Windsurfing Magazine

kristin
2008-04-02 13:15:16 | 2824 views | 0 Comments

1. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH SPEED

You can't get in your footstraps if you don't have enough speed, period. How do you know when you have enough speed? Just as you start to plane, there should be enough lift in the tail of the board to allow you to get back. But the faster you go while you're out of your straps, the more squirrelly the board becomes as you move toward the straps. At the very least, don't let yourself get onto a full-on plane before you slip in the front strap.

2. POINT YOUR FRONT FOOT TOWARD THE MAST

There's a reason the front footstraps are angled so your front foot points forward. One key to planning is to keep the nose of the board down, and the best way to do this is through toe pressure with your front foot. When getting in the straps, you need both speed and as little weight on the tail as possible. Keeping your front foot pointed forward accomplishes this.

3. BOOMS DOWN INTO THE MAST BASE

When getting in your straps, there is one instant when you have to take some weight off your front foot to slide or step back to the strap. You don't want all your weight to go onto your back foot because that would immediately make the tail sink and cause the board to round up. You can avoid this by hanging some weight on the boom. This will distribute your weight between your back foot and the mast base.

4. LOOK FORWARD

This may sound simple enough, but until you are familiar with your strap placement, you're probably going to be looking down at your feet while trying to get in the straps. This will cause you to put too much weight on the tail and may make your sheet out – both will cause you to lose the precious speed needed to get in the straps.

5. EXTEND YOUR MAST FORWARD AS YOU STEP BACK

Most people learning strap usage step back toward the straps, bringing their rig with them. After all, in the photos you see of guys blazing around, the rigs are raked back. What the photos don't show is that those sailors first lean the mast toward the nose of the board as they move back to the straps. Then once they're in the straps and planning, they rake the sail back.

6. KEEP SOME WEIGHT ON YOUR TOES

This, the most crucial of all windsurfing axioms, pertains to getting in the footstraps as well. Keeping weight on your toes will keep your board flat both from side to side and from front to back. If your weight falls onto your heels, you'll round up and lose all your speed.

7. STAY ON THE CENTERLINE

Shortboards are tippy, no doubt about it. Getting some of your weight out on the rail before you are going fast enough is like turning a bicycle without enough speed. When going slow, you must stay straight, and you have to stay on the centerline to do this on almost any board with footstraps.

8. KEEP YOUR ARMS STRAIGHT

Bending your arms is slow. The only time you want to bend them is when you're pumping or turning. When you're trying to build speed to get in the straps, concentrate on keeping your arms straight and the sail sheeted in, and on putting downward pressure on the boom.