Whenever i am about to catapult... I just stop and start being awesome instead
No seriously, why not concentrate on how not to catapult instead of how to do it properly. I haven't done it in ages. Rig the sail properly and learn to deal with gusts by scanning the water and preparing for it with a good 7 stance and an active back leg.

It had been a while since experiencing a catapult. However sailing this last winter I've had a few. I think its mainly due to the weed where I was windsurfing. I took a video of one of my stacks. This one was not due to weed, I don't think but the fin was not firmly fixed in the finbox.

Amost all of the catapults I had happened when I did not have both feet in the straps, so I would try and get in the straps as early as possible. The other cause of a catapult is leaning the mast too far forward, is it possible that when you are dealing with the harness lines you are doing that ? And also I learned that you should never let go of the boom, expecially if you are hooked, hold on to it as hard as you can, that will absorb the hit on your body when you land and also soften the blow to your board nose.

leenis said...

I'm now at the point of experiencing frequent catapults when sailing in decent wind.

Yeah I would skip trying to master catapult technique. Sounds like you're charging though! Can I suggest:
a) look upwind rather than at your sail so you can see the gusts coming.
b) don't try and hook in heading downwind. Head upwind a little which will bring the lines closer, hook in, then bear away a bit to get planing.
c) try long harness lines if you're not already, it gives you a bit more room to move esp when you're getting comfortable. e.g. 30"

powersloshin said...

I learned that you should never let go of the boom, expecially if you are hooked, hold on to it as hard as you can, that will absorb the hit on your body when you land and also soften the blow to your board nose.

Not a good idea unless you want your shoulder destroyed, speaking from experience

When I used to do them, I found I didn't have total control of my feet, ie. not fully in the straps, especially the back one. With your back foot in you should be able to stop getting pulled forward.
Good luck, it'll all click one day.....
Cheers

I think you're on the money Leenus, in getting a good catapult technique down. Most just concentrate on avoiding them and never learn to loop.

Nimrod said...

The expert panel is pretty much on it leenis.

I have a mate who had exactly your problem. bigger sail on a light day he's fine. When he changed down and got powered up, He's over the handlebars every 20 metres. I shifted his mastbase back 60mm problem dissapeared simple as that.

This sounds like me
I will try to change the mast base position and see how that goes. I generally set the mast base in the centre of the track. So the boom is just clearing the back of the board.
The sail was rigged with as much down haul as I could grunt out of it, 1cm more than the sail specs. There were no vertical lines or wrinkles in the sail near the mast. All the battens were clear of the mast. The bottom batten was only just off the mast. The guy I was sailing with said it was rigged fine and the top was twisting off fine. I ended up increasing the out haul to reduce the power in the sail and the catapults became less frequent.
I was catapulting both with and without being hooked in. Foot straps are not on the agenda yet because I am barely getting in to the harness lines. I think I was leaning the mast forward sometimes while dealing with the swell and trying to hook in. That must be what was giving me the uncontrolled power.
I am a bit of a light weight. 66 Kg so that does not help much either.
How do you work out the best position for harness lines and how high should the boom be? I have guessed the lines should be on the 5th dot on my NP boom. The boom height is just over shoulder height. I have been reading the PDf's on Guy Cribbs website in regards to rigging.

Thanks for all your advice. I am keen to stop all this flying and spend more time sailing.

Regards hanging on and letting go. If you're hooked in, never let go!!!! You can get slammed into the mast head first, (hope you're wearing a helmet!). Hanging on helps to keep you away from the rig.
If you can unhook, then letting go can fling you well away from the rig without such a forceful landing.

If you're not in the straps, running up the board with the catapult can lessen the severity as well.

As others have said powered up, hooked in out of the straps is a recipe for catapults. I think you should concentrate on getting into the straps as soon as you have enough power to do so.

Once you're good at it, most people would hook in first, but if when learning the art, and well powered up, searching for the straps with your feet, or looking down to see what's going on can easily send you over the front.
The trouble with getting in the straps first, is a lack of power in the rig, so there may be a tendency to sink the tail. You need to go as fast as you can while unhooked, then try not to loose power when you go for the straps.
It's all a juggling act, try both ways see what works the best for you.

T 11 said...

powersloshin said...

I learned that you should never let go of the boom, expecially if you are hooked, hold on to it as hard as you can, that will absorb the hit on your body when you land and also soften the blow to your board nose.

Not a good idea unless you want your shoulder destroyed, speaking from experience

I did that and my shoulder ended up in my armpit . Was out of
Action for 12 months , I would not advise that !!!!!!!

When I was learning in Mauii they taught me front foot strap first, pump it up on to the plane, hook in then back foot.

Probably best to practice in that order then you can progress onto hooking in before the straps when the skills have developed a bit.

Sounds to me like your getting everything lined up pretty good Leenis.
Just get out there and build that skill and hone that technique.

IF you ever get the chance to go to Hawaii, a couple of lessons in Mauii is killer to purge out any bad habits.

probably there is not a best rule for every situation, but in my opinion if you let go and were still hooked in you could have damaged your spine , which could potentially be more disastrous. Yes would be great if a bit of research time were invested in finding a safer type of harness lines

T 11 said...
>>>>>
Not sure how you would damage your spine >>>>

A catapult I had, hooked in but not hanging on, slammed me into the water hook first, this really bends you backwards at the waist, it tore the harness apart and seriously bent the boom.
Don't think it damaged my spine, but if I was going faster it felt like it could have.

Seems a bit like the argument for and against helmets, head damage without them, neck damage with them.

A weak link looks like the best answer.

just today a fellow windsurfer catapaulted with some collateral damage
he had a brand new Fanatic RAY LTD 115 - good deal since end of season here
when he catapaulted he cracked the board with the mast and the boom hit his hand somehow. we helped him pack his stuff and strongly suggested he go straight to the hospital ...
and this fellow has been windsurfing for a while ...
hell of a way to baptize a board on first outing
personally i try to avoid catapaults at all costs
i have a footstrap phobia so my feet push against the sides of the board
if there are gusts or overpowered i hunker down with as much as MFP/mast foot pressure as possible, try to ride the gust and IF all else fails i pull the sail ON me - i think it helps if you are a heavyweight like me for this ie 100 kilos/220 lbs
i prefer the phobia of the sail on me OVER the catapault

a baby's arm holding an apple ?