quite a few good questions hopefully this will help:

-for shore and beach breaks I tend to find rigging larger than usual with a floatier board is a good option as the wind tends to be flukey around the waves and swirling water will tend to slow you down. This is essential even though it might result in you being over-powered once clearing the surf line. Its also important to get going as soon as possible, and wait for the gaps in the sets to go out.

-If you have a steep breaking wave heading at you then best option is to sheet in and hit the steepest part! Failing that I dont really think its possible to 'punch through a wave', or its not something i've ever done. So if it hasn't broken yet and your not confident with jumping then depower and go up and over. If your faced with a big wall of broken white water then speed is the key, just as you hit the broken wave jump the nose up the wave, use the sail to maintain power and try to use your momentum to get you over.

-Wave boards are low in volume for manouverability. Ever tried slashing the face of a wave, or completing a tight bottom turn on a floaty slalom board? Very difficult to do. But when learning in the waves a floatier wave board is definately a good option until you gain your confidence.

-I'm not really familiar with the local QLD beaches but my best tips to save your gear from destruction are to land your jumps on the tail, and when in beach breaks if you come off get your mast out of the water quickly, and this should save you breaking your mast.

If it's barely deep enough for your fin, walk..

Depends how big the wave is, and how much power you have available. If you've got plenty then crank it up and launch off the top. If it's close, big, and you're wallowing, then take a deep breath, get the rig forward and at the last possible moment, give the rig a big pump to help you get over the hill. If it didn't work, at least you took a breath before you went for a rinse cycle.

Wave boards are low volume because you're generally moving quite fast on the wave, and because the wave generates a bit of it's own wind, if you had a big board you'd tend to get airborne a bit on the way back in. Not good for control. Small = good control and maneouvreability at speed. On really light days, a floatier board is good so that you're not slogging around with water up to your thighs.

Tips:
Learn to duckdive your gear. Practice the vulcan death grip on the top of your mast. If you're going under a wave, always point the top of the sail out to sea, hold on to the mast and stay on the seaward side of your gear. If your mast ends up pointing at the beach and a wave hits it, there's a good chance that the top of the mast will get driven into the bottom of the ocean.. SNAP!

what really suprised me wheni first went out in the waves was how steep some of the waves are. even the small ones. when u r not planing and go over un broken wave u feel the real force of the water!!!!! its amazing! does anyone else know wat i mean?

quote:

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Originally posted by Mr. No-one

This used to scare the he77 out of me until I found if you pull back hard on the boom (loading the sail up), then releasing it (letting go of the boom just b4 impact) your gear will be sling shotted over the wave while you dive in the water backwards. I've been cleaned up a few times but my gear always makes it over, and it's a lot easier swimming out to your rig than swimming in after it. In shallow water try body dragging with your back to the floor, off the plane of course.

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Maybe I have it pictured wrong, but aren't you likely to end up wearing a fin in your face or a mast up the date if your gear doesn't make it over the wave?

I'm picturing board nose breakage. What stops the mast from flogging the board after you let it go? Do you have to kick the board out as well or something?

All this talk of slingshots, body dragging, jacking and being caught with your pants down is making me suspicious.. Starting to sound an awful lot like kitespeak!

I haven't figured out what he means by "body dragging with your back to the floor" either.. I can't quite figure out how you'd do that, or how it would help?

In the old days before legropes, we used to be able to "flickout" a heavy old malibu over more than head high waves, the stronger the offshore the better it worked. So I think with lighter boards and a sail to help, it should be possible. Technique very different of course, be good to see somebody do it!

Sheet in hard and do a backflip at the same time so the gear goes over and you get to swim under the wave?? Bvllsh!tfarkin.

Well OK that is a bit harsh, maybe it would work a few times.

A mast hi hollow one coming your way is never a surprise (you can see it!!!) so the chicken gybe is best option. Gybe, then u r travelling in same direction as the wave (even slowly) so the whitewater will catch you but you'll have minimal breath holding as it will give you a great big nice push.
If the wave catches you but hasn't broken yet.... well you should not have gybed cos you would have made it!!!!

Best tip for cross or crossoff conditions and grovelling out in big waves: turn hard upwind just before you cross the peak of the wave: saves the involuntary aerial with no feet in the straps (which can get ugly, real ugly).

My other tip... if already down... point mast out to sea and hold the boom with front hand in 'normal' position and back hand grabs rear footstrap. That way the waves drag u in and even better the gear stays in a close to waterstart position. This is fine up to mast hi as there is no need to duck dive under it. UNLESS if the waves are seriously hollow and sucky, and you are right where they're breaking. Then it MAY pick you up and drop you, and a fin thru you may be a possibility. 99% of the time this is not the case, you're getting hit with whitewater and holding onto ur gear is a great help.

OK, armed with the above information, I'm going out at Broadbeach over the next few days. Definitely not "wavesailing" as such, but launching through "waves" in order to go "sailing".

If you hear a lot of swearing and shouting, you'll know what happened to my (relatively new) mast...

Don't forget to unweight the back foot as you go over white water, any back foot pressure in the soup will spin you out straight away. If you're going slow, it's best to stop leaning out altogether, sheet out a bit and get over the board.
And as Leech says, don't go thru waves go over.