How To Rig Your Windsurf Gear

Unless for some reason you have a personal caddy then you’ll need to know how to rig and setup your windsurf gear.

So I’m gonna tell you how I put all the parts together and show you what to look for, to know that you are setup properly. It’s a very simple process and doesn’t take long. The less time you spend rigging the faster you can get on the water!

Put the mast in sail

The first step is to simply unroll the sail. If it’s windy I’ll unroll to half way to stop the sail flying around but if you’re in a sheltered spot just unroll the full thing.

Next I grab my mast top section and place it in the bottom of the luff tube and slide it in. It should go in very easily and reach the gap in the luff tube where the boom goes.

If you’re a wizard you may be able to line it up with the next part of the luff tube without hand feeding it up but sometimes you’ll need to manually feed it in. Then continue to feed the mast up the luff tube.

Next I’ll attach the bottom section. It’s a good idea to put a bit of tape around the joining of the two sections but sometimes I’m too lazy or just really want to get on the water so I don’t bother. The tape will stop any sand or dirt getting into the join making it tricky to separate the two sections after a session. It will also ensure that the mast is properly joined together. If there is even the slightest gap it’s pretty much a one way ticket to a broken mast. So make sure it’s secure. I’ll usually double check there’s no gap before tightening the down haul.

Slide the mast as far as you can until it can’t easily go further up the luff tube.

Now go to the cut out and put one hand on the mast and use the other hand to grab further up the luff tube.

Pull it down until the mast has reached the very top of the luff tube. You’ll need to actually go to the top and check that there isn’t a gap and that the mast is really at the top.

Attach the mast extension

At this point I’ll grab the mast extension. You’ll need to set the extension to the right length so check the sail for the recommended length. It should tell you the luff length and some even tell you what extension length to use. Let’s say your luff length in 418. If you’re using a 400 mast you’ll need 18cm of extension to fit the sail (quick maths). Now this could vary by a few cm either way to get the right fit. I personally like there to be no gap between the pulley and the base of the extension. Make a mental note of how much extension you used for future reference as the numbers on the sails are only guides.

Threading the downhaul

Once you’ve placed the extension into the mast it’s time to thread the down haul. The aim is to get no rope crossovers which can be harder than you’d think depending on what pulley and extension you have. This is how I thread the rope so there are no cross overs:

Take the rope up to the sail pulley and and start at the inside, thread towards you. Then go down through the pulley on the mast base closest to where you started and pull through. Next go up to the sail pulley and go to the outside pulley. Again thread towards you. Now pull tight so you have more rope to work with. Now come up through the mast pulley on the next pulley across and keep pulling the rope through. Finally go to the middle on the sail pulley, again pull the thread towards you. Thread the rope through the hole where the cleat is and pull through.

Pulling on the downhaul

Now you’re going to pull as much as you can by hand. It makes it so much easier to pull on the down haul when all the battens are on the same side so check that before pulling on. Pull as much as you can on before it becomes too difficult to pull making sure you cleat the rope properly.

There are a few different techniques for pulling on the down haul, some of us are able to pull the whole thing on with one hand but most of us mere mortals will need to use something to help us. I use my harness hook as that’s something I’ll always have access to.

I’ll now make a bowline and place the harness hook into the loop, put my foot on to the mast base and pull the down haul on and if it gets really tough I’ll push with my foot as well. If it’s impossible to pull you may need to have another check of the rig to see if somethings wrong like you’re mast isn’t all the way in or the extension is too long.

How much downhaul?

When I’m pulling on the downhaul I’m looking at the second batten down from the top. When I can see it come clear of the mast I know that I’m about there. I’ll then go to that batten and feel if there is gap between the batten and the mast. It should be able to rotate freely. I then check the next batten down. This one I like to sit half way over the mast and is usually referred to as the kiss batten as it doesn’t fully clear the mast but it sits just enough over the mast so it can still rotate to the other side.

The more downhaul you pull the further away the battens will be from the mast. Be careful not to under or over tighten the downhaul. If it’s too tight you will lose a lot of power in the sail and if it’s too loose the sail may not rotate properly and the power in the sail will be in the wrong place.

Attaching the boom

The next thing to do is place the boom on. I used to check the numbers on the sail for the boom but now I find it quicker to extend the boom further than I think I’ll need and slide it on. Then I’ll position the boom just slightly above half way. Get the tongue of the clamp and fit it to between the sail and the mast. Then position the mast so it fits inside the boom clamp. Close the tongue and place the rope so it fits onto the tongue. The rope is called the in-haul and the length can be adjusted.

What you’ll need to do is to make sure that it’s not too loose or too tight. Place one hand on the clamp and one on the mast and clamp it shut. If it’s too easy to clamp tighten the rope. If it’s too difficult then loosen the rope. You want the boom clamp to have a firm and fixed grip on the mast.

Setting up the boom

Once I feel happy with the boom being secure at this end I’ll go to the other end (Where the outhaul is). Okay so I said earlier I don’t worry about the numbers too much and this is why:

Make sure the boom clips are undone. place one hand on the corner of the sail and one hand on the boom (past the clip). I’ll then pull with my right hand as much as I can on the sail and push the boom in with my body until the eyelet is a few cm away from the pulley. I’ll then push both boom clips in so the boom will stay fixed.

The reason I do it this way is that I always want there to be minimal gap between the end of the boom and the sail. It’s also faster for me so I don’t spend time faffing around with numbers and readjusting and I said we want get on the water ASAP.

Setting up your outhaul

Hopefully your out-haul is setup with one end fixed with a knot in the end and the other through the cleat with a knot in the end forming a loop.

Pass the loop through the eyelet and then back onto the plastic. Then pull some tension on making sure there are no cross overs in the rope. For me I then pull the out haul on so the sail is a couple of cm from the end of the boom.

For me personally I don’t like to put on loads of outhaul. I’ll quickly check the tension by pushing the sail near the middle and if I can just touch the boom on the other side it’s setup correctly. If you can’t touch the boom, the outhaul is too tight and if you can very easily touch the boom the outhaul is too loose. Once I feel happy that the rig is good I’ll go back to the downhaul to tidy it away (Look for the sneaky little pocket inside the sail). Put the elastic of the up-haul round the bottom of the mast and just make sure there are no loose ends.

Harness lines?

If you’re at the stage where you are using the harness you’ll need position the lines in the right spot. I’ll do a more detailed post on harness lines but for now a good rule of thumb is take the sail size, so in this case 4.8 and that’s how many “hand” lengths should be between the boom clamp and the front line. So measure that out and place the lines there.

Attaching the rig to the board

So at this point the rig is completely setup and all you need to do is to attach it to your board.

Take your UJ and unscrew the nut so it’s at the end. Place it in the slot here. Slide it so it’s right in the centre and tighten it up by rotating the base clockwise.

It’s really important to make sure the UJ is tightened up properly. There have been far too many time’s where my UJ has just slid out of the socket and detached from my board whilst I was sailing. Reattaching them in the water isn’t fun.

Now you can attach the rig. Get the board side on. If you have a bigger board than I do here you might want to be on the other side as you’ll have more control of the board here.

Take the pin and simply insert it into the bottom of the mast base in the middle. You might notice that you can push it on all the way. Find this sneaky little button and push it in, once that’s in, the base will go in all the way. Release the button and do the wiggle test to make sure it’s secure.

And we’re there fully setup for a sweet session on the water, enjoy.

Here’s the video:

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