flakas / vulcan.. they are so darn hard...

[surfalex]

Started last year to try to learn flakas and vulcans.. did not get very far. Feels like a completely new ballgame.. awkward. like throwing yourself blindfolded backwards off a cliff. I know in my head every single step, just can't perform. Staying in the footstraps and getting the rotation going feels impossible.
Any advise ? Anything you can practice on land ? ( while lakes are frozen )
I am not a beginner, I can do many freestyle moves, just the world of tail sliding feels so far away...

[rlemmens]

Small fin and a freestyle board helps a ton. Also, remember for the vulcan to bend your front elbow before you jump, it'll point the nose down, and help your rotation. Smooth water and being fully/slightly underpowered helps as well. Also you're not really throwing yourself backwards, you're keeping your weight toward the nose of the board and kicking your back foot around. Good luck, watch those ankles.....

[dllee]

Maybe start sailing in an enviornment where the moves are pretty much practiced by a few sailors, so you can learn by example.
Assuming your using short wide freestyle gear with spinout sized fins, it should be relatively easy to complete the hop 180 into a tail slide leaning onto the rig.
If it was easy, it would be kiteboarding.

[PeconicPuffin]

Stay at it. The ABK guys say it takes between 700 and 1000 attempts to hit your first vulcan, but that once you start making them progress accellerates.

[LeeD]

Aw shucks, I know nothing abut vulcans....
Let's see.... I was jump jibing, duck tacking, and heli in 1984, not perfecting the 3 until '85. Some thought I was only a trickster.
Fast forward 27 years.....
Where I sail, in Berkeley, there are more than 8 guys who CAN vulcan, spock, and a few other tricks. I can claim Tyson and Wyatt, as well as RobWarwick, Sofien, and a few other's as "sailing partners" whenever we hit the rigging area the same time.
Now, can you?

[Wind-NC.com]

No doubt, those are hard moves! Step one is to get yourself into an ABK Clinic- make sure it's one where Andy Brandt is offering advanced freestyle instruction. There are a number of other guys giving great clinics, too- Wyatt and Tyson, I'm sure there are some Gorge guys, maybe Derrick in Rio? I can help if you come to Hatteras.

Practicing on a skate board is fantastic- Short Deck, 5-10mph wind, 4.0 or smaller sail. It's really easy, for example, to get yourself rolling backwards, switch stance, while back winding the sail. The more you play around with all of the different scenarios on land, the easier it is to deal with them as you progress on the water, where things happen much quicker and more powered up. You'll already have some muscle memory, and the "vision" of what's going on.

And yes, expect to fall, A Lot!! You're going to have an excellent waterstart by the time you figure out vulcans

[DanWeiss]

[PeconicPuffin]

[feuser]

[jse]