Awesome. Okay time for a painful session. try this bad boy out. Because i either get up in less wind or i will need a 45 ish sinker me thinks (at 75kg). Right now the winds that get me up on the 34L are annoyingly strong to stay at a wave peak for rotation. Fine for downwinders. Not expecting to get up in the same winds as a big boat board but just a tad less. To move from the upper limit of a certain wing size to between half and total limit. The upper third if you like. Right now thats not the case and ive got the technique pretty honed now.


enough wind 100 percent start rate. But that wind is too much for good wave sailing.

i keep sating the same thing but in a different way. Soz.

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eppo said..
Awesome. Okay time for a painful session. try this bad boy out. Because i either get up in less wind or i will need a 45 ish sinker me thinks (at 75kg). Right now the winds that get me up on the 34L are annoyingly strong to stay at a wave peak for rotation. Fine for downwinders. Not expecting to get up in the same winds as a big boat board but just a tad less. To move from the upper limit of a certain wing size to between half and total limit. The upper third if you like. Right now thats not the case and ive got the technique pretty honed now.


enough wind 100 percent start rate. But that wind is too much for good wave sailing.

i keep sating the same thing but in a different way. Soz.

I just traded my 4m ding for a 5m , so hoping I can now get stated on my 35Ltr in 15kns rather than 20 kn
time will tell

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greg87foil said..

eppo said..
Well ive never even tried to sink my 34l (same board as in video) on my knees. Board seems to just sink too much. But will give it a go - im hoping on my knees it lifts the board out the water more easily. Thats the only possible reason i can see usinf this technique above the squat start which is super stable when you learn how. I can squat in position for as lomg as i want leaning on the leading edge.

but honestly after doing several downwinders on the 34L prone getting on my big board now almost makes me cry with frustration on how
absolute dog sh1t it is.

we're in exactly the same boat

awesome video thanks for the explanation Artem! Are you also able to do the squat sink start (like me here: www.instagram.com/p/CUYHlJeoL_c/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link ) and if so, how much do you think you increase your low end wind range by using the knee start you demonstrated?

Like eppo mentioned, the only advantage I see is if the knee technique is able to get the board to the surface easier (ie in lower winds)

I haven't tried the squat sink start yet, mastering one thing at the time ;)

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eppo said..
Awesome. Okay time for a painful session. try this bad boy out. Because i either get up in less wind or i will need a 45 ish sinker me thinks (at 75kg). Right now the winds that get me up on the 34L are annoyingly strong to stay at a wave peak for rotation. Fine for downwinders. Not expecting to get up in the same winds as a big boat board but just a tad less. To move from the upper limit of a certain wing size to between half and total limit. The upper third if you like. Right now thats not the case and ive got the technique pretty honed now.


enough wind 100 percent start rate. But that wind is too much for good wave sailing.

i keep sating the same thing but in a different way. Soz.

In 28-35kts I didn't feel overpowered with my 3.5m f-one strike and it was easy to squat start and get up in those conditions. But I get your point, it'd be nicer if you can reduce the wing size as to not be towards the upper end of the wind range of the wing.

No wind in the forecast here so I'll have to rely on you reporting back on the knee start eppo!

Wont be for a while. In margs on school surf camp all week.


interestingly and for obvious reasons, getting up on the 4.8 (5m), in its upper range is much harder to control than being up a running on the 3.8 (4m) in its own upper range when winging a set wave peak. So your experience on the 3.5 makes sense.


And im not concerned with the 28 to 35 knot winds - im concerned with the 90 percent of days 15/ 18 to 20/23 knot days. Ive been squat starting with a 2.8m (3m) in 25 plus days without a thought.

The cumulative effect of a bigger wing kicks in.
also developing a greater margin of error given wind speed changes especially through winter.

hopefully the knee start thing could provide that extra lift out the water. Or another bigger sink prone board is needed.

OneMauiDay with an epic innovation for getting into the sinker start position without needing to physically push the board under and finagle your feet into straps. Calls it the Dead Man Start.
Lay on back, get feet in straps, roll over onto belly (board rotates to toeside in water), lift yourself up onto your feet by pushing up on the top of the wing. Now you are ready to begin water-start.

www.instagram.com/p/CU8B6TnDT_L/?utm_medium=copy_link

ooh i like that one! thanks for linking

That is cool , would never of though of that !

Ah very cool. Although sinking board into position is not that hard to get right. Its getting the bloody nose of board above water.

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Pasquales said..
Never really understood all the stink bug stuff, I use same knee start on my 75 or 45 board, and of course need the wing to stay close to the surface. Works in flat and choppy water, good and crappy winds. Pretty simple really.

Pasquales, what's your weight and how much difference there is in the low end with the smaller board? In the video Artem said he needs to use 5m instead of 3,5m which is unacceptable for me.
thanks very much!

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omg said..

Pasquales said..
Never really understood all the stink bug stuff, I use same knee start on my 75 or 45 board, and of course need the wing to stay close to the surface. Works in flat and choppy water, good and crappy winds. Pretty simple really.

Pasquales, what's your weight and how much difference there is in the low end with the smaller board? In the video Artem said he needs to use 5m instead of 3,5m which is unacceptable for me.
thanks very much!

So you are 90kg then P?

45 litre Board would be easy for me to sink start. 34L . not certain about that - well Below 50 percent.

Thanks for all the good info,tried out my 51L north swell ,naish 1240Ha foil mantis
4m wing in 20kt. No problem starting with a knee start. 88kg dry in the morning

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omg said..

Pasquales, what's your weight and how much difference there is in the low end with the smaller board? In the video Artem said he needs to use 5m instead of 3,5m which is unacceptable for me.
thanks very much!

I weigh 90 kgs and use a bigger wing (4.8 m2 PPC Surge) for my local spot. Looking at the wind chart, it was 12-16 when the best runs occurred. After an hour, the wind started to dip so switched back to the 75L. Hard to say how much lower the 75 buys. I'm new to this 50% volume stuff, so need to increase my efficiency first.

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eppo said..

omg said..

Pasquales said..
Never really understood all the stink bug stuff, I use same knee start on my 75 or 45 board, and of course need the wing to stay close to the surface. Works in flat and choppy water, good and crappy winds. Pretty simple really.

Pasquales, what's your weight and how much difference there is in the low end with the smaller board? In the video Artem said he needs to use 5m instead of 3,5m which is unacceptable for me.
thanks very much!

So you are 90kg then P?

45 litre Board would be easy for me to sink start. 34L . not certain about that - well Below 50 percent.

Yeah but it's relative. Knee starts might be a faster way to go. Foilthegreats' pop up is like 3 pumps. That can work for places that have 12-16 with short periods. Basically my local spot.

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Pasquales said..

omg said..

Pasquales, what's your weight and how much difference there is in the low end with the smaller board? In the video Artem said he needs to use 5m instead of 3,5m which is unacceptable for me.
thanks very much!

I weigh 90 kgs and use a bigger wing (4.8 m2 PPC Surge) for my local spot. Looking at the wind chart, it was 12-16 when the best runs occurred. After an hour, the wind started to dip so switched back to the 75L. Hard to say how much lower the 75 buys. I'm new to this 50% volume stuff, so need to increase my efficiency first.

Awesome thanks for the info. Thats impressive 12-16 at 90kg. Will have to pursue this knee start thingy. Im using a 4.8m surge at 75kg on the 34L so kind of comparable. If i could get out in 12-16 on my 34L then its a one board quiver for me which is my aim. Not interested in marginal conditions to wing, rather kite foil.

Some more rumblings about 34L sinker board knee start with some visuals

Well that's my exact board in the vid. Beyond me how he stays so stable on his knees. Need to practise more I suppose. Good thing about the knee start the board nose is already pointing up - easier to breach the water surface. That's the issue with squat start.

Had an easy session today on a 90L board but man the thing felt like a massive turd in the waves. Once you've been on a small board like that it's all you want.


mate said to me "not doing a swear start today ". Lol.