This is my second season.
I am in the harness and have just begaun to plane but every time i go out i get exhausted pretty quickly because i am still uphauling at the end of a run. I have had a few goes at waterstart in shallow water with no success yet.
I have a 152l board and usually rig a 6.0 - 7.2 sail in medium winds.

I am curious to know the experiences of others as they learnt to do this, how long it took to master, and any key tips.
I was told be someone this will make a big difference to my windsurfing.

many thanks.

Uphauling and waterstarting are easy once you learn to manouvre your rig the right way. Both can be tiring, so it is worth for you to improve uphauling as well. You need to learn beach starting before waterstarting. I don't say anything else because soon you will be flooded by tips, but if you are impatient you can search previous threads. good luck !

A bigger board can make it a bit harder as it is heavier so harder to push around in the water .

Second season is when the water starts happen.
When you first try them you have no technique at all and rely on brute force for the wind to drag you up out of the water and onto the board,
so pick a windy day to try them.
After getting the hang of it on windy days then you can quickly refine the process for not so windy days.
Eventually, by refining the technique, you can get them to work in very light wind.
They are actually harder to do on a big board in light wind because you can't sink the tail of the board to climb up on it.

I always found uphauls to be murder on my back so the sooner you get water starts happenning the easier it will be.

I am sure you have had plenty of suggestions but perhaps you can let us know what part of the waterstart you are struggling on?

How are your beach starts?

Is the tail of your clew sinking?

Some suggestions I would have to make the break-though easier are as follows: (assume starboard waterstart)

Rest the mast on the tail of the board so its between the back two footstraps
then push and swim the nose around so that the mast goes into the wind (not tip - thats too far)
then with the left hand grab the footstrap and your right grab the boom close to the mast and pull it over your head fast!
this should fly the sail so its weightless.
then once you are comfortable flying the sail let go with your left hand and grab the boom, tru to keep the sail balanced and flying
before the board drifts out of position lift your left leg up and rest it on the board between the front and back footstraps but keep it outstretched.
stay in that position till you are comfortable.
then what you should do (all at the same time) pull your left leg in and sheet in with your left hand and push up with your right. Try to headbutt the bottom of your mast.
This should lift you out of the water, probably strait into a catapult but its a step in the right direction.

The rest will be adjusting the amount of power you use to sheet in and push up. eventually you should get it right.

Use a smaller sail, but do it in windier conditions (20 knots)

I got myself a buoyancy vest and a thing called a "water starter" which is basically a floaty for the clew end of the boom; it helps to keep the back of the sail from sinking. Both of these help you to get the tip of the sail flying.

Moving your back hand further along the boom to get more leverage and +1 to doing beach starts first all helped me get my first water starts.

also another thing...

when you are holding the boom and pulling it over your head, you should be pushing the board away with the opposite hand. This will lift the clew and drain the water so that the sail can fly. It means you don't need a waterstarter.

You need to pick up good habbits wherever possible, because if you become reliant on the waterstarter, you wont overcome the situation where the clew sinks when you take it off.

I disagree with the lifting the tip thing, it is too tiring due to treading water hard and lifting for some time. Learn to waterstart with that technique and in light to moderate winds and you'lll be stuffed in 2mins. Also you only nee dot move a little bit laterally and the wind will come from the leech side and work against you.

Far better (IMHO) is:
-do it when almost overpowered (so at the point of being lifted out of the water you have little choice in it lol)
-mast across wind, nose of board into the wind
-lift boom head a little and frog kick backwards HARD into the wind.... once or twice will do it and the rig will be flying 30cm above the water all by itself. That has taken 2sec, not 20sec of kicking hard and working ur way down the mast only to have some chop break over the mast tip when u r halfway (and push u underwater again).

Then hold boom and use the power in the sail to push the nose of the board downwind.... the sail is supporting ur weight and driving the nose downwind into the broad reach position that you want. (Beach starting will assist with this rig steering technique)

Thereafter, it is the same.

Tip - not having a 100cm wide board helps too, width can make it harder to get your leg over.

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Mark _australia said..

I disagree with the lifting the tip thing, it is too tiring due to treading water hard and lifting for some time. Learn to waterstart with that technique and in light to moderate winds and you'lll be stuffed in 2mins. Also you only nee dot move a little bit laterally and the wind will come from the leech side and work against you.

Far better (IMHO) is:
-do it when almost overpowered (so at the point of being lifted out of the water you have little choice in it lol)
-mast across wind, nose of board into the wind
-lift boom head a little and frog kick backwards HARD into the wind.... once or twice will do it and the rig will be flying 30cm above the water all by itself. That has taken 2sec, not 20sec of kicking hard and working ur way down the mast only to have some chop break over the mast tip when u r halfway (and push u underwater again).

Then hold boom and use the power in the sail to push the nose of the board downwind.... the sail is supporting ur weight and driving the nose downwind into the broad reach position that you want. (Beach starting will assist with this rig steering technique)

Thereafter, it is the same.

Tip - not having a 100cm wide board helps too, width can make it harder to get your leg over.

Have you got any tip how to position board and sail for waterstart ( without the need for treading water too much) ?
What takes me the most energy is not taking sail off the water but turning it all around, as sail/mast usually land along the wind...

dedicate an entire afternoon to it.
I did this in my first season and that's all it took.
Get a few tips from the crew at your local, start out in waste deep water and just keep doing it. no more uphauling.
Practice rig flipping and positioning too. the windier it is the closer to the breeze you can water start.
If you start to square you'll be pulled off balance as soon as your up.

OK this is my tip, no doubt others will disagree but it works for me and probably for others as well.
I ignore how the board is positioned, I only worry about the sail. After you get the sail flying and put a little force on the back hand, you will begin to move through the water just as when you are standing on the board. When this happens, the fin on the board will turn it so that the back of the board will come to you, you don't have to go to it. After this happens, just grab it, put your back foot onto it and you are in position for the sail to lift you up onto the board.

lots of great tips that all will work on whatever part of waterstarts are your problem.

I would suggest you take them all on board and start at the beach start then each successful beach start you simply go a step deeper.

when you get waist deep and are starting everything will be falling into place.

of course you could just go straight to the full planing jibe from the shallow beach start and cure all your problems. And stay dry.

Here is a video of me trying to waterstart. A few mistakes from which I've learned from.

Keep the hands further apart on the boom to increase control

have the front leg in the water more, so it creates drag in the water so the board doesn't go sideways.



Get hold of a boyancy vest or impact vest to help keep afloat.

A steady wind helps a lot. If the wind is gusty water starting is more difficult as one minute you are struggling to fly the sail, next second its blown out of your hands. Waterstarting where you can still touch the bottom helps too.

I spent a lot of time standing in waist to chest deep water just flying the sail and orienting the board, just getting the feel of what was happening, you can steer the board by pushing and pulling with different hands, then I got both feet on the board and got dragged around while flying the sail, learning to sail around like that with my body in the water and both feet on the board. finally I learned to get the sail to pull me upright.
The point being there is a lot a lot more to it than just having the sail pull you upright and all that is best learned fooling around in shallow water to keep from getting exhausted.
You will need to force yourself to stop sailing for a bit to practice every session, it's not as fun as sailing but once you dedicate yourself to learning it you will soon have it nailed like it was no big deal Then you'll have to learn how to do it going the other direction

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gregob said..

I got myself a buoyancy vest and a thing called a "water starter" which is basically a floaty for the clew end of the boom; it helps to keep the back of the sail from sinking. Both of these help you to get the tip of the sail flying.

Moving your back hand further along the boom to get more leverage and +1 to doing beach starts first all helped me get my first water starts.

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At about 4:15 Jem Hall is shown jibing the rig while off the board treading water, this is what I practiced over and over while standing in the lagoon, it's a great drill to learn about how the board and rig handle.

Just dedicate 1 whole session to it and you'll work it out quickly but you will continue to refine it for a few more seasons. Helps if you can do it somewhere where you can stand in chest deep water. My tip would be to sheet out rapidly to dump the power when you get lifted upright, Failing to sheet out will just see you overpowered and catapulted into the drink on the opposite side of the board.....Which results in more swimming.

wow, so many nuances on just one aspect of the sport. I read all of them with great interest.
I thought a big floaty board would help , but after reading this ... I have an old 103lt screamer in the shed, maybe this would be better to practice on as the tail would sink for me?
I hadn`t thought of beginning at beach starts, but that seems to make sense.- I have always uphauled even to start from the beach - bad i know.

I seem to recall that when i fall off, the board ends up blowing downwind with the sail in the water upwind, which seems to be why uphauling is then so difficult. But this situation favours waterstart right?

can`t wait to get out an try out some of this stuff, thanks everyone for all the comments so far.!

I think a lot of fellow watermen& women had this problem with waterstarts when we all first started but if you dont get it sooner or later it could make progressing further or even save your life l remember when l started which was in open ocean (pinnaroo pt).l just keeped practiceing every time l went out until l nailed it. Trust me you feel better & gain a lot more convenience. So get out there & practice in deep& shallow water until you get it down to a fine art & enjoy this gr8 sport.

Lots of good stuff here.

Important is learning how to handle the sail. This can be done on dry land.

For example - if you're trying to get the sail in the right position by lifting the clew out of the water, you're going to create a LOT of work for yourself. I know - I did all kinds of things like this when I was learning.

Spend a non-windsurfing 30 mins in light wind learning how to use the wind to get the sail in the right place.

This will save you a world of effort in the water and allow you to get much more practice in using the above tips.

More time practising = more success.

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Macroscien said..

Mark _australia said..



stuff

Have you got any tip how to position board and sail for waterstart ( without the need for treading water too much) ?

What takes me the most energy is not taking sail off the water but turning it all around, as sail/mast usually land along the wind...

Yes. the board will move downwind faster than the sail. The board is a floaty thing exposed to wind and the sail is flat and sunken in the water. So let the wind act on the board so it does it's thing, and maybe give it a hand by holding it and doing a couple of frog kicks / sidestroke to get it to drift downwind faster..
If not in waves (so there is no hurry), often I will hold the boom head in one hand and back footstrap in the other and just chill out, have a rest.... the wind will move the board but not the sail, so the whole thing is rotating around the axis of the mast track. Very soon it will be in ideal position, so then u water start.
BUT - not good for cambered sails where the wide luff is filling with water whilst you wait.

P.S. the most Important thing to remember is dont panic when attempting this maneuver unless you are inwaves like mark said or a big grey shadow is heading your way .

As an old fart ( 10yrs older than Jungleman ) who rarely pulls off a gibe, my advice is not to expect the wind to do all the work.Do not expect to lay on your back, get some wind under the sail and be pulled onto the board by the wind. I like to fly the sail first then bring the board to the right position by back hand or back foot. Sheet in with the back hand this will start the mast in an upward direction and at the same time stand up on the back foot, (which is in front of the back foot straps as close to the center of the board as you can reach) pushing with your front hand as well. Bring the front foot up to in front of the front foot straps as you pop out of the water. Keep in mind to keep sheeted in to bear away slightly, depending how strong the wind is as you will find you will round up into the wind. (By standing up on the back foot, I mean a bit like doing step ups, put a foot on the step reach for the sky and put the other foot on top of the step).
The biggest hurdle I had to overcome was rounding up into the wind in strong winds.
I no longer even sail with an up haul rope, but then again, I do not go out unless it is 15kt +. (Small board, small sails).
Hope you achieve your goal of water starting by the end this summer as I have set my self the goal of achieving at least 80% of my gibes.

If you have a big board watch this Mute the music but.

There's so much good stuff here, I only have a small tip to offer.

I find one of the main problems people have when first learning, is pushing on the board with their back foot and pulling down on the boom. This is the natural way to get to your feet on dry land if somebody offers you a hand up.
But when water starting you have to do the exact opposite, throw the sail in the air and pull the board in under your bum, with your back foot.

Unless it's very windy, I start with only my back foot on the board, the front foot kicks to, 1 lessen down wind drift, that robs you of wind strength, and 2, helps lift your body out of the water.
Unlike most people I put my back foot in the back strap, this gives you much more control of the board, you can really tug it towards you and under your bum.
But if the wind is light once I'm up I have to move the back foot further forward, I always recommend people try this method, but most don't get on with it for some reason or another.

And it's certainly possible to learn water starting in your first season, (the tips on practising rig steering of the board are a good start). I've seen young keen surfers learn without going through the uphaul stage. And they're gybing and wave riding in the first season, it's a quicker method when possible.

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Jungleman said..

This is my second season.
I am in the harness and have just begaun to plane but every time i go out i get exhausted pretty quickly because i am still uphauling at the end of a run. I have had a few goes at waterstart in shallow water with no success yet.
I have a 152l board and usually rig a 6.0 - 7.2 sail in medium winds.

I am curious to know the experiences of others as they learnt to do this, how long it took to master, and any key tips.
I was told be someone this will make a big difference to my windsurfing.

many thanks.

I went to Fiji for a couple of weeks when I was at this stage and spent ages just practicing getting up, jumping off, and trying it again. It was awesome as the water was only thigh deep, but perfect for repeating waterstarts.

I don't know how anyone learns it in NSW, but I guess as others have said, find a shallow place on a windy day, and practice, practice, practice. One of the things I do remember was it was impossible to learn in gusty wind where it was deep. You just don't have the chance to figure out where to place the sail if you suddenly can't stand up.

I always have the board across the wind..and even grab the back footstrap and pull it into place ( being at the back and upwind with the sail in the air fornt hand on the mast and back to grab the strap. Or use my leg to nudge the fin to push it around ( not a good habit as I always have bruises on my thigh after sailing .
Why do people start with the board facing into the wind? If he is using a big 150ltre board it will be a job to manoeuvre it with the sail.Why not get it into possy before he gets pulled up?
As you get better you can get into both straps and hook in as you come up when you are really overpowered ( my survival trick). That way I am locked in ready to go and don't have to worry about finding straps , hooking in etc when flying along bouncing in chop - or have the strength to hold on until I hook in.Have to be careful to keep the rig back so you don't get catapulted but easy enough to learn.

Trying to interpret what you read about what you have to do into what to actually do is very hard. Especially when there are a 1,007 different ways of doing the same thing.

So :

Ignore everything you have read
Find somebody who can waterstart (anyone who is willing to give up 2 hours will do)
Spend 2 hours with them at the beach / lake / bath
Two people, one rig
Let them show you, then you do it. Keep doing it for 2 hours.
Beachstart in knee deep water
Beachstart in thigh deep water
Beachstart in waist deep water
Beachstart in chest deep water
Beachstart in head deep water
You can now waterstart

Do it again (on your own or with somebody else) the very next day.
You will now be able to waterstart for the rest of your life, no matter how often you do it

If you don't do it again the next day, chances are you will need to start again from the top until you get two days in a row. 100 days not in a row = 2 days in a row

my poor gybing has made me the best water starter in Australia.

Point board downwind, move front hand back to harness lines.
Practice in shallow water simples.

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Carantoc said..

Trying to interpret what you read about what you have to do into what to actually do is very hard. Especially when there are a 1,007 different ways of doing the same thing.

So :

Ignore everything you have read
Find somebody who can waterstart (anyone who is willing to give up 2 hours will do)
Spend 2 hours with them at the beach / lake / bath
Two people, one rig
Let them show you, then you do it. Keep doing it for 2 hours.
Beachstart in knee deep water
Beachstart in thigh deep water
Beachstart in waist deep water
Beachstart in chest deep water
Beachstart in head deep water
You can now waterstart

Do it again (on your own or with somebody else) the very next day.
You will now be able to waterstart for the rest of your life, no matter how often you do it

If you don't do it again the next day, chances are you will need to start again from the top until you get two days in a row. 100 days not in a row = 2 days in a row

Sanctuary Point is one of the best places to learn to waterstart and only 30 minutes drive for you.This weekends forecast is for solid NE winds both days. I have been teaching my sons buddy from school,so far he has had 4x1 hour session and already planing in the straps.I was planning on showing him beachstarts saturday afternoon ,your welcome to join us,I'll have you doing waterstarts in an hour and you will be an expert by the end of the weekend.

Resting the boom on the tail of the board can really help as you prepare to get up but unless you are a dwarf the boom should rest well clear of the tail on a modern shortboard, however if you have a longboard this is workable. In low or gusty winds in deeper water you can have the rig just sitting on the tail out of the water while you wait for a gust.
Also in lighter winds I find myself needing to really bend the back knee and pull the back foot toward me (moonwalk) while kicking hard with the front foot, kicking with the front foot like when you are swimming helps propel your body out of the water.