The most fun in 5 knots!

[windsurferdagg]

A friend and I built a dirtsurfer and tested it out this weekend. It comprised of a piece of wood around 80-90 cm long, 20 cm wide and 3/4 of an inch think piece of particle board (a bookshelf...), two skateboard trucks and wheels etc, an old mast base positioned inside of the front truck and a 4.7 old slalom sail that we didn't care about.

It was a blast! There was very little wind, yet we were able to sail around going upwind, downwind etc right off the bat. The wind picked up a little bit and we could practice our jibes, duck jibes, clew first variations and a lot of other things. We had the trucks very loose, so you could really almost "carve" the board around, getting used to not looking at the sail, and other usful muscle memory things. I recomend it to anyone who has 5 knots of wind and wants to have something to do. I can imagine how much fun it would be to use a mountain board or a professionally made board like the buhala boards, but for paying nothing, this is a BLAST!!!!!!!!!!

Just wondering how you get into the backwind position the way freestyle people seem to do it. They kind of grab the clew and throw the sail to the other side...

Just thought I would share the stoke and ask that question... It really helps you learn sail handling. Gets you more comfortable with the sail in clew first and back winded situations. I can't wait to see how it translates on the water with my jibes and simple freestyle.

Thomas

[Unregistered]

Sounds very cool Thomas! I cannot wait to hear if it helps you on the water too! Will you post here, when you've been on the water and tell if you feel it helps?

I have thought about getting a dirtboard like that too, but I'm not sure if it helps anything or not... well, it sounds like at least it is fun... :)

-ak

[windsurferdagg]

oh yeah, I guess I will post here next time im out on the water. I found it really got me leaning into the carve rather than just levering against the sail and ankle pressuring it off the wind. It also really gets your foot changes solid. Like to continue the care around after you switch your feet, you have to get the right spot and switch them in such a way that you don't upset the carve. Just getting to be able to do it without thinking about it and or looking at your hands/feet is comferting. I am now way better at sail flipping and clew first sailing too...

Even duck jibes were fun to experiment with and feel AWSOME when done at speed... can't wait to try them on the water!

Updates soon hopfully...

Thomas

[pierrec45]

Great story, good recycling ! I love those stories.

I've tried that long time ago and found it didn't help me nigh, but hey, good on you!

However, I have found that going out freestyling in lighter winds on slightly bigger boards really do help me for when the wind picks up. I get to feel gear balance for new tricks, etc.

I feel a bit sorry for all those never going out "unless the wind is good enough for them", sometimes it's hard to see the improvment in their sailing.

Whatever works!

[crazychemical]

I feel a bit sorry for all those never going out "unless the wind is good enough for them", sometimes it's hard to see the improvment in their sailing.

Whatever works!

Well sometimes it's just better to go out and learn then. Just to give you an example: when i want to practice jibing i find that in low winds i'm not stable enough and my jibe looks like crap whereas in high winds i hardly ever fall in the water and even though it's not a real good jibe it's still a lot better then then when the wind is blowing 12 knots.