Good day all.
I haven't done much windsurfing in a while and trying to get back to it. Went out yesterday but unfortunately only one way.. nothing to be proud of. Had another sailor trying to give me a hand which I am grateful for! Thank you!
In the past water start was not an issue at all but yesterday my sail just wouldn't fly no matter what I did. I think I must have done something wrong with the rigging just wondering if anyone had similar incidents or knows what would prevent the sail from flying? Also what do I do to avoid this from happening again? Thanks in advance for your help!

Sensei, if your conditions were anything like here - the wind (SE) looked stronger than it was. I rigged a sail that I thought would give me plenty of planing time, but spent much of it slogging. I even had a few uphauls due to lack of wind on gybes, so you're not alone.

Older sails don't 'fly' during waterstarts like the modern sails with the twisting heads, so could have simply been a case of old sail & not strong enough wind.

my guess is to agree about NOT enuff wind
usually i know i am going to have issues right at the beach start
if it is barely pulling me off my feet - there will be issues in deeper water "flying" my sail
lighter winds ? make sure you can uphaul on that board with that sail
can be a real saviour

I was out yesterday and best wind was a fair way out with the se. It is tricky if things go wrong being a long way out. On the way out I completely stopped a couple of times then immediately flying again. So sometimes you need to be patient and watch the water for gusts. But I also think taking a board you can uphaul on. Say your weight plus 20 at least in litres for those conditions . With practice you can uphaul on your weight plus 10.

Depends what you mean by the sail not flying.
I couldn't fly mine the other day, because I couldn't get the water filled luff sleeve out of the water. I'd lost about 10kg since I last tried flying a sail this size in the open ocean, and hadn't worn my impact/floatation vest. I could get the head out of the water, but just sank as I tired to work my way back to the boom.
So in this case the answer was to have more floatation.

In light winds in the old days, you could slide the boom over the back of the board to get a bit of air under the sail. But you can get a similar effect by putting a hand on the back of the board and pull the sail over that arm with the other hand. If there's not enough wind to get the sail in the air when you've done that, there won't be enough wind to pull you up on the board either.

Was it like - sunk clew, lift the mast and let the wind under but the whole kit gets blown backwards pushing the clew further under? That's a frustrating situation. The fix is to keep the mast close to the water and push the tail of the board under the clew bit by bit until the clew pops out.

Yep. Exactly. Frustrating but I think I must have gone wrong with rigging...Thank you!

Hi all. Thank you for the comments. Yep the clow just would not get out of water no matter what I tried, yes I haven't sailed in a while but I did a lot of sailing in the past and never had a problem with water start. I'm thinking that maybe I didn't rig the sail correctly.

Will have to try and figure what works.
Thank you all!

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Sensei said..
Hi all. Thank you for the comments. Yep the clow just would not get out of water no matter what I tried, yes I haven't sailed in a while but I did a lot of sailing in the past and never had a problem with water start. I'm thinking that maybe I didn't rig the sail correctly.

Will have to try and figure what works.
Thank you all!

I find this is a particular problem when the tide is flowing in the opposite direction to the wind. The tide keeps pushing the clew down despite the wind getting under the mast. It has nothing to do with rigging.
Best way to free it is to rotate the board so the tail of the board is under the mast. The flotation of the board will help lift the mast clear of the water. You may then need to swim the board around so the mast is across the wind. Now you have a couple of options. Holding the footstrap with one hand, and above the boom with the other lift the sail just a bit and slice it out of the water and over your head. Second option - Holding the footstrap with one hand, and above the boom with the other, swim upwind. Third option - as NotWal says, while holding the mast clear of the water (just a bit) push the back of the board (with your foot) under the clew to lift it free of the water.

You should be able to fly the rig in 5 knots even if its not rigged right. Usually the problem is you don't have the mast at right angles to the wind, even being slightly off can make a difference.

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Zed said..
You should be able to fly the rig in 5 knots even if its not rigged right. Usually the problem is you don't have the mast at right angles to the wind, even being slightly off can make a difference.

Agree with this, you should be able to fly practically any sail in light winds if you do it right and get the right angle even if not rigged correctly. I think you may have not got the angles right...

I was given one of these years ago when i was getting the hang of water starting. it mad an amazing difference to me. still use one if the wind is a bit ?????

Agree with all the comments but if in pfb the wind was literally on and off? At times I doubt anyone could have watetstarted when I was out. But wait for the gust and do it right and no worries. If a technique issue then windxtasy etc posts sounds like good advice.

And you can do a light wind water start if you can fly the rig, so don't need a heap of wind to waterstart. 8 - 10 kts

Sails don't fly ...

they lift.

And sometimes they don't unfortunately. ...