Windsurf Planing Tutorial: Harness, 3 Moves and Footstraps

Getting planing and into the footstraps are probably the most important steps in windsurfing. It's what changed the experience for almost every windsurfer I've spoken to, because you go from slowly crawling on the water to gliding over it. That feeling is hard to describe with words. When you're planing, it suddenly feels like your speed potential is endless, and you can steer the board effortlessly with the pressure of your feet. It's a bit like going from sailing into surfing.

Getting planing is also the moment where you most likely go from enjoying the sport to obsessing over it. So this is actually a warning: once you get this feeling, there's a very high chance you'll get addicted. That's exactly what happened to me. Back in 2007, I got my first planing after a two-week holiday on Rügen that was focused just on windsurfing.

You'll go faster, so I'll also cover the safety side you might not have thought about yet. And of course, a guide alone won't get it done. It takes time on the water and continuous practice. I've divided it into a few topics: your level, the gear, hooking in, getting the board gliding and the footstraps. At the end of this guide you'll find a checklist to save on your phone.

1. Are you ready to start planing?

Let's find out where you are at.

• You haven't started yet? The best thing you can do is go to your nearest surf school, or on a holiday where you can learn the basics in about one week. After that, keep renting equipment at your nearest school or club and practise as much as possible. Don't give up, the fun part is still to come. Spending time on the water should be your number one priority. If you're a fast learner, you can progress to the next step after about 30 to 40 hours on the beginner board.
• You've taken your first course and know the basics? Maybe you've already practised a bit on beginner gear. Then you're ready for the next step right now. If your local centre or club is good and accessible, you might keep renting, so you can switch to higher level gear as soon as you progress. Your other option is to buy your first own set, which lets you keep improving on it for as long as possible. More on that in the gear section.
• You're already somewhat advanced? And you just want to double-check your technique? I get it, it's difficult to get good information and clear advice. In my coachings I've often seen experienced windsurfers stuck with bad habits, basically because of insufficient guidance. So this guide is for you too.

2. The right gear for planing

To save you a lot of frustration, let's talk about the right gear for this step and the adjustments you can't forget.

Your first freeride board

We have to distinguish between different types of freeride boards. Some of them are quite sporty. They let you progress for a long time, but they can also slow down your learning curve in the beginning. Here's what to look for:

• An EVA deck. You may not have learned the waterstart yet, so you'll be on your knees quite often.
• Footstrap options far inside. You'll progress from using the straps inboard to further outboard.
• Easy and passive planing. Look for a board that promises exactly that.

If you need some technical information for your local shop or club: I'm talking about modern boards that are typically not much shorter than 2.50 m and wider than 80 cm, ideally with a long flat section in the bottom of the board. That means no tail kick and little scoop in the nose. To keep it simple: less of a banana. This helps you get planing effortlessly with little pressure in the sail, so it's very smooth and controlled.

And once you start planing, you don't want the daggerboard in the water anymore, so flip it in.

Your first sail

If you've only used beginner equipment so far, you're about to make a major step forward, and this is really exciting. Your first proper sail has windows made of monofilm, which is a much stiffer material. That gives the sail a more stable profile, so you can control the wind better and everything becomes more predictable.

With the shaping of the luff curve, meaning the mast bends under tension and the leech opens when the wind hits, you'll feel much more forward pull than before. That's great, because it helps you get planing much easier. (How downhaul and the loose leech work together is in 3 Trimming Mistakes (Almost) Every Windsurfer Makes.)

• Wave sails are good because they're light, durable and give you a lot of power for a small size. Usually they don't come bigger than around 5.5 or 6 m². For bigger sizes, it would be a freemove or a freeride sail.
• No cambers. You make it a lot easier for yourself by not choosing a sail with cambers, at least for the moment.

How much wind and what sail size

Sail size is one of those things where everyone wants an easy formula, but unfortunately it's a bit more complex than that. Generally it depends on the wind strength and your weight. Sails go from around 2.5 m² all the way to 9 m², so the range is huge.

You'll be well off choosing days between 15 and 20 knots. Anything above will typically give you too choppy water. Anything below already needs a more nuanced technique to get planing, or a bigger sail that's difficult to handle.

15 to 20 knots lets you practise on a bigger freeride board like the one above, around 140 to 160 L, with a sail of around 5 m² if you're around 60 kg, or up to 6.5 m² if you're around 100 kg. Well, I said no formula, but here you have some kind of a formula.

Harness and harness lines

Now we just have to make sure you have a harness and harness lines mounted to your boom. They're very important parts of the equipment for this step. Line length, line position and the type of harness are topics of their own (for line length, see Long Harness Lines: The Easiest Upgrade in Windsurfing), but adjustable harness lines between 24 and 30 inches are a safe bet to start with.

3. Hooking into the harness

On this type of equipment and at your current level, using the harness comes before getting planing and into the footstraps. The harness adds a new level of freedom to your windsurfing. It makes you feel light on the board and extends your sessions by quite a lot, because you essentially don't need the power in your arms anymore.

Here's how I hook in:

1. Head a little bit upwind.
2. Turn your shoulders a bit forward, towards the nose of the board, instead of keeping them parallel with the board. From parallel it's hard to hook in.
3. Bring the front of the sail closer to you.
4. Keep the sail engaged with the back hand. If you start pushing the sail away, you stop and get backwinded. So keep the pressure on the back hand as well.
5. Hook in. From here you're already really close to the harness line, so just lift yourself a little and hook in.
6. Transfer the weight slowly from your arms, where the pressure has been so far, into the harness. Then you can start sheeting in a little and letting go with your hands a little.

This is a movement you'll have to practise, and you'll have to build trust in the harness. But once you get there, it's a whole other level of freedom and a whole different experience.

A typical and very logical fear is landing on your equipment and breaking either yourself or the gear. Honestly, it's somewhat inevitable, it's going to happen at some point in the learning process. I'll show you how to avoid it and how to stay safe in the catapult section below. But first, it's important to understand the technique and the mechanics of planing.

4. How to get the board planing

The start position

You're hooked into your harness, you're on a half wind course and you feel that it's windy enough to get planing. Now you want to power up the sail with the weight of your body, not like before with your arms.

• Front foot right behind the mast base.
• Back foot between the front strap and the back strap.

Three moves to power up

To power up the sail and start planing, you do three things:

1. Open the sail slightly. That depowers the sail, so you can start leaning outboard.
2. Lean outboard.
3. Close the sail and push through the front leg. Now that you're already leaning outboard, close the sail and at the same time push through your front leg.

What you want to achieve with these three moves: the sail catches wind and generates power on your fin and board, while at the same time you start turning downwind. Go about 20 degrees off your half wind course for this phase.

Depending on the strength of the gust and the wind, you can play carefully with the power of the sail by opening and closing it. That movement comes from your hip. Your arms don't carry the power, they simply help you steer.

Moving back on the board

Once you start moving and planing, make small steps backwards. Your front foot moves towards the front strap, your back foot towards the back strap.

There's one little exception. Some boards have a footstrap position really far inside, which lets you be in the front strap or even the back strap already before planing. That's a nice option for the very first tries. But after a few times planing, you want to quickly stand further outboard, and then you'll have to start planing without standing in the straps anyway.

How it works: where the pressure goes

Understanding the mechanics of the whole process is really important, so you can make the right adjustments and identify your mistakes.

You have three connection points to the board. The mast base is your most forward one, the other two are your feet. Once you power up the sail, the pressure on the mast base increases. More pressure on the mast base pushes the nose of the board down. It also means the board starts pushing more water, which increases the pressure in your sail even more.

Have you ever tried holding the sail on the beach? It feels much more powerful than on the water. That's because the sail pulls forward, but you're standing still. The same concept applies on the water: if the board has a harder time moving forward, the pressure in your sail increases.

Find your spot on the board

• You feel like you're constantly getting pulled over from the front, with too much pressure on the front leg? That's a clear signal you're standing too far forward. Make a small step back with both feet, so the pressure is more evenly distributed and the board pushes less water.
• You're standing too far back? Then the board is also pushing too much water and you won't get planing. Make a small step forward, and again the pressure gets more evenly distributed.

Finding the right position on the board, according to the wind strength and how much you close the sail, is absolutely crucial.

What's also absolutely crucial is practising this movement over and over again. Play with the power of the sail and get a feeling for how much pressure you need for the board to start moving. Sheet in, sheet out, both in strong wind and in light wind. That gives you the confidence and control you need to plane comfortably.

Bonus: how to avoid the catapult

As I said, powering up the sail creates pressure on the mast base. The moment you power up too much and too fast at non-planing speed, your sail tries to pull forward faster than the board can go. That's the catapult crash. Don't worry, it happens at every level.

• Power up slowly and gently. That's the best way to prevent catapults.
• Most importantly, anticipate the strong gusts and the wind holes. Keep an eye on the wrinkles on the water around you, so you can open and close the sail before the gust actually hits you.
• Watch the waves too. Apart from the wind, running your board into a wave or chop can have the same effect: the board pushes against the water and the sail powers up.

And when it's already too late? If you see it coming early enough, try to hook out of your harness right before or midway through the catapult. Otherwise, just follow the rotation, so you don't land on top of your gear.

It feels a bit counterintuitive, but forcing against the catapult makes it more likely that you fall into your sail or your boom.

5. How to get into the footstraps

Here comes the last step before complete freedom on your gear. You're planing and you've learned how to control the power in your sail. Your front foot is already right in front of the front strap, your back foot right in front of the back strap.

The first foot that goes into the strap is the front one. This is a bit of a technical moment, so remove all the possible problems around you:

• Make sure you have enough room in front of you.
• Keep your body under tension, but not your mind.
• Start with loose and big footstraps for an easy step into them.

The front foot

Bring your front foot as near as possible to the strap, even touching it, before you make the step. When you lift the front foot, you remove one of your three connection points to the board, and all the pressure goes to the remaining two. Most of it goes to the back foot.

Keep your back leg under tension and use it to keep the board in the right direction. You can practise that before making the step: transfer more pressure to your back leg and steer the board with it.

Learn to find the strap without looking down, and tap your way into it. You might need to look down sometimes in the beginning, but try to stop that as early as possible. Not looking down helps you keep your direction.

The front foot is in. Relax, breathe, maybe celebrate a little bit.

The back foot

Now repeat the same steps with your back foot. Bring it right in front of the strap, to the point where you touch it. This time the pressure goes onto the mast base and the front leg. Put pressure on the toes of your front leg, but keep the sail closed. That helps you steer straight ahead as you lift the back foot off the board. Look forward and tap your way into the back strap.

Congratulations, you're now ready to speed up. When you want more of it, have a look at my 5 secrets to windsurf faster.

This was a long and intense tutorial, so come back to it before your next session. Below is the whole path in five steps, plus a checklist to save on your phone for the beach.