Sailing chop is all about chasing the troughs and avoiding the peaks and when the gusts hit turn down wind and chase the swell lines.
I find it easier to sail chop when I have heaps of power available.

Also, bend ze kneez more than usual but maintain board trim. Takes a bit of finesse.

Move your mast track forward a couple of cms from where you normally have it to help keep the nose of the board down. Last thing you want is to end up tail walking.

Use a mid sized fin for the conditions and your gear. Not small, not large. A weedy is going to encourage tail walking in powered conditions, so try and avoid that.

I would only use weedy if there is weed. I try to get weight in the harness and use my legs like shock absorbers. Push down rather than sideways with the back foot. Body should tryvto stay at the same height not moving up or down, only legs and feet should go up and down. Going cross or upwind my feet are rolling the board away and i am raking the rig back, but it feels like i am trying to swing my body forward, this rakes rig back and you have ti tilt the board away and then it starts to fly on the fin and frees up and over the chop. Its like reaching takeoff speed.

Thanks for the tips. I can't put my boom down it's already at the bottom of the cutout.. ( chin height)

John340 said..

sboardcrazy said..
Thanks for the tips. I can't put my boom down it's already at the bottom of the cutout.. ( chin height)

How much gap do you have between the extension and sail pulleys on your downhall? If you have 2cm, then reduce the length of your extension, which will lower the boom cutout on the mast.

Failing that, why don't you get a sailmaker to lengthen the cutout?

Yes I'll have to check- I usually downhaul pulley to pulley but maybe I can downhaul some sails a little less..
They are severne with the zipped insert? Wouldn't they be complicated to enlarge?
Most of my sails are pretty old but I plan to upgrade some by the end of the year so maybe I can research the cutout thingy then..years ago I got a Raf sail insert lowered but it was never great ( KA Kult)..maybe the sailmakers are a bit better with sailboard sails these days..?

BSN101 said..

sboardcrazy said..
Thanks for the tips. I can't put my boom down it's already at the bottom of the cutout.. ( chin height)

Did you ever use a Z boom. A modern one of those would be helpful. They never came in carbon tho

No but back when they were around I probably ran my boom at eye level and didn't know any better..

I'll have to start really analysing what I'm doing. I'm usually in a rush a hurry to hit the water I just rig from previous noted specs and go!

tbwonder said..
Sue surely nobody could analyze their sailing more than you already do? You spend way too much time on this forum
I think you have your downhaul setting about right. What length lines are you using?

I analyse my sailing but not my setup..
Forum keep me sane.. Hey aren't you reading it?
adjustables up to 30 inches. I've been trying to use them at 30 inches. It was interesting borrowing a boom as the lines were really short and i was worried I'd get catapulted but I found I went upwind heaps better? (flatwater) I think I may have to make the predominant upwind harness lines a bit shorter as I'm finding it hard to use my body to pull the sail on with the 30 inch lines..

sboardcrazy said..

John340 said..

sboardcrazy said..
Thanks for the tips. I can't put my boom down it's already at the bottom of the cutout.. ( chin height)

How much gap do you have between the extension and sail pulleys on your downhall? If you have 2cm, then reduce the length of your extension, which will lower the boom cutout on the mast.

Failing that, why don't you get a sailmaker to lengthen the cutout?

Yes I'll have to check- I usually downhaul pulley to pulley but maybe I can downhaul some sails a little less..
They are severne with the zipped insert? Wouldn't they be complicated to enlarge?
Most of my sails are pretty old but I plan to upgrade some by the end of the year so maybe I can research the cutout thingy then..years ago I got a Raf sail insert lowered but it was never great ( KA Kult)..maybe the sailmakers are a bit better with sailboard sails these days..?

Old sails, as in OLD sails used to have very high cutouts. The boom was intended to be in your face. Curse those sails.