Railing a longboard upwind

[beaglebuddy]

I was out Saturday on the Exocet Windsup 11'8" on and off the plane as usual, I was on a fast glide and needed to get upwind so I decided to try something, not knowing how to rail only reading mention of it, I sank the windward rail. I moved the back foot beside the rear strap putting most of my weight there and had the front foot way forward by the mast but out on the windward rail, body leaned forward, hooked in, I leaned way out and put the front hand on the uphaul instead of the boom. The daggerboard was not in the board. I was really cutting upwind at quite an angle with a lot of control as the sail was so sheeted out, great fun.
So I started to read a bit about railing, seems I'm supposed to sink the leeward rail instead, can this be done without beating straps? is the shape of the windsup correct for this? Is railing ever done sinking the windward rail like this?

[techno900]

With a dagger board, you would always sink the leeward rail, regardless of speed.

Without a dagger board, sinking the windward rail is best if not planing or just barely planing. Once planing with good speed, you sink the leeward rail just like you would on a smaller board. No beating straps needed to sink the leeward rail in light to medium winds - foot position takes care of it, but if really powered with a dagger board, you could "turtle" or flip over if you don't get your weight out on the windward rail, where beating straps help out if you have them.

[beaglebuddy]

Thanks Techno, I suppose back in the day everyone knew how to do this.
A different experience going into accelerated displacement speed, cutting like a knife thru water and the chop.
How would you rate the 11'8' for railing?

[techno900]

I can't speak specifically to the 11'8" but railing is dependent on a number of factors.

First, we are talking about maximum upwind performance.

Wind speed
Sail size
Length of board
"Boxy rails" - thickness of the board with the rails squared off. The windsup
does not have boxy rails.
Size of the dagger
Length of the fin

If the wind is light, you can put a foot on the leeward side of the board to encourage railing.

If the wind is strong, you can kick up the dagger about 1/3 to 1/2 so the board won't "turtle".

For light to medium wind cruising on a beam reach, the dagger can be helpful to convert lateral "sliding" to forward speed. As the wind picks up, start kicking the dagger up. SUP's are not designed for upwind performance, so compared to a race board, railing will not be all that great, but any railing that you can muster, will help upwind performance.