Those who can do it rise out of the water in a matter of seconds after a descent as if by magic, those who can't are stuck under the surface as if cursed. One thing is certain: The water start is THE key move in any windsurfing career, as it opens up the possibility of surfing small boards that would be far too tippy for a sheet start.
In practice, the biggest hurdle is not the actual ascent itself, but rather the phase from the fall to the correct alignment of the equipment. In the desperation stage, many climbers try to circumvent the correct technique with a sleight-of-hand trick: Placing the boom on the tail. However, since the boards became significantly shorter a few years ago, this is no longer possible without further ado - which tempts many people to attach the boom extremely low on the mast and mount the mast base at the very front of the mast track just so that the boom can still be put on.
The result is a veritable chain of errors: as a consequence of the low boom position, very short trapeze ropes have to be fitted, which impairs planing performance and control. Due to the mast foot position sitting far forward, the bow is pushed down when surfing, the board cannot glide freely, acts slowly and enters the chop with the bow instead of flying freely over it. This also increases the risk of skidding. The bottom line is that in order to gain a small advantage when waterstarting, you have to accept that everything the material was actually made for deteriorates.
Here's the magic formula so that you can master the ascent in future without any lazy tricks and as if by magic. The most important ingredients for practising: moderate winds of between four and five forces, shallow water and, most importantly, a light sail without camber!
The water start video tutorial:
The surf magazine (issue 9-2017) also featured a complete riding technique for water starts with all the tips and error analyses. You can download the issue as a PDF.
