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Grantmac said..

Loreni said..

Subsonic said..

Loreni said..

Manuel7 said..

I surf just like that but my windward rail in lower than leeward.

If thats truly the case, then focus on pointing your toes more, like a ballerina. You will find theres more load on your back foot than the front foot, the back foot is where you need to keep your toes pointed.


Antoine isn't just tilting the leeward rail in like that because it looks good.

Interesting....I have weight on heels on both legs when in straps planing. Will try to point fingers with my back foot.

What I usually do when I get in both straps is front foot I kick it like a football towards the sky and back foot away from me and more towards the sea.

This is why you can't use the back straps. You have to push across the board with your toes to get the rail flying.

Got it!

So make the board fly by pushing with toes to the side of the board and then when it's already flying put the weight on heels.

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Loreni said..

Grantmac said..

Loreni said..

Subsonic said..

Loreni said..

Manuel7 said..

I surf just like that but my windward rail in lower than leeward.

If thats truly the case, then focus on pointing your toes more, like a ballerina. You will find theres more load on your back foot than the front foot, the back foot is where you need to keep your toes pointed.


Antoine isn't just tilting the leeward rail in like that because it looks good.

Interesting....I have weight on heels on both legs when in straps planing. Will try to point fingers with my back foot.

What I usually do when I get in both straps is front foot I kick it like a football towards the sky and back foot away from me and more towards the sea.

This is why you can't use the back straps. You have to push across the board with your toes to get the rail flying.

Got it!

So make the board fly by pushing with toes to the side of the board and then when it's already flying put the weight on heels.

No, you need to keep the weight off your heels. Roll the board to leeward using your toes/balls of your feet. Only sink back on your heels if you need to keep the rail down in a gust...

Bend the knees & sit down. Lift you weight off your feet. Light hands on the boom which indicates that you are using the harness and not your arm to hold down the sail. When the board is light under your feet it will feel like it wants to fly effortlessly. In My experience

No weight on the heels unless the leeward rail is starting to trip. Realistically this requires being extremely powered with all the weight in the harness.

ok so one more thing. pulling the sail towards yourself is this the proper way to sheet in or is it wrong?

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Loreni said..
ok so one more thing. pulling the sail towards yourself is this the proper way to sheet in or is it wrong?

'Sheeting in' is an old sailing term, invented on boats where the mast was fixed in position.
If the yacht or dinghy sail is fluttering like a flag then the sail is powerless and this generally happens when the front end of the boat is pointing into wind. The rope on the end of the yacht sail was/is called a 'main sheet' and when you 'sheet in' you tighten this rope to stop the sail fluttering, and at that point the sail fills with wind, takes its design shape, and begins to develop lift or forward drive.

With a windsurf rig the mast is moveable and it's a mistake to simply pull the rig towards you to sheet in. To sheet in correctly you keep your front arm extended to hold the mast in place, and then you sheet in with your back hand to fill the sail with wind.
Technically, the back end of the boom moves the most, rotating the mast and sail to fill the rig with wind.

It's your back hand which controls the power of the sail - so we sometimes call this the 'sheet hand'. Your front arm is more an anchor point for the mast, or is used to move the mast back or forwards to steer. So we sometimes call the front hand: 'the mast hand'.

If you simply pull the rig towards you with both hands that tend to choke or stall the rig, but this method can also used for pumping the rig - perhaps when you are trying to get going in lighter winds.

Rotating the sail around mast is perhaps a good description for beginners, but it can also be misleading I think. In reality it is all about the angle of the sail to the wind, and a very good way of "sheeting in" is to move the front backwards on the boom towards the harness lines and let the mast stand more upright (while the back-end of the sail stays fixed). This will give you an extra boost of power and a better stance.

Well the reason I'm asking is because my boards ain't flying. They also get stuck at chop so by no means I know how to sail. I figured then that there must be some basic thing I'm doing wrong.

What I know is that 115L slalom board will eat chop better than 80 liter wave board so....if you know how it works it's amazing.

Windsurf schools didn't help me much - did not notice anything wrong...

As soon as I head slalom boards are bad for knees I know the guy does not sail properly...

Sounds like a stance and tuning issue.
You can watch Nico Prien on youtube, for instance, and try to mimic his style. ;)

Sheet in by loading the harness and pushing across the board with your feet. That will get it flying.

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Loreni said..
Well the reason I'm asking is because my boards ain't flying. They also get stuck at chop so by no means I know how to sail. I figured then that there must be some basic thing I'm doing wrong.

What I know is that 115L slalom board will eat chop better than 80 liter wave board so....if you know how it works it's amazing.

Windsurf schools didn't help me much - did not notice anything wrong...

As soon as I head slalom boards are bad for knees I know the guy does not sail properly...

Without listing what kit you are using and where you sail, your level, its tricky to give meaningful advice.

You mentioned earlier the windward rail was lower, it should be the other way around.

Kit tuning


Sailor tuning
?t=125

I see.

Pushing the board more from the side is probably it...will see.

So I guess freerace board needs to be pushed less than slalom?