Having abit of trouble getting on the plane and i would like to know if my sail pumping technique is correct.

I'm generally a lazy basket who is dragged kicking and screaming into pumping sails, however when I do it it's more hanging of the boom and bouncing the board of the water with my feet.

Come up to NSW, we will teach you to plane in less than 10 knots coz 99% of the time thats all we get here. Its a national nine news event when the leaves start rustling due to a zepher.

I was woken up by the air moving quite quickly in the middle of the night and a little bit scary, and it wasn't me farting. It was quite strange, maybe a once in a lifetime event. When air moves, whats it called?

Hey Choco was that the same technique you were showing us Queenslanders up at Burrum > I diffenatly think your on the right track and it keeps the big fishes occupied while the rest of us sail.

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vando said...

Hey Choco was that the same technique you were showing us Queenslanders up at Burrum > I diffenatly think your on the right track and it keeps the big fishes occupied while the rest of us sail.

Ha ha Choco


Speaking of pumping though, I'm absolutely hopeless at it. Most times when I try it, I just slow down... Have more chance planing by staying hooked in and just sheeting in and out.

However yesterday it started working for me! First time ever I managed to pump properly and get going
What made the difference for me was waiting till I was heading downwind with lots of power, juuuuust about planing, then unhook, and then sit down hard... slowly stand up again, then repeat. Couple of these and whooshka!

Hey nebs, try staying hooked in when you do that, it will pump the sail as well as the board, if you get the 2 timed together it works better.

This needs a video doesn't it.

What you're doing in that vid is not pumping. I don't know what its called maybe "air rowing". Pumping is a vigorous whole body activity and it's hard work.

It's pointless pumping if there is not enough wind to keep you going.
With the possible exception of Olympic windsurfers no one pumps any more than the minimum required to get them over the hump to free the board to planing speed. More than 4 or 5 pumps is too much.

Its as much a matter of pumping the board with your feet as pumping the sail. You'll often see people start with a couple of pumps rather than waiting for the wind to get them going. Racers do it often coming out of a gybe, and most of us do it a bit to get going in light winds. It's fun really. A kind of expression of joyous elan done in time to a vigorous rendition of a good pumping song. You have to organise your own pumping singers, or alternatively a big burly bastard with a drum and a whip going "row" "boom" "row" "boom" "row" "boom" "Pump you scurvy bastard" "crack" etc.

Its done out of the straps. You manipulate the sail in a way similar to the air rowing in your vid but much more vigorously. You have to bend at the waist and stick your bum out as you extend the sail away. Then you pull the sail towards you sheeting in hard as you do, and at the same time push with your feet against the board with a complementary and balancing thrust. Then you get get your weight over the board and do it again. You start slowly with maximum amplitude and get progressively faster
with smaller movements.

Its easier to control with big sails. Race type sails respond better to pumping than wave sails but all sails respond to some degree.

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NotWal said...

This needs a video doesn't it.

What you're doing in that vid is not pumping. I don't know what its called maybe "air rowing".

"air rowing" thanks now i know what i was doing

were is ur board dude ... thats a real sinker board

haha, funny vid. are you sure you weren't just standing in the shallows with just your sail

On sail pumping, i find that going at it like a bunny on heat is not only hilarious, but gets your fitness up If its that light you might as well have some fun.

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nick0 said...

were is ur board dude ... thats a real sinker board

The board i was using is a Manta 67 100 litres i weigh 101kg so i'm 1 kilo too heavy for neutral bouancy i was in about 2m of water i can stand on the board like that for ages without falling in......comes with years of practise and sailing in gusty places.

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choco said...

nick0 said...

were is ur board dude ... thats a real sinker board

The board i was using is a Manta 67 100 litres i weigh 101kg so i'm 1 kilo too heavy for neutral bouancy i was in about 2m of water i can stand on the board like that for ages without falling in......comes with years of practise and sailing in gusty places.

You have the weight of the rig as well so you're probably a lot more than 1 kg above neutral buoyancy. Sorry, but losing 1kg just isn't going to do it for you.

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NotWal said...

Nice bit of writing, Dave

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choco said...

The board i was using is a Manta 67 100 litres i weigh 101kg so i'm 1 kilo too heavy for neutral bouancy i was in about 2m of water i can stand on the board like that for ages without falling in......comes with years of practise and sailing in gusty places.

no wonder you sold me ur missile

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Windxtasy said...

choco said...

nick0 said...

were is ur board dude ... thats a real sinker board

The board i was using is a Manta 67 100 litres i weigh 101kg so i'm 1 kilo too heavy for neutral bouancy i was in about 2m of water i can stand on the board like that for ages without falling in......comes with years of practise and sailing in gusty places.

You have the weight of the rig as well so you're probably a lot more than 1 kg above neutral boyancy. Sorry, but losing 1kg just isn't going to do it for you.

yeah **** forgot about the weight of the rig,lucky i've got my falcon 131 now that floats

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Bender said...

choco said...

The board i was using is a Manta 67 100 litres i weigh 101kg so i'm 1 kilo too heavy for neutral bouancy i was in about 2m of water i can stand on the board like that for ages without falling in......comes with years of practise and sailing in gusty places.

no wonder you sold me ur missile

Does that mean a Manta 67 will be up for sale soon
Hope we all get some better wind soon

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evets said...

Bender said...

choco said...

The board i was using is a Manta 67 100 litres i weigh 101kg so i'm 1 kilo too heavy for neutral bouancy i was in about 2m of water i can stand on the board like that for ages without falling in......comes with years of practise and sailing in gusty places.

no wonder you sold me ur missile

Does that mean a Manta 67 will be up for sale soon
Hope we all get some better wind soon

The manta 67 is my favourite board it does work well in winds 15knts + the wind in the video was about 3knts

I finally just seen the video now I know what the thread is about
That kinda wind I'm generally body dragging or swimming

Its a new form of freestyle called " submarine " I excel at it all the time

wtf .. haw can u do that ... i sail on a goya 75l and i weight 65 . plus rig i guss im just under the 75 but i can bare stand on it .. no way i could do it in 3 knots ur bloddy super man... no matter how much u pummer and for how long no way 2 get on plane in that wind

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choco said...

The manta 67 is my favourite board it does work well in winds 15knts + the wind in the video was about 3knts

Glad you like are liking it choco.

I have actually found that in real light stuff it is sometimes more stable for the board to be under the water than above. It's just not all that fast...

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nick0 said...

wtf .. haw can u do that ... i sail on a goya 75l and i weight 65 . plus rig i guss im just under the 75 but i can bare stand on it .. no way i could do it in 3 knots ur bloddy super man... no matter how much u pummer and for how long no way 2 get on plane in that wind

Nicko the Manta is 67cm wide which makes it very stable even when submerged

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aus301 said...

choco said...

The manta 67 is my favourite board it does work well in winds 15knts + the wind in the video was about 3knts

Glad you like are liking it choco.

I have actually found that in real light stuff it is sometimes more stable for the board to be under the water than above. It's just not all that fast...

Mate this board has copped it all,a few weeks ago i jibed it onto a submerged stump and put a nice hole in it i have nicked named it "Franky" because of all the repairs it's had

A New sport....windsubmarining..

Damn troll.... Sucked me in

I can see how you could "gybe onto a submerged stump" with your technique

While we're weighing bodies and rigs (and don't forget the water your wetsuit soaks up, that can be kilos), how about the weight of the board? if the "volume" is literally volume then we'd have to add the board's weight too. Or have the manufacturers already done that? (subtracted the board's weight from its volume).

neutral buoyancy is; your weight + rig weight + board weight as well. Then as soon as you start moving forwards everything changes.

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sandman said...

neutral buoyancy is; your weight + rig weight + board weight as well. Then as soon as you start moving forwards everything changes.

Ok so i weigh 101 kilos(without wetsuit) say my rig is approx 15kg my falcon 131(my biggest board) is 7.1 kilos which totals to 123.1kg the volume of the falcon is 131 litres.
So neutral bouyancy then is 123litres for my weight and kit?

in fresh water, yes.

1 liter of fresh water weighs 1kg. So, lets say you have a boat that weighs 100kg and as you lower it into the water it gradually displaces more and more water until it has pushed 100ltr out of the way. that is the point at which the boat will float.
All that water that the boat pushed out of the way is trying to get back where it was before the boat came along and in turn, pushes the boat upwards.
If you put 10kg more weight into the boat it will sink slightly lower, pushing 10ltr of water out the way until equilibrium is reached and the boat levels again. It is a constant fight for balance.

So as you can see, every kilogram of weight that acts down on the thing pushing water out the way will need to be compensated for by 1 liter of displacement.

As a side point, in your video, your feet and ankles will probably be providing about 3 liters of displacement, helping keep you above water. If you had an even lower volume board, you would have kept sinking until your body and the rig had pushed enough water out the way to help reach equilibrium again.

"I'd rather be pumping" - something else to put on a t-shirt