The basic stance is your safe zero position: find the neutral V-posture, keep the board flat and line it up precisely before you start sailing.
What is the basic stance in windsurfing? In short: your safe zero position - the resting point you return to after every uphaul and between all manoeuvres. You stand hip-width over the centreline at the mast foot, your back straight, holding the rig by the uphaul in front of you, and the sail flags out pressureless like a flag to leeward. Nothing wild happens in this stance - that's exactly its value. From here you line up the board, decide your starting direction and move into sailing under control. Whoever masters the basic stance always has an emergency exit on the water. This DOMISPORTS Academy guide shows you how to find it, hold it steadily and position the board precisely from it.
Stand hip-width on the board's centreline, the mast foot roughly between your feet. Your toes point slightly forward, your weight rests evenly on both legs. This foot position is your anchor: it keeps the board flat and stable. Stand too far back towards the tail and the tail sinks in, and the board starts to turn.
Hold the rig loosely in front of you by the uphaul, arms long. What matters is the straight back - you lift and hold from your legs, not from your lower back. Let the sail flag out completely pressureless to leeward, like a flag. As long as it flutters free of pressure, nothing pulls you - you have all the time in the world to sort yourself out.
The mast and your torso form a "V": the mast leans towards you, you lean slightly against it. This counterweight is the core of balance. Your gaze goes forward to the horizon, not down at your feet - your gaze helps steer your balance. From this neutral posture you can stop or reset at any time.
Before you set off, turn the board into your desired starting direction - across the wind (about 90 degrees) is ideal. To do this, tilt the flagged-out rig slightly: rig tilted towards the tail turns the nose into the wind, rig tilted towards the bow turns it away. With small, calm inputs you position the board without losing balance. Only once it's pointing right do you bring pressure into the sail.
The most common early frustration: the board keeps wanting to turn into the wind. Almost always it's down to weight distribution - you're standing too far back and loading the tail ("the sinking-chair posture"). The fix: weight back to the centre over the mast foot, hips forward, stand upright. As soon as the board lies flat again, the mind of its own stops.
Practise the basic stance in waist-deep, calm water where you can stand at any time. Remember a wetsuit against cold shock and a buoyancy aid. Your emergency stop also works from the basic stance: release your back hand, the sail flags out pressureless, you stand. Practise this reflex deliberately - under fatigue technique breaks down first, and then the zero position has to be automatic.
Make the basic stance your "reset button": whenever things get hectic - a gust, a wobble, a course error - deliberately return to the neutral V-position and let the sail flag out briefly. Two seconds of reset cost you almost no speed, but they prevent the chain reaction of panic, tensing up and falling. Pros look calm because they're constantly resetting imperceptibly.
Hip-width on the centreline, the mast foot between your feet, back straight and gaze forward. The mast and your torso form a "V"; you lean slightly against the mast as a counterweight. Your weight rests centrally over the board, not on the tail - that way the board lies flat and stable.
Usually you're standing too far back and pressing the tail into the water. Then the board acts like a weather vane and luffs up. Shift your weight back to the centre over the mast foot, stand upright and bring your hips forward. As soon as the board lies flat, it no longer turns of its own accord.
Get into the basic stance, grab the uphaul low and pull the sail out from your legs with a straight back - not from your lower back and not with your arms. Use your body weight as a counterweight. That way you protect your back and tire far more slowly, because the big leg muscles do the work.
Via rig tilt. Tilt the rig back towards the tail and the nose turns into the wind (luffing up); tilt it forward towards the bow and it turns away (bearing away). You can align the board this way even from the basic stance. The sail is engine and rudder at once - the trim makes the direction.
Windsurfen: First Steps and Exercises