Point-7 Summer tips

THE STAGE TIPS

TAKING NOTES It's true to think that to become a good windsurfer you need to practice a lot, and true that some people might have more talent than others, but to us, all of this is not important. Our goal is to learn how to sail comfortable by trimming and tuning our gear at the maximum level. Let's have the gear to do a big part of this work! Whether it's freeriding, slalom, our objective is to have the maximum fun and maximum speed without getting tired.

It's pretty easy. Days and weeks may go by, from one water session to the other. Family, work, and thousands of other happening, take our focus away from our latest session of windsurfing where everything was starting to fit.

We forget how to downhaul to the right positioning the sail, where we use to put the mast track on the board, and these are only of the few logical things which can come as first thought. Imagine how many variables we have surrounding our sport and how much the conditions vary, and how many chances of tuning we have. Therefore, one day the same gear may feel unbelievable good, and the next day like sh...!, and we have our friend with gear of ten years ago just overtaking us, or because suddenly you keep catapulting.... till you may end up then wondering why your mast broke!

What we want to explain you it's very simple. To improve you need to make experiments on the trimming and to find the perfect stance on the board.

So, first thing you need to do is to keep all the future articles you will find here, and especially this first one. It's probably the most important. Cut it out from the magazine and put it where you are going to write down all your notes.

Exactly notes! By yourself an agenda, or if you are more modern, set up a file on your smartphone. After every session you need to write notes down if you found the perfect tuning for those conditions. So, all the settings of each part of your gear. It's very important! There are 2 ways to do it.

Directly on the gear, or in the notepads you decided to use, or even better both!

A lot of pros have felt tapes of all colours and write poems on all their gear.

Some use code language so that the other don't copy, some don't care!

Imagine if you use a board always with the same sail, and only 3 times with a smaller sail in one year. How do you even remember which was the best place positioning for that sail for the mast foot? It's impossible, unless you had written it down somewhere. So, if you did not write it down, you either go sailing with the mast foot in the wrong position and not enjoying the session, or you keep coming in and out of the water several times, till I find the best spot. Imagine doing this with an offshore condition... you would just keep sailing with the mast foot in the first position you placed it, and maybe waste extra energy and speed to try to keep comfort and of course speed.

Do you really want to sail in an uncomfortable position? No Way!!! This is not why we are introducing this new section. It's because we want to be fast like the Black Team! Right? Therefore, uncomfortable does not have to exist in our vocabulary. Same as the word 'slow'. Not our style! So, if we are not comfortable and we are not as fast as the others, there is a problem. After many years of sailing, we can tell you the truth about this...it's not a person being slow, it's something to do with the gear or trim. Yes, sure there can be a slight difference, that should be though small enough that when racing it will not make a massive difference but give you the chance still to play it in the race. If you feel tired when sailing, it cannot be because you are not comfortable, but the only excuse we can accept, is because you have sailed for a lot of hours, even if you are not super fit. So, from now on, your thought need to be this: I'm not fast, I'm struggling with comfort, it's not because of me, but because there is something wrong with the trim of my gear.... nothing else!

With the Black Team we will prove this to you, and from now on you will need to follow our tips write down the main points you need to remember and note down also what we will tell you to remember.

1- If you are on the water and not comfortable, don’t waste time on the water like that. Get back to the shore, change the settings till you don't get back on the water, and get this feeling ' ah good now I feel comfortable!' Don’t' be lazy to get back to shore to change your trim. You will enjoy the session 100times more. Even if you must waste the first 1020 minutes of the session to trim yourself. The more you will practice in trimming yourself the more you will learn about the gear and how it needs to be changed to get comfy, and the less time you will take in a short future to find each time the condition changes the right settings. When the black team gets on the water, and someone is faster than them, they don't stay on the water eating sh..., they come back to the beach tune up according to what they feel they need to change and go challenge again. The better understanding how each component of the gear works in tuning, the faster you will be able to trim a fast and comfortable set up. What does a pro look for in light wind to go faster? Power and lift.

In strong wind its more comfort and control. This is also what every windsurfer should look for, even if he is free rider on freeride gear. You trim and tune up well, the more fun you will have.

2- Get ready with your equipment to write notes down and felt tapes to start putting notes on your gear.

These may seem like to simple and obvious points, but they are very important.

You need to make sure that the last session you had on the water, needs to feel like it was the session you had only a day before, even if it was 3 months before.

Otherwise you will find to have to start resetting all your gear again from zero.

BEING PREPARED Get all the gear ready before the first session. What does this mean?

At home: Do you have a book where you write down all you test and all you need? The trim and positioning of all the settings? Get one!

The check list at home: It probably smart to check all the equipment before leaving to an event. You have been using the gear for training and it could be wearing out.

Do we have for each rig its booms or extensions, or all components needed? Do we have all the fins for the board? Do I need to juggle the parts from one rig to the other because I don’t have enough booms or extension? scissors, lighter

Let’s go through each component.

• Sail: Are the battens all good. Are there any holes. Is there any other part missing? Are the sail numbers on the sail. Did I mark on the sail how much downhaul do I need?

• Mast: Do I have each mast for the sail.

• Boom: Are the harness lines in the right position? Did I mark the position on the boom? Are the outhauls marked to be always in the right position? Are the rope cut to size so that it’s always the same? How is the rope on the boom head? Do I know how high to put this boom on the sail I will use?

• Extension: Is the rope good? Do I know at which hole do I put the extension for the sail? Did I maybe write on the sail and in my notes?

• Base: How is the tendon? Do all my bases fit all my extensions.

• Board: Strap sizes. Did I screw them properly? Size? Anti-skid of the board. Holes?

• Fins: Do I have all the screws. Do they fit properly in the box? Do I have all the fins I need?

• Spares: What type of spares do I need? Battens, board repair, Tape to fix sails, ropes, harness lines, anything else?

• Tools: Do I have all the tools I need? Saw, Screw drivers, batten tensioner, plyers, scissors, lighter

At the spot.

• Talk to the locals to learn about the spot and try to get on the water to break the ice with the spot.

• Which food do I bring? What you know it’s easy to digest. Good to ask to specialists.

• Do I eat at the event site, or should I bring my own? Always better to bring your own as it could be more healthy • Do I have food with energy if there is no time to eat? Bikers eat while racing, maybe good to look what they use.

• Drinks? Bring your own and make sure you know where to get more.

• Do I have enough warm clothes? Rain, wind, being tired, is always making us feel colder than we think, and colder than just sailing few hours and going home.

• Is it important to wear shoes at the beach? Energy can be lost too early from humidity and cold feet.

• Your gear is your working tools. The better you treat it, the better it will treat you.

• Release all tensions and store it in shade and shelter from the wind. Rinse it and clean it if possible.

• Go through the check list of the used gear to see that all is in place and not broken. If broken, repair in the end of the day, and not the next day!

• Stretch, relax, eat, drink.

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Starting watch and headphones for the starting procedures. Every day recharged.

Go pro with all accessories. There is always a chance and time to do some media work in between and during.

Mobile, to do some mails and social media, practical to be connected to latest forecasts.

Camera to film between breaks.

Battery charger in case something runs out!

Energy bars, as often there is no time for other food.

Water bottle- would need more!

Rice, pasta, fruit, and any other food.

Cardio and watch.

Sometimes for curiosity is good to study the data later in the evening.

GPS Minibook, Ipads, Sun glasses‌. More reasons for these!

Sun screen Wallet‌you never know you need more food than you bring to the beach!

Cap, looking a bit tidier after sailing with the hair!

Drone

LENA ERDIL TUR 33

Discover the hidden potential of your slalom equipment with 10 easy and practical golden rules!

Below are listed some of the most classical issues when sailing with slalom gear. Often this more technical gear does not allow us to feel comfortable and relaxed when surfing. Therefore we are now going to give you the answers to the most common problems. Give priority to modify the trim of the gear, starting with the first solution given. If this does not work, continue to the second listed advice and so on;

TUNE YOUR STance

The sail feels heavy: a) Downhaul the sail an additional 2 cm. the sail will increase its loose leach and thereby allow the wind to exit the sail faster: better acceleration, and therefore lighter feeling sail.

Mast carbon percentage; a 30% Carbon mast is not very responsive and the sail becomes heavier.

b) Is the mast the original mast?

If the mast has a wrong curve, to the one advised, the sail may feel unstable and heavier.

The IMCS does not represent the curve of the mast, but only the stiffness. This means that even if the IMCS is correct the curve could still be different, and give problems.

C) Using a size shorter mast than advised, combined to a long extension, will make the sail feel lighter, as the IMCS of the mast is lower by normally 2 points.

The fin spins out: a) Move mast foot forward: this reduces the pressure on your back foot that otherwise pushes your fin into a spin out! b) Move your foot straps one hole forward, but bring back the mast foot by 1 cm: this decreases the pressure on the fin. c) Use a 2 cm longer fin. It will hold more pressure from your legs.

Change the fin if you still have problems

Sail has too much pressure on back arm: a) Move the harness lines 2 cm backwards along the boom. The body weight will help you to better close the sail trough the harness lines. b) Pull extra 2 cm outhaul. It eliminates the back hand power.

Too much pressure on the back leg: a) Lower the boom. The body moves forward and displaces the weight onto your front leg. b) Lengthen your harness lines. It will be become easier to get to have a better grip in the front foot straps, and release pressure from behind. c) Move your mast foot 1cm forward. This reduces the power on the back leg.

The sail is unstable: a) Release the sail by 2cm at the outhaul. It creates a deeper profile, and gives a better pressure point in the profile which equals stability. b) Pull the tack strap by the mast foot tight, and tension the lower 4 battens of the sail.

The nose of the board lifts up continuously? a) Move the mast foot 1cm forward; The weight of the sail will keep the board down. b) Lower the boom; This will help the sail to stay upright, more at a 90 degree angle to the board, and this allows less power, less lift which can be good to have in lighter winds, but not as the wind increases. c) Decrease the fin length by 2 cm. d) Release the downhaul by 2 cm; lesser loose leach will lower the trim of the board in stronger winds. It will offer more control in very strong winds.

Not able to close the gap between the sail and board?: a) Move the mast foot forward. Closing the gap will become easier b) Lower the boom. The boom has a shorter distance to travel in order to close the gap with the deck of the board.

The foot exits from the front strap causing us to catapult: a) Put the foot straps in the outer position on the board. The foot might have found a good stable point on the rail of the board, and the strap is too far inward to give a good lock in position. Therefore by bringing the strap closer to the foot will give further security whilst sailing. b) Move mast foot forward; when doing this, your whole body moves forward and thereby bringing your front foot closer to the front foot straps. c) Lower the boom. This again will bring your front foot forward as the whole body gets closer to the board.

This also gives more control in high wind.

The board is glued to the water: a) Move back the mast track. The nose of the board rises. b) Raise the boom by 2cm: This creates more pressure through the legs on to the fin by keeping the board more on the rail, and the board nose rises. c) Use a 2cm longer fin: A longer fin gives more lift and allows you to put more pressure on your legs.

Shortening the Harness Line will help in the same way as raising the boom height.

They are faster then you??: Do you have a slalom board and sail? If you do then read the points from 1-9 very carefully and trim you gear.

Remember that slalom sailing is not just hanging into your harness and relaxing! You will need to be slightly overpowered and push the board to the limit without any fear.

Be ready to change your settings as the wind intensity changes.

Strong winds: Longer harness lines, mast foot moves forward, smaller fin and lower boom.

Light winds: Shorter harness lines, mast foot moves further back, longer fin and higher boom.

Find the right compromise in order to be the fastest one out there, and always try to keep some pressure on the back arm in order to have this extra power as an accelerator when needed.

BOOM HEIGHT

Are you 190 tall? Place your boom at 150. Are you 180 tall? Place your boom at 140.

This would be excessively easy!..but does not work that way! The boom height is a very personal setting according to your ability, body structure, power, wind intensity, waves and of course if we plan to go more upwind or downwind, but not only. The way your gear is developed or tuned, also makes a difference to where the boom needs to be placed.

Why does the lower boom offer less power? Lowering the boom is a bit like moving the track more forward. We move our weight more to the front leg, giving less pressure to the back leg, therefore to the fin and to the downwind rail. The board sits more flat, we sit more on the centre of the board depowering our gear. Therefore, if we lower the boom when we feel over powered it will be ideal for gaining extra control.

LOW boom in strong wind

Take a look at his photo of Andrea Cucchi at the Defi wind. Over 40 knots of wind on 5.6 sails. Both are having very low booms.

Under the midpoint of the boom opening and both are over 190 tall! (Harness lines are short as the water is flat, so no need more length to absorb the waves.

Remember this for next time.)

Therefore, if Andrea is sailing around on low a boom, it does not mean that if you use a low boom you are a looser! The boom height is an important fact to play between power and control.

HIGH boom in LIGHT wind

Why does the boom offer more power? It allows us to stay upright, and automatically the board rails more on the downwind rail. This allow pressing more on the fin and getting the max power out of these two components. This allows the board to fly more and be faster in lighter winds or to have better upwind.

THE RULE IS SIMPE

If a board rides high the boom has to go higher. If you board rides low, you need to lower the boom position.

The height varies according to the control and power you want to obtain while sailing on your gear. With the height of the boom, you can adjust these characteristics. It's one of the three components together with the track position on the board, and with the harness lines length, which helps us trim our equipment to get the maximum efficiency between power and control.

According to our body height and weight, the boom height can change by few cm, but the concept is the same for everyone. Stand on your board and the range for the boom height is from your mouth to your lower chest. Therefore, we can easily have adjustments up to over 20cm.

Normally on the light wind sails, so for the sails over 7.5 the best positioning is between shoulders to chin height. Between 7 to 8m sails, a good position around shoulder height going 2cm lower in case the wind gets very strong. From 6.5m to smaller sails, we tend to go around chest area, especially if the wind and water condition get tough. Even with a 10m sail, you can put your lower than shoulder height if you are being caught in a lot of wind, and on a 6.3, you can put the boom at mouth height if you are very underpowered.

Boom height varies more on wind intensity rather than wave conditions. For wave conditions, you will need to play more with the harness lines, but this we will take care next time.

Some windsurfing boards are staying with their nose very high over the water and feeling very free, some with the nose lower and are feeling easier to control. On the board riding higher, it's automatic that you will need to keep the boom lower, then a board which is stickier and needs more lift from our trim.

When you think about it again, the boom height, the track positioning, the harness lines length are all instruments that we have to increase or decrease the power and control of our gear. So which component needs to be adjusted first? If you had read the second issue of our Black Team Tips, you can get a quick idea. Today we have learned that with the boom height you adjust your comfort and power according if the wind increases or decreases. In the next articles, we will go more in details to the harness lines and track positioning. All very important facts that allow you to balance the trim of your gear over the water surface and into the different wind strength which are making a difference between being fast as a real pro, to be the slowest and wasting a lot of strength on the water. The difference of the settings are centimeter's, so it's a matter of understanding why you are not comfortable, and without being lazy, getting back to the beach and adjusting the components.

MAST FOOT POSITIONING Lots of top riders can almost see the correct positioning of the mast foot by looking at the board from the side. Still the best to get the sweet spot for the positioning of your mast foot comes from jumping on the water and testing it out.

FRONT | LESS POWER Going straight to the point, there are 2 aspects. •

If you are overpowered and you have problems in control, move the mast foot forward.

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If you need more power more acceleration, move your mast foot backwards.

From where do we need to adjust more forward or more backwards?

Simple! From where you have your mast foot at that moment! There is not one perfect position for the mast foot, but this varies according to the conditions there are, your weight, how the sail pushes on the board, and many other aspects. The positioning will be more or less always the same, but by changing even 1cm its place, you will be surprised how much extra comfort or power you will get!

BACK | MORE POWER

So how does it work if we have a new board? NO! Dont copy from your friend who has your same board! He could be stronger, 20KG more heavy, have a different sail and fin, so you need to test it out yourself! Its quite simple to find the correct position. Put the mast track in the middle of the mast box, and jump on the water and start testing!

Once you are planning and you feel the following: •

the nose of the board lifts up

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it`s difficult to close the sail on the deck of the board

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the front foot is going out from the front foot strap

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you do a lot of spin outs

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the fin goes too much side ways

This means that your mast foot is too further back, you have too much power, and therefore you need to move it forward. How much forward? Does half a cm change our life? Yes it does! If it is the first time you try the board you might move the mast track 1cm so that you feel more the difference in extra comfort to eliminate the points we mentioned above. If the problem are not yet solved, move the mast track again another 1cm, and keep on advancing it till you completelly don`t feel anymore the above points. Once you feel comfortable you have reached the right position for the mast track, and if you like, move it half a cm more back.... this way you go to the perfect position if you feel like it`s that touch better!

In case you feel that: •

the board does not accelarate and feels heavy on the water

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does not go upwind

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you don`t get enough power on the fin

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you feel slow

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you feel like you are not doing any sports as everything is too easy

..the solution is simple, move the mast track back again by 1cm at the time, till you feel that you get more power, performance and speed for that condition, without getting to the point where you start losing control!

It`s important not to confuse that strong wind needs the mast track forward, light wind needs the mast track backwards. It can be strong wind, but if the water is flat compared to a wavy condition in lighter wind, you might find out that you can actually use the mast track further back even if it is easier. So go on the water, and don`t be lazy to test out new position till you don`t reach the point where you have the most power and control compromise.

The result of finding the perfect spot for the mast foot, should be to get to a point where the board is flying over the chop and waves, without touching, a nice constant pressure on the fin, with a bit of power on the back leg, but still a nice comfortable stance. The nose of the board should not get lifted but stay easy over the water and from hitting the waves. In case you feel that from time to time the nose of the board gets lifted move that half a cm of the mast track a little forward.

Same sail, fin, person on a flat water service could you use the mast track even 5cm more backwards against a conditions where you have chop and 2/3m swell and strong wind.

This is why you should not focus in a having only one position for your mast foot, but to open your mind to have at least 3 places to position it according to the conditions.

When you find them, mark them with a felt tape directly on the board, so that you wont lose time each time. Maybe you might need to adjust it again more times, but at least you will go more or less to the right place at first shot.

Remember that the mast track position is also working with the boom height. As we explained in the article in the last issue, lowering the boom gives more control, highering the boom more power. Mast track positioning and boom height are very connected for the adjustaments. So these are to things that you can play about to find the right compromise for max power and control of your gear.

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