Newbie Question About Riding Overpowered

[Binx]

Got a newbie question for those of you with more experience. When windsurfing overpowered I cannot prevent my board from rounding-up. This only happens when significantly overpowered. I'm guessing sheeting out would help, but I can't sheet out 'cause I'm hiked out for full leverage against the sail. If I try to stand up to allow for sheeting out I lose my leverage and invariably get pulled off the board. No matter what I try, I round up into the no-sail zone and eventually get blown backwards into the water.

FWIW, I moved my mast base further forward. No noticeable effect. Also, my footstraps are in a "newbie" position - forward and inboard.

What am I doing wrong? Is there a solution, or is rounding-up inevitable when significantly overpowered?

TIA for any advice. Gary

[JRN]

Try to shorten your harness lines. This will allow you to sail more upright & react quicker to gusts. How high is your boom? Higher gives you more leverage. Experiment with these settings. Take off your fin and try the various positions on land, b-4 going out. Hiking way out over loads the fin, & is not efficient. GOOD LUCK!

[steveb]

What kind of board are you riding and where do you have the mast foot set?. It sounds like your mast foot may be too far back in the track. Assuming you're riding correctly and it's a board issue.

[Chip]

Remember to tighten your rig - more downhaul, etc.. As you get overpowered, your mast & boom deflect which makes your sail deeper and moves your draft aft... more power, further aft just when you need less power further forward.. More sail tension can significantly reduce this - manipulating where your body puts pressure on the board/fin helps - but frequenty you end up spinning out because you are overstressing your fin..

Every sail and rig combination act differently. Some sails have very little tollerance for being used outside of their range. I use Ezzy SE wave sails and can pretty much carry them under any conditions - verry tollerant sails.

Good luck

[Pete]

Some of the information found here may help.
http://www.lakawa.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p ... &sk=t&sd=a

[TV]

Most likely you are experiencing what Chip described. The sail's center of effort shifts to the back, you pull harder with your back hand, increasing back foot pressure, causing you to either spin out or round up.

A simple on the water solution is to move your harness lines back to balance both hand and foot effort.

In windy, gusty conditions, I set my harness lines farther back than normal such that the sail is balanced when the gust hits, which is nice.

Then again, there are times when I'll lose control of the rig and I'm being taken for a ride. Here, a simple attitude adjustment to take control of the rig and ride more aggressively usually helps.

Tim

[tailwindsaloft]

This is great stuff, if anyone else wants to chime in with their experience please do. I can't wait to hit Calhoun again.

[Binx]

My board is a 161L Carve. Sail was a 9.5 Ezzy Infinity with cams in place.

Based on my experiences that day, I'm thinking Chip's explanation of "the draft in the sail moving aft" nails the problem. I had no problems planing on the big board/sail when the wind was right. It was only when the bigger winds hit me that the board rounded up in spite of my efforts to prevent it.

Pete, your link to an earlier discussion on this topic was full of very useful info. Thnx.

I've also determined that my combo of boom height and harness length is way wrong. I actually have to bend my knees and dip down to hook in. I'm 6'4" and probably ride w/ my boom too low, because it makes for easier waterstarts.

I'm completely self-taught. Having access to the experience and opinions in this forum is invaluable to me. Thanks to everyone for the good advice. Gary

[Chip]

I tend to ride with the boom at upper chest height - my harness lines are barely long enough to reach a seat harness - to waterstart with a high boom you cans use your forward hand on the mast if its that marginal - let the sail loft, then do a chin-up on the boom pushing down on the board rather than using the wind to pull you out. I generally get more fatiuged if my boom is set that low. All of this is personal preference of course. (I am also 6'4")

[windthrash]

I ride kind of wierd... When I am sailing my big stuff-ie 9.6 and 152 L board, I put my boom height around chin level and have longer line setup to give me a larger range on the sail with my control. Smaller gear like a 5.7 sail, I will put the boom around my upper chest to shoulder height with shorter lines, thus giving me the same effect with using your weight to control the sail while keeping my arms as strait as possible without locking them. That is called the perfect "7" sailing position, but it is also meant to be overall a faster stance. For my mast foot, in higher winds, IF I'm overpowered, to prevent tail-walking I will move it forward. But lighter winds I will move it back to give me the upwind ability as well as more of the weight towards the back of the board to get the nose of the board out of the water and get onto plane quickly. For my foot straps, I always have them as far outboard as possible, and not too far apart from the front to back straps, this way I can use my heels and ballfoot to drive the fin and outward rail of the board. Fins aren't really a matter of being overpowered unless, for me, the board starts to tip over, but that isn't essentially bad. Otherwise, I usually rig my sails to spec, unless it's really blowing, I will crank the sail down and out, giving the leech more twist to spill some of the wind in higher gusts and more control, while also being flatter to spill more wind so that I can STAY sheeted in to have that control, because if I'm overpowered and sheeting out, I go tend to get pulled over the bars in any slighter gust.
Those are my thoughts, and I tried to cover almost everything, also, if anyone else has any tips for me too, I'd love to hear them.
Nate

[steveb]

With a 9.5 you have a lot of potential for draft movement. Critical is you have the right stiffness of mast based on the manufacturers recomendation. It's also a waste of time for a guy your size to even think about aluminum booms, I hope you're riding carbon. You'll just bend alloy booms and as soon as you put your weight on it it'll open up in the middle shortening the distance from the clew to the mast clamp.Changing the draft moving it back to the middle of the sail.
Most sails are designed for the draft to be approximately 36% back from the mast, if your masts too soft the draft will move, if your booms too soft the draft will move.
Check the recomendations printed on your sail and make sure your gear matches or is very close to them. Rig to the recomended out haul and downhaul setting and experiment from there. Boom at least chest height.
Set your board up and have a friend hold the rig upright in a sailing raked back position, eyeball everything from the side, look to see where your harness lines are, the draft of the sail ( 36% back) in relation to your fin.A balanced rig everything lines up. Also try moving your footstraps out on the rail of your board, when overpowered drive the front foot, get your weight on your heels a little to hold down the rail, pull down on your front hand to increase the mast foot preassure, close your eyes and grit your teeth.

[TV]

Carbon for sale!

7.2 Windwing Race.

490 Fiberspar WC Reflex 5000, IMCS 29, 90% carbon content. (excellent condition)

Fiberspar WC Carbon boom. (good condition)

Fiberspar WC Carbon base, with up to 44cm extension.

All purchased in 1996, I think.

Asking $350

Tim
(952)943-0048

[Paul F]

I have different way of looking at the problem that your may want to think about. My problem was that my mental picture of sheeting it was closing a door with my back hand. The whole sail moves aft when you do this. If you do this before you have enough speed to generate lift with the fin, you will round up. A better image for me is the mast and clew forming a cone with your front hand pushing and the back hand pulling.

Uphauling: you can make it effortless by putting the center of gravity of the rig over the mast foot so it balances. The sail is at right angles to the wind(you can not see the bow). You rotate the sail slowly until you get enough speed for the fin to have lift. I say slowly because you can be catapulted with little effort. If you feel your self starting to get catapulted PULL WITH YOUR FRONT HAND.

Waterstarts: while you are flying the sail before starting, you point the board off the wind a lot and you adjust the sail fore and aft until you feel like you pushing the nose of the off the wind. Too far forward and you are flattened, too far aft and you round up.