...And to go fast you need a pair of cool sunglasses.

Greg from Sheb. wrote:
Ha ha and a "pair"...right!

That's really good stuff guys, even the wraparound shades bit.

The lines aft comment is especially interesting, as I found when I was first trying to get into both straps I found that moving them aft of where was comfortable and bal;anced for schlogging seemed to make geting the back strap easier. Generally I've been trying to set them so they feel too far aft when working upwind, and then they feel better when going quick. I will certainly try lines aft and do a big down to get going next time.

I've avoiding messing with the u joint except for foiling. There was a guy who was watching from the beach at Silver one day when I was very powered up on the 8.5 and he'd suggested getting it fwd in that condition as from shore I seemed to have the nose quite high.

I've been making little notes to myself for different practice days. For getting in the straps I found it was helpful to have the following in mind:

Lots of pressure in the harness lines
Bear off a bit/rig fwd as you go for the front strap
Harness lines aft a bit
Push hard on front toes when going for the back strap
When lulls come, lifting the heels to press the strap up seems to help

I'm going to add

Lines aft more (aftier?)
Big bear away to get speed

Go Bears

Great! I deleted my post by mistake on my phone Well, you got the memo. Just a word of caution-if you do setup changes do them one by one and in small increments.

Was winging at Lake Andrea in plenty of wind 6.5-7.5, there were several intermediate serious sailors there, the main problem with planing and speed was heavy rear foot causing the tail to plow, board not flat in any direction (pitched up, rolled to windward). When it's right the feet will feel light and evenly balanced, board will easily soak up any bumps with rider hanging over side of board.

Ady wrote:
Restored!
windsurfillinois.com/index.php/forum/win...urfing?start=24#8468

David Mark wrote:
Haha! That’s called Fear!

Point your toes maybe to flatten out the board and bend your knees and absorb the chop. Hit a steep piece of chop and put all the load on your back foot directing the energy upward and then pull your back foot up to your but and jump into the air. You won’t regret it.

This behavior sounds like tail walking, it happens when you’re over powered with too much sail, too big of board (volume) and fear I guess? Has anyone heard that term?

Had another day and took some advice from a buddy who'd been out the same day I was last sailing. He'd said the tail was sinking, so delay the back strap until the speed is higher, which worked really well yesterday. I think I've been rushing into the back strap in order to do the "right" technique and wasn't getting the board fast enough before hitting the back. His general feel was high teens before back strap to keep the board trimmed flat. Seemed to work for me yesterday very well. My speeds were closer to the other sailors but still far shy. Crashed more but needed the cool down in a 5mm suit! Found the crashes were differnet with a little more speed; kept ending up upside down on my back above the boom. Weird.

I attempted a jump, did not take.

Went a lot faster yesterday and had an absolute blast on a very pretty fall day. Looking at the forecast it very well may be my final day on the water this year, so happy to go out with a great day.

classic catapult, common occurrence on the learning curve.