Step 1
Position the board so that the wind blows across it.
Step 2
Maneuver the sail so that the mast is parallel with the board across the wind. The mast should extend past the back of the board, and the clew of the sail should be pointing downwind.
Step 3
Clear the sail by pulling the mast parallel to the water and into the wind.
Step 4
Place your back foot onto the board.
Step 5
Swing the mast forward into the wind and power it up close to the water.
Step 6
Steer a broadreach using traditional down wind steering.
Step 7
As the wind catches the sail with your friend a good gust, sheet in with your back hand and let the wind pull you up onto your back foot. Don't pull with your arms, that will pull the sail down and reduce lift. Instead, extend your arms as much as possible and let the wind pull you up.
Step 8
As you roll up onto your board, kick your front foot to provide an extra boost.
Step 9
Step carefully onto the centerline of the board with your front foot.
Step 10
Hook in to the harness lines on the boom.
Step 11
Step back and into the footstraps.
Step 12
Plane across the water like a skipping stone.
Tips
- Be careful not to bend your front arm as you roll up onto your board.
- Keep your legs and hips bent as the sail pulls you up.
- Keep your hand's grip position on the boom as close together as practical.
- Waterstarts require at least 15-20 plus knots of wind (unless you're a master).
- It really helps to learn to practice maneuvering the board and sail. You can practice this in shallow water where you can flip them around easily. Learn to let the wind do the work, and figure out how to move the sail from various positions into the waterstart position. This will save you tons of time and energy when you have to do it in deep water.
- Holding onto the mast with one hand and pumping the leading edge of the sail up and down is a useful tip for freeing the sail from the water.
- Completely free the sail from the water by quickly bringing the leading edge upwind over your head, lest the trailing edge (leech) catch the water and flip the boom away from you, or flip you onto the sail.
- If you blow a maneuver or transition like a jibe, hold onto the boom instead of letting everything fly, often you can return to the beginning-to-water start position when you fall in. This saves you energy and more energy means more riding!
- Equipment choices can help or hurt. In strong winds and chop(and waves) a simple no-cam sail will be faster and easier to waterstart. In light winds a camber induced rig that is light and rigid can make waterstarting surprisingly easy, they're not even that hard to free from the water. In over-powered situations or with rough chop or big waves present that same sail design can get swamped and uncompromisingly powerful.
