I've been trying to wave sail for a few years now.
I've got a few issues that maybe everyone can chime in on.
1. My Constant issue is staying upwind which usually results in trying to gain the main upwind distance rather than catching waves. I feel that when I am planning on that the board is pointing upwind but skipping off downwind. Does anyone have some raw footage of them going upwind planning and slogging on a waveboard? I've been reviewing some of my stuff and I think the issue is b/c I'm constantly not straightening my front leg. (
I think that it is hard to tell from that video alone (it looks like you are just free-sailing and not trying to head upwind) but I'l give it ago:
1) Back leg should (or can be) straighter, with the heal pointing forwards and you body weight over a slightly bent front-leg, hanging down on the boom in order to increase the mast-foot pressure downwards. On a wave board you cannot use merely the fin (or fins) but instead you use the rocker of the windward rail to head upwind. So you need to dig-in the windward rail at around the mast-foot, in order to head upwind.
2) Sounds more like a technique issue. Try dropping-in with the board angled more downwind, or start the wave ride by doing a snappy backside turn off the lip. You also need to use the rocker line of the board rail in order to turn without loosing speed. You cannot only use the rear rail that has very little rocker in a free-wave board. So here too, it is about digging in the rail where it has curvature/rocker, i.e. around the midsection of the board (by the mast-foot position). So pressure on the toes of your front foot and hang down (elbows pointing downwards) on the boom in order to increase the mast-foot pressure. A lower boom and/or mast-foot further forward helps here.
Straighten your arms twist hips forward look upwind,more weight on front foot it should feel like you can look around front of mast.
Is your sail material contacting/draping over the boom ? (it looks like that in the video). If it is, this could be taking away your pointing ability, as doing this makes the sail go back handed. This makes it harder to point.
Hi all,
The previous video was on board, which I don't use very often (the usual one I am repairing at the moment), and I find it very hard to ride. Luckily yesterday was strong winds 30+ knots and I managed to get out on an 86L Da Curve and 3.7 sail. This is my first time on this board for the season but in this video, you can see more clearly how I try to get the nose to point upwind.
It's not an exciting video but I would sure like to get rid of this issue of upwind phobia so I can focus on catching some waves.
I think in the next session I am going to try to concentrate on really twisting my body more around to windward, leaning more forward is very hard to do in these conditions, this is about as far as I dare as I think I would just crash on the wave swell coming through.
Any more helpful observations?
Hi all,
The previous video was on board, which I don't use very often (the usual one I am repairing at the moment), and I find it very hard to ride. Luckily yesterday was strong winds 30+ knots and I managed to get out on an 86L Da Curve and 3.7 sail. This is my first time on this board for the season but in this video, you can see more clearly how I try to get the nose to point upwind.
It's not an exciting video but I would sure like to get rid of this issue of upwind phobia so I can focus on catching some waves.
I think in the next session I am going to try to concentrate on really twisting my body more around to windward, leaning more forward is very hard to do in these conditions, this is about as far as I dare as I think I would just crash on the wave swell coming through.
Any more helpful observations?
As said above :
Look where you want to go - - >upwind
Put your weight on to the mast foot through the harness lines.
Adjust the power delivery in the fin and the rolling angle of the board with your back foot.
Top sailors put the back foot just in front of the back strap to sail upwind more effectively.
Regarding your jp fsw. A board can t be too fast too surf. It can only be too slow. But a board can be too stiff, especially if the fins are too big. But before getting smaller in fin size, you ve got to learn to sail upwind. Step by step ;)
Both upwind and riding are related to setting the rail imo. Conscious front foot/mastfoot pressure.
Upwind can also be helped by rotating your pelvis towards your target pointing course..loading your frontfoot/rail
There is plenty of literature on this, below is one example from Peter Hart where he also talks about the differences between Slalom/Freeride and wave equipment.
peter-hart.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Upwind-2015.pdf
I've been thinking about it some more. There is a spot that I go to where I am never ending up downwind. It's a beach with a concrete "Jetty" sticking out, the waves usually start to break where the jetty ends. The waves usually don't start standing up until a little bit before this. So behind is not flat water but there is not much in the way of waves.
But the place where I usually go (video footage spot) has a large swell running well out to sea and there is not much opportunity to get into a decent position. Or another way to put it this spot highlights my upwind positional faults.
I'll head back to the Jetty place b/c it's reasonably flat until big waves come through. I'll practise twisting my body around, getting the pressure off the fin and trying to get the windward rail to engage more.
Standby I'll try to make another video, hopefully with a better body position.