,can anyone shed some light as to why my rig is pulling me over the nose.20 knots 5.8 sail,an older tushingham and 125 tabou,I tried neutral outhaul and also tentioned.im 80kgs and strong enough to hold it but I just could not stop it from throwing me over the front, hooked in and not.while planning, it was unpredictable, and a lot of sail movement as if it was really gusty, but It wasn't.im not quite in the straps yet, could standing a little bit forward of the strap position be the cause.cheers

Not enough downhaul?
Was the top of the sail floppy?

possibly not that much

Downhaul. Needs more.

Hi Mort69, where do you sail? Ask around for someone to look at your rigging. Recently I have found that the river has been gusty and unpredictable strong gusts. It is a difficult phase to go through (which I'm still having fun with) where you are hooked in and trying to get into the straps. Result is usually the catapult and another nose job on the board!

A couple things that works for me:
- Look at the water for gusts coming up - then time it and point upwind or pull in your front hand (sheet out/handbrake on).
- Get yourself into the straps! Even if just the front straps first
- If going over the bars. release your back hand and hang onto front hand will let you fall backwards instead of over the nose
- Bend the knees! Before the gust hits, get into the "growler" (search Guy Cribb Growler) position and push off the front foot to accelerate or stay in the growler to ride it out.

cheers ikw 777 grumpy smurf,im sailing(if you can call it that)at the pond at the moment and hoping this is the last part of learning phase before I can get a decent sail in. at the moment im standing on both straps and going ok until the sail starts dragging me around and the board goes up wind or pulls me over the front,the ride is just loose and unpredictable,if I push the front foot out and lay back its less work to hold it, but then I just get flung around the side, theres just way to much fighting the rig going on, ill rig the sail again and check if ive got the top of the leach loose, how much difference will a poorly rigged sail make for someone at my level? cheers

Push yourself to committing to the straps, its a whole new ball game with regards to board control once you get there, it wont be the end of getting catapulted but combined with hooking in as well it will all gel before you know it. You could instead of trying brute force to control it also try going to an upright standing position and releasing the back hand to depower the sail, this for me happens in a split second usually when a rail catches and someone watching would hardly realise anything was about to go wrong.

Downhaul as pointed out, check that footstraps are in most forward position to make it as easy as possible to get into them, and then make sure you to get your weight low and in the harness. You should find it pretty easy to get front foot in which will help. IF you commit all weight to harness and let your weight hold power in sail you should be able to put your back foot in.

I remember it took me ages to get the back foot in, was always worried about getting catapulted.

You will very seldom get catapulted while in the straps.
If you are going fast enough to be in the straps but are not it's easy to get launched.

good points cheers,I im finding it easier to get my back foot over the strap before the front one, however I think this is because most of my weight is on the front and its so disruptive to move it significantly

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mort69 said..
>>> how much difference will a poorly rigged sail make for someone at my level? cheers

A huge amount!!!!! Even the best sailors have trouble with a badly rigged sail, for a beginner, it makes sailing almost impossible in gusty winds

And it's not just the top of the sail that should have a loose leach. For normal downhaul my leach is loose at least to the 2nd batten above the boom. If the sail wants to through me forward, I tighten it up until it's loose to the batten above the boom.
That's the way modern sails are designed, it puts the centre of effort down low so there's not as much leverage pulling you forward. It also stabilises the sail so the draft doesn't move around, with varying wind strength.
If you can check the recommended mast length for your sail, that will be a rough guide.

perhaps the sail is just too big for you ?
for sure you should not get yanked over - straps or not
harness helps the arms
if i can't hold the sail - usually sail is too large for the conditions and my skills {or lack thereof}
i am more than 100 kilos and would use about 6.3 in 20 knots
5.7 for 80 kilos sounds BIG

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mort69 said...
good points cheers,I im finding it easier to get my back foot over the strap before the front one, however I think this is because most of my weight is on the front and its so disruptive to move it significantly

My technique to get in the straps is to
1) get the board moving
2) slide the front foot back until it bumps into the front strap
3) slide the back foot back so it bumps into the back strap
4) rock my body backwards then forwards, taking the chance as I'm going backwards to quickly slam my unweighted front foot into the strap (guessing where the strap is)
5) then rock forward and slam the back foot in
6) power up, relax and feel happy
The secret with not rounding up into the wind at these slow speeds is to pull the sail over onto the upwind side of the board. You often need to be really aggressive with this, yanking the rig as soon as you feel the board is thinking about rounding up.

All the above tips, plus perhaps you are going too broad too soon. I'd recommending pointing 10 degrees upwind of a beam reach to get planing then slowly arc to a beam or broader reach once you hooked in and securely strapped in. It's almost impossible to go over the handle bars pointing into the wind.

IF you can afford a couple of windsurf lessons, it will be worth it to avoid getting into bad habit at the start of your windsurfing career. Windsurfing is such a simple sport that can be so frustrating. One little tip from a instructor (straight front arm, look somewhere etc) can make the world of difference. There is no big changes required to technique in windsurfing to turn a maneuver from always failing to success. Rigging a sail is the same. Usually more down haul is required than you think. Windsurfers are usually very friendly so don't be shy on the beach and ask another sailor what they think to your setup.

Sheeting out is the worst thing you can do, so whenever you are moving your feet around make sure that you keep your back hand in. Its important because if you sheet off, you remove the pressure that the sail is putting through the mast and onto the board at the mast base - this means that the only pressure on the board is now at the back, where your feet are, and it makes the board round up. So if you can get good at moving your feet around while keeping pressure on the mast base (sheeting in) then you'll find it a lot easier and relaxing to find the straps.

I bet both your feet are 90 deg to the board.




These images of shawna cropas shows how you should stand. She calls it the rescue stance.

Front foot is pointing to the nose. Front leg is straight. Arms are straight. When the sail powers up you bend the legs and GET LOW. lower than you think.

You can't catapult from here.

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mort69 said..
good points cheers,I im finding it easier to get my back foot over the strap before the front one, however I think this is because most of my weight is on the front and its so disruptive to move it significantly

The best advise I have heard for getting into the straps is this, you have to trick and fool your board as to your intentions for getting into the foot straps because the second your board figures you are going for the straps it will head upwind and stall. How does your board know? The mast foot pressure is reduced. So as you go for the straps hang from the harness lines more or if not hooked in pull down on the boom more, then very quietly and sneaky slide the front foot into the foot strap and your board will have no clue as to what just happened.