Windsurf – July 2019

WINDSURF MAGAZINE 119

NINE STEPS TO SUCCESS

• Big, large surface area, low aspect wings make everything easier....
  waaaay easier. Smaller, race oriented, high aspect wings are very
  twitchy side to side and quite unstable with a very high stall speed, if you
  slow down at all your board will drop to the water. Small race wings will slow
  your progress down by YEARS. I have people come to the centre who have
  been foiling for 3 years on high aspect race wings and have never completed
  a jibe. 2 sessions on a big, low aspect wing and they are foiling all the way
  through their jibes.


• Don’t kick your feet when you waterstart, that foil is everywhere
  you want to kick.


• The board is made to foil with your feet positioned in the straps.
  It will not lift if you are in a slogging stance with your front foot
  near the universal. Get up on the board and start moving, once you are
  comfortably slogging get into the front strap immediately, long before you
  ever try to get on the foil. Put your back foot in the middle of the board all
  the way back against the back straps. Remember the board is designed to lift
  with your back foot in the strap, so get it back there.


• Stand upright with all your foot pressure going to the bottom
  of the ocean. Make sure you have at least 60% of your weight
  on your front foot. Put tension in the sail, but do not lean back over the
  water, stay over your feet and gradually sheet in. Keep your head and
  chest forward over your front foot and give plenty of mast base pressure.


• Hooking into the harness helps keep things static, it is not necessary
  but it can help keep the rig in one position.


• Pick up speed by heading on a broad reach and concentrate on
  keeping the board as flat as possible. When you hit the take off speed
  it will lift. Bigger wings have a lower take off speed, more side to side stability,
  and make things much easier. Small wings are super twitchy and difficult.


• The problem is not getting it up...the problem is keeping it down.
  Once the board lifts, swing your hips forward to get pressure on the
  front foot, that will bring you back down towards the water.


• Pressure on your back foot will cause the board to lift, mast base
  pressure and pressure on your front foot will cause you to go down.
  You really need to move your hips forward for front foot pressure and back
  for back foot pressure, just trying to stomp pressure onto one foot or the
  other won’t do it. It’s all about moving the hips forward and back.


• Don’t hit the bottom! On your way out, flip the board upside down
  and swim it out until the water is over your head. On the way in, get
  off waaay before the water gets shallow. If you slam the foil into a rock you
  can do irreparable damage.

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Drastically shorten your learning curve with a BIG low aspect wing.

Wrong - back foot too far forward.

Correct - get your back foot in the strap, or at least touching the back strap.