Hey,

I was just posting to ask a question about waterstarting and see if you guys can help me out?

Ok if i am on a good run and want to keep that run going i end up going out of the shallow area into the deeper areas at pelican point. Now i dont land my carve gybes all the time so when i do stuff it up it annoys me trying to do a water start. I just find it hard getting the sail up when it is partly submerged in water.

I can do it, it just takes heaps of time, i end up just flukely getting it so the boom is on the back of the board then it is easy from there.

Any tips?

OK I'll give this one a go
before you do the "blanket move" you need to make sure the mast is in the right position so in a sw wind direction the base of the mast needs to be pointing to the west north west and the tip pointing to the east south east position. Push the tail of your board under the sail say about 50cm past the mast, hold the mast about 75cm above the boom swim into the wind and at the same time do that blanket move type pull decrepit mentioned.

here's my 2 cents,


step one - forget about where the board is, make sure you get the sail in the right position - ie the mast into the wind (just like when you beach start). This is of course often easier to say than do.

step two - get right down the end of the mast and pull up and over your head into the wind. when you are down the end of the mast you have alot more leverage than if you try to get it flying at the boom. when you do this make sure you are not vertical in the water ie lie on your back and kick/ swim like a mad dutchman into the wind with one hand on the mast(whilst taking a deep breath too). this gives you way more bouyancy, and therefore resistance against the weight of the sail in the water. this will start to get the sail 'flying' at which time you can make your way down to the boom (you can push the clue end of the sail up as you move down to free it from the water). once it is flying you are pretty much there.

step three - manouvre the board using the sail. just like a beach start you can manouvre the board using the wind and your body weight - I often use my legs to kick it round and pull it in - sometimes its easier to grab the board with one hand while the other is hanging onto the mast... do what ever you can to get it in the right direction.

step four - empty your sinuses. these usually get full when attempting steps 1-3.

hope this helps...

jans.