Hi all, So I've recently taken the plunge and moved into wave sailing from freeblasting (or should I say trying to wave sail) but I keep on having 2 repeating issues that I was hoping you might have pointers for.
I have paid my dues and taking my beatings from the white water and now after a few sessions can get out the back. At present I'm not going out in anything more than chest high waves. The issues I am having are:

1) I cannot choose a decent wave, every time I'm coming in to the beach I am always in between the swell, any time I slow down to catch one I end up stalling and having to come out of the straps. Any advice on how to sail off the plane in the straps and any advice on selecting waves when out far enough would be greatly appreciated.

2) The odd occasion I have managed to stay in the straps and wait for the swell it keeps me on the shoulder and I cannot accelerate down it. Is this a common learning hurdle if so what am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance.
EHD

Firstly, I think your going out when the waves are too small. I don't even wake up for chest high. Wait until it's at least mast high and you should be sweet.
I learnt to windsurf at jaws, I can tell you that uphauling a one design in front of a 40foot wall of whitewash really helps your learning curve.

"Learnt to windsurf at jaws".... hahahaha

Seriously Elite.....
If the wind is cross to cross-offshore.....Try head upwind without losing too much speed, you can do this by doing little upwind carves like you are surfing on your back-hand. Once the wave looks like it wants to start pitching you need to bear off and pick up speed to initiate the bottom turn..... lean forward, bend ze knees and oversheet so you get a good bottom turn to help set you up for cranking top-turn or aerial.

I have not found an appropriate vid but if you watch the guys in the background you will see they head upwind on the wave.... not too much but enough to keep a bit of speed up. You can also stall out while still keeping some power to stay on the wave without outrunning it.



Small surf is difficult because you easily outrun it and its not always clearly defined swell. Focus on getting out in 1 piece and when those bigger days come along you can concentrate on getting the riding dialled in...... patience.

Study the surf before you go out.
1. Figure out where the waves are breaking
2. The direction they peel.
3. Identify when the sets (bigger waves) come through, the frequency of the sets and the number of big waves in each set
4. Any channels downwind from where the waves are breaking where its easier to get out

When sailing out, look for sets on the horizon. Gybe in front of the set and head upwind toward where the set will break As you approach the impact zone, select a set wave and pump onto it. If there are no set waves as you approach the impact zone, gybe and head back out again to find one.

Its not possible to sail in the foot straps when not planning. If you are not planning while approaching the impact zone, don't worry, because as you pump onto a wave you will get planning and be able to get into the straps and ride the wave. Don't forget to unhook when riding the wave. it gives you more manoeuvrability.

Unless it's proper windy and a good wave most of the time the back foot is out of the straps until point of take off.
Quick foot transition back into the strap as you drop in the lay it over for the bottom turn.

Start with a board with plenty of extra literage and a smallish sail - around 5.5m in light wind.
This will aid sailing in lighter /non-planing conditions and allow you to manoeuvre the board on the wave.
I have a 112 Starboard reactor (super awesome board) and have used a Nuevo 120 similar, but with a longer waterline which helped with early entry on the wave. Boards like these (and there are a few around allow you to get onto the wave early which lets you set up for the first turn, get your feet sorted, make every tack and gybe and they are still built to turn.

I'm exclusively in the waves, 50% of the waves I catch, I catch from the back side, dropping in down the face (small waves work just as well), not stalling waiting for a wave to catch up to me. If I catch a wave from the front side, I usually pick up the swell from way outside, then adjust my speed to the same as the speed of the wave, as I'm waiting for the wave to steepen up enough to turn on it and head down the line.
You are coming from "freeblasting" which tells me that you are probably sailing too fast for wave catching. It's hard to find vids that show wave catching, they are mostly showing wave riding after they are caught, but the catching process is usually a slower form of sailing. Also it sounds like you are in too far into the impact zone, choose your wave farther outside, and don't outrun it, let the speed of the wave dictate how fast you sail.

This is pretty common, I see the same thing with guys who are first starting to wave ride after years of blasting around, they usually sail too fast for wave catching, and end up too far inside.

"EliteHotDog"? Not quite yet, but you're on your way.

Learning how to pick your waves, is harder than learning to catch your first wavesail in the first place... that is why understanding waves is quite important.

Other than that, try wavesailing at locations which are easy to beach-launch from... ie: a beach break is usually harder to get out the back, due to lot of whitewater.

Peter Hart did a great dvd quite a few years back - serios about waves i think. Great tips on how to catch waves, start riding etc

Have a look at this video..as one of the posters said above, it shows how they sail upwind to catch a wave then turn downwind on the wave.

It can be a bit tricky. Do you have the possibility or desire to surf too? It helps tremendously to understand the waves. Some spots are more technical than others.

Generally speaking you want to be in front of the rolling swell but behind the breaking waves. Each wave has a peak. From there you can either go left or right off the peak. This will translate to frontside or backside riding.

The closer you are to the peak, the faster. You can pump to plane on a wave which is about to break, or get there with the plane. Different wind / wave directions will lead to different trajectories to build up speed.

Watch surfing videos, then watch windsurfing wave riding videos. Use slow motion to understand what happens.

Looking for words such as bottom turn, top turn, cutback, frontside, backside, etc.

Looking forward to hearing about your progress!

That's a really good clip addressing the subject. It shows the stalling, waiting on the wave to steepen up before shooting down the line.
Sometimes it looks like they head down the line too early, but they are looking at a steep section that's off the screen, down the line, that they are interested in, not what's right in front.
The guy on the Ezzy is kind of in the way though, I'd be keeping my eye on him if I was out there, he should be at Sprecs or Kanaha, hopefully it's not bhc or his wife shooting the scene.............. If so, sorry, just an observation.
Here's another vid, more like the next step, but shows stuff that you should be aiming for,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, if you can understand this guy.
From Maui Sails~

"Sometimes it looks like they head down the line too early, but they are looking at a steep section that's off the screen, down the line, that they are interested in, not what's right in front."

Correct.... Hookipa has 2 or 3 peaking sections and then it kinda fizzles out into the channel so the guys line up and race down the different sections to hit the peaks for their aerials. THe regulars however know how to work a lot of bottom turns and cutbacks inbetween each section to milk the most out of the wave.

Thanks for all the replies, plenty to take in.
I've been out a few times since, 1 ground and 1 wind swell and slowly getting the hang of it. I have a 105L board so plenty of float but it turns out I developed into a lazy sailor from freeriding. The last two sessions I spent most of the time on the water working on this, not hooking in leaning out and sailing off but trying to stay out of the harness and in at least one strap both on and off the plane. very tough on the legs but progress was made.

Slow progress but progress non the less. Next decent swell I'll concentrate taking a bit of pace off and using the points from here to get onto the wave properly.

thanks again.

Oh and Mastbender, the name came from a hot dog seller on the beach one day. I asked him if they were any good, and he said, " this here is the Elite Hot Dog" couldn't think of a user name when registering and it came to mind.