Alright, so now that the season is under way and I'm trying to get on the water more often, I needs some tips and advice on improving (besides spending more time on the water)! So here goes:
Firstly, how the heck do you make sense of using foot straps on a raceboard! Freeride/slalom/everything else- easy, one strap for each foot. Raceboard... feels like a million options to choose from! HAHA Whenever I get my front foot in all the weight goes on the windward rail and I turn up wind sharply and come off. haha! What foot straps should I be using? The front 2 foot straps are quite wide on the board, and your feet point straight across the board (not on an angle). Should I be using these foot straps?
Secondly, harness lines... I have never been able to find the best set up for the. I have adjustable lines, but my problem is that I think I either have then too far forward and I struggle to sheet in the sail fully, or I have them too far back, and I catapult forward in the gusts. How do you set them up properly? What does everyone else do? Should they be close together or further apart?
Letter C. Water starts... I'm getting better at them (albeit slowly). I'm 90kg and I think when I'm using my 6.5 sail it might not be enough to pull me up? Saturday for example I was out at Manly with Morgan and his crew (and everyone else) and shallow water starts were fine, but a bit deeper and I just got dragged along in the water with one foot on the back of the board! haha The other thing with it is when I lift the sail out of the water and use the sail to turn the board, my board only wants to turn up wind... frustrating.... lol
Hopefully we get some good advice here before the weekend when I hope to have another go at everything and improve my on-the-water-time to in-the-water-time ratio! HAHA
Thanks!
Secondly, harness lines... I have never been able to find the best set up for the. I have adjustable lines, but my problem is that I think I either have then too far forward and I struggle to sheet in the sail fully, or I have them too far back, and I catapult forward in the gusts. How do you set them up properly? What does everyone else do? Should they be close together or further apart?
Practice shadow sailing as below
rig your sail up
Put board on the beach with NO fin
Put sail in board and step on the board
Get in the foot straps and hook into your harness
adjust harness lines forward or back until you can hold the sail stable only using your front hand and the harness
It should have about 90%of the power in harness and about 10% in the front hand - you should be able to let go with your back hand and leave it off.
practice riding the gusts just using your body weight thru the harness. Do this for 5 min before every session and it will become muscle memory
When you do this really focus on twisting your upper body to face the direction you are going as this forces you to put more presure on the mast base and will help you to plane (slog) upwind faster.
Is the board in the picture the one you are using? I use one the same, great board. One of the best all-round boards ever made- and don't let the shortboard guys tell you that you're wasting your time.
The railing straps (front ones, parallel to the rail) are for going upwind generally, and depending on the angle you are sailing into the wind and sea conditions you will use one of these. But this will only be when the wind is at least 8 knots, with the centreboard right down (or nearly all the way down) and the mast track number 1,2 or 3 (that board has a mast track numbered 1 -14). I rarely have both feet in both railing straps, as it makes the stance too narrow. If it is ocean swell conditions I will have my back foot diagonally in the front diagonal strap and the front foot in one of the railing straps. Going upwind these boards are designed to be railed up (say 10-20 degrees) with the centreboard fully down providing a lot of lift, and the railing straps keep the board from flipping over from the sideways force of the centreboard.
Setting the footstraps like you have (with the aft set of angled straps removed) makes life a lot easier, and you can still get some good performance on a reach. Makes it much easier to learn to carve gybe the board too (as you have somewhere to put you inside foot when carving through the turn).
I'm no expert on footstrap technique, as it is a bit of a "lost art" and only pure old school raceboard riders (eg bushfire, man over board) will know it all- I am just referring what I have found works- and will happily be corrected by someone more knowledgable than I.
Clarence
Letter C. Water starts... I'm getting better at them (albeit slowly). I'm 90kg and I think when I'm using my 6.5 sail it might not be enough to pull me up? Saturday for example I was out at Manly with Morgan and his crew (and everyone else) and shallow water starts were fine, but a bit deeper and I just got dragged along in the water with one foot on the back of the board! haha The other thing with it is when I lift the sail out of the water and use the sail to turn the board, my board only wants to turn up wind... frustrating.... lol
When water starting you want most of the lift coming thru your front hand
Typically it will turn to windward when you are pulling too hard on yor back hand
the back hand should only be used as a throttle to to control the angle of the sail - 80% of the lift needs to come from the front hand.
Dont try to pull your self up like a chin up. Put 1 foot on board - bend the knee so your almost in a squat and extend arms directly up and back over you head as far as you can - almost like hanging off a monkey bar as a kid. because your center of gravity is close to the board it makes it easier for sail to pull you out.
Once up stay low and keep hanging off the boom to get planing in a controlled manner.
If you're using the straps on a raceboard and sinking the windward rail, you may be putting weight on your heels rather than your toes. Putting weight on the toes can actually allow you to lift the board by the force of the inside of your ankle against the straps.
You can also pull down hard on the boom and harness lines so that your weight is being directed onto the mastfoot, not onto your legs.
If the board is an IMCO rather than a Pan Am 2, Equipe II or Superlight (I can't tell from the pic) then at 90kg you are, unfortunately, going to struggle for maximum performance in marginal winds, especially when reaching.
In light winds I sometimes used my back foot in the front strap and had my front foot on the side of the board, with my toes pointed forward and the area from my little toe to the heel pushing against the board to try to rail it. As the wind picks up you can move aft and the board feels great when powered up with both your feet in the beating straps (the ones that run parallel to the centreline of the board). As Clarence notes this is a narrow stance and when it gets really windy, you can spread your feet by putting the aft foot into the front angled strap.
Bear in mind when you read the above that I always struggled to be on the pace at top national level when I was going upwind in light stuff in Raceboards. Partly that was because I sailed them in the very early days, before they were even called Raceboards, when he had a 15 or 12 knot minimum wind limit and I still reckon they are best in those conditions and a bit out of balance in light stuff, compared to Div 1 and 2 boards, Lechners or One Designs. EDIT - and the fact that I first sailed them with a wind limit offshoreused to mean that I got frustrated at sailing them in light stuff on flat water!! :-)
Re waterstarts; Roar's advice is excellent. As he said, don't think that the sail is going to lift you up (unless it's really windy). Think that you are going to get the right flying vertically above the board and then you are going to almost do a chin up on the booms. You're pulling yourself up almost vertically from a position close to the board, not lying back along the water's surface at full stretch away from the board. Getting close to the board as the rig gets closer to vertical makes it all much more efficient.
Good to see some discussion on longboard technique for a change.
From the picture your board appears to be a mid 1990s One Design/IMCO.
The other important point to note AntsC is that the centreboard position, mast track position and foot strap use all work in particular combinations in given wind strengths and directions of sail. Generally speaking: lighter winds and pointing upwind - mast track forward, centreboard down, railing straps; high winds and reaching - mast track back, centreboard up, rear footstraps. It is the combinations in between these that take more figuring out.
If you are using the railing straps with the centreboard retracted it will most likely cause the windward rail to sink. As noted by Chris, the weight distribution on the feet vs heels (and also through the boom and rig) can make a big difference.
Regarding harness line position I find that the variety of sheeting angles and rake that I typically use on the raceboard dictates a longer than normal harness line length, and further apart (I'm still fine tuning that point myself).
Clarence
fortunately there are still videos on youtube with raceboards
Remi has a few with the batwinged Phantom 377
...wow thanks guys! I have just learnt so much from just reading this.
how do you mive the mast track forward and back when you're sailing? I know there's the foot 'button' to step on and is it just a matter of pushing/pulling the sail?
i think I need to write a cheat sheet on my sails next time I go out!
tha hanks for the video joe windsurf! I'll be watching that over and over.
Clarence goure correct, its a mid 90's mistral one design. In really good condition. I just find balance a bit tricky on the bay with the chop when I'm tacking.
Ill have aver to get out again on the weekend and let you all know how I go with lots of things to try out! Thanks again!!!!!!!
ants
Secondly, harness lines... I have never been able to find the best set up for the. I have adjustable lines, but my problem is that I think I either have then too far forward and I struggle to sheet in the sail fully, or I have them too far back, and I catapult forward in the gusts. How do you set them up properly? What does everyone else do? Should they be close together or further apart?
Practice shadow sailing as below
rig your sail up
Put board on the beach with NO fin
Put sail in board and step on the board
Get in the foot straps and hook into your harness
adjust harness lines forward or back until you can hold the sail stable only using your front hand and the harness
It should have about 90%of the power in harness and about 10% in the front hand - you should be able to let go with your back hand and leave it off.
practice riding the gusts just using your body weight thru the harness. Do this for 5 min before every session and it will become muscle memory
When you do this really focus on twisting your upper body to face the direction you are going as this forces you to put more presure on the mast base and will help you to plane (slog) upwind faster.
But don't do what I did and punch a hole in the bottom of your new wave board by doing this on the grass next to a gravel road. I didn't spot the one stone under the board.
...wow thanks guys! I have just learnt so much from just reading this.
how do you mive the mast track forward and back when you're sailing? I know there's the foot 'button' to step on and is it just a matter of pushing/pulling the sail?
i think I need to write a cheat sheet on my sails next time I go out!
tha hanks for the video joe windsurf! I'll be watching that over and over.
Clarence goure correct, its a mid 90's mistral one design. In really good condition. I just find balance a bit tricky on the bay with the chop when I'm tacking.
Ill have aver to get out again on the weekend and let you all know how I go with lots of things to try out! Thanks again!!!!!!!
ants
To get the mast track aft; bear away, get the CB up and the board moving fast enough to reduce apparent wind, hit the pedal and then pull UP and aft on the boom, in a semi-circular motion. You can normally kick the CB up and then move the same foot straight to the mast track pedal.
Sometimes it can help to sheet out for a sec as the boom is pulled up and back, but be careful as you do not want to slow down. You should be planing before the track comes back, unless you're about to get hit by a massive gust and you're trying to get ready for it.
Move the track forward again while still reaching or going downwind, at least until you are getting good at it. Stamping on the pedal will normally do the trick, but pushing forward and down on the boom helps. If you are coming onto a reach or close reach as you slide the track forward, a very quick sheet out can help. Drop the CB after you move the track forward.
Secondly, harness lines... I have never been able to find the best set up for the. I have adjustable lines, but my problem is that I think I either have then too far forward and I struggle to sheet in the sail fully, or I have them too far back, and I catapult forward in the gusts. How do you set them up properly? What does everyone else do? Should they be close together or further apart?
Practice shadow sailing as below
rig your sail up
Put board on the beach with NO fin
Put sail in board and step on the board
Get in the foot straps and hook into your harness
adjust harness lines forward or back until you can hold the sail stable only using your front hand and the harness
It should have about 90%of the power in harness and about 10% in the front hand - you should be able to let go with your back hand and leave it off.
practice riding the gusts just using your body weight thru the harness. Do this for 5 min before every session and it will become muscle memory
When you do this really focus on twisting your upper body to face the direction you are going as this forces you to put more presure on the mast base and will help you to plane (slog) upwind faster.
But don't do what I did and punch a hole in the bottom of your new wave board by doing this on the grass next to a gravel road. I didn't spot the one stone under the board.
I always put my board cover under the board, just to be sure...
Secondly, harness lines... I have never been able to find the best set up for the. I have adjustable lines, but my problem is that I think I either have then too far forward and I struggle to sheet in the sail fully, or I have them too far back, and I catapult forward in the gusts. How do you set them up properly? What does everyone else do? Should they be close together or further apart?
Practice shadow sailing as below
rig your sail up
Put board on the beach with NO fin
Put sail in board and step on the board
Get in the foot straps and hook into your harness
adjust harness lines forward or back until you can hold the sail stable only using your front hand and the harness
It should have about 90%of the power in harness and about 10% in the front hand - you should be able to let go with your back hand and leave it off.
practice riding the gusts just using your body weight thru the harness. Do this for 5 min before every session and it will become muscle memory
When you do this really focus on twisting your upper body to face the direction you are going as this forces you to put more presure on the mast base and will help you to plane (slog) upwind faster.
Hey Roar, I tried this set up for my harness today before I went for a sail, AMAZING! Still not perfect but so much better than before.
I went for a light wind sail this afternoon at Manly (yeah low tide. It what the heck- the walk in and out was good fr me!)... I REALLY enjoyed sailing in 8-12 knots with my 7.8m on the Misreal One a Design.
I was trying to rail up the leeward side of the board while going kind of upwind. Not sure if I achieved it but was working hard on it. Had the mast tack forward the whole time and centreboard down while upwindish (2 o'clock). when broad reaching (8 o'clock) I tried a mix of the centreboard up and half down but mast track still forward, but never really found the groove sailing downwind. Upwind was definitely easier and smoother.
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