stance

I used to lean out from the board like i was on a trapeze to get as much weight as i could out as far as i could & i sort of sailed with my arms straight & boom so high i would have to stand on my toes to unhook.
But wednesday i found i sat my boom lower & stood more upright & let the sail sheet out a fair bit & the board took off like it hit the turbo.I was already on the plane But i was still pointing in the same direction.
So today i also tried a bit lower boom & a more upright position arms bent & chest more vertical felt a bit weird but settled in pretty quick & the sailing felt a lot easier . Is it driving off the mast with a more vertical stance because i used to spin the back of the board out pretty easy & it never felt like that once. Is this a common mistake . I always tried to sail upwind with the clew over the back of the board hence the huge leaning out . Is it more correct to stand up straighter & let the clew out a bit or am i heading down the wrong path .Or is this only going to work when its really high winds .

Yes that's what i thought i was doing when i lay out as far as i could but I'm now thinking that might not be the way to get to that position

The stance is to some degree a matter of personal style and comfort and it will need to be adapted to the type of gear you sail. eg. I'm more vertical on my wave board and much more hiked out and locked in on my slalom board.

One of the key elements of your stance should be to maintain mast foot pressure, ie. hang your weight off the boom to drive the force down through the mast. Arms can be slightly bent.

I think Peter Hart refers to it as the bar stool position. ie. your sitting on a bar stool with legs out an angle to the board and arms stretched to the boom.