Got a very tweeky 85 ltr Tabour Da Curve board, which rides very nicely in the chop and swell, feels sharp and very quick to turn, but can be a b1tch to water start in the swell with decent wind because it always gets thrown around so easy.....

Any tips with water starting in swell / chop?

My board kept flicking over once I was ready to go.... I spent ages trying to get it in the right position, getting pushed around.. trying to move around in the current..... then the wind got funky as the swell lump rises behind you to meet the sail as you go to push forward to water start...... I am starting to guess you need to get the start done really quickly... and focus on wave timing, rather than leisurely "at your own time" water start.....

One guy yesterday said to make sure the board faces directly into the wind, and get a leg on it as soon as you can.....

Anyone else got some tips so I don't have to drink so much salt water..........

It's a bit of two steps forward, one step back..........

The quickest way to learn is to just hum the music in that film from 30 odd years ago.

You know the one! What was it called???

durrr dum, durrr dum,

dumdum dumdum dumdum

That's how I learned to hasten the process of getting back on the board

Practise water starting with your back foot in it's strap. if you can do this easily it makes board control much easier.

Thanks guys, some good tips there. Appreciated!

MattD said...

What I find also helps is more mast foot pressure. When you are in the water getting ready to water start, find a more powerful neutral position. The minimum neutral position is enough power to keep the sail up (assuming you have a PFD to float yourself). Power up slightly more from that minimum neutral position such that you feel a lot of pull on the sail (but not so much that you are lifted up). This way you'll be hanging off the boom and applying that mast foot pressure that'll keep the board down.

My 93L FSW gets flipped easily in heavy winds and I found this helped.

Thanks dude. I will be trying a combination of these, see if I can get this sorted. I might just go out in those trying conditions, and spend a session just trying different methods till I have the sweet spot sorted.