Windsurf Shrink Needed

[whitevan01]

Dear Doc,
I had a great weekend, don't get me wrong. Finally found an extra gear, I think, on the Fanatic Ray late today (before it nuked and I rigged too big and was too tired to re-rig a third time). I feel like I've been going really fast on it in flat water (Tanner), but hesitate to really put the power down in chop (Joe's Beach).

I finally decided to start looking ahead ALL THE TIME, and not worry about whether the board is on the water or not. Plus, moving the footstraps
forward one hole as Craig Gertenbach on the Fanatic forum suggested seemed to help.

However, I am having a huge psychological problem when attempting
to do a full planing jibe, and the problem is more pronounced in chop of course.

I bear off, accelerate up to top speed, move back hand back, unhook, (at top speed), and then just as I am moving the back foot to the inside rail
and begin to initiate the carve, I sheet out. What? Wait, I know that I am not supposed to do this, but I always seem to just for a second, and then I don't have enough speed to plane through the jibe.

So Doc, I think its because I want to slow everything down a bit as I am afraid that everything will happen too fast and I won't be able to keep with it.

Also, I am going into my 6th year of windsurfing (although 3 of them were interrupted for a few reasons), and I still haven't done a full planing jibe. On quite a few occasions I have come really close to completing them in flat water. Also, I thought I had an epiphany a couple of weeks at Stehli. The wave periods were long enough that when I jibed I could turn the face of a wave and keep speed up that way which made jibing much easier and smoother, but still not planing all the way through.

Anyway, I feel like I have stalled out (just as I do in the middle of my jibes) and have not really advanced much in the past 3 years and that lots of other people are passing me by (somewhat like what happens to me out on the water sometimes).

So, Doc, what do I do to get back on track (not the mast track, but the learning track)? I feel like once I do a full planing jibe in chop that everything else will open up for me (at least in windsurfing).

Thanks, Doc, for any advice you can give me.

I am, as ever, one tired, happy, stoked, yet frustrated windsurfer.

[jingebritsen]

first of all, what year is your ray? the fin it came with a few years ago was geared for the lightest of winds. get a stiffer one. will help in the corners in chop.

seek out a jibe spot that has a chop shadow. just downwind of a sand spit is perfect. check the water depths for the safest approach(s).

ray's have a nearly frisbee outline. one has to initiate the sail transition early and power on again to carve harder at the exit. the width giveth and taketh away. power on, wide boards plane early, power off, they drag quickly. that's the reason when you power off, the board slows quickly. it's not just the ray, it's all frisbee type boards. one cannot glide thru a jibe as with smaller and narrower boards.

you may wish to explore duck jibes concurrently. those that choose to do so typically learn to plane out of them sooner than standard jibes. few take me up on this, but every time someone tries and succeeds it encourages me to continue saying so. it forces one to transition the sail way earlier, at about 30-40% the way thru. power off time is the least in a duck. power on to finish the carve harder toward exit helps bunches too.

slowing for control does not work in windsurfing. nor cycling and snowboarding, right? pedal to the metal.

[isobars]

You gave us a clue to your primary hurdle early in your symptoms, Dennis, with " I hesitate to really put the power down in chop". It demonstrates a lack of confidence in yourself and/or your gear that affects your jibing even on ultraflat water. Carving (i.e., planing through) a jibe is an aggressive, confident, organized symphony of 10-12 individual elements that must flow as one maneuver to consistently succeed.

Also, if one second of unsheeting costs you your plane, you aren't going fast enough going in and/or are trying to cover too much ground in your jibe. Open up the throttle and carve a tighter turn and planing will no longer be your primary obstacle.

Another factor is that the Ray is not the user-friendly board I believe we should all start out on. From BoardTests.com come these pertinent comments [with mine in brackets]:
"The Fanatic Ray 115 scores really well when it comes to early planing and is considered to be one of the easiest and most comfortable boards within the freerace segment. There are a few boards that are slightly faster but the Fanatic Ray is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, in rough conditions. The Ray offers excellent high end performance... a very lively, fast feeling board to sail, and it doesn’t just feel fast – it is fast! On flat water the Fanatic Ray was one of the fastest boards on test, and as soon as the water chopped up a bit it took the lead, thanks to its active ride off the tail [but you say you are not fast in chop, which goes back to your confidence and aggression on the water.]

The Fanatic Ray definitely isn’t as easy to sail as some of the other boards, and needs to be locked down to keep it in control, but its active ride does give an advanced rider opportunity to squeeze a bit more speed when required. At the top end [which is conducive to fast, full-planing jibes] the Fanatic Ray takes the most skill and technique to control. In the gybe the Fanatic Ray felt one of the bigger, more technical boards of the group. On flat water the Fanatic Ray gybes fine (albeit not as tight as some), but in the chop it required more technique. The Fanatic Ray is a board for speed freaks who not only like to go fast, but also like the feeling of going fast! The Ray was the fastest board of the group in choppy water, but also one of the hardest to control when things got realy rough.[IMO, we need to prioritize user-friendliness in our boards until our jibes are consistent, dry, and fast. That extra knot or three of potential top end speed is nice, but is wasted if not tapped and is a detriment if its technical demands impede our jibing progress. I began making fast, dry jibes only when I bought wave-slalom boards whose design emphasized jibing over speed.]"

Beyond that, all I can offer is my jibing tutorial at
http://tinyurl.com/79hhsl7 .

Mike \m/

[isobars]

[jingebritsen]

my thoughts is you were referring to the 130 or larger.

http://www.surf-magazin.de/test-center/freeraceboards/fanatic-ray-130-ltd/

more of frisbee than the 115.

[techno900]

Some if this is repetitious but...

Problems that kill a planing gybe.

1. Not enough speed
2. Radius too tight, exit on a full reach
3. Not enough weight on the front foot
4. Not pushing down on the boom to keep the nose of the board down
5. Not bending the knees enough in the chop to keep the board from bouncing
6. Flipping the sail too late
7. Not sheeting in enough. In the early stages, the sail needs to come in line with the board (reduce drag as the board moves faster than the wind), then when you are about half way through the sail will go back out over the water a little as the wind and board match speeds.
8. Not pumping after the sail flip to stay on plane. Not essential unless you slow down too much.

Go to [url]www.pwaworldtour.com [/url]

And pull up some world cup slalom videos from past years and how the pros gybe. Or find other videos of gybing and imprint the technique in your mind.

[techno900]

My post doesn't show, what's up? It's in the preview, and it shows if I edit, but nothing when I post it.

[techno900]

Some if this is repitious but..

Problems that kill a planing gybe.

1. Not enough speed
2. Radius too tight, exit on a full reach
3. Not enough weight on the front foot
4. Not pushing down on the boom to keep the nose of the board down
5. Not bending the knees enough in the chop to keep the board from bouncing
6. Flipping the sail too late
7. Not sheeting in enough. In the early stages, the sail needs to come in line with the board (reduce drag as the board moves faster than the wind), then when you are about half way through the sail will go back out over the water a little as the wind and board match speeds.
8. Not pumping after the sail flip to stay on plane. Not essential unless you slow down too much.

Find some videos of gybing and imprint the technique in your mind.

[techno900]

I removed a link to a web site "URL" and now it is fine.

[jingebritsen]

wider style boards actually do not do well with prolonged radius turns. they need power on all the time. therefore the tried and true methods of planing thru jibes are not directly applicable.

especially in the lightest of winds, one has to keep the power on, this applies as much as possible. done lots of testing on very light winds, pump to plane kinda stuff. discovered duck jibes are best in minimal winds while doing these types of tests.

everything else techno discusses is true.

tricksionary is comprehensive. you may wish to own a copy.