The Body Drag

Old Skool it may be …but in truth the body drag has never lost its cool. Revelling in his specialist subject, Harty uncovers the secrets behind this classic stunt.

- Peter Hart

I don’t like to brag, but I was once a body drag champion (unofficial). During a break in action at one of the speed events in Sotavento, a few of us started messing about around the finish line. Leading the charge was inevitably Dave ‘twinkle-toed’ White who at the very sniff of a TV camera would roll out his repertoire of ‘monkey’ gybes and spins, which given the disparity in size between him and the board he was using, was pretty impressive. I couldn’t match his monkey stuff but I could body drag – and without a passing hurricane to lift his 110 kg frame, that was a trick that would forever elude Dave. It was also one of the few tricks that’s possible on speed kit.

Sometimes you need a bit of luck. As I leaped off, a gradually building gust kept me skimming past the TV camera and halfway to Africa to rapturous applause. A few of the top Jonnies, including Peter Volwater and Eric Thieme, tried to outshine me but stopped miserably short. I’m not sure you’ll find it in the Guinness book of records but I’m sure to this day no one has body dragged further.

THE ‘WHAT’ AND ‘WHY’

You reason with some justification that windsurfing involves enough falling off without purposefully hurling yourself at the water. The body drag serves absolutely no practical purpose apart from being fun and impressive – but that’s surely why we do the sport in the first place.

I like it because it is pretty technical and a crazy sensation when it goes right (and wrong for that matter). It’s also a proper ‘Martini’ move (‘anytime, anyplace, anywhere). You can chuck one in at the start of a wave ride, before a gybe, as a prelude to a trick – and it’s nice to see current freestyle stars, such as Oda Johanne, throwing them in.