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Imax1 said..
How about 4 beers then sailing at Sandy Point ? Tipsy windsurfing.It wasn't my fault. They made me do it. I wouldn't suggest it in open waters.

I'm bad enough gybing in chop without alcohol..

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sboardcrazy said..

Imax1 said..
How about 4 beers then sailing at Sandy Point ? Tipsy windsurfing.It wasn't my fault. They made me do it. I wouldn't suggest it in open waters.

I'm bad enough gybing in chop without alcohol..

Might be good for you? could improve your Gybes/alphas?

Early 90's, so pre internet when you had to figure out the windsituation by yourself. Woke up to an overcast, windless El Cabezo (el M?dano, Tenerife), took it easy and later in the day decided to go for a couple of beers.... As soon as we sunk beer number four, the clouds disappeared en the wind switched on. We ran back to our place, rigged and hit the water....... One of the worst windsurf sessions ever! It's not that you can't windsurf anymore, you're just too late anticipating everything...... We had a couple of laughs on the water and decided for it to be better to have another cold one.

I'm annoyed with my jibes. I'm coming around a lot further on fin and making a decent amount of foiling jibes but I consistently undersheet the sail and look like i have bad posture. I can't wait to fix that!

Been having really gusty stuff here. This day I kept switching between 5.6 and 6.3 and 115 dyno and 145 Blast because I was either way overpowered in the gusts on 6.3 or bogging in the lulls on dyno and 5.6. 5.6 and Blast was taking the lulls a lot better but brutal on the outside chop and swell.

The guy that jibes around me is on a 5.8 I think and a much narrower board. Lots more experienced and was making so many jibes. But I also have almost 30lbs on him.

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aeroegnr said..
I'm annoyed with my jibes. I'm coming around a lot further on fin and making a decent amount of foiling jibes but I consistently undersheet the sail and look like i have bad posture. I can't wait to fix that!

Been having really gusty stuff here. This day I kept switching between 5.6 and 6.3 and 115 dyno and 145 Blast because I was either way overpowered in the gusts on 6.3 or bogging in the lulls on dyno and 5.6. 5.6 and Blast was taking the lulls a lot better but brutal on the outside chop and swell.

The guy that jibes around me is on a 5.8 I think and a much narrower board. Lots more experienced and was making so many jibes. But I also have almost 30lbs on him.

Ponder your knees and front arm. Pretend you are trying to peek under your boom - exaggerate how much you think you need to bend them (without sitting back like you are taking a *). That's how much you need to bend them. Your bent front elbow is depowering you into entry.

pic from youtube thumbnail of Andy Brandt jibing. Notice the front arm. Your elbow is about even with your body. His is in front of him. Also compare where his shoulders (think CoG) are over the board vs where yours are. Think about how that lets his board glide more easily through the turn.



Try to jibe in the gusts. Unless they are insane, as soon as you make the turn, the power will go off and you'll have enough speed to make it through the turn. The more you bend the knees, reach down the boom and sheet in hard at the beginning, the easier it will get. If you feel like the sail is about to get ripped out of your hands, that imho is where the jibe is actually easier. fwiw, all my time on windfoil totally *ed my fin jibes. I need a couple of days back on a fin board to get used to how much it slows down in a jibe.

haha yes, that last bit; sure path to better fin jibes is to stop foiling :D

^^^ Yeah Andy is actually in town this week. I'm hoping to catch him and get a lesson with him again.

Problem is I'm aware that I'm not straightening my front arm but for some reason I still can't seem to straighten it and sheet in with my back hand. I have no idea why. I will be thinking to sheet in and straight front arm and I just feel like I'm going to fall or lose control.

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AusMoz said..

sboardcrazy said..

Imax1 said..
How about 4 beers then sailing at Sandy Point ? Tipsy windsurfing.It wasn't my fault. They made me do it. I wouldn't suggest it in open waters.

I'm bad enough gybing in chop without alcohol..

Might be good for you? could improve your Gybes/alphas?

Maybe I'll go for it on powered up entries rather than hang back..

Select to expand quote

aeroegnr said..
^^^ Yeah Andy is actually in town this week. I'm hoping to catch him and get a lesson with him again.

Problem is I'm aware that I'm not straightening my front arm but for some reason I still can't seem to straighten it and sheet in with my back hand. I have no idea why. I will be thinking to sheet in and straight front arm and I just feel like I'm going to fall or lose control.

I've got that bad habit. I've had it for 20 years and it's really hard to shake.
I envy those who had lessons and learnt properly from the start.

Select to expand quote

sboardcrazy said..

aeroegnr said..
^^^ Yeah Andy is actually in town this week. I'm hoping to catch him and get a lesson with him again.

Problem is I'm aware that I'm not straightening my front arm but for some reason I still can't seem to straighten it and sheet in with my back hand. I have no idea why. I will be thinking to sheet in and straight front arm and I just feel like I'm going to fall or lose control.

I've got that bad habit. I've had it for 20 years and it's really hard to shake.
I envy those who had lessons and learnt properly from the start.

I had my lesson with Andy yesterday. I mentioned this problem, and how it's consistent on fin and foils, because I knew about it and before I even got rigged he said this was probably because I entered the jibe without having my arms straight to begin with and that I didn't let the sail lead the turn.

My first jibes, just getting warmed up, I practiced hard on keeping my arms straight and having good entry with speed and he said after a while that my entry looked really good and I had all the pieces together to do planing jibes, to the point that he wanted us to work on something else. I came around on a few with the board still planing after the foot switch, and they felt really good compared to how I have been. I still fumble the sail movement a bit at the end but I think that's just because I was surprised how far I was still planing and brain farted.

One thing he taught me also, which I didn't expect, was I wasn't dealing with overpower that well. It was very gusty and I usually had the biggest sail of the people around, and I was manhandling the sail with my arms a lot more than I should have. He gave me a few posture tips and I was able to do a lot better. I think a lot of it was collapsing my front leg, which is a habit I picked up from race foils (and I don't think a good habit!). But, he also pointed out that my head wasn't aligned with my body when doing the figure 7 so I did everything I could do fix that and it felt a lot better when I was wound up on a 6.3 and others were on 4.8-5.7.

Tried a few downwind 360s but it was a bit awkward with the big 8.0 I was using earlier in the day before it ramped and I dropped to the 6.3 freek.

Tried duck jibes for the first time with him giving instruction, almost completed while planing through. I was afraid to try them at first because I have had some violent ducks when powered up, but it was a lot easier than I thought it would. The timing was a lot earlier than I thought (even though I knew it was early). I may try them on the foil too at some point after asking him for some tips. I also asked him if I should just try going deep downwind and ducking without bothering to carve just to get a feel for the ducks and he said "eh, but why, you're better than that, just go for the hardest carve you've ever done".

Rode his 95l duotone/fanatic freewave and 4.8. Smallest board I've ridden after his 99 skate when he let me borrow it a couple years ago the day before the lesson and before he even knew I was taking it with him. I was underpowered but also never been on a board that small. Wasn't quite able to scoot my feet back to the straps with good timing but I did waterstart it in a gust with both feet in the straps and got it planing a little. It felt very narrow and nimble compared to my 115 dyno. I could shlog it without too much drama but it took all of my "warrior stance" leaning forward in lulls while underpowered to keep from getting wet. When planing I really felt how easy it would be to get that board to slide as it rode a lot different than my dyno.

Speaking of the dyno, with the weight of the wetsuit when I uphauled my dyno and 6.3 I was ankle deep. I didn't remember it sinking as much so when I got back I weighed myself. 207lbs . The past two weeks I may have been eating a bit heavy...


A question though: What's going on with the Duotone Superstar vs. Freeks?

I used a couple of his sails, a 5.7 superstar and a 4.8 cut similarly, and the feel was totally different of the freeks and blades I've got. Very powerful feeling with a much tighter leech than I'm used to and it felt like a forward draft. I really liked it but it took some getting used to when I was sailing with them. For instance, I had an 8.0 cheetah to begin with and had it pretty far downhauled and a tightened outhaul due to overpower, but I was also able to plane on that 5.7 reasonably well except for in the deeper lulls. Those sails really had a lot more punch than the freeks but felt more controllable due to how fast the power could be shut off. Even when I try to rig the freeks tighter they don't feel like that. He said the smaller freeks are less freeridey than my 6.3, but the 5.6 feels similar. I haven't used the 4.4 enough on fin recently to notice how different it is cut.

Also a local (Scott) got some awesome shots of Andy:

Sailing in the winter is a good way to improve the jibes, maintain the speed and keep one from falling in the water. The downside is that it is not very good for trying new moves. ;)

Here's what we had yesterday, ice sheets were thick enough to walk on...

Im an absolute genius !!!
Down haul pulley snapped - spare bow shackle in the gear - problem fixed

Had the same issue but ordered one of these from Surf Sail Australia, not an immediate solution but easier to downhaul.

Select to expand quote

Mr Keen said..
Had the same issue but ordered one of these from Surf Sail Australia, not an immediate solution but easier to downhaul.

I'll be getting a few

Select to expand quote

bel29 said..
haha yes, that last bit; sure path to better fin jibes is to stop foiling :D

That's why I don't want to start foiling. If I foiled I'd never master fin gybes!

Select to expand quote

aeroegnr said..

sboardcrazy said..

aeroegnr said..
^^^ Yeah Andy is actually in town this week. I'm hoping to catch him and get a lesson with him again.

Problem is I'm aware that I'm not straightening my front arm but for some reason I still can't seem to straighten it and sheet in with my back hand. I have no idea why. I will be thinking to sheet in and straight front arm and I just feel like I'm going to fall or lose control.

I've got that bad habit. I've had it for 20 years and it's really hard to shake.
I envy those who had lessons and learnt properly from the start.

I had my lesson with Andy yesterday. I mentioned this problem, and how it's consistent on fin and foils, because I knew about it and before I even got rigged he said this was probably because I entered the jibe without having my arms straight to begin with and that I didn't let the sail lead the turn.

My first jibes, just getting warmed up, I practiced hard on keeping my arms straight and having good entry with speed and he said after a while that my entry looked really good and I had all the pieces together to do planing jibes, to the point that he wanted us to work on something else. I came around on a few with the board still planing after the foot switch, and they felt really good compared to how I have been. I still fumble the sail movement a bit at the end but I think that's just because I was surprised how far I was still planing and brain farted.

One thing he taught me also, which I didn't expect, was I wasn't dealing with overpower that well. It was very gusty and I usually had the biggest sail of the people around, and I was manhandling the sail with my arms a lot more than I should have. He gave me a few posture tips and I was able to do a lot better. I think a lot of it was collapsing my front leg, which is a habit I picked up from race foils (and I don't think a good habit!). But, he also pointed out that my head wasn't aligned with my body when doing the figure 7 so I did everything I could do fix that and it felt a lot better when I was wound up on a 6.3 and others were on 4.8-5.7.

Tried a few downwind 360s but it was a bit awkward with the big 8.0 I was using earlier in the day before it ramped and I dropped to the 6.3 freek.

Tried duck jibes for the first time with him giving instruction, almost completed while planing through. I was afraid to try them at first because I have had some violent ducks when powered up, but it was a lot easier than I thought it would. The timing was a lot earlier than I thought (even though I knew it was early). I may try them on the foil too at some point after asking him for some tips. I also asked him if I should just try going deep downwind and ducking without bothering to carve just to get a feel for the ducks and he said "eh, but why, you're better than that, just go for the hardest carve you've ever done".

Rode his 95l duotone/fanatic freewave and 4.8. Smallest board I've ridden after his 99 skate when he let me borrow it a couple years ago the day before the lesson and before he even knew I was taking it with him. I was underpowered but also never been on a board that small. Wasn't quite able to scoot my feet back to the straps with good timing but I did waterstart it in a gust with both feet in the straps and got it planing a little. It felt very narrow and nimble compared to my 115 dyno. I could shlog it without too much drama but it took all of my "warrior stance" leaning forward in lulls while underpowered to keep from getting wet. When planing I really felt how easy it would be to get that board to slide as it rode a lot different than my dyno.

Speaking of the dyno, with the weight of the wetsuit when I uphauled my dyno and 6.3 I was ankle deep. I didn't remember it sinking as much so when I got back I weighed myself. 207lbs . The past two weeks I may have been eating a bit heavy...


A question though: What's going on with the Duotone Superstar vs. Freeks?

I used a couple of his sails, a 5.7 superstar and a 4.8 cut similarly, and the feel was totally different of the freeks and blades I've got. Very powerful feeling with a much tighter leech than I'm used to and it felt like a forward draft. I really liked it but it took some getting used to when I was sailing with them. For instance, I had an 8.0 cheetah to begin with and had it pretty far downhauled and a tightened outhaul due to overpower, but I was also able to plane on that 5.7 reasonably well except for in the deeper lulls. Those sails really had a lot more punch than the freeks but felt more controllable due to how fast the power could be shut off. Even when I try to rig the freeks tighter they don't feel like that. He said the smaller freeks are less freeridey than my 6.3, but the 5.6 feels similar. I haven't used the 4.4 enough on fin recently to notice how different it is cut.

Also a local (Scott) got some awesome shots of Andy:

Your arm problem is what I do. I find it extremely hard to let the rig stay out front with straight arms as I enter.
Like you I use big sails and am usually either super underpowered ( off the plane in a lull) or going in mixed out.
I'm sure if I fixed that problem my gybes would be easier but I'm too scared of stacking it to get forward on the entry.
I'm also on a small narrow board usually with a biggish sail. 7m with a 57 wide 90ltre..

Select to expand quote

AusMoz said..

Mr Keen said..
Had the same issue but ordered one of these from Surf Sail Australia, not an immediate solution but easier to downhaul.

I'll be getting a few

I think the bow shackle will out last the sail and me.

Select to expand quote

AusMoz said..



Im an absolute genius !!!
Down haul pulley snapped - spare bow shackle in the gear - problem fixed

Once every 10 years I come up with a great idea.

Stay tuned for 2033!

Select to expand quote

AusMoz said..



Im an absolute genius !!!
Down haul pulley snapped - spare bow shackle in the gear - problem fixed

How on Earth do you down haul it with the rope coming out of the back of the pulley and pointing upwards?

Select to expand quote

GasHazard said..

AusMoz said..



Im an absolute genius !!!
Down haul pulley snapped - spare bow shackle in the gear - problem fixed

How on Earth do you down haul it with the rope coming out of the back of the pulley and pointing upwards?

Pure engineering!

Select to expand quote

sboardcrazy said..

bel29 said..
haha yes, that last bit; sure path to better fin jibes is to stop foiling :D

That's why I don't want to start foiling. If I foiled I'd never master fin gybes!

Honestly the foil jibes have helped my fin jibe feel tremendously.

Select to expand quote

sboardcrazy said..

aeroegnr said..

sboardcrazy said..

aeroegnr said..
^^^ Yeah Andy is actually in town this week. I'm hoping to catch him and get a lesson with him again.

Problem is I'm aware that I'm not straightening my front arm but for some reason I still can't seem to straighten it and sheet in with my back hand. I have no idea why. I will be thinking to sheet in and straight front arm and I just feel like I'm going to fall or lose control.

I've got that bad habit. I've had it for 20 years and it's really hard to shake.
I envy those who had lessons and learnt properly from the start.

I had my lesson with Andy yesterday. I mentioned this problem, and how it's consistent on fin and foils, because I knew about it and before I even got rigged he said this was probably because I entered the jibe without having my arms straight to begin with and that I didn't let the sail lead the turn.

My first jibes, just getting warmed up, I practiced hard on keeping my arms straight and having good entry with speed and he said after a while that my entry looked really good and I had all the pieces together to do planing jibes, to the point that he wanted us to work on something else. I came around on a few with the board still planing after the foot switch, and they felt really good compared to how I have been. I still fumble the sail movement a bit at the end but I think that's just because I was surprised how far I was still planing and brain farted.

One thing he taught me also, which I didn't expect, was I wasn't dealing with overpower that well. It was very gusty and I usually had the biggest sail of the people around, and I was manhandling the sail with my arms a lot more than I should have. He gave me a few posture tips and I was able to do a lot better. I think a lot of it was collapsing my front leg, which is a habit I picked up from race foils (and I don't think a good habit!). But, he also pointed out that my head wasn't aligned with my body when doing the figure 7 so I did everything I could do fix that and it felt a lot better when I was wound up on a 6.3 and others were on 4.8-5.7.

Tried a few downwind 360s but it was a bit awkward with the big 8.0 I was using earlier in the day before it ramped and I dropped to the 6.3 freek.

Tried duck jibes for the first time with him giving instruction, almost completed while planing through. I was afraid to try them at first because I have had some violent ducks when powered up, but it was a lot easier than I thought it would. The timing was a lot earlier than I thought (even though I knew it was early). I may try them on the foil too at some point after asking him for some tips. I also asked him if I should just try going deep downwind and ducking without bothering to carve just to get a feel for the ducks and he said "eh, but why, you're better than that, just go for the hardest carve you've ever done".

Rode his 95l duotone/fanatic freewave and 4.8. Smallest board I've ridden after his 99 skate when he let me borrow it a couple years ago the day before the lesson and before he even knew I was taking it with him. I was underpowered but also never been on a board that small. Wasn't quite able to scoot my feet back to the straps with good timing but I did waterstart it in a gust with both feet in the straps and got it planing a little. It felt very narrow and nimble compared to my 115 dyno. I could shlog it without too much drama but it took all of my "warrior stance" leaning forward in lulls while underpowered to keep from getting wet. When planing I really felt how easy it would be to get that board to slide as it rode a lot different than my dyno.

Speaking of the dyno, with the weight of the wetsuit when I uphauled my dyno and 6.3 I was ankle deep. I didn't remember it sinking as much so when I got back I weighed myself. 207lbs . The past two weeks I may have been eating a bit heavy...


A question though: What's going on with the Duotone Superstar vs. Freeks?

I used a couple of his sails, a 5.7 superstar and a 4.8 cut similarly, and the feel was totally different of the freeks and blades I've got. Very powerful feeling with a much tighter leech than I'm used to and it felt like a forward draft. I really liked it but it took some getting used to when I was sailing with them. For instance, I had an 8.0 cheetah to begin with and had it pretty far downhauled and a tightened outhaul due to overpower, but I was also able to plane on that 5.7 reasonably well except for in the deeper lulls. Those sails really had a lot more punch than the freeks but felt more controllable due to how fast the power could be shut off. Even when I try to rig the freeks tighter they don't feel like that. He said the smaller freeks are less freeridey than my 6.3, but the 5.6 feels similar. I haven't used the 4.4 enough on fin recently to notice how different it is cut.

Also a local (Scott) got some awesome shots of Andy:

Your arm problem is what I do. I find it extremely hard to let the rig stay out front with straight arms as I enter.
Like you I use big sails and am usually either super underpowered ( off the plane in a lull) or going in mixed out.
I'm sure if I fixed that problem my gybes would be easier but I'm too scared of stacking it to get forward on the entry.
I'm also on a small narrow board usually with a biggish sail. 7m with a 57 wide 90ltre..

That problem really seemed to go away by keeping my arms straight and closer to figure 7 on entry, before I initiate anything at all (aside from leading with my toes/legs first in the gybe as instructed/reminded by Andy once entering). Once straight, I didn't really bend my front arm as much, and lead a much more powered jibe with the mast base pressure more than with a bent front. I could feel it.

Although, with a 7m on a 57cm board, I can imagine some struggle. With a 7.5 and 64.5cm wide (dyno 115), the sail feels huge and goofy, can't imagine on an even narrower board.

Select to expand quote

GasHazard said..

AusMoz said..



Im an absolute genius !!!
Down haul pulley snapped - spare bow shackle in the gear - problem fixed

How on Earth do you down haul it with the rope coming out of the back of the pulley and pointing upwards?

It works well - no crossovers - used it again to day and easy to downhaul - actually better than the pulley system!

Select to expand quote

AusMoz said..

GasHazard said..

AusMoz said..



Im an absolute genius !!!
Down haul pulley snapped - spare bow shackle in the gear - problem fixed

How on Earth do you down haul it with the rope coming out of the back of the pulley and pointing upwards?

It works well - no crossovers - used it again to day and easy to downhaul - actually better than the pulley system!

Pure genius , and if you wanted to be real flash , you could use a stainless one.
But it gets better , you can easily use one of those ratchet extensions ,( which are ace by the way ), with this system apposed to one of those ezzy replacements.

Select to expand quote

Imax1 said..

AusMoz said..

GasHazard said..

AusMoz said..



Im an absolute genius !!!
Down haul pulley snapped - spare bow shackle in the gear - problem fixed

How on Earth do you down haul it with the rope coming out of the back of the pulley and pointing upwards?

It works well - no crossovers - used it again to day and easy to downhaul - actually better than the pulley system!

Pure genius , and if you wanted to be real flash , you could use a stainless one.
But it gets better , you can easily use one of those ratchet extensions ,( which are ace by the way ), with this system apposed to one of those ezzy replacements.

Stainless is too shiny- I find it very distracting.

Select to expand quote

AusMoz said..

Imax1 said..

AusMoz said..

GasHazard said..

AusMoz said..



Im an absolute genius !!!
Down haul pulley snapped - spare bow shackle in the gear - problem fixed

How on Earth do you down haul it with the rope coming out of the back of the pulley and pointing upwards?

It works well - no crossovers - used it again to day and easy to downhaul - actually better than the pulley system!

Pure genius , and if you wanted to be real flash , you could use a stainless one.
But it gets better , you can easily use one of those ratchet extensions ,( which are ace by the way ), with this system apposed to one of those ezzy replacements.

Stainless is too shiny- I find it very distracting.

Of coarse. I didn't think of the severe glisten taking out a retina.

Finished something.....

^^^^
Snazzy . New toy for you ?
How was it using that new carbon ?

Yeah mate, my small board so that's why WA wind turned to crap sorry guys
Love it, used one day underpowered and one well powered, works great

The spread / flat tow is hard to wet out, so glad my first use of it was my board. But sooo much reduction in resin its crazy. Wouldn't use it without vac bag for that reason of course.

Now when the roll is done, I will cry and whinge n fart about it as next time it will have to be Sweden to WA freight I guess....