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manuel
Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 1158
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2019 12:34 am Post subject: |
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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. _________________ *NEW* - Manu's Windsurfing Blog, The STORE! |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2019 10:29 am Post subject: |
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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). |
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fxop
Joined: 13 Jun 1998 Posts: 202
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2019 11:52 am Post subject: |
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isobars wrote: | alap wrote: | helicopter swimming - interesting, never heard about this. not sure I need it, but interesting ... |
I've discussed it here for decades as an indispensable alternative to swimming the gear around to the waterstart position. Swimming is virtually unnecessary in WSing unless your gear blows away or the wind dies AND you actually NEED to be somewhere else.
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I am amazed to learn that swimming in windsurfing is unnecessary. I have helped a number of people get back to their rigs. They were basically non-swimmers who couldn't make any headway due to rough water, or were out of breath. Their rig was moving glacially away downwind, and they couldn't catch it. I haven't seen one of these folks in quite awhile, so maybe they self-selected out. Had to admire their desire in getting out in the middle of a big bay or ocean with minimal swimming skills.
fxop
Last edited by fxop on Mon Jul 29, 2019 3:26 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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grantmac017
Joined: 04 Aug 2016 Posts: 946
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2019 1:14 pm Post subject: |
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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. |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2019 1:32 pm Post subject: |
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fxop wrote: | Had to admire their desire in getting out in the middle of a big bay or ocean with minimal swimming skills. |
That's too much like sailing in a shorty or rash guard in full steamer conditions: it ignores too many very real threats for me to admire it. "Desiring" s fine, but actually doing it just isn't smart. We should never sail too far offshore to swim back alone.
My railroad thread here reinforced that for me; thanks to rescuers, I'll never be sure whether I actually NEEDED the tow job or not. I've swum much farther than that, but not on my first day of a new season in 40-50 mph winds. |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2019 1:37 pm Post subject: |
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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. |
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manuel
Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 1158
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2019 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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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. _________________ *NEW* - Manu's Windsurfing Blog, The STORE! |
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manuel
Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 1158
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Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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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. _________________ *NEW* - Manu's Windsurfing Blog, The STORE! |
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