upwind on wide board

sundowner · Joined: 30 Sep 2015 Posts: 81

I'm appalled no one has thought to just give you a few simple technique tips!

1 Point your front foot towards the nose and KEEP IT THERE! Your front foot should almost always be point at the nose of the board when heading up wind!

2 LOOK AT WHERE YOU WANT TO GO!!! I cannot stress this one enough. Look upwind at all times! Pick a point on land and stare at it, you will be amazed how much this one tip will help you. ALWAYS BE LOOKING UPWIND!

3 Consciously weight your boom and drive force through your rig. More MBP (mast base pressure) will give you more driving force and help you get upwind.

4 Your board can point higher than your sail. Steer your board upwind with your feet. Often times I will carve my windward rail into the water to head me up higher. Experiment with carving that rail thats closest to you to head up.

GOOD LUCK!

kajTEK · Joined: 08 May 2008 Posts: 33

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kajTEK · Joined: 08 May 2008 Posts: 33

oahh. .looks like sundowner tech/tips are good advise.

thanks sundowner for those tips..

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

jingebritsen · Joined: 21 Aug 2002 Posts: 3371

Aerotech Rapid Fires have a weight advantage. May wanna try one of those.

http://www.aerotechsails.com/rapidfire08.html

Planing upwind has one set of techniques. Slogging upwind others. TOW and lots of trials and such may end up being your best bet?

BTW, if the wind is averaging 25, I'd be on a 5.2 or so. East Coast sailors will often talk about being able to sail in puffy winds up to a peak gust that typically does not stay that high for very long. So, holding on to an 8.5 in 25 means something much less over here in the land of gutless yucky winds. In winds of 12-25, I'd be tempted to rig an 8.5 on flat water with a wide slalom board. Point high or bear off for those few minutes/seconds of gusts.....

Cheers.

scooper · Joined: 28 May 1987 Posts: 537 Location: Massachusettes

Preferring an 8.5 in 25 mph isn't typical. Even the big guys that I sail with in Mass/R.I. would usually be on 7.5 to 6.5, unless it's just an occasional gust to 25 as Jing suggested. For me, 25 is the upper range of my 6.2. Surfpeppers was talking about 10 mph, so this may be besides the point.