Hi All, this is my first post as a newbie at windsurfing. I am 40 and have always thought about windsurfing and spent some time as a kid on holidays actually doing it o.k.. A year ago I got some gear for next to nothing. it consisted of 2 ezzy wave sails 5.5/5.0 carbon mast/boom, a 80's mistral Malibu in excellent condition. I removed the mistral tendon and adapted the ezzy mast to fit the mistral ....all good.

Anyway I have watched and read lots of tutorials and vids and I am getting there with the very basics but I am having real trouble going downwind. If the wind is really light I can go slightly downwind but I always seem to swing round to about 45 degrees into the wind. even with the mast leaned forward. I know it is hard to judge without seeing me but maybe it is just that this setup is not compatible????

I have tried moving the mast all the way forward in the track and all the way back. even with the centreboard up I still seem to end up going up wind!

any ideas or thoughts?

Any input welcome! I don't wan't to go spend any money as I am really tight saving for a house ATM.

cheers!!

you are most likely, (ie. a guess) over sheeting.

when teaching we would spend some time going through the idea of opening your stance. this means to twist to open up the sail, ie let the boom out slightly. that combined with positioning the rig so the mast is slightly forward will get you going off the wind.

2 common mistakes that get made when learning are.

1. pulling the boom towards your chest rather than keeping your arms straight

2. oversheeting the sail by not bending your back leg which prevents you twisting your upper body at your hips and opening your stance.

check out this site

http://www.shawnacropas.com/technique/

Stand with your feet on either side of the board. Hold the boom further towards the outhaul. Tilt the sail ti the right and not forwards. As soon as you are going downwind you will find the balance to keep going straight. Remember to lean tje sail right and back not forwords towards the nose. Good luck

willpower what you have described is how to start a flare gybe.

the right and back bit I don't fully understand.

I have just overcome the same problem,I found a foot either side of the mast lean the sail forward and use your feet to force the nose downwind,if you pump the sail it allows you to conter balance and put more force on the board through your legs and feet,once you gain speed it gets easier to keep it there,just keep pumping it down wind any time you feel it pulling back into the wind

3rd time out today and struggled for 2hrs to come back to shore with offshore wind about 15kts. Sorry for hijacking thread but any tips on heading upwind. Just found I was going back and forth on same line and couldn't get closer to shore.

i am confused - zokay, it's my "normal" state
why would you want to go straight downwind ?? with a Mistral Malibu
it's not a sailboat where you work your way upwind and sail downwind home

and sailing in off-shore winds ??
guess where you are going ---> OFF shore
that is a BIG NO NO
in modern english - do NOT sail in off-shore winds !!! period

I also started with a malibu and did not have the problem. Maybe you are standing too far back, you should go into the footstraps only if you are planing. If you want to bear off you need to tip the mast forward and sheet in at the same time, this is counter intuitive. Once you are going downwind you keep the sail open and steer by moving the rig right or left. You need to visualize the mast pushing on your mast foot. Look on U tube for Alan Cadiz Jibe tutorial, he explains the basics very well.

Thank you all so much for your feedback.
Gestalt, ill try what you suggest this weekend if i get a chance. The rear leg thing i think i was not paying attention to.

Willpower, are you assuming sailing to my left (left hand forward) or on the other side of the board?

When one says move the rig right amd left does that mean right and left of the board if you are looking in the direction you are going.?

Thanks again for the great responses.

Any thoughts on the suitability of the wave sail on this board and where it should be in the track?

http://www.shawnacropas.com/technique/

awesome site never seen it before!! thanks.

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lpnb said..

http://www.shawnacropas.com/technique/

awesome site never seen it before!! thanks.

??? Maybe I got it wrong but Guy Cribb told us to keep the body // with the sail at all points of sailing but look where you are going. How do you pull the sail in to go upwind if your hips are pointing forward?

yes that's right, you do keep your body parallel to the sail. if you look at the photos on the Shawna site you can see her body position with respect to the sail.

most beginners think that you stand side on to the board and sheet in. that's not the stance to adopt. opening the stance is simple, you bend your back leg and it allows you to twit at the hips. some people refer to it as the 7's stance because your body makes the shape of a number 7. ie straight back and arms out straight.

one way to help you adopt this stance when using a harness is to push against the boom with your palms.

to go upwind (on a longboard) you tilt the sail further aft. when you do that your body stays parallel to the sail. the action of putting your body forward of the centre of effort of the sail also makes you sheet in more and gets you a good upwind stance but you need to be carefull not to oversheet.

on shortboards going upwind you will notice people straighten their back leg and bend their front leg while rolling their sheet hand shoulder forward. that is an advanced stance and allows you to load the mast foot and maintain proper sheet angle on the sail. in effect it opens up your stance going upwind.

if you think about it sbc both your arms are the same length. if your torso is not parallel to your sail then either,

one of your arms is doing more work then the other and pulling in on the boom more,

or your upper body is twisted into an awkward position which will tire you out and hurt your back.

I remember way back when I started windsurfing on a lake, I was standing up to my knees in water on the nose of the board trying to push the nose off the wind and still not succeeding.
The problem was that the centre of resistance moves forward as your weight moves forward, so moving the sail forward isn't all that is involved. You need to get a twisting moment going through your feet.

So you need to get more push through your front foot and that means more pull on your front arm. That will push the nose off the wind.

When planing and in the straps, more force through the mastfoot helps push the nose off the wind.

Here he moves the sail fore and aft, but notice that he doesn't move his feet - that's how he gets the twisting force that turns the board.

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powersloshin said..

I also started with a malibu and did not have the problem. Maybe you are standing too far back, you should go into the footstraps only if you are planing. If you want to bear off you need to tip the mast forward and sheet in at the same time, this is counter intuitive. Once you are going downwind you keep the sail open and steer by moving the rig right or left. You need to visualize the mast pushing on your mast foot. Look on U tube for Alan Cadiz Jibe tutorial, he explains the basics very well.

Are you asking me? I just want to go a little down wind...anything but 45 degrees upwind.

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lpnb said..

powersloshin said..

I also started with a malibu and did not have the problem. Maybe you are standing too far back, you should go into the footstraps only if you are planing. If you want to bear off you need to tip the mast forward and sheet in at the same time, this is counter intuitive. Once you are going downwind you keep the sail open and steer by moving the rig right or left. You need to visualize the mast pushing on your mast foot. Look on U tube for Alan Cadiz Jibe tutorial, he explains the basics very well.

Are you asking me? I just want to go a little down wind...anything but 45 degrees upwind.

I was replying to the wrong post please ignore

been so long but I finally got back out there in a marginal day BUT after thinking about what all you guys said and how to apply it I got it! now I can go any direction I damn well please so I was comfortable venturing a bit further out of the comfort zone, it was all about being willing to move around and move the mast to the right angle. in the light wind I just kept moving too far back on the board...moving up closer to the mast and also tilting the mast not just forward but also left and right made a difference too. I know I have not got it down pat but I am more understanding of how it all works now.

thanks again everyone. now I just need to learn tacking, jybing, water starting, hooking in...tried the latter at very low speed and went arse over! :-)