Windsurfing Magazine

kristin
2008-04-03 07:23:35 | 750 views | 2 Comments

Why is it that it took only one or two days to get the hang of uphauling on your faithful old longboard, but it seems to take one or two seasons to get the hang of uphauling on your new shortboard? Here are a couple of tips that might help.

First, consider how you set sail on a longboard: With the board perpendicular to the wind and the sail luffing, you let go with the back hand, step back with back foot on the centerline, point front foot forward, tilt the mast upwind, put back hand on the boom, front hand on the boom, sheet in and sail away. Easy.

Now, why doesn't that work on a shortboard? For two reasons. First, as soon as you step back, the board heads upwind uncontrollably. Second, as soon as you tilt the mast upwind you fall over backward:

The solution to the first problem is to not step back. You uphaul as you would any other board, with your feet about shoulder width apart, equal distances from the universal. Once the sail is clear of the water, keep your back foot right where it is, point your front foot forward, and set sail. By eliminating the step back, you eliminate the problem of heading upwind uncontrollably.

The solution to the second problem is to point the nose of the board more upwind. Tilting the sail upwind then means tilting the sail more toward the front of the board and not so much toward you. In other words, when in doubt, tilt the mast toward the board's nose and never your own nose:

The way to make this second solution work in high winds is to leave the end of the boom dragging in the water while you turn the board to head up wind. Allowing the boom end to drag makes you more stable on your feet. Once the board is pointed nearly upwind, quickly pull the mast toward the nose of the board and set sail.