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Waterstart from the off?

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fluidity
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Re: Waterstart from the off?

Postby fluidity » Sun Sep 06, 2020 1:28 am

I'm learning. I'm overweight which makes everything harder but yes, you can standing start if you are launching from a jetty, otherwise your foil will be too far down from your board for your feet to be close enough to step on to the deck.
When you fall off, it all starts again!
I have an F-One 165 litre board and with the foils and mast all rigidly fitted to each other and the board, it's easy to slide up and on and then kneel. Get a bit of speed kneeling and the foil's movement through new water will stabilise the board enough that progressing to standing is surprisingly easy. If your knees are getting abraded then take action to protect them. My second toes on each foot lost skin on top from abrasion with the foam grip on top of my F-One while I was kneeling, now I wear wetsuit boots, problem solved.

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Re: Waterstart from the off?

Postby Herman » Sun Sep 06, 2020 8:47 am

High fluidity, it seems to me you have just described exactly what I would not want to do, but I am glad to hear you are making progress. Might be a good idea for you to try what Gunnar has suggested. That is stand up before you get going using the nose handle or leash as an uphaul to balance against before going then pull the wing up to the riding position.

Your method probably feels right for the prone surfer where as the let's call it the uphaul method would feel more natural to the windsurfer.

The roll up waterstarts will need a decent breeze, not sure how much, but probably needs a bit of TOW before it is sensible to tackle them, just wish I wasn't on my last pair of slippers!!

PS For the uphaul method, obviously, you would have to position the wing downwind of the board, which would be accross the wind, with the nose of the wing pointing into wind. The nose of the wing would need to be somewhere near the point of lateral resistance of the board. This latter point will presumably allow you to control board orientation across the wind as you uphaul the rig into position. Hopefully Gunnar will correct me if I have got this wrong!
Last edited by Herman on Sun Sep 06, 2020 3:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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gmb13
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Re: Waterstart from the off?

Postby gmb13 » Sun Sep 06, 2020 1:33 pm

Herman wrote:
Sun Sep 06, 2020 8:47 am


PS For the uphaul method, obviously, you would have to position the wing downwind of the board facing nose into wind, with the nose somewhere near the point of lateral resistance of the board. The latter point will presumably allow you to control board orientation across the wind as you uphaul the rig into position. Hopefully Gunnar will correct me if I have got this wrong!
Not Quite. The board will be across the wind or with the nose pointing slightly off the wind . The wing will be downwind of the leeward rail.

--
Gunnar

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Re: Waterstart from the off?

Postby Herman » Sun Sep 06, 2020 2:17 pm

Thanks Gunnar, that is what I was trying to describe but made the mistake of trying to describe the position of wing and board in the same sentence and screwed it up!

I can remember once, while offshore sailing, telling somebody to just steer for the buoy on the nose while I went below for a bit of nav and some food. Came back up and we were getting close to dangerous rock outcrops. My mate, who to be fair spoke a different main lingo, had been steering for the buoy that had been on his nose when I spoke to him rather than the buoy on the nose of the yacht. I still haven’t mastered communication! I ammended my post but it is still not a work of art!

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Re: Waterstart from the off?

Postby bragnouff » Sun Sep 06, 2020 11:18 pm

The uphaul method supposes that the board has enough volume for stability for you to stand up on it.
I think kneeling lets you get away with a smaller board, as it's the wing that provides lots of stability when standing up. I don't think I can stand on my board, and use it like a SUP, unless it's perfectly flat, and no one's watching for my repetitive embarrassment of falling hundred times. But the wing is a great helper for stability.
And, the reality is that after a few sessions, you don't spend much time on your knees, not more than when SUPing, it's a quick transition from lying down to standing up. Something you probably also need to do when getting into your uphaul-ready position.

A windsurf style waterstart would require LOTS of wind. When windsurfing you can still crouch lot, extend your arms, grab the bottom batten, so as to put the sail as vertical as possible and get enough pull to lift you up. The wing would still be angled low and not able to give its full potential to lift you. If it's windy enough to get you started like this, then it'S quite likely also that you'd feel too much power once the foiling efficiency kicks in.

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Re: Waterstart from the off?

Postby Peter_Frank » Mon Sep 07, 2020 12:32 am

Agree fully bragnouff.

8) Peter

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Re: Waterstart from the off?

Postby Herman » Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:45 am

Thanks bragnouf (and Peter for the confirmation)

That is a good analysis of the conundrum I have been considering. I am sad, but not surprised, to hear that there is a significant disparity in the power available for a roll up waterstart compared to the power needed on the foil. In a way, I suppose you have to pay some price for the simplicity and purity of the set up.

Thanks again Regards Herman.


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