This thread definitely proves that adjusting equipment to suit poor technique just leads to worse technique.

Well, once again, Grantmac just has superior technique, plain and simple. We bow to thee, oh superior god.

LeeD said..
I hope you guys are not hooked in when actually riding windswells. An occasional change of direction, maybe.
But hard turns downwind followed by sharp heel turns.....not hooked in.

How about flying upwind at 20 knots over 2-2.5m windswells hooked-in?
I can't imagine anyone average height or over doing it easily with 24 inch lines, happy to be proven wrong with a vid.

My arms, wingspan is 69.5", my height 70.75, when I was 20.
No matter how long my harness lines, I need a relatively short distance between my belly button and my booms.
I grip my booms around a 24" spread. Yes, it changes, but that's an average.
24" lines, or 40", or 34", my arms are the same length, but my butt can stick WAAY out, or should I stand in a good windsurfing stance?
Do I know what a good windsurf stance is?
I do kinda suck at wind and wingfoiling.
I'd venture to quess, at age 72 last year, I could windsurf freeride, slalom, speed, bump, and waves as well as any other person on this forum, if you fa tor in all the listed disiplines.
Notice I did not mention freestyle, or quad fin wavesailing.
Guy who live in the SF Bay area can verify, if they've seen me sail.
Do I know what a good windsurfing stance is?

"All the racers are on long lines".
So does using long lines make you as good as the pro racers?
So Rafa Nadal whips his forehands. Does copying his style make you as good as him?
Should you act like Nick Kyrgios on a tennis court?
Are you guys fanboys?

And don't bother telling me I don't know what windswell is.

Bet my stance is almost identical...with 24" lines.
That IS flatwater. As flat as I've ever seen in 17 knot breezes.
Slightly underpowered.

I'm ~200# in thick wetsuit, that's a 5.8m and I'm overpowered. Stance isn't great because my lines are too short and boom too high. I think this was almost 3 years ago when I'd just started wavesailing multifin boards.

Seriously....
I was surfsailing a 7'7" x 23" twin fin wave board in 1984. Had 8'10" Local Motion tri fin and a 9'6" big wave board in garage, but wanted something for little waves.

And yes, I am a relative newbie in windfoil and a flounderer in winging.
Can't help the former, and the later might be due to 12 days a year total at 72 years of age.

Sandman1221 said..

Subsonic said..

Sandman1221 said..

Subsonic said..
Based purely on having tried 24" lines before, unless you are 5yrs old, yes they are indeed too short.
no matter what discipline of windsurfing you are doing.

Subsonic, here is the thing, with 23.5" lines I am balanced with the sail pressure, if I went shorter would be too close to sail and it could pull me leeward/forward and over into the water, longer lines and I would have to lean out more and that would increase my effective weight resulting in me pulling sail windward and over into the water. Now that is all with an upright 7ish posture.

That is just physics, and you cannot change that for me and my posture along with my kit and a given condition on the water.

Rethink the physics.

Even if you sail somewhere where planing/getting up on the foil is an anomaly and you just use harness lines to rest while floating along, you're still better off having that distance between you and the sail, if not more so. Having super short harness lines almost completely removes your ability to react to gusts when they happen.

im not saying you should have 32" lines, but 24" lines will have you waaay to close to the sail. Try running your adjustables at 28 for a while (give it longer than 5min) Believe it or not you will be able to balance everything up with longer lines.

Sorry, you can not change the physics!

Yeah, I think with that response, you've made it clear how futile further conversation on the matter would be.


enjoy the 24" harness lines.

By all means please continue to use the harness lines you like, but don't spread bs about this person always using super short lines, or that person always having their boom super high with very short lines placed very far forward, always using a 5.2 no matter the conditions, etc. etc.

Jason Voss:



Andy Brandt (it's a 4.8 btw, and not even that windy...)

Hi Bel29 - Don't know Jason Voss but I do know Andy Brandt reasonably well and work with him for a day or two every year. The picture you posted is of Andy on a fin, not a foilboard. He has a van full of gear and uses most of it, but the Foil gear he seems to use most is indeed a Duotone 5.2, set up for a lot of power, with boom quite high and lines very far forward and short.

I haven't asked whether his 5.2 Idol is stock or custom, but in terms. of all out grunt I've switched from my 7.0 Flyer to his sail and back, and while the Flyer is a lot more stable, his 5.2 pulls just as hard, and also goes completely flat in transitions. I'm a couple of inches shorter than he (and use a Liberty harness where he uses a waist harness) but to get into his lines before I'm planing I need to give a little jump, and then deal with the wedgie.

I sail all angles with 22" lines freeride craving powered and unpowered.
If its under 18 mph i dont even go out I'm blessed.
Flat water and rolling swell and lately some beach breaks in the baja.
Tresure island SF
Crissy Sf bay
3rd st Sf bay
The delta bay
And the last 4 months in the Baja

On a side note nobody has talked about placement of the line which can influence their actual length




I also use a waist harness with a sliding bar when it gets light I loosen it. That can add 4 to 5 inches.
Jason Voss is a pleasure to sail with at the delta he brings a competitive side out in you.

Thanks Gwarn.
Hope I get to sail with you someday.
I place COE of my lines about 4" forward for windfoil.