A few PB's lately Greg, sounds like she's all coming together for you mate. Let us know next time your heading down this way. I'm sure Ben is keen. Catch ya.

We'd be keen; just lock in some wind and keep the rain away

Greg nice one on the  PB!

Thanks Mark. As always,  alert to congratulate on PB's. There should be an award for that :)

@Paul Davies  - out of curiosity how much do you weigh?  I have a 2012 SLW 165 lt in standard construction and a 56CM Fin. Biggest sail I have is a 9Mt. I weigh 85kg AND no way I would get going in 8-10 Kts.

Been tossing up getting a lighter construction version of the SLW, and / or bigger sail but not sure how much difference it would make.

Hi Greg,

I weigh 77kg. Although body weight is a factor, I don't think your extra 8kg is making the difference. If you try a 70 cm fin and pump 3-4 times when you get a gust you'll probably get on the plane. The 70cm fin is way more powerful than the 56.

Also I don't know how good you are at pumping onto the plane, so forgive me if I'm telling you something you know already. To pump effectively wait for a gust then pump. Scoop the sail away from you and foreward, grabbing a sailfull of air and then throw it back behind you. At the same time with both feet out on or close to the rail, bend your knees as you scoop the sail and then straighten your legs and push sideways, against the rail if possible, to push against the fin. This increases pressure on one side of the fin and increases lift which transfers into forward motion, it also bends the tip of a longer fin sideways, (the last 15 cm of a 70cm fin might bend by 20-30 degrees), which gives hydrofoil lift to the board allowing it to release onto the plane.

You have to pump the fin as well as the sail. It is like your other wing, only in the water. The hydrofoil that "matches" the aerofoil, the sail. Pumping the fin as well as the sail also "ooches" the board or bounces it off the water momentarily allowing it to unstick from the water, where the reduced friction lets the sail drive the board forward.

So you need to feel that you are throwing some big sailfulls of air behind you at the same time as you pump against the fin with your legs and bounce and unstick the board. Also, and this is important, bare off downwind a bit as you pump, try to slip down the face of any bit of chop or the trough of any swell. This will increase your board speed and so the wind speed over the sail. You have to pump a few times in quick succession to release the board and get up some wind speed over the sail. It's the same as a bird taking off.

As to getting a lighter construction of the SLW. The Pro construction is fine. A bigger sail? There are vast differences in the light wind performance of big sails. I went to a 9.5 camless (Sailworks Retro) then a 9.8 race sail (Sailworks NX) which entailed getting a 520 mast and longer boom. The 9.5 Retro (camless) was the best for pumping and early planing. (Sold all that big stuff and glad to see it go). Many of the big race sails are optimised for formula sailing in higher winds. My current Sailworks NX9.2 is the opposite, optimized for light winds (8-18 knots) and so is perfect for early planing, whereas the previous NX9.1 I had turned out to be a formula sail optimized for high winds (20 knots+) so it was no good for 10-12 knots and wouldn't pump.

So don't change your board, get a deep tuttle 70 fin, and practice pumping onto the plane, once you get the SLW on the plane it will stay on the plane unless the wind drops a knot or two.

That's fantistic info, thanks Paul. The biggest sail I have is a 2nd hand 9.2 Code Red - it does seem to prefer a good solid 13-15 knots. I have sailed it in 20. My preference is a camless Loft Oxygen 8.4 which is just a beautiful sail. I haven't noticed a significant low wind benefit from the Code Red so I rarely use it. Plus for some reason, probably that it's rigged on a 490, the boom cut out high is too high at even the lwoest setting so unless I'm planing I can't hook in.

Thanks for the tip - I'll get my self a bigger fin :)