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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
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 Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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| NOVAAN wrote: | | If your sure your going to stall when you see the lull, head up wind to gain a bit of distance. |
Another option, best suited to small boards in that scenario (if you're sure the wind will resume and don't need slogging practice): jump in the water and wait until the wind picks up again. Not even Rule #100 says we gotta waste energy standing on our boards alla time. I consider that option and its implications every time I choose a board, a sail, a fin, a wetsuit, and/or a launch site, and whether to head upwind or downwind after launching. Any current where you're sailing in a BIG factor in making those decisions.
I often throw both feet wide in the air and my butt way back (WAY back!!) when it was obvious that I'm in a lull that's not going away soon and equally obvious that there was more wind coming. I've even done that while on a plane when I was CERTAIN a dead lull was imminent and the wind would pick up again. Tip: exaggerate the aft leap if using a weed fin. |
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grantmac017
Joined: 04 Aug 2016
Posts: 946
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| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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| If wave sailing sometimes it's best to accept that slogging upwind beats planing downwind most of the time. |
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Ugly_Bird
Joined: 04 Nov 2008
Posts: 335
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| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 6:18 pm Post subject: Re: Advice for planing through lulls? |
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| mmclimbhigh wrote: | Hey Wind Junkies!
Any other recommendations out there for planing through the holes? |
Not to reopen multiple discussions about cam vs no cam sails, but cams are very helpful in the lake sailing conditions with some fluky winds including lulls.
Besides the technique... |
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mmclimbhigh
Joined: 06 Sep 2016
Posts: 42
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| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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Great advice everyone. Vast amounts of experience with this crew! This being just my third full time year of sailing, I'm trying to soak up as much intel as possible. I especially can relate to ss59's comment:
"Depending on the wind strength and the lull, it is entirely possible that by going broad you are outrunning the wind - the same thing can happen when gybing in light winds"
I think that I have fallen victim to this many times. I try to carry as much speed as I can, then see the water go flat behind me as I race downwind on a broad reach. Good advice.
Thanks everyone! Happy sailing. See you on the water! Cheers |
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westender
Joined: 02 Aug 2007
Posts: 1288
Location: Portland / Gorge
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| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 9:52 pm Post subject: |
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| I first pinch up to increase apparent wind and gain some ground, then fall off for the downhill tricks. In lulls of,,, 30+ to -10 I'm trying to stay standing on the board. It would be interesting to know a little more about your sailing conditions. |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
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| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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| mmclimbhigh wrote: | | I think that I have fallen victim to [outrunning the wind] many times. I try to carry as much speed as I can, then see the water go flat behind me as I race downwind on a broad reach. |
The trick is to deliberately use that phenomenon to your advantage, especially when way powered up between the lulls. It's both useful and fun if used deliberately: When overpowered in a beam reach, bear off QUICKLY into a broad reach, stay more or less sheeted in according to feel, and start walking the directional tightrope between too much power and not enough. You'll find a shifting but obvious comfort zone between those two limits that's a hoot to walk. The more overpowered you are in a beam reach, the deeper off the wind that comfort zone lies and the quicker you'd better get your board pointed deep off the wind into that zone. You'll start all this unhooked until you develop a feel for it, then learn to do it hooked in to conserve energy and REALLY pour on some sustained power.
Eliminating lulls this way is fun, is a way to get way downwind when overpowered (the flip side of the lulls), is a valuable skill all by itself, and is just one of the reasons and techniques to rig big to eliminate lulls. |
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coachg
Joined: 10 Sep 2000
Posts: 3550
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| Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:26 am Post subject: |
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Keep the board flat & don't stall the sail (bring the hands together). I do pretty much what ss59 posted; sail on the verge of a catapult by letting the rig pick me up & pull me forward.
Water state & lull size play a major part in my decisions on how I approach a lull. On flat water I bear off but if the chop is too big I sail between the chop. If the lull is small I will try to coast through it to the next gust but if the lull is big I might gybe/tack back in the other direction. If the current & the wind are going the same direction then I would tack while in the gust and try to gain as much ground as I can in the gust before the lull hits. If the gust is long & narrow I will stay in the gust as long as possible, riding the gust like a wave then do light wind freestyle between gusts; my basic gusty lake sailing technique.
Coachg |
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dcharlton
Joined: 24 Apr 2002
Posts: 414
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| Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:32 am Post subject: |
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keep the sail upright the most you can while keeping your body stiff, also move the sail around to feel around and catch the wind.
If you still can't make it work, just swap out to your foil board!
DC |
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fxop
Joined: 13 Jun 1998
Posts: 202
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| Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:35 am Post subject: |
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There is an instinctive tendency to sheet in when you feel power leaving the sail. Sheeting in will only hasten your demise. If you want to try to plane through, this is the time to only make tiny adjustments, flattening the board with the feet, making sure all weight is on the harness and you're not clutching with the hands, sail vertical/forward etc etc as others have suggested.
fxop |
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dhmark
Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Posts: 376
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| Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 8:22 am Post subject: |
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| grantmac017 wrote: | | If wave sailing sometimes it's best to accept that slogging upwind beats planing downwind most of the time. |
Sometimes even when not wave sailing, if you don't see wind coming back, just give up and relax. |
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