TOE > SAME IN [DEX] > OP OUT [DEX] >>
http://hood.012webpages.com/_videos/Sailing.wmv
I like to think I have a pretty good sailing set so I thought I'd give out some tips!
Firstly when I do sailing - I try and do it the set fairly quickly. I do this becuase I think it's a set that is most impressive to people if it's really fast - I can get the set out doing a really slow lazy set as well but I think only a select group of freestylers would be impressed with this.
Sailing is all about technique - you don't need to be fast to hit the set at all - although it helped me when I was learning it because I get the set out before my technique was that good.
Basically (and this sounds stupid) I think of the set as a pixie atomic set. So I do a pixie set and then an atomic set - I don't try to do both dexes at once - in my opinion this looks slurry. I do the pixie set by brining my foot straight up and down. So my foot stays on an imaginary vertical line with the ground. While I'm lifiting up my foot this means that my knee is getting pushed forward. With a sailing set I don't like to lift my pixie foot to high - as it makes the window between dexes smaller. I probably lift my knee up until the top of my leg (my quads) are on a 90 degree angle with my body. Then I stop moving my leg - momentum will carry the bag off my foot and upwards - and while the bag is moving between my foot and my knee, I push the knee outwards so it comes up through the hole.
It's imporant to try and keep your setting foot close to you and don't push it forward when you're dexing.
As I start the first dex I move into an atomic set at the same time. This means that the dexing with the atomic set will be occuring when I'm bring my setting foot down and the setting foot will plant just after the dex has occured. This timing is important. People who have studied physics at a fairly basic level will be aware of Newton's Three Laws of Motion. The third law states that
- you may also have learnt about the conservation of momentum in a closed system. These two laws are very closely connected and relevant to footbag. Basically it requires a lot less energy if you're lifting one leg while the other is going down. Even if you watch me doing a video of a pixie symp atomic move - you'll see my pixie foot coming down while the symp atomic leg is going up.Sir Isaac Newton wrote:For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
Do the atomic dex by lifting your knee and pushing the knee in towards the bag so it comes over it. Once you can see that the dex has occured - try and plant it fairly quickly. If you have a good set you won't need to plant it that quickly - but obviously the quicker you plant it the more time you have - so if you're trying sailing moves and the bag is hitting the ground before you get your stalling foot to it - chances are the problem is with your speed in planting the atomic leg or your speed with the next component.
Other problems with sailing sets is when the bag hits your pixie leg before you've finished the first dex. This is usually because you are trying to dex the bag before it has left your foot far enough or if it's hitting your hamstrings - it's because you aren't pushing your knee out far enough. Another problem is hitting the atomic leg - this is usually because you've set the pixie too high. Because I try do move fast on my sailing sets - I tend to set pretty high - but probably about navel height is ideal - you'll want fairly fast legs to set higher. Probably the most common problem with sailing sets is that the set comes out on an angle. You could call this a slurry set. The reason this happens is the same as the first problem mentioned in this paragraph - you're starting the pixie dex too early. This means that your foot is moving across as your knee moves out with the bag still on it. You really need to wait until the bag has left your foot and is going straight up before dexing it.
Best of luck and feel free to comment in this topic if this helps (or if it doesn't) - if to just let me know that I'm not wasting my time!
