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This video shows the lifting of the windward rail quite well. It also shows his board control.

The other thing to remember is that you need speed to develop lift in the fins and that lift then allows you to flatten the board out, so you dont cut hard upwind until you get some speed.

https://vimeo.com/25127199

My local spot is purely chop so finding a quick way through it is key. Seems to be as suggested and seen, ride the fins so your board is not really in the water. This leads to some horrendous crashes though!

I still have sore ribs from the weekend. I hurt like I have been megalooping!

I'm finding going upwind is a lot easier, I am getting really good angle to the wind and using straighter legs really does help.

Off the wind in chop is the pain at the moment, its all about handling the speed. 25-30 knots off the wind just seems like insanity. I have crashed a number of times where I literally don't know what has happened. I'm going along fast, keeping it together and then BOOM!!!, I'm in the water trying to catch my breath.

I think learning to ride fast in chop will make me/you a much better racer, so we we do get those flat days, the speed will be much easier to handle.

Gunnar, thanks for the pics, very helpful.

Tony

oh my days!! that video is epic, I would kill to be able to ride even half as good as that!

I managed to get out today after work, and thanks to your tips Gunnar I was riding much better. Going hard up wind was much better, trying to keep my legs straighter and leaning back felt much better.

One thing that keeps happening though is the nose of the board will lurch off down wind and I end up being thrown off the front of the board. This mostly ends up with me in the water trying to breathe with water blocking most of my air ways!

I also have another question, I hope you don't mind sorry to keep asking.

So far when riding my new board I have been using my waist harness but I have noticed some of the top racers using a seat harness. Is this a personal preference thing? I have seat harness that I had from when I was learning, is it worth giving it a dust off?

You will find that you can hold your power better with a seat harness.

Your centre of gravity is lower meaning you can drive that power through the fins easier.

Tony

dwhite468 wrote:
One thing that keeps happening though is the nose of the board will lurch off down wind and I end up being thrown off the front of the board. This mostly ends up with me in the water trying to breathe with water blocking most of my air ways!

I also have another question, I hope you don't mind sorry to keep asking.

So far when riding my new board I have been using my waist harness but I have noticed some of the top racers using a seat harness. Is this a personal preference thing? I have seat harness that I had from when I was learning, is it worth giving it a dust off?

Hi,

" the board will lurch off down wind and I end up being thrown off the front of the board."

Does this happen on the downwind or upwind?

If this is happening on the upwind it is a sign that your fins are too big for the conditions. You are getting too much lift from the front fins and the board gets to high off the water. Then the fins loose traction and the nose drifts downwind and you crash.

Look at this video https://vimeo.com/gunnarbiniasch/questforvmg#t=88 at 1:28 m. Is this what is happening?

If this is happening to you on the downwind, it could be that your weight is too far forward, and again your fins might be too big/lifty for the conditions.

--
Gunnar

It is happening when i'm going up wind, it all happens so quick it hard to tell what it is but it could be the fins. I think i probably need to get some better fins that are suited to me and the board. We are pretty much at the end of our seasson now though so i'll probably leave it till next year.

cheers for all the tips, good luck in your racing this year.

David