Good Morning,

I am only new to windsurfing but I have plenty of surfing and sailing history behind me.
Beach starts out to ball depth are all good. I just need to take the next step successfully.
Any tips for in the water or practising on land would be greatly appreciated.

Don't worry Youtube, Guy Cribb and Beginner to Winner have all been getting a good workout.

Cheers PK

Hardest part always seems to be getting the sail out of the water.
I still drag it across the back of the board to help get the wind under it and the water out of it.

Lots of it depends. But keep practicing, sometimes you will be in the right position staright away and it's as easy as pushing the sail up, treading water, the wind grabs it and up you go. Other times you spend ages trying to get the sail out of the water because it speared in and has sunk. Other times you have to go to the sail tip and lift from there then work your way down the mast to the boom.

In light wind move the front hand off the boom on to the mast and drop it further down the mast as the breeze decreases, you can get to the stage were you prop the sail up and then climb onto the board in very light wind.

cheers
Graeme

I first learnt to waterstart by practising in shallow water where my arse could still touch the bottom.
that took the stress of trying to fly the sail out of it and I could just practice getting my feet on the board and getting lifted up.
progressed to deeper and deeper water.

worked for me anyway!

+ 1 for the above. And another great help is in impact vest / bouyancy vest. Saves all that frantic leg flapping and energy wasting in the deep stuff. Plus saves a few knocks, and could save your life if everything goes pear shaped.

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GWilko said..

Hardest part always seems to be getting the sail out of the water.
I still drag it across the back of the board to help get the wind under it and the water out of it.


cheers
Graeme

You should never have to do that, if you have the rig at the right angle - essentially with the mast perpendicular to the wind. You should be able to push the rig up with 2 fingers and it will "fly". Most problems arise when you don't quite position the rig correctly.

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Zed said..

GWilko said..

Hardest part always seems to be getting the sail out of the water.
I still drag it across the back of the board to help get the wind under it and the water out of it.


cheers
Graeme

You should never have to do that, if you have the rig at the right angle - essentially with the mast perpendicular to the wind. You should be able to push the rig up with 2 fingers and it will "fly". Most problems arise when you don't quite position the rig correctly.

Do you really mean perpendicular? Or do you mean parallel?

+1 for the buoyancy vest. I sailed at a fresh water lake where one was mandatory and couldn't believe how much less energy is needed.

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Zed said..

GWilko said..

Hardest part always seems to be getting the sail out of the water.
I still drag it across the back of the board to help get the wind under it and the water out of it.


cheers
Graeme

You should never have to do that, if you have the rig at the right angle - essentially with the mast perpendicular to the wind. You should be able to push the rig up with 2 fingers and it will "fly". Most problems arise when you don't quite position the rig correctly.

Not if the clew is well and truly submerged. That's when you have to swim the rig into the wind or push the tail of the board under it.
To get the rig across the wind I often pull the mast up onto the back of the board and then swim/rotate the lot across the wind.

While learning to water start, you can cut up a pool noodle and slip a length of it on each side of the end of your boom to stop the clew sinking in the water. This, along with a bouyancy vest, will make learning to water start much less tiring so you can get a lot more practice in.

Water starts are something that you can learn in a week or two if you dedicate a few sessions to it. Certainly worth the effort up front.

Wear a buoyancy vest. Makes everything easier and protects your ribs. I wouldn't go out without mine and I have never had to take weeks off through a rib injury.

If your board is long enough, push the back of your board under the boom head and rest the front of the boom on the back of your board. It'll not only give your body a rest from all that treading water, but the board's buoyancy will lift the sail up and push all the water off it. The you can literally hold onto the clew with one hand and pivot the rig/board around into the best position. If your boom's too high to sit on the tail, I suggest moving your madt forward and dropping the boom until it does sit on the tail. I would only suggest moving your mast forward in this instance while learning to waterstart. Once you get fitter and better at it your madt should go back to where it works best. Anyway, this is what I do and it works for me and saves me a lot of shoulder pressing while treading water (I.e gurgling). Let ys know how you go.

Thanks for the tips, I am sure it won't take long with these few bits of knowledge. Just TOW should take care of most things.

Cheers PK

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PKenny said..

Good Morning,

I am only new to windsurfing but I have plenty of surfing and sailing history behind me.
Beach starts out to ball depth are all good. I just need to take the next step successfully.
Any tips for in the water or practising on land would be greatly appreciated.

Don't worry Youtube, Guy Cribb and Beginner to Winner have all been getting a good workout.

Cheers PK

Noobe answer as I'm still learning waterstart - watched the 20 odd youtubes (the Asian one was good) plus spent heaps of time watching dasher waterstart DVD - for me the most usefull

Which part of water start are you having problems with?

If you are limited to 'ball depth' then it may be understanding the transition from stepping up onto the board to having the sail swing you up onto the board.


Keep working at getting into deeper and deeper water - neck deep and onwards

Practicing sailing the board by having your body drag in the water helped with understanding sail control

Then practice sailing body dragging in water with back foot resting up on board as per YouTube videos

I also practiced mounting the board on the beach as per the YouTube videos

There was a very usefull thread here in general last year - try a search

So firstly which specific problems are you having? What happens when you are in chest deep water?

Cheers Jeff

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PKenny said..
Good Morning,

I am only new to windsurfing but I have plenty of surfing and sailing history behind me.

Beach starts out to ball depth are all good. I just need to take the next step successfully.

Any tips for in the water or practising on land would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers PK

Easy. Just keep raising your balls until you can start in any depth.

If you get a chance to do Guy Cribb's Intuition course - DO IT!!

I used to take 5 minutes of drowning, huffing & puffing and pure fear that the Rotto ferry will run over me doing deep water starts.

Just 2 hours of exacting techniques from Guy, and 4 hours of practicing his exact techniques, I now happily sail to the deep end and no longer stress about trying to fall off in the shallows.

His techniques are very exact which means it is very hard to type it out unfortunately

PK take a look at this web page, you can buy or make one from a pool noodle. Mde mine a few years back, still have it for large sails on days at start of season.... just in case. Go the vest which doubles as a chest warmer and an impact if it comers to that.
Has a little vid for you to follow.
www.easyuphaul.com/

I find water starts way easier than beach starts believe it or not. Where do you sail ?. If you sail north (Semaphore, Largs, West Lakes etc), I'll be able to sail with you and give you some tips.

Cheers J

i find the easiest way to get the sail out of the water is to position the sail 45 degrees into the wind. start at the mast top and lift the top of the sail about 10-15 inches above the water. Don't lift too high or the clew might sink, let the wind do the work. When the sail is flying move under the sail up along the mast to the boom.
Use the bottom of the sail to grab a foot strap and position the board properly. When starting out it is easiest to position two feet on the board, and let the sail lift you.
When you get better, only use the backfoot.
For light winds I start the sail at 90 degrees to the wind. Let the sail swing round almost like you're doing a forward loop. When you get the sail directly into the wind, sheet out a bit and let the momentum and wind pull the sail vertical(not lift you), when the sail is vertical pull down in the boom and use your back leg to stand up on the board.

If you are beach starting to ball depth then just suck'em up and go a bit deeper.
Pretty soon it will be easier and just plain simpler to lay back and water start.

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mineral1 said..

PK take a look at this web page, you can buy or make one from a pool noodle. Mde mine a few years back, still have it for large sails on days at start of season.... just in case. Go the vest which doubles as a chest warmer and an impact if it comers to that.
Has a little vid for you to follow.
www.easyuphaul.com/

Eeek, $30 plus shipping, when a pool noodle is $1.99, and does a much better job.

Maybe I should get pool noodles for the 6.6m racesail with the big lufftube. I've been worried I'll drop it and won't be able to lift it to start. I did drop it once and it was dam heavy but luckily I was in shallow water and could stand to push up against it.
I'm not keen on using it on my 95ltre because of that.. Hmm- The pool noodle wouldn't make it easier to lift would it - only stop the clew sinking..

www.imdb.com/title/tt0478841/
+
www.ebay.com.au/itm/2012-Neil-Pryde-High-Hook-CE-Flotation-Vest-/260972246380