING LINE & PRODUCT MANAGER

For good ‘pop’ in a freestyle sail you want a high draft position and an elastic luff panel which nicely blows up. In the Duotone Idol LTD, the Dacron panel between the battens is convex now to harmonise the stress ratio between stiff battens and the very elastic Dacron.

“ YOU WANT A HIGH DRAFT POSITION AND AN ELASTIC LUFF PANEL. ” 

KLAAS VOGET – FANATIC WAVE / FREESTYLE R&D

The ability to ‘pop’ is essential for a modern freestyle shape, as the more ‘pop’ you get out of your board, the more airtime you gain for your rotations. We’ve implemented heaps of volume into the tail section of our Skates, which helps to push yourself off the water surface without sinking the tail. At the same time it’s not a tail which is mega wide and instead is nicely pulled in. This helps for quick changes of direction, which is essential to steer the board just at the perfect point of the bump you’re going to use to ‘pop’, as hitting the right spot is key for maximum airtime. The third and most important factor is speed. The rocker line, bottom shape and rails of our Skates make the board extremely fast and let them accelerate in an instant. The faster you go, the harder you can ‘pop’ yourself off the water.