We know beach start and water start. Yesterday was I trying to master new windsurfing technique: The Mudstart ! ...Cherry Lake, Altona. Not that bad closer to the shores, but in the middle of the lake...you need to pull a foot from some 20-25 cm of black, soft, nasty mud. Not that easy ! The Mudstart :)
Tell U why I do: Cherry lake is round 1 meter deep, flat water no mater how strong wind, it spreads E-W thus great for wind from north (from the continent) and regularly mowed grass around that you can park free, 5 meters from the water and rig on the grass
Go, if I were you, I'd be counting my toes on a regular basis. If you ever get to 6 (on one foot that is) I'd be off for a petro-chemical sludge decontamination treatment. Cherry Lake sure helped me learn to nail every gybe when I used to sail there.
Yeah Boggy Lake (as the name implys) is terrible when there was water there. I remember being virtually down to my knees in the mud when the water was low. Makes things much more difficult.
In shallow water, or at least on Lake Connewarre you have to kneel on the bottom. The greater contact surface area and flotation from your body prevents you sinking knee deep into mud. Its a bit easier to mudstart if you don't have to drag your leg out. At least our mud, although black, is generally not putrid and washes off surprisingly easily although I am denied access to the bed after windsurfing unless I scrub my feet.
Yeah kneeling or sitting down did make a huge difference. Was really the only way to get around it.
pweedas, still going slow mate. Will probably be a while before i'm back on the water but hope for the best. Everythings gone reasonably well so far anyway.
Worst thing about the mud start is slipping straight off the board again Requires the body drag/kicking of the feet wildly before mounting action. Lake Cootharabah,where i did alot of sailing has some nice smooth sticky mud on the bottom...made the white boards this nice brown colour
Tell U why I do: Cherry lake is round 1 meter deep, flat water no mater how strong wind, it spreads E-W thus great for wind from north (from the continent) and regularly mowed grass around that you can park free, 5 meters from the water and rig on the grass
No matter how flat the water is Im not going to stand in mud, to many great sandy spots in the bay
Requires the body drag/kicking of the feet wildly before mounting action.
nice THICK! mud 
