heli tack advice

snapster · Joined: 02 Feb 2008 Posts: 22

I'm a beginner, and I was fooling around today trying to heli-tack, as it doesn't look super hard (to my fairly untrained eye). The problem I was having was that when I swing the rig through the wind, leaning to windward, the wind pretty immediately just blows the rig into me and knocks me backward off the board.
What am I missing? How do I avoid being shoved back by the sail pointing into the wind? Do I need to use my body weight to hold it down?

coachg · Joined: 10 Sep 2000 Posts: 3550

It's about rig control. In a Heli tack you lean the rig back to turn into & through the wind, then you have to shut the rig off (luff the sail) while you slice the rig(luffing) into the wind. Only after the mast has gone from leaning downwind behind you to leaning upwind in front of you do you start to backwind the sail. It sounds like you are making the classic mistake of trying to force the clew through the wind from the downwind position without shutting off the power in the sail.

Coachg

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay

Also, practice backwinding the sail, before you attempt the heli move.
You need to lean against the wind, but you also need to learn to sheet the clew downwind, into your body, to control sailing backwinded. Then, when you get balanced, you rotate into the heli, always keeping your posture and never leaning to the side.

wynsurfer · Joined: 24 Aug 2007 Posts: 940

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is a good video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w803yCuuqQ

eghoffman · Joined: 14 May 1998 Posts: 89

Keep your front arm straight, control the power with your back arm.

snapster · Joined: 02 Feb 2008 Posts: 22

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, I've seen the youtube offerings; usually that's the first place I check for things like this, since, as you said, a picture is worth a thousand words, and a video IS a thousand pictures.
One thing that occurred to me is that I can probably figure this out much more efficiently by just playing with the sail on the beach, and save myself the trouble of dragging myself up out of the water.

techno900 · Joined: 28 Mar 2001 Posts: 4161

Yes, absolutely. On the beach, you pattern the various movements by repetition and you don't fall in. You DON'T muscle the sail, you manipulate the sail to minimize the forces acting upon it. The video is great.

coachg · Joined: 10 Sep 2000 Posts: 3550

boardsurfr · Joined: 23 Aug 2001 Posts: 1266

What coachg says. But if your board is big enough, you can cheat a bit by moving your feet so the heels are on the centerline. Even if you get pushed on your heels, the leeward rail will not dig in and throw you off.

One big and common mistake in the hell tack is to push with both hands. Try to do the move one-handed - use only the mast hand until it's time to flip the sail. Then, slice the sail forward (without any power in it), and switch to using only the back hand. Practicing this on the beck is a great idea. I never really understood the heli tack until I did it one handed.

Ugly_Bird · Joined: 04 Nov 2008 Posts: 335