Hi,
Any tips for recovering from Spin out on a wave board?
I'm just getting into riding my 8'6 Mistral Naish and am ok with recovering on a bigger board, bring weight over fin, take back foot out of the strap and steer downwind but I feel I'll just trip the outside rail and end up face planting into the sail if i try this weight shift on the wave board. Once this thing spins out it's sideways and doesnt want to come back.
Sorry if this is too much of a beginner post but wanted to hear from guys who ride small wave boards.
I wouldn't take your back foot out, that seems like a sure fire way to end up over the front. You've just got to unload the fin. Take the load out of the rig by sheeting out a bit and at the same time pull up and in with your back leg (in the strap) and push with your front leg. This 'twists the board. Can help to steer off the wind a bit so you can stand more upright. Essentially you just 'pull/twist' the board back into line.
I agree. A waveboard is pretty loose and once the fin is not doing anything (spinout) and you are planing it is like riding on ball bearings. Thus it is pretty easy to turn the board around it's centre axis (about the mastfoot area) by pulling upwind with your back foot and driving the front foot downwind whilst sheeting out a bit
You want to really head downwind before slowly sheeting in again ... actually not really slowly just nice and progressive sheeting in and loading the fin so as to not give it a big sudden loading
I just drag the tail of the board under me, this usually stops it 95% of the time, or pop a little jump of some chop while sliding then again pull the tail of the board under me and land straight again slightly off the wind.
I think you could avoid this more if you stop loading up the fin, try not to sail pushing on your back foot like on a freeride board. Wave boards tend to go better when you are standing more upright as most will run better on fins 23cm and smaller, so not much fin to push off.
Once you spend more time on your wave board you will work out how they work best, and big boards will now be your 8'6.
Thanks for the tips guys, I will try them next time I'm out.
P.C Simpson,
What your saying makes sense, it's hard to not load the fin as I'm 6'3 and weight 95kg's. Also I'm trying to drive upwind and find it difficult with only a 25 swept back wave fin to hold my ground. Your right I'm used to loading my freeride fin.
Maybe a slightly bigger (freewave) or whatever they are called fin would work better? I'm only sailing in the bay so no waves just steep chop.
It's a Mistral Naish 8'6 86ltr.
Na you should be o.k with what you have in your board, to get higher upwind, rake your rig foward and try to use your rail as well. pulling your upper body forward well help you do this, almost like your trying to look around the front of your sail, and weight up your front foot instead of you back foot, i only tend to have a normal stance going upwind when i'm well powered up, your small fin will come into play on the wave where it's needed, if your sailing in the waves that is, your size should not have much to do with it, i know a few big guys who ride tinny boards and fin that crank upwind.
One last thing, check your fin is still in good condition, any chips or deep scratches will make the cavitation worse, and tight in the box to helps..
A good tip that one of the local legends here gave me was to shift my harness lines back a bit more - it takes some of the load off your back foot, and makes spin-out less likely to start with.
If you're pulling with your back hand, you instinctively translate that into pushing with your back foot to balance.
Another thing I've found is that wave boards like a more upright and 'over the board' stance. I did a bunch of freeride stuff before getting onto wave gear, and found that once I stopped hanging way out the side and expecting the fin to do all the work while the rig held me up, it all seemed to work better.
Recoverywise, just yanking the tail back under my backside seems to work most of the time, depending on how far it's spun out - sometimes even just rapidly bending the legs (like dropping into a squat), and gradually extending out again will do it.
My theory is that if you're not on the edge of spinning out on the way upwind, you're either not pushing hard enough, or you need to change down a fin size and ditch some of the drag!
