Hi,
I have been windsurfing for just over 6 months, and recently i have got a 90 litre freestyle wave which is big step down from my old 135 litre freeride.

I was at a level where i was planing out of my carve gybes and water starting on my big freeride. But last weekend i went out on my new board and found that water starting it was quite hard and the board kept turning into wind. At 68 kg it still has some float but i found it quite a challenge how long will it take me to get used to this board ?? And any tips on why i found it hard to water start?? Also i found this board near impossible to up haul??

Thanks for any advice

i recently did the same, i moved from a 130 litre freeride to a 96 fsw.
I noticed that you need to be powered up, going out in <15knots isn't really an option( unless you have amazing technique) and uphauling is a nightmare..

The board turning into wind is very common when moving down onto smaller boards. When waterstarting,try and push down into the board with your front hand so the mast foot pressure is on, this should help you keep your board across the wind when your water starting,(remember though, when waterstarting in stronger winds it not a bad thing having the nose of your board more upwind than across!) If your finding that it turns into the wind alot when your up and going then its probably that your being a little bit to heavy on your back foot because your used to having a bigger fin on your freeride kit, try and push more through your front foot and come of the side of the board with your body not the back.
And your up hauling will come with time.

Hope this helps,

Ric



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 26/03/2011 | 2:59pm by riccleworth.

as above and use your back foot to pull tail of board under your arse, this points the board off the wind..

also practice in beach starts in shallow water, get the feel for positioning the board through mast foot pressure

more MFP bears board away
less MFP allows board to head to wind..

Keep in mind that the smaller the board is the less leeway you have for bad technique, ive experienced this just this last summer when i finally got a small board, i went from a 90l to a 68l and had the same issues you're having, the more powered up you are the easier it is, and just get used to standing right in the middle of the board with your foot right up against the mast base and your back foot very close to the front strap, on my 68l im in that position until i plane almost.. and you will find that uphauling is definitely possible for you, you just have to find the "sweet spot" where to stand and you will be fine, as with everything windsurfing, the more you practice the better you will get ;p

Hi,

One thing I found when moving from my big board to my 99ltr freestyle board was
my footwork.
Using a big board made me lazy with my footwork and then moving onto a smaller
board was challenging because my foot stuff wasn't exact enough.

I'd practice the footwork such as quick tacks, stance etc on dry land and aim
to get them really tidy before hitting the water.

As above, you need to be powered up on a smaller board (Even more so the smaller you get) and
mast foot pressure. Practice getting into the straps when you are not planing ie. you need a hell of a lot of mast foot pressure
to do this!

Hope this helps and tbh its also just practice and more practice until it becomes easy and weird when you use
a big board!

All the best

Rapheus

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