I'll have to give this a try. Has anyone seen a video of this technique online? I come up with nota!

I don't see it online either.

I can show you at the sailing spot next time we have wind. Send me a message next time you sail in evanston or wolf and I will meet you. I sail at greenwood all the time.

If the weather is favorable tomorrow morning I'll try to hit Wolf. I know that's last minute so if Ady goes to Wolf I'll see how he does it and try to video him. Thanks for the invite! I'd like to try Greenwood and knowing how to uphaul bigger sails will help me not to struggle as much so I can have more productIve sessions.

Ady wrote:
Hmm... to me this sounds like a good way to rip the mast track out of your board... or create a soft spot on the rail?
I have no evidence to support this concern or alternate suggestions for easy uphauling of big sails, just thinking about the physics/leverage...
Drew

For uphauling large sails you could try Easy Uphaul
www.easy-uphaul.com/rigging.html
www.easy-uphaul.com/photoseq.html

or make one from your existing uphaul. Just attach piece of non stretchy rope to somewhere about middle or lower third of your uphaul. Make loop on the other end and cover it with piece of plastic tubbing so it slide easy form your harness hook. Same like harness lines. You will need adjust the lenght of the line to be comfortable lifting the sail. (too short = too hard to lift, too long=you fall back easily)
This way you lift the sail with your body weight using you lower back rather than your arms...way way easier...

I found this link a few days ago that explains it in the most basic terms (could've been better) but your links give it some substance. Have to find a price for this or go to the garage and see what I can come up with. Might be worth the price vs. time and possible design flaws. My biggest gripe on uphauling isn't necessarily the strain on my arms but the strain on my hands from the uphaul line. Thanks for finding and sharing!

I forgot to add this link. Kind of makes me feel like a sissy!

I jumped on an opportunity to hit Wolf today for a few hours after that last storm came thru this morning. I was on the water by 11 and off just after 2. Worked on Gybe and helitack. I used/tried the 2 listed videos for the session. I couldn't get the board to turn anywhere near as tight as the video for the Gybe. In the video they talk about putting the majority of the pressure on the back foot as you center the turn on your inner hip, but then later they talk about using your mast foot to drive the board around. Gybe didn't go as well as I had hoped but it did get better as the day went along.
As for the helitack I could get the board headed into the wind but couldn't get the board thru the eye of the wind. Once I got it into the wind I would stall as much as I tried to back wind the sail. This left me getting pushed back around on the board. and sometimes getting pushed back around . I also tried to slice the sail across the wind and got a face full of sail and blown off the back of the board multiple times, yum yum! Definitely some sort of timing issue. Wind died a bit and shifted to the west around 1-1:30 so that pretty much ended the day.
When I got home I checked out Adys helitack video and could see where my timing was off and how he got the board to turn for him (immediately) by slicing the sail across the wind. His video clearly shows how it's the position of the sail that gives the board the final big push to break the eye of the wind and back on tack the other direction. Not a great day but any day on the water is better than watching WS videos! I'm not sure if I will loose this post if I try to get Adys video on this site so I'll post it after I submit this post. Thanks Ady!

Oh! I went with the big Starboard Go board and my newly purchased (used?) 4.2. While rigging the sail I found a new paper tag tied in the mast sleeve. This sail was baptized today for the first time!

Adys, helitack:

www.windsurfillinois.com/index.php/video...ck-converse-revo-5-2

Garry, do you have your non planing jibe down on both sides?

This video is in the same Windsurfing Instruction forum under Non Planing Gybe.

Non Planing Gybe

I'm sure you've started to realize that nothing in windsurfing is as easy as it seems. Hence one of the reasons it is such a niche, exotic sport. Good observation about the importance of timing for the Heli /or any move more or less/. You need to slice the sail into the wind before the board has turned fully upwind . You start like a regular tack standing behind the mast base and leaning the sail back and before it reaches the eye of the wind you need to step in front of the mast base with your front foot slicing the sail forward into the wind at the same time. It's imperative here to be in the center of the board with your feet over the center line, holding the boom wide with extended front arm to guide the rig and bent back one to hyde the clue .
At your level it maybe a better idea to focus more on the slow tack and slow jibe. Those are difficult enough by themselves already. I personally started trying more advanced moves only after I got relatively satisfied with my carve jibes and fast tacks. Meaning approximately 5 years after I started windsurfing, averaging 35 sailing days each year. But maybe I shouldn't have waited so long, who knows?!
PS: Definitely I've waited too long-I waisted many sessions doing the same back and forth big sail slogging , which I'm advising against now. So it may be a little bit early for you to do Heli Tacks, but in no case too early! Keep it up!
What I would strongly recommend you doing now in light winds is practicing Tacks-the faster and with less steps you can get around on the other side and power up the sail successfully the better. Also try doing slow jibes both ways- over your back leg for a tight jibe and over your front leg for a wide one, as a pre-step for a carving jibe. It's good to start understanding and feeling the difference between both. As for Heli Tack pre -step you may try to just backwind the sail and steer backwinded.
Fast Tack:


Backwinded sailing:

You're right, nothing is easy, that's for sure! But it does get better if you stick with it! Okay, gonna work on honing that non planing Gybe, slow and fast tack. I really need some good light wind days (since we're not getting anything better at the moment) to practice like this video I found back in 2015. I viewed it again this morning forgetting it was in a foreign language, but you can't hear him anyway due to the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar music playing over him. I didn't realize it when I first viewed it, (basically because I didn't know) but the instructor throws in a helitack around 3:20, like no big deal. After that it looked like he was going to do a duck Gybe but it never happened. This is the type of session I'm looking for as well as another shot at the heli and maybe a duck Gybe attempt just for the fun of it!