I was out at Botany yesterday and very nice it was too. A slightly strange thing happened to me and I wonder if any of you can help me out.

I was out on a 144 futura with a 48cm fin, 7.2m sail (I am 84Kg) , a nice big gust came along and I got going really fast - probably the fastest I have ever been on that board. I was a bit off the wind but not on a reach. There was a slight chop.
I thought I'd kind of locked everything down but the board rose totally out of the water, quite slowly and steadily so that I was not touching the water at all. I ended up having a big stack and going thru the sail.
I suspect that I was overfinned for the speed or doing something else wrong, can anybody help? If it happens again, how best to control it? My straps are on the middle setting (there are three rows) and on the holes to the rear of the board - do I need to move them outboard for that sort of speed? Or just learn to control the air?

Boards big and fins big, it doesn't take much wind under a board to make it fly. Try moving your mast base forward to force to nose down or eat some hamburgers and put on some weight to hold the board on the water. The stock fins that come with boards are mostly on the large side, Try something a bit smaller and you'll see a difference straight away. I run a 42cm fin in my 120 with a 7.2 and it seems like a nice combo, I've eaten more hamburgers then you though. Getting the board to ride the fin is a great feeling but you need great control otherwise it usually ends in a glorious stack, overtime you'll learn to control the board but until then start with a smaller fin.

Cheers.

Flying off the fin is that smooth gliding feeling we are all aiming for. Futuras do it quite readily.
I guess what you want to aim for is the board out of the water without the nose being too high, but most of the fin in, so you still have some grip.
Mast track forward will help keep the nose down, a smaller fin or changing to a weedy will give you less lift.

When a gust hits or you see/feel a gust coming,slide your body weight forward to the nose of the board,this will reduce the lift of the board and make you sail faster while in control.

In the lulls you do the opposite,you pull back in harness to the back of the board to increase board lift.This is mostly what i concentrate on while sailing.

A harness with a hook that slides laterally can increase this movement of body weight back/forward greatly.

Also a softer G10 raked back fin can addd to control in the gusts.

splishy said...

Cheers for the advice fellas. I'll try the mast track forward and the smaller fin ( its a 42cm) and see how I go. Wouldn't using the smaller fin slow me down a bit and also prevent me from flying the fin?
Glynn, that sounds like a massive stack!
Fez, I have been trying to dig deeper and put more weight on the boom last two sessions out during a gust, canting riiiiiiiight over - as opposed to wimping out i.e. sheeting out and coming a bit more upright and its certainly resulted in going faster, sounds like I have been going a bit over the top from what you say. I can see how the kite analogy works.
I'll try the straps in the most outboard position too. Gotta get this sorted - can't be going to the sail repairers after every weekend! I might get a helmet too...that was my fastest stack yet!
Cheers again

I had a stack like that..landed on the mast..not fun! I had the mast foot further back than usual experimenting thinking I'd be faster and had too big a board for the wind.. Won't do that again.
I also don't eat enough hamburgers.. but I'm trying! Pity the weight doesn't go on evenly..

There is a section of water between the pool and the runway where the wind can do weird things when the gusts come from the NNE.
A few of us have been lifted and slammed in this area when sailing fast on a beam reach towards the pool.