How to Master Windsurfing in Chop | 5 Top Tips

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00:00 - 00:33 Intro
00:33 - 01:48 Rail the Board
01:48 - 03:31 Use longer lines
03:31 - 04:25 The right downhaul
04:25 - 05:42 Red the waves
05:42 - 06:25 The right harness
06:25 - 06:40 Outro

[@distico]

hand gestures like an Italian +1 :)

[@emilstanimirov2948]

Very precious video. Straight to the point. Most of the concepts I have felt while surfing, but did not understand then. Now much clearer. Thanks.

[@WindsurfingNils]

Glad you enjoyed the video :)

[@alfovebraseth]

Thanks - great tips

[@gideon458]

Awesome! Thanks for the tips. I would love a masterclass session so I can learn from you, I bet I can learn a lot! Also looking forward to the flat water advice!

[@fasullamail]

What a fantastic catapult at 3:03 😉

[@hokubluesky4989]

Thank you for the tips! 😎

[@wawala71]

Hi Nils, great video!! Thanks for the tips👌 👍.

[@robertocoslovich3143]

Thank you for those tips🤙

[@windwavewinter]

I really enjoyed this masterclass format! Great tips, looking forward to more :)

[@WindsurfingNils]

Thanks! More coming ;)

[@Dean-qt3rp]

I have to say, I sail in some of the nastiest chop in the United States. Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans is incredibly nasty. The lake is generally 10-15 feet deep, and creates hellacious chop on anything other than a southerly wind. There is no rolling swell that one can line up and make a run at, it is disorganized, utter chaos. Very tough to master.

[@jimmycricketlopez2746]

Oh yeah thanks for sharing Yankee doodle. It means a lot and we appreciate ur valuable feedback. Keep it coming 🤮

[@Dean-qt3rp]

@@jimmycricketlopez2746 Do you have some problem, potna??

[@cge771]

Excellent - this is what we need... 🙂 Great video and summary. Thank you ! Note: there was a time indeed when I was surprised to hear about your very short harness lines but depending on the slalom vs. pure speed conditions / "agreed".

[@sharewavestv]

Liked and subscribed since ages and commented everything 😉

[@WindsurfingNils]

bester mann, grüße :)

[@nilsbuer]

Nice video

[@speedquestwindsurfing]

This is great stuff. I was out in some chop yesterday. Im getting some new lines!

[@WindsurfingNils]

always a good idea :)

[@simongodfrey3765]

Thanks Nils, I never used to have problems going fast in the chop, but now that I'm older, it's a lot more challenging. Your tips seem to make perfect sense, apart from the last one - I've always used a seat harness and to me it makes perfect sense to engage the strongest muscles in the body (the quads) to resist the sail pressure, rather than the back muscles as I believe you would with a waist harness. I suppose I'll have to bite the bullet and get a waist harness, but would you mind telling me whether you have personal experience using both back-to-back please? Thanks again for the excellent content.

[@niclaskarlin]

I have both, since I also wave sail. I'll try waist some time!

[@bohvasspedersen4834]

Super tips - railing the board is the most important. What about the size of footstraps - seems to me it makes a huge differens too? Maybe a video about this subject?

[@Lindhofguitar]

Thanks a lot. I'll try the longer harness lines :-). In my local spot chop can be extreme, like riding an angry bull and getting thrown around all the time. But I try to see it as a challenge, good fun and excellent training. Until I come to the jibe part, where being thrown hopelessly around on the water makes it very hard to acheive a full planing exit (but when I do, I feel like a hero). My best advise in harsh chop is to switch to a more wavy board. I go from my starboard Carve 135 to my Starboard Aero 127 in very hard chop, and the difference is extreme though both boards being very close in size. If you could ever make a video about jibing in extreme chop, I would be very happy 🙂... All the best Per Denmark

[@Qwertinoo]

Wow great video nice summary. I’d say with experience I prefer seat harness even on chop, keeps me down and locked. I did some experimenting and my speed on seat was faster even on choppy

[@WindsurfingNils]

Interesting, I have tried in the past but never felt comfortable with a seat harness, especially in rough conditions

[@niclaskarlin]

#1 I heard somewhere that the mast foot should be as far back and the boom down. Mast foot placement is controlled by how easy planing is, I think. I need to re-think my boom height it seems.

[@jantheman334]

Hi nils, great content as ever. And thanks for your tips. I had a gusty and wavy session on monday and since after a lot of backpain, due to my harness, i am searching for buying a new one. What type of waist harness did you use in the video @1:25 ? The back of the harness seems very long and back friendly. 🤙🏼🙋

[@niclaskarlin]

Great list! 2:00 shows Luderitz, the least choppy place in the world. :-D

[@WindsurfingNils]

actually the key for me for last year's Lüderitz was to handle the chop, only then I got faster, most other speed places are way flatter...

[@73smoo]

I'm getting back pain from long harness lines.

[@WindsurfingNils]

True you get more stress on the back, sailing in chop is tough on the body!

[@Zadagu]

The forth sounds so easy, but when I try it, I'm having a hard time predicting the wave speed. So I'm always finding myself in a different state of the wave, than what I predicted.

[@shmish]

So with longer harness lines, this means that we are bending more at the waist? The distance from the boom to our shoulders can't change, unless I guess some people aren't sailing with their arms fully extended?

[@mp-qh1um]

nice, nowadays the universe says buy a foil hehe

[@reinerreiner4523]

what are five fips?

[@bigsean99]

2:59 I had the same crash 2 weeks ago because the nose kept on lifting and I lost control

[@WindsurfingNils]

it happens ;)

[@FATStereo]

you mean 30-32 cm ??

[@tantricsurfer]

another tip is to avoid getting suggestions from someone who really sucks in the water.

[@WindsurfingNils]

just wanted to share what helped me improve, but feel free to critique...

[@joakimhansson1322]

Irrelevant perhaps, but when becoming a parent you get a trilliant tips. Some you follow and some you don’t without comment to a relative or friend. Sometimes we didn’t follow our own tips… 🤔