What do you do when the wind's very marginal?

On Thursday the forecast looked orright, so I went to my local wavebreak for a bit of a sail. The wind was about 13-14 knots, just not quite enough to get me going on the 5.7 North Ice, even bagged out. I got planing once or twice, but only for a few seconds down a wave face, and didn't make it back to the straps before the wind died.

So what's the best technique for getting planing in the lower end of your sail's range? Bear in mind you're not allowed to use a bigger sail (cos the bigger ones have ****loads of cams and you don't want that sort of fight in waves, even if the waves are tiddlers)

At the moment I've got:
1) Bag your sail out without taking off too much downhaul.
2) Do the shimmy (wtf is this, Elmo? Please explain?)
3) Get planing down a wave face then slowly bear upwind to get the apparent wind speed up)

Any other ideas?

I don't worry about planning when very light wind wave sailing,(12 - 15kts) it's a waste of energy, can get back upwind much better sub planning anyway, planning in very marginal conditions it's a real struggle to point at all, on my wave gear that is.
The only time I pump is to get onto a wave, then the wave and wind energy combine and you're away.

Once it's 15 and over it's worth pumping onto the plane, That's with my 5.2 and 80l board (I'm just under 70kg)

quote:

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Originally posted by chairman

Weight Watchers[}:)]

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Thanks "mate", you have no idea what the scales used to say a couple of years ago, let's just say they dreaded me walking into the bathroom

You're off my christmas card list.

I'm thinking, if there are waves you just put up with slogging until you can catch the waves.

the only hassle in my mind is trying to gybe when your slogging, usually ends up with me in the water, then struggling to waterstart or else uphauling in knee deep water

if its under 15kts go Freestylin!!

Get a bigger sail, 5.8 is my normal sail but I have a 6.6 for lighter winds.

Shimmying the board is when you are on the plane already trying to run through a hole, you pump the board sideways with your front foot, it helps break the increasing board friction and pick up speed, don't use your back foot to much as you can end up cavitating the fin.

Bigger fin for those light days, less sideways drift. More pressure to pop onto the plane. You have to pump, but when you are dialled in you can feel when its right to go. Lift the board out of the water, and ever so lightly place the board on the water with your weight still on the boom, squeezing it in. The goal is to get the board skimming on the water,unstuck, thus planing. Some sails are much better at this than others, some will pull down, others need wind to get going, and some have what l call a powerball that l use to lift my whole rig out of the water. Adjusting the down haul can move this powerball up and down for what is required on the day. l am 79 kilo, 84 litre board, 5m S-1 severne, plane in 12 to 15 easy,with a pump.

stay home and watch a windsurfing vid on the box just as frustrating
but you don't get your gear wet

TelecomGreg

This 'experience' of which you speak...
...can it be bought or otherwise obtained very quickly???

I wish I could plane in 12-15 knots with a 5.0m on a board that is 5 litres more than my body weight. I am lucky to plane in 12-15 with a 7.5 and 115L board.

hmmmm, experience hey... I must get me some of that......