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planing helpppp
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envirogirl48



Joined: 03 Aug 2011
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 4:37 pm    Post subject: planing helpppp Reply with quote

hello! i have another issue. yesterday i unintentionally planed, and it was the most amazing thing! i loved the feeling, and i was out for hours trying to do it again...but failed. I watched some tutorial videos on YouTube, but those were quite unhelpful.

When I lean and step back to begin the planing process, the board shifts upwind and the sail goes into irons. It's also hard to hold the boom/mast up since it leans back at such an angle. How do I regain that amazing feeling and plane!? Any suggestions?

Thank you so much!! It's been frustrating trying to figure this out...
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jingebritsen



Joined: 21 Aug 2002
Posts: 3371

PostPosted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 8:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

arms straight, push down on the boom, you will speed up, as you step back, you will speed up more. do bend the knees a bit. do not bend at the waist.

cheers.

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d0uglass



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Bonita Springs, Florida

PostPosted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Envirogirl-

Sometimes it's just not windy enough to plane no matter what you do. (Unless you use a bigger sail.) It could be that you planed during a big gust of wind but then there wasn't enough wind again after that.

One way you can tell if the wind is enough to get you planing, given your sail size and body weight, is to check my online chart.

http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2010/11/updated-windsurf-calculator-online.html

That way, if you know from the weather report about how windy it is, you'll know if you can expect to plane or not.

Assuming there IS enough wind, Ingebritsen's tip is good. Basically he's telling you that you need to put more of you weight into the sail to keep your feet light when you move back on the board. It's like where the sail attaches to the board is your "third leg" when you are windsurfing.

http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2009/05/windsurfers-have-third-leg.html

Another key thing, if you're sailing on a board with a daggerboard, is to kick up the daggerboard when you want to try to get planing. Because you can't fully plane with the daggerboard dragging in the water.

Good luck!

-James
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envirogirl48



Joined: 03 Aug 2011
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hello James and jingebritsen,

Thank you so much for the tips. I will internalize those and put them to use next time I go out! James--your blog pages are extremely helpful as well! I will be thinking of the "third leg" concept. I can't tell you how helpful this is...reading descriptions gives me a much more concrete idea of what I'm doing wrong and how I can improve. Thanks again!
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envirogirl48



Joined: 03 Aug 2011
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi James,

I tried sending you a personal message, but it didn't work. So I sent you an email. The email subject is "Envirogirl from windsurfing forum." Just wanted to let you know in case it goes to your spam folder!
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tyler4bu



Joined: 06 Jul 2009
Posts: 101
Location: Santa Barbara/San Diego

PostPosted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 2:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You shouldn't be just stepping back to start the planing process, you should be stepping back as a reaction to gaining more power. The process begins with getting more power in the sail, and for that, the best advice I've gotten is to look upwind of you while sailing at a slight angle into the wind, and as soon as you see a gust (you'll see more white stuff over the water on the gust, maybe little spray to white caps if its windier), just try to point as far as you can downwind and get as much power as possible. If you actually start sailing downwind you'll lose it, but the act of bearing into the wind and pointing downwind is usually enough to get you planing, unless of course, it just isn't windy enough.
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envirogirl48



Joined: 03 Aug 2011
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 8:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh okay I see...that makes a lot of sense. That helps me clarify things in my mind. After hearing all this input, I think my problem was a lack of wind. I couldn't seem to build up enough speed and/or hold on to it. I'm sure it was partly my fault, but the wind might have been too weak.
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tyler4bu



Joined: 06 Jul 2009
Posts: 101
Location: Santa Barbara/San Diego

PostPosted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do you know what the strength of the wind was and the size of the sail you were sailing?
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dsgrntlxmply



Joined: 16 Jun 2010
Posts: 255

PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Part of what you describe sounds like uneven wind, and part sounds like difficulty dealing with uneven wind.

Here is my recent experience as someone who has been sailing regularly for only around 15 months. I weigh around 186, and cannot yet waterstart, no footstraps, no harness. Now take a look at the wind graphs for San Francisco/North Bay/Alameda (Crown Beach) for Sat. Aug. 6 and Sun. Aug. 7.

Saturday, I was sailing my largest sail: 6.4 m^2, 155L board with no centerboard. Now look around 2:20PM on the graph. My experience was a succession of episodes similar to what you have related, though the episodes of planing were probably a bit longer. By 3:30 I was exhausted, and put in to recuperate and rig down to 5.7, which of course ended up being an error.

The best moments of the interval between 2:30 and 3:30 were the best time's I've had sailing to date, including at one point hanging so far out (to the point of spoiling the sail's power) that I ended up slamming my butt into the water at sufficient speed to take a very palpable amount of time to decelerate to nil.

What motivated me to rig down was exactly what you describe: repeatedly heading up, and this got worse as I became more exhausted. Even though I know by after-the-fact armchair analysis quite a lot of what I have been doing wrong, it's one thing to analyze and quite another to put into action on the water, especially when the wind gets gusty and when you're getting beat up by chop.

So I chickened out, ended up wasting 45 minutes of good wind changing sails, and ended up with a sail that was more tractable, but also insufficient to generate enough power to get onto a plane again.

Next, look at Sunday. I sailed 6.4 all day, and ended up planing for a grand total of around 1 second, some time between 3 and 4PM, followed immediately by coming to a near stop. Note how the peaks were around 16 and the lulls around 5, average around 10. There were moments when the board felt like it was just about to come up onto a plane, but these were always cut short and followed by intervals of dismaying slog.

I know that I am getting a little better over time at coping with higher winds and with gusty conditions. If only there were more of the higher winds to cope with. Confused

In summary, whenever the wind offers the opportunity, keep working on sorting out how you respond to and cope with higher winds, and how you respond to and cope with gusty/erratic conditions.
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envirogirl48



Joined: 03 Aug 2011
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not sure how this information translates, but I have a 5.5 Freetime with a 420 cm luff, 430 mast, and 185 boom.

Okay, so it seems like my main problem is lack of strong wind. I'll just have to wait for the right day. It does make more sense now though...the stronger the wind, the less the mast/sail will flop around when you try to plane. You can lean against the sail. Ah ha!

I will be keeping all of these tips in mind when I got out again! Thank you all SO much. I really don't have any advice to offer in return...and what advice I could give is probably wrong because I've made things up as I go. But just know that I'm very grateful!
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