I guess I am comparing to my own kit. My 80+cm wide board was (sold it off) a Bic Nova 165, a 24 lb heavy slug of a board that was never that much fun even when fully planing in the straps, and my 70cm wide board is a light (but fragile) Severne Fox 120 that is not early planing but really fun, fast, and silky smooth in any chop. No comparison in the riding experience, always preferred the Fox except if there was possibly the need to uphaul in 2+ feet chop. I've since sold off the 8.0, that's winging wind range.

I started on a similar big heavy board, I think it's 170L Nova. Was great to start on but due to the US box and stock fin I don't think will ever go fast. Have always thoguht about putting a tuttle box in and seeing if I could find like a 65cm fin to go on it.

The RRD is a super board, but just gets pushed around by any chop. Bolt could care less about chop but my technique needs to get better to get planing especially when it's light.

For whatever reason I've really started liking footstraps early before planing lately, looks a lot like this Cookie short. www.instagram.com/p/C86JEmcoltu/ It seems good for coasting through lulls or taking advantage of a really short puff. It's quite different from the way the dude I sail with often gets to the straps, he really seems to wait until high teens of board speed before getting both straps.

Having had the chance to sail my new-to-me and awesome Fanatic Ultra Cat: what's the technique for tacking and gybing longboards? The board is super efficient and fast in a straight line, but really resists making turns.

So far I was trying:
Tacks: Board down, rail to leeward, big exaggerated rig movement, and crossing very early and dropping low with the sail way out front and pushing down on the mast base

Gybes: Uh... bring a book? Board up, big windward rail pressure, very extreme rig to leeward and fwd with front hand aft of the harness lines. It's pretty wobbly so I've been stepping early and then sailing clew first for a bit.

Now that Evanston beaches will soon all be open, you need to consider coming out and trying the big Lake on a S, SE, or SSW wind, which are flat safe directions easily doable at your skill level. With your big stuff, anything 18 kts or better reading from Chicago Crib should work (that is big sails, crib reading is 75 ft above lake), and Greenwood or Lee St beaches are great launches on those directions. On S or SW directions, schlog past the breakwalls and then the wind picks up dramatically, then you have however long reach you want, the other day we were winging down to Chicago border.

I would really like to. Imagine the wind would be a lot cleaner than the little lakes I go to. I've been pretty limited on sailing this summer but did have one absolutely perfect wind day and felt great and then have had a bunch of drifters.

If you're ever going out hit me up on instagram or I'll give you my contact info, would love to try it on a day when there are other people on the water. Had a really nice SSE day this past Sat but I was on the big boat. Was a ton of fun but I kept thinking about how clean the wind was for WS!

Got to sail the last 2 days in the most breeze I've sailed yet, at times over 20kts. Probably learned more this week than the whole rest of the year, just awesome time. Feeling really comfortable and confident in the little chop that buils up at Silver and can't wait to get back out in bigger air again. Hoping for a little advice on a couple things:

-Waterstarts. Couldn't get a single one Tuesday so spent a lot of Wednesday practicing. Had two questions: Sometimes the board just shoots right up wind when I go to put my back foot onboard, should I be trying to get further forward? Also, even in big breeze, sometimes it was hard to get flying, just didn't seem like enough power to lift my fat ass out of the water. Besides waiting for a gust, anything to do? I tried pumping a bit but it didn't seem to work.

-Jumping.Had what I thought was a huge jump, but looking at footage later the fin didn't even clear the water. I wasn't really planning to jump but someone just ahead of me did so I gave it a try a coupel times. Every time, the board would just send itself downwind and I'd barely pop the board out of the water. Any tips?

Really great week, honestly feeling as good as I ever have windsurfing.

I got no advice for jumping.
Definitely have to have enough wind. If sail is 6.0 or less, it needs to fly by itself easily. For sails 6.5 or larger (that are not light), sometimes the sail won't fly itself until you get it slightly elevated, but then it needs to be able to fly itself (I hate lifting the sail).
Board will round up if the board is not slightly downwind. Too much downwind is no good either, you'll just get launched. There is a perfect angle where the rising sail creates the right mast base pressure too keep board correct direction. The mast base pressure increase precedes putting weight on your feet to keep the board aligned. You can have your heels dangling on the board first though, that can help keep the board in the right direction along with some sail steering. Straighten your arms first to elevate the sail before you put weight on your feet. Scrunch your body towards the board while keeping your arms straight. Prepare to sheet out quickly once you are up so you don't get pulled over the other side.
Waterstarting best learned in winds sufficient to plane in straps with 6.0 or better.

Mast base pressure for the waterstart makes a lot of sense actually. The day was very up and down pressure wise so I think I may have been moving the sail too much to keep from getting pulled up and over, I bet it would have been better to just take the power and try and keep it stable.

I was on a 5.0 which seemed accurate. People were on anything from 4.2-6.5.

Every time I dedicate a lot of time to waterstarting, the rest of the day feels easier for everything else. Should probably do it more but it's been quite a light summer. Don't ever want to get as rusty as I was this past week when I couldn't get one Monday.

KM wrote:

KM wrote:
Here you go, KM