I have tried a few stink bug starts, and was wondering if there is a trick to avoid the wing edge catching and flipping the wing upside down. Every tutorial I've seen was on flat water, where this may not be a problem. But I'm typically in 1-2 ft of chop, and when I reach for the front handle to pull the wing over me, the edge really likes to catch and flip the wing. Happened to me in about 2 out of 3 tries today. My wing is a Unit V2 5.0, but my wife had similar problems with here F2 wings. Today's tries were in 20 knot averages - plenty once flying, but no control problems when foiling. Not getting washed of the board (+15 l) in the chop was a different issue, hence the interest in the stink bug start.

Maybe your pointing slightly too far dw as your getting in position then the wing would be trying to come across the wind window catching a tip in the process and rolling over.. try pointing the nose of the board into the wind a bit more as you lift the wing over head otherwise, you just need to be a bit quicker getting your rear hand in position . Once your rear hand in on the wings rear handle force it down towards the water this will pop the le up and unstick the wing tip, sometimes you'll need to be quite aggressive with this , so much so that you'll see the caught wing tip fold on the water for a second before it releases

Not sure if this helps... pushing down on the back handle when you lift the wing helps it clear the water:
Stink Bug Start Tutorial - Wingfoiling - YouTube

that's kind of an odd issue.

the leading edge should be facing directly into the wind. I set my front hand up while cowboy straddling the board. Then I grab the board rails and get my knees in place quickly. Once you are there it should be pretty stable if your leading edge is facing into the wind - take your time here, the wing should be controlled. Once you feel balanced get the wing above your head so the tips aren't near the water and hold the back handle to get lift. from there keep your butt down until you are powered enough to get onto foil.

I think you mean the wing tip catching. That can only happen if you are moving downwind. As pointed out above make sure you are across the wind and get wind under the wing to lift you up.

As others have stated, nose of the board is slightly downwind. Keep the board across the wind.

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ajohnc said..
Maybe your pointing slightly too far dw as your getting in position then the wing would be trying to come across the wind window catching a tip in the process and rolling over.

It's quite likely that the board was pointing downwind. For regular starts today, I had to point it pretty much straight downwind, otherwise the chop would just push me over. I had watched the Wingman video that kiwiupover posted above, and several other tutorial videos.
There are some interesting differences that I did not notice at first. Wingman suggests to turn the board slightly downwind, although he then states he now starts from a beam reach. What I tried is closer to what the Kitesurf College tutorial shows. They also say to turn the nose of the board "slightly downwind", but it looks quite far downwind in the screen shot:

Another difference is that they start holding the wing on the flagging handle when getting on the board (which is also what I did). In contrast, Wingman starts already holding the wing on the front handle. I'm sure either way is fine in lighter wind and flat water, but what about sizeable chop and strong wind?

I'll definitely look at the orientation of the board and wing to the wind next time. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Front handle definitely

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Velocicraptor said..
the leading edge should be facing directly into the wind.

Certainly true - and it should be next to the board, not in front of it. If it's in front of the board because the board is pointing downwind, wind and waves will push me downwind, and a tip catching will quickly become a problem

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Velocicraptor said..
the leading edge should be facing directly into the wind. I set my front hand up while cowboy straddling the board.

I straddled my board once today, and it's still big enough to be uncomfortably wide. At the same time, it's narrow enough to not be very stable in today's chop when it is sideways to the chop, even with the feet in the water. I think the cowbow stinkbug will be put on the back burner for now, until I either have a smaller board or it gets warm enough that swimming is fun.

Think of the board and the wing as a t. They should be fairly perpendicular. The wing sets the position and your board will naturally follow when you grab the rail(s). Chop and waves sometimes make it more unstable but don't fight it too much. To me it sounds like you are letting the board dictate the position of the wing - when it should be the reverse

the first couple sessions are always a lot of trial and error but it becomes very natural.

I found a post that describes the problem I had, and how to avoid it, on page 1 of the "StinkBug Wingfoil Start" topic:

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mcrt said..
I did go through a phase (on the 85l) where the board was veering nose downwind as i climbed on a bit from the rear. Then the trailing edge or downwind wingtip would catch.

To fix try this:

-Setup with board pointing slightly upwind. Wing across front third of board.
-Get on board from the side instead of from the back.
-Keep head close to the boom strut all the time.
-Balance weight so board lies flat,if you let the tail sink and nose go up it will pivot downwind. Do not be afraid to put weight on the front hand holding the wing.Board may sink under if you overdo it but wing will float and hold no matter what.
-If you feel the downwind tip trying to catch as you begin to lift the wing bring it down flat a bit and push back hand forward.

-The whole thing becomes super quick (<5secs on the 85l?) from in the water to knee sailing with very little practice, no time for board to veer anywhere.

Good to know I'm not the only one who had this problem . Even better to get the tips how to do this right.

Realistically, though, I should have been happy to actually get one good stinkbug start in my first 3 or 4 tries. Compared to learning how to waterstart a windsurf board, that's pretty quick. I was just quite frustrated after the session because I had picked the wrong spot and the wrong time of the day for my session. A session (or a few) in a bit less chop, and using the tips above, and the stinkbug start should be quite doable, even for a slow learner like myself.

Don't stinking, do the sniper. I've posted on it before, super quick and easy in chop/waves.

Mike

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Mikedubs said..
Don't stinking, do the sniper. I've posted on it before, super quick and easy in chop/waves.

Mike

In heavy chop i do a weird clumsy mix of sniper/cowboy :)
My next board will be 22in wide partly to accomodate for this with the carbon kneebrace i wear.

Got a wing session in today, and manage to get more than 90% of my stink bug starts . The two things I did different were (1) to orient the board nose a bit towards the wind before getting on the board, and (2) to grab the front handle (not the LE handle) before getting onto the board. Grabbing the handle before getting on the board seems to be the most common suggestion for the regular (non-rodeo) stinkbug start. I happened to watch the one video that shows things the other way around before my first tries...
It was pretty flat today, which made things easier, but with the elbow on the board, the wing was flying high enough above the water that it probably would have worked in some chop, too. I noticed that when I got onto the board and brought my knees up, the board nose turned downwind, but that did not seem to be a problem, with the wing well above the water. We'll have to see how this will work in moderate chop. But thanks to very poor jibes, I got plenty of practice today, so I'm optimistic. I love how fast the stinkbug start is. On my big (+20) board, I don't even have to be accurate about positioning the knees before getting both hands on the handles and lifting the wing (which is pretty much one movement), since adjustments can be made once there's wind in the wing.

I was wondering about the board leash, though. I use a coiled waist leash for the board, which ended up between my legs almost every time after standing up. Stepping over the leash with the back leg was not a problem on the flat water today, but could be more of an issue in chop. Do people usually switch to ankle or calf leashes after learning the stinkbug start?