I used harness lines for the first time on the weekend so I am no expert but I was told to have a look at guy cribbs harness lines...its a pdf with instructions on how to measure where ur harness lines should go worked a treat..

sboardcrazy said...

I've been fiddling around trying to get my 6.6m sail & 7.2m to feel comfortable. Yesterday I had the lines in the spot for the 7.2m which is how they were positioned when I bought it.I have found that ok in the past.
Someone told me the lines stay in the same place no matter the sail size but that doesn't feel right to me. I used the 6.6m yesterday and felt really uncomfortable.
I moved the lines forward and that helped a bit but I still had trouble putting my weight in the lines to go upwind.I shortened them a bit. It wasn't a great day to experiment as I was on too large a board for the chop & too big a sail & it was driving rain but it felt really .
I was also using a 460 mast with it for the first time and trying a higher boom height..prob too many changes at once..?
Anyway the other thing is I move the mast foot further forward for chop does that means the lines have to move forward?
Also how does changing to a weedfin change everything..Too many variables ..Argh!

The golden rule in tunning, is CHANGE ONE THING AT A TIME

Lines will be fractionally further forward on the smallers sails. If you have alot of back hand pressure move lines back a bit. Personally i like a liitle bit of back hand so I dont over sheet to easily

Windxtasy said...

Harness lines need to move when you change sails. If the sail is the same type and it's just the next size the move will be minimal. Get that right on the beach and then you can worry about the other things.

Move the mast track back a bit to adjust for a weed fin.

Agree, change one thing at a time or you'll just get confused.

Ive got so many things to work out it will take me forever!

I just want to feel comfortable sailing..

The position for your harness lines will change as you change sails and will also change as you change the settings on your sails. If you use more outhaul, you will have to move your lines a little further forward. What I do is to set up my sail and then see if you can hold it with one hand in the middle of where your harness lines are. You will soon tell if it isn't balanced correctly.

Iceman said...

The position for your harness lines will change as you change sails and will also change as you change the settings on your sails. If you use more outhaul, you will have to move your lines a little further forward. What I do is to set up my sail and then see if you can hold it with one hand in the middle of where your harness lines are. You will soon tell if it isn't balanced correctly.

That sounds logical and translates to what I've experienced...The person I bought my sail from is a very good sailor and his lines were about 6" further back than what I usually use. I found it better which is why I am starting to question what I am doing.

Just another point, mast base. I reckon the board manufacturers probably know what is the best position or close to it (I may be wrong). If you accept that theory, I rig mostly in the middle of the mast track, if I am using a bigger sail than normal, I put the track forward a bit, a smaller sail, I put it back a bit. I do fiddle with it when conditions change but for most of the time this works for me. I am not someone who has to have the optimal performance from my kit, you only have to see the condition of the sails I use to guess that, to get the extra couple of knots seems to be too much hassle for me. My advice would be just to get an average set-up get used to that and then maybe experiment.

fanatic02 said...

sboardcrazy said...

I've been fiddling around trying to get my 6.6m sail & 7.2m to feel comfortable. Yesterday I had the lines in the spot for the 7.2m which is how they were positioned when I bought it.I have found that ok in the past.
Someone told me the lines stay in the same place no matter the sail size but that doesn't feel right to me. I used the 6.6m yesterday and felt really uncomfortable.
I moved the lines forward and that helped a bit but I still had trouble putting my weight in the lines to go upwind.I shortened them a bit. It wasn't a great day to experiment as I was on too large a board for the chop & too big a sail & it was driving rain but it felt really .
I was also using a 460 mast with it for the first time and trying a higher boom height..prob too many changes at once..?
Anyway the other thing is I move the mast foot further forward for chop does that means the lines have to move forward?
Also how does changing to a weedfin change everything..Too many variables ..Argh!

To many variables for my poor little brain !!!!! Keep it simple !!!!
I know have a headache !!!!!!

Got to make up for all the years when I knew nothing about the existence of tuning..

I find sailboard tuning a lot like Kart tuning when I used to race. Your looking for that sweet spot when eveything is working together and performance comes naturally

As above I only ever change one thing at a time, and only in small increments. If you can't feel the difference in a 5-10 mm out-haul or down-haul adjustment something is miles out. Harness lines allways feel like there in the wrong spot like this IMO. You can learn to ride and deal with a bad setup, getting it right makes it heaps more fun and less work.

An example. When I got my last 4.2, I chucked it on the board same place as the last one. I used to leave the mastbase in the board after packing up and it was up FRD. I went out and all it wanted to do was throw me around the handlebars. It was woefull. Moved the base back in increments until the problem disappeared then tweaked the sail until it felt nice.
My gear is all a few years old now and I still always fine tune at the start of a sail. Just because it felt nice last time doesn't mean its right next time

I don't alter the downhaul on my koncepts much, tuning for conditions is by altering the outhaul. Boom height I don't alter much. Then I balance my harness lines on the beach by standing the sail up and holding the line where my hook would be, then moving the harness lines until the sail doesn't try to twist away.
Then I'll sail in and out and adjust the position a bit more if there is uneven pressure on front or back hand, adjust the harness line length if necessary.
Then for the mast base position. Middle of the track for average to light wind, back of the track for strong wind. Back 1 cm further for a weed fin. Go for a sail, then try the mast base 1 cm forward, test, then 1 cm back. You're looking to have the weight balanced between your feet. The difference in performance can be amazing. I might add an extra 1 cm in the direction that worked best and retest until performance drops off again, then go back to the best setting.
Now you're ready to sail... if you have any energy left.

Windxtasy said...

I don't alter the downhaul on my koncepts much, tuning for conditions is by altering the outhaul. Boom height I don't alter much. Then I balance my harness lines on the beach by standing the sail up and holding the line where my hook would be, then moving the harness lines until the sail doesn't try to twist away.
Then I'll sail in and out and adjust the position a bit more if there is uneven pressure on front or back hand, adjust the harness line length if necessary.
Then for the mast base position. Middle of the track for average to light wind, back of the track for strong wind. Back 1 cm further for a weed fin. Go for a sail, then try the mast base 1 cm forward, test, then 1 cm back. You're looking to have the weight balanced between your feet. The difference in performance can be amazing. I might add an extra 1 cm in the direction that worked best and retest until performance drops off again, then go back to the best setting.
Now you're ready to sail... if you have any energy left.

I put it forward for strong wind as then the chop is big so I need more control..I haven't been changing it for the weedfin though so I need to start accomodating that.