It was a couple teenagers who probably pulled it out of the garage and wanted a cheap paddleboard. "inappropriate equipment combination" could be the motto for Northern Michigan craftsmanship, just check out a parking lot by the Silver Lake dunes if you want to see some unsettling vehicles..

It was also a little funny as I've been on the soft lookout for a longboard to make the light air stuff more interesting. Any recommendations on what's going to work? Have talked to a couple guys who really like the old Mistrals (Equipe) but have also seen Windsurfer LTs and Kona Ones which look cool but expensive.

KM wrote:
If you're looking for a Kona board, check out this listing from the Michigan Windsurfing page. miwindsurfing.com/forum/topics/equipment...e?xg_source=activity
I bought his 10.5 sail/mast/boom combo, the carbon boom, and few extensions from him earlier this summer.

KM wrote:

KM, another lake you might want to add to the mix is Pistakee Lake(part of the Fox river). A street lot behind Dockers on the east side of the lake for SSW wind. And Lake Street Park on the west side of the lake for SSE wind(haven't gotten a report from there). About a mile reach for both and a 1.5 mile of fetch. Have a drive by.

You can zoom in to the spots or use the launches menu on the Lanches Page: windsurfillinois.com/index.php/launches

From the Launches Page

Cheers, Brian, getting in touch with him!

Reid, a friend I see sailing a lot (Brian, different one, travels with his foil sticking out of the trunk of a Dodge Challenger) sails Pistakee a bit. Says its got a lot of boat chop, so he uses it mainly on the foil or in later fall. I'll see when he's going next and will check it out!

For a new spot, I'm really intrigued by 63rd st beach in Chicago for E-SE wind. Nice big breakwall covers the beach in that direction, and seems like it'd be a great view of the city as well.

Tried Wolf yesterday, great to be abck on the water but not much breeze, at least not until both Ady and I returned to the beach when it filled in nicely!

Got the footstraps sorted out yesterday, pretty sure the biggest missing piece was just power, as I was on an 8.5 and had decent wind. Can't always choose the best days but I really think light and variable conditions have been the reason my progress has been so slow with this and other skills Ady's trick of staying out of the harness, hard hang on the boom and then going for the straps was what worked the first time, pretty much right off the beach. After that I was able to get in and out hooked in or not, and really found the footstraps made it easier to plane through lulls which was a pleasant surprise. I had the straps quite inboard, and will be moving them out next time as you can really feel the appeal of being able to push sideways on the board.

Footstrap gear question: I have the straps set about as big as they can go without distorting the strap, and it works OK for bare feet but was really hard to do with boots. The RRD straps are really hard to adjust, requiring taking the "cover" off before you can get to the structural part inside. I see there are external adjustable, and even some fancy ones like the X Wave strap. ANy downside to the straps with the velcro on the outside? I just would like to be able to change from boot size to bare size easily.

KM wrote: Indeed. A wise man once said: “ Go big or go home! “
Congratulations!!!

I also want to add congratulations. You seem somewhat calm and measured about it rather than exuberant. Perhaps the big sail and moderate speed makes it a calmer threshold to cross. When it happened to me over 30 years ago in the Bay Area, it was with a 5.6 sail (the regular size sail to use there), and I still remember the sensations. The board suddenly got firm in the water (back then narrow wobbly boards though), the rhythmic slapping of the board on the water sped up, wind whistled in the ears, and the fin hummed. An overwhelming sensation that I continue to enjoy.

Thanks David! I feel Like getting planing was the much more exciting step back in spring. Getting the straps was more of a technical step, although I can see how it's going to unlock other skills. I got a ton of good advice on the beach and online. Really nice how willing to share people are and I think I heard about every variation of getting into the status. It was Ady's version of going straps then harness that worked at first, but I was able to try all the ways described, including back strap first (real weird for me)

If you're looking for a waterproof bandage by the way, the tegaderm ones are what the round the world sailors supposedly use, we'll see how they go for me as I have some boat sailing to do.

Had a really nice day last week up at Silver, pretty much spent hours on the plane as everything just lined up right in terms of power and wind. Really got comfortable in the straps (*had to switch to summer boots, which I can fit in the straps but had to take breaks as my toes were going numb!)

This was the first day I really felt like toe pressure was doing most of the work on turning, feels like another little milestone.

BUT.

I'm not as fast as the other sailors, by a lot. They're all closing the sail close to centerline and when I try and do it just feels like I'm stalling the sail.

Any tips to getting more speed?

Other problem, it was kind of choppy and the board was always smacking the wave tops and rolling a lot. Any tips for handling chop with a wide (85cm) board?

Speed in chop with a large freeride: Go broad reach or beam reach and edge the board on the leeward rail (Got to be in the straps and powering the fin).

Avoid bouncing off the chop: Go faster (see above). Go out broad reach (in the direction of the chop) and do the return runs upwind (usually riding slightly against the chop almost in a parallel path).

Closing the sail: Set your harness lines further away from the boom clip. Rely on your harness more once powered. Keep your legs straight pushing down to avoid too much rig movement.

Glad to hear about your progress. Cheers.

You need to get to 4th gear, will solve all those problems. Shove the board downwind off a chop.

Everything needs to get way back for speed. You have to make the board fly on its fin as they say. For that you need to be really powered up though and in your latest Insta clips you are everything but. No worries, everything will come in time just be patient windsurfing is a long distance marathon…a very long distance. For starters you can try making your kit faster. For example you can move your footstraps outboard and if you are positioning your mast foot forward of center in the track you can try moving it to the center or slightly behind. As for the rig more downhaul and less outhaul on my sails works perfect and you can try that although it may hav different results on different sails. This combined with boom up and harness lines back could make a rig quite powerful with a downside being uncomfortable when not powered up sufficiently.
Lastly to ride fast you’ll have to get up to speed…fast , so bear off wind more .
I came across this post recently on Insta and saved the picture for reference. This is how you look like when sailing fast:



PS: Ha, I just realized how low her boom is. She must be relatively short or severely overpowered, which is probably the case-for the photoshoot. Notice the long lines to keep the rig upright and away from the body, the footstraps at their most outboard and probably back holes position and her deep downwind sailing stance over bent back leg. The stance changes off course to more sideways and straighter legs for sailing across and bent front leg for upwind pointing, but for the shot she is in the fastest sailing direction with the right body stance-expertly done.