Recently We had Corran Addison come to town to do a series of clinics on Freestyle, SUP and slalom. On our first clinic Corran asked us what we wanted to work on. After our response he suggested maybe we should head down to the intake (a smaller local wave) and look at some of the basic techniques before working on loops and other more advanced tricks.
Corran explained what to look for in wave features and different tips and timing to spin your boat smoothly. This was actually a really good idea as by the end of the night I was sticking left and right flat spins in a wave I previously had problems doing this in. he was also really good at analyzing what you were doing wrong and providing advice on how to correct that.
The following day we went back to the same wave and worked on the same techniques and another trick as well. In the evening we had a discussion on boat outfitting. I actually really liked this as it gave me some ideas on how to make my boat fit better and also what I can get away with in regards to boat modifications, what materials will work and where to find them.
On the final day we went up to the Spinwave ( another bigger, faster local wave) where we worked on Getting set up in the hole, Loops, lunar orbits, phonix monkeys ( well some of us anyways). I had borrowed Raoul’s Monstar but the outfitting was loose and the boat needed some work so i was having some issues. I got some good tips on improving my loops but ddint get much of a chance to practice them.
I had a chance to fix Raoul’s boat the following week. I removed the happy cheek’s and glued in 6mm EVA foam for the seat, put in new back band ropes so they wouldnt slip anymore, fixed the seat nuts so the seat would stay in place and not move around and fixed his foot block ( temporarily) so it would fit me. That boat Rocks now!! I can spin for days in the wave and am much more in control. I havent been able to practice my loops much because the water levels have been dropping now and we just hit bottom immediately but I think with the combination of Corrans tips and the improvements to this boat my loop success will be much improved.
I never attended any of the SUP or Slalom clinics but anyone I talked to has been greatly satisfied with the clinics. I hope that we can talk Corran into coming up again.