10 secrets to a faster waterstart, must watch!

manuel · Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 1158

Yes, you use the heliswim to pull a sail from downwind and rotate the board as well. You do it to pull the sail upwind and be able to set the board under the sail.

Once in the correct position, you can lift the sail out of the water and start flying it. You can also use it to pull on the board and raise the mast when it has previously sunk from the board being upside down.

You can hold the boom and the mast, the mast alone or the rear strap and the mast while keeping your head above water!!! Do pay attention to your fin(s) when swinging below the board, that's all.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

You're making way too much out of it, Alap. The helicopter spin, at least the way I do it:
1. Adapts to and works from any angle to any angle. Downwind/upwind makes no difference.

2. Does not involve lifting my rig from the water (I never do that, but then, my biggest sail is a 7.0). That's work, and is what Archimedes and the wind are for. Archimedes lifts it enough to expose it to the wind (because I shoved the board tail beneath the boom), which takes it from there.

3. Uses big core muscles, and feels effortless ... just a good full length stretch as I extend my legs and feet as far away from my hands as possible while rotating like one blade of a big propellor. The hub of that propellor is your gear, and Newton spins it in response to the forces applied by your core (equal and opposite reaction and all that). It really feels almost effortless.

4. Never involves ducking under water. My flotation helps.

5. Doesn't require grabbing any particular parts of your kit. Just grab whatever is convenient and rotate your legs until your board and/or rig are where you want it or them. When you get one or the other where you want it, just scissor the remaining out-of-place part -- again, with the wind doing most of the work -- to where ya want it. The whole process is quite benign because you have so much help with it.

6. Is extremely simple and becomes second nature very quickly.

7. Is extremely easy to demonstrate and practice (you probably did it when you were a kid). Get a car innertube or comparable pool toy, toss it into the water, jump into it up to your armpits, extend your feet and legs out horizontally, and start spinning. You can get it rotating at something like 60 RPM, which will make you dizzy as hell very quickly (that was the whole point at the time).

fxop · Joined: 13 Jun 1998 Posts: 202

grantmac017 · Joined: 04 Aug 2016 Posts: 946

Heliswim works with smaller gear fine. Not great with bigger stuff and limited use for most foiling.
Another tool for the box.

Lots of times going to the mast tip will be faster and less work, depending on where the gear is positioned.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

I've never tried it with sails over 7.5, but don't see why the same technique wouldn't work with much bigger sails. As for foils, you just bend your knees and retract your hips if necessary when your feet approach the foil; the other 330 degrees of arc is at full extension.

manuel · Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 1158

The heliswim is particularly useful with bigger gear where we need the extra torque to rotate it.

Going to the mast tip is great when underpowered. Mid distance is usually plenty to get the sail out of the water.

manuel · Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 1158

ALERT : I see too many riders going all the way to the mast tip in the waves while there's good wind. Better use the heli-swim and once the mast more or less across the wind, lift and yank upwind to fly the sail. This lets us keep more control over the gear and avoid getting it ripped out of our hands or sink it when needed.

The first thing to do in the waves globally is to aim the board towards the beach with the mast tip towards the wave. If they are small then yes we can poke through keeping the sail as high as we can.