Cootharaba Christmas

Gopro photos from my little run on the 152l bic techno

Love some critique on my poor stance and foot errors

Harness was really short for me- very difficult to get into


Early into harness



Getting going



On the plane?




Off plane trying to get going again - very light winds



Denton showing how it's done:-)



Cheers Jeff

From what I can see .

1. Yes lines are way to short by the looks

2. Your feet are way to far apart , because your back foot is so far back when you transfer weight to back leg in order to bring front foot back you will transfer way to much weight to tail of the board , therefore causing board to either round up into wind or fall off the plane . try to get the feet much closer together , then when you transfer weight from one leg to other the effect on the board is not so dramatic

Thanks for a trip down memory lane in your thread, Jeff, and for being big enough to post it. You'll find if you listen to enough advice, sooner or later someone will say something in a way that clicks with you and you will get another piece in the puzzle. Folks use to give me exactly the same advice but said in different ways and suddenly one of them would click and I would be on more step closer to totally balanced planing in the harness and footstraps.

So I'll see if I can offer some of the advice that worked for me. And just cos I tell you something doesn't mean I don't think you don't already know it. ;-) this is longer than I intended!

One thing I don't think I've seen yet is getting better at feeling the centre of effort of the sail. Now you may already know all this and if so I apologise but it really helped me (the catapult king for far too long!)

As you probably know the centre of effort is where the power is centred and kind of like the balance point of the sail. When your body is balanced in line with the centre of effort you can feel that you aren't getting pulled towards the nose or falling towards the back (with sufficient wind that is); your body is completely balanced against the pull of the sail. You are not getting tugged forwards towards a catapult or rounding the nose of the board up into the wind.

Remember that you get more wind from showing more of the sail to the wind so making the sail more vertical by pushing your front hand forwards towards the nose and away from you over towards leeward (not too much) while sheeting in.

1) Try pushing the mast towards the nose and feel how moving the mast more vertical and towards the front of the board starts to tug your body towards the dreaded (but usually fun!) catapult and that the nose turns downwind because the centre of effort is in front of the mast foot.

2) Then try leaning the mast towards the tail and sheet in and you will fell that the centre of effort has moved back behind the mast and the nose will round up into the wind.

You can do try doing this when you are on the beach with your full gear without a fin ( don't let to with your front hand and smash the nose), when you are beach or water starting, when you are schlogging not planing and when you are planing.

I know this is all basic stuff but the more sensitive you are at feeling whether your body is in front of or behind the centre of effort, the less chance you have of big movement errors like catapulting or rounding up and falling to windward and the more chance you have of keeping on the plane (take more wind and bear downwind in lulls by doing number 1 and round up into the wind and point more upwind in gusts by doing number 2.

Being in the sweet spot let's you slowly take more wind, by sheeting in more, leaning back more, tilting the mast and sail to the tail and then being able to move your feet back gradually into the footstraps. Don't rush to get into the footstraps cos that's when you either weight the tail and round up or have your feet tailwards of your own centre of gravity which is catapult time.

Better stop now as that's much longer than I intended! Hope it's not gobbldegook. Which was my first point. And I'm with you, it has to be fun. Bollocks to anyone who says differently!

Cheers,
Dez

PS don't forget duct tape around your fingers on sore spots before you have blisters and band aids then duct tape when you do, esp if your water is as pooey as in Melbourne.

Deliriously Happy :-)

Just had my last 2 days on the water for this holiday break

Came back up on Thursday morning - too fatigued after a couple of quick shifts at work to make it up for a Wednesday arvo blast.

The boys in the camp regailed me with stories of how good the wind had been while I was back down in Brisbane - always the way!

Winds on Thursday were usual 9-10 at Tewantin. Didn't think I could get the Go away but took it out anyhow just to see - had the longer fin and used the 8.5 sail. As I was going out Tim was coming back in with his Fanatic Falcon 121l (7.5sail 75kg) and didn't give the wind a good report.

As expected the Go was pretty much uneventful. Onto the plane occasionally but couldn't get enough drive to get back upwind and kept coming back off the plane. So a rinse and repeat - schloogg upwind catch a gust veering off wind marginally onto plane turn to drive up wind - back off the plane. No real chance to fuss with the footstraps. Kept running out of downwind and dragging the fin in the shallows. Enough of the learning I returned to base for a rest and put the long fin back into the longboard.

Said goodbye to Denton and Tim as their windsurfing holidays had come to an end - great spending time with like minded windsurfers - see you at Easter?

Wind lifted a little in the later afternoon but not enough to temp me out on the Go (10k at Tewantin) - little white caps out from shore.

Met a fellow longboarder Greg with his F2 lightening. Took out the Phantom; off and going straight away. As it accelerated under me, I knew I was on the correct board for the conditions :-)

I had a blast of an afternoon. Long planing runs. Got out from the shore into the stronger gusts. It was a joy to look down at the back of the board and see the Red Bat Wings riding on the surface.

Just had to keep pinching myself after every run to believe I was having this much fun. Wind was still flukey and light. Often I had to uphaul rather than do a water start as I couldn't get the 8.5 to lift me onto the board. However the wind was more than enough to have a blasting run.

The beauty of the afternoon was that I could play a lot more with my stance and sail position as the board was so reliably up and away.

Something I noticed was a fine balance between using my rear foot to drive through my toes - flattening the board but arcing gently downwind and correcting this by raking the sail back further to keep the drive up wind - is this how I get down the board into the straps?

The straps on the phantom are waaaay down the back - managed to get close a couple of times. Greg was out with me on the Lightening and it was a joy to see him zoom past in the straps, leaning out on the harness holding on with one hand - says something about 30 years + windsurfing experience. What an inspiration :-)


Sun was setting and I was getting too tired to keep restarting (got to learn to turn around!) I headed back into camp absolutely deliriously with the joy of the sport - over 4 hours on the water- just couldn't believe it could get this good.


Friday much the same - decided it was too tame for the Go and went out on the Phantom again (8.5). Met Greg on way out and he had some runs with me then disappeared way out into the center of the lake.

I had limited time and only got 2 hours of more longboard action :-). Blasting back and forth. I had a couple of catapults when I stopped focussing on staying upwind and did the usual arc downwind accelerate and loose it over the front - had to do this twice before I realized my mistake - oops!! Didn't damage the board - phew!!

Ended a perfect day at the Spirit House in the hinterland eating fine curries that I helped cook (Xmas pressy from Jane)

Saturday packed all my gear up, had a chat to Greg. He gave me some feedback on my harness use and we shared some longboard love ;-).

Now I'm back at work on afternoon shift.

A great holiday - thanks for all the feedback and messages

Highlights.
The afternoon fully powered up with the 7m sail on the Go - worth all the catapults to have an idea of what is in front of me with my windsurfing journey. Still looking for the footstraps?

Water-starts rather than up-hauling ( most of the time ;-) )

Getting out on the Phantom and experiencing blasting in light gusty winds - what a machine!!! My Kona is looking neglected!

The 8.5 krx sail - must have used this over 80% of the time.

The beginner gear I keep carting around being used most days to get people started in the sport. 4 kids and 3 adults this holidays.

9yo Max on the Kona with a 2m ezzy sail beating back and forth.

The friendships and help received from fellow windsurfers - thanks you have made it a great holiday.

Seabreeze community for being there to help :-)

Cheers Jeff
Ps some photos to post later

Thanks Morgan.

Cootharaba for the long weekend will be great.

No worrying about tides- touch the bottom just about everywhere

I go to the Elanda pt campground.
Camp close to water but watch out for strong winds if storms come through.
We use shade cloth as a windbreak on the front facing poles.

I would like to be there however Australia Day weekend is special for my other obsession -
Flying and building competition thermal RC gliders. So I will be hoping for gentle winds and huge thermals down at Armidale NSW.

Must admit nearly pulled the pin on the comp and was going to opt for more time on water however one must have balance in your obsessions!

My other obsession....

www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?765337-Europhia-2k-from-molds-closeout-weights

www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1139397

May see you at the windwanders day in February

Cheers Jeff