Intermediate to shortboard transition...

[fallenangel]

I've been sailing on the intermediate board for quite some time and have serious intention of switching to shortboard. I've hooked on to my harness pretty comfortably but have yet to get into the footstraps. Felt that I've been rather stagnant in terms of skill level and would very much love for a change and a new experience. Will it be feasible if I switch to shortboard and start learning getting into footstraps then? Please advise.

[b_mouz]

Well, you could start learning from a formula board first than jump down to a low volume(80l-110l) short board. Notice that most pple learn faster that way. But the common problem that they have during the transition from formula to those lower volume board is getting used to the unstability and the sinking feeling of lower volume boards. Once fully powered, that feeling is somewhat lessened. Good luck and welcome to the world of shortboarding...!!

[<shortboarder>]

Ling
How heavy are you? Formula is not the only way to go.

[sukhdev]

Ling,

what specific board are you on now?

why change until you learn to get in the straps? that can be learnt on any reasonable modern board.

whatever you buy now will to some extent be wrong, either you will outgrow it fast if its easy or you will find it too frustrating and heavens forbid quit the sport.

the worst thing you can do is to move to something that will totally frustrate you; its one thing to plateau and its another to face a cliff.

i'd suggest a good look at basic technique first, sounds like you have some room to acquire a few more skills before you are in a position to decide what suits you best.

[fallenangel]

sukhdev, thanks for the advice... think what you said is right, i should get my basics right first before switching... anyway i'm on an F2 Comet... somehow i've a problem with this board... it tends to round upwind everytime i move my feet back... and that's the reason why i gave up attempting to go into footstraps... recently my experienced friends took it out for a spin and they gave the same feedback... is it just me or my board??     pls advise...

shortboarder, i'm 49kg... think i'm heavy for my height... i'm only 1.64m... striving to lose some weight... hahahaha...  

[eugene]

Hey Ling,
I'm also a newbie using longboard...
getting comfy with the harness but only manage to get into the footstraps sometimes...

comfy with tacking but not so with gybing...
had the same urges as u to upgrade but thanks to the pple around me who grounded that thought, and told me to practise more first...

another thing to take note is that formula and shortboards tend to be more fragile... so if you whack... heart ache man...

surfs up!

[sukhdev]

Ling,

the f2 comet is fine for the stage you are at. if i remember correctly its about 60something cm wide and 180 liters or so? enough stability for you at your weight height for now so dont go spending your money just yet. if you really have the itch to part with some cash, at this stage the biggest thing that would help would be a really lightweight sail.

rounding up into the wind - first i'd like to know what size/model of sail you use.

you can easily learn to get in the straps on that board..here's my 0.02 cents..

firstly lets assume you can get on the plane with the daggerboard up, if you cant then forget getting in the straps. getting on the plane is another topic..but lets get back. get planing and stay on the beam reach. your objective will be to get only into the front strap, IGNORE using the back straps, ie only your front foot is going to be placed in the strap. you need to hang almost all your weight from the harness hook, think very light on your feet. if you plop your weight on your feet the-board-will-round-up-into-the-wind! (familiar?). if you cant hold the boom with just your thumb and forefinger then you dont have enough weight in the harness.

move back on the board slowly..stay sheeted in. aim to get your front foot just over or touching the front strap. now, putting ALL your weight in the harness lightly put your foot in the strap.

in order to prevent the board rounding up, keep the rig forward by leaning forward slightly. its a mistake to think that leaning back towards the tail will help you get in the straps.

some silly drills you can try...

its ALL about weight in the harness. dont think of getting in the straps, get gently planing, grip the boom lightly with thumb and forefinger and get on your toes, consciously feel as little weight on your feet as possible. if you can do this..you are ready to move around on the board.

balance is best kept through gentle LIGHT movements (especially if you are an elephant like me).

hope this helps. next comes stage II, getting your back foot in the straps..

[fallenangel]

Sukhdev, i'm using a 6m2 NP V6... i've always kept my daggerboard up when i'm going downwind and sometimes when the wind is stronger, it's never down... have gotten on a plane whenever the wind god's in a favourable mood     but without the use of the footstraps, i don't think it can be considered a full plane... anyway, thanks alot for the advice, it has definitely cleared many of my doubts... hopefully the wind will blow and i can put all that into practice over the weekend...

[sukhdev]

ling if you can come by pfresca say on sunday i can show you the actual move using our "harness tree" simulator..

[<denis>]

Sukhdev,

I don't know if you will agree with me here.  I think the 6m sail Ling is using is too small for the conditions this time of year even for a 49kg sailor.  I would say with this sail, you need a minimum of 10 knots to be able to move your feet back into the footstraps and have sufficient mastfoot pressure to stop the board from rounding up to windward.  Even experienced shortboarders will find it difficult to get into the footstraps under these conditions.  Problem is at this time of year we seldom get steady winds in excess of 10 knots except during the squalls.  Then the wind gets too strong and there is too much chop making it really difficult for beginners to learn shortboard techniques.

[<Leona>]

Just to add to Denis' comments - until I got my 8.5, I was hardly moving.  Windsurfing was a thoroughly frustrating experience, which explains why I've stuck with it.  If it's as simple as painting your nails, well, the romance would have ended long ago.  Anyway, this is not about my beauty secrets.  I believe I've improved a lot since using the 8.5, including the use of footstraps.  A shame I did not realize this earlier.  A shame you, Denis, did not tell me earlier given your frequent critical assessment of my stance.

[sukhdev]

Denis, agree, thats why i asked ling what size and type of sail she is using. from my experience at her weight a good all round size is either 6.5 or 7 max but the TYPE of 6.5 or 7 matters a great deal. what is needed at this stage is a soft feeling sail that can be easily luffed (eg matrix, retro or equivalent). Cams kill beginners. Cam sails are too "dead" and sailors learning on them never develop good rig sense. I did alot of experimenting a few years ago when i was teaching a certain very challenging lady student (no names); in the end she made the fastest progress when i put together the very lightest 6.5 I could for her.

Kat flies on 7.x, CWG uses 7.5 as her all round sail, both of them are in the 50+kg range. So Ling at 49kg would be fine with a really good light 6.5.

I am against sailors moving to sails too big too quickly as more time is spent wrestling with the rig than with learning technique.

this is of course assuming the sails are rigged right in the first place, sometimes just changing the riggging for a beginner can make a world of difference.

Leona, I've got an article on stance up at :

http://www.bluefinz.com/technique/stance/index.html

[<Leona>]

Nice article.  Just the advice I was seeking.

[<T1000>]

Hi Ling,

I was really spending months trying to get into the foot strap. When i was using the mistral one-design longboard, the most i could do was to put my front foot in.

Then when i switched to the AHD freerace board, i also had trouble putting into the straps. i read articles online telling ppl who to put into the straps, i asked many ppl in PA how to do so, and finally spotty gave me the advice that finally worked for me.

Here's hw it goes..

step 1: go into broadreach to gain speed (assuming that the wind is a reasonable 10 knots)

step 2: hook on ur harness 1st (this will take the weight off the board giving it more speed)

step 3: place ur back foot right behind the front foot strap (so u know where u slot ur front foot without looking)

step 4: when u gain enough speed, quickly slot ur front foot (notice that the board will turn into the wind)

step 5: immediately push ur front heels up (like tip-toeing, this will push the board dw wind)

step 6: keep in this position until u fell that the speed is right to slot in ur back foot

step 7: remember to sheet in and not move ur arms too much as this would result in the sail not having optimum power

step 8: having planing!

[sukhdev]

T1000, great explanation.

There is a very easy way to learn this transition, unfortunately its equipment dependent. Look at the picture below & following it is an explanation of the process. The board in question is the START and has four different settings for footstraps. read text below to find out why.


   

Set #1 is used for absolute beginners, first time on board, straps are set large and beginners are taught from day 1 to put their feet there. this would naturally place them in the close to mast, middle of board position, the most stable in the early stages.

As they size up in sail and can handle the pull, set #2 is used. This can be done quite early, also at this point a harness (waist preferably) can be/should be introduced).

as they begin to be able to hook in and use body weight set #3 is used, for some, #3 for front and #2 for back is easiest. they would stay on #3 until they are able to hike out. they should not be moved to #4 till really able to plane with both feet in #3.

#4. done.

now perhaps many can understand why i feel the way i do about the STARTS over at PFSSC. the straps are set at #4 where its guaranteed no beginner will ever use them. sigh.

we are stuck in archaic teaching methods, i cringed recently when i heard an instructor teach a student to tack by shuffling, even saying "shuffle shuffle".