sums up my windsurfing come back after 25year, arms are shot, drank a lot of sea water, done far more water starting practice than I had in mind, got a hole in th top of my foot from kicking the fin while trying to water start BUT the couple of runs where I actually got it together, hooked in, in the straps, 8.6overdrive m1 16 gusting 25knot made it all worth while.
truth be told I could of really done without the gust, if they didn't slam in into the water I ending up going way faster than I would of liked.
As for the board, this short wide thing is going to take some getting use to, 30cm shorter and twice as wide as what I last used.

phew, when I read the title I thought you'd met my ex wife......

Sound like I need to meet her

man, 151L in 16-25 would be exhausting and terrifying for anyone......
so after an absence also, congratulations!!!

Hea, the important thing is that you jumped on it, well done, or is that the wrong term to use, considering seanhogan, don't want to get anybody upset.

Tried again today, hoped that the 11knots might be friendlier. Unfortunately I appear to have used up all my grip strength yesterday so after a couple of runs I had to give up.

Benpei, 18months ago i was in your position. Endurance was the greatest issue for me. At first i could only manage 4 runs out n back. Now i can sail 4-5 hrs at a time on 9.5m. Just keep at it every chance you get. Before you know it you will be crankin around with a grin from ear to ear. Gotta love that buzz!!!

Tomorrow afternoon looks like 10-14knots, come on forearms you can make one more day.
the quicker I workout where and how long to make the harness lines the better.

Benpei, check out Jem Halls setup n tuning on youtube. Roughly though, front harness position about a forearms length from mast, or 1/3 of sail. Rear line 2-3 hand spans from front. Harness length, so put your palm of hand on boom between HL. The line should then be firm around behind your elbow. That should give you a start. When using HL if front hand seems heavy n unbalanced then move front HL forward. If rear seems heavy move rear HL back. Keep tweaking n you will find the sweetspot. Go for it!!!

Have you got a slightly smaller sail? 8.6 is huge to be restarting on.
IMHO

possibly one of the worst 'learn to get back into it' sails sizes you could choose, sounds like you are in SEQ with those winds?
you need to get a smaller sail especially at this point in your progress, and not a race sail, absolutely no need to be using a race sail, it's only going to make it harder for you.

Expected a fight to start with and don't mind it. Going to give it another in later today then I might have to let my arms recovery for a bit.
On another note, who's bright idea was it to make wet suits that you have to climb in through the neck? I get it down to half way between elbow and shoulder and it turns itself into a straight jacket.

Select to expand quote

olskool said..
Benpei, check out Jem Halls setup n tuning on youtube. Roughly though, front harness position about a forearms length from mast, or 1/3 of sail. Rear line 2-3 hand spans from front. Harness length, so put your palm of hand on boom between HL. The line should then be firm around behind your elbow. That should give you a start. When using HL if front hand seems heavy n unbalanced then move front HL forward. If rear seems heavy move rear HL back. Keep tweaking n you will find the sweetspot. Go for it!!!

Rear line should be a lot closer. Having them far apart makes the sail hard to trim quickly and easily. Jem prefers them very close together but "you can move them further apart - a hand's width". Even with my 9.5, my lines aren't more than about 10cm apart.

I'd take the harness line spacing with a grain of salt. Especially for a beginner on large sails. Two hand widths apart is fine. More if you like.

And put a figure 8 stopper knot in the end of your outhaul line.

It's all come back to me!
Wind 20-30 knots tonight not to gusty, harness lines setup, found the right place for the mast foot, a whole load of downhaul on the sail and I was flying and feeling very comfy. Sail seems to be happiest when going at Mach 10, its just the bit getting there where it try's to kill me.
Even worked out how to get the big fat board around corners

Ben1973, 8.6m in 20-30kts wind???Or is it kmh? 20-30KTs thats gonna hurt.