Hey guys,,,chasing a little advice
being newish to this sport,,,and today being the strongest wind ive ever sailed,,I was wondering how much board size affects things with strong winds..
Im 84kg,,sail a 85L wave board,,,can comfortably sail with harness and footstraps,jump/ride waves,,,,,but had a hell of a time today with these awesome gusts. I actually got pulled from my straps once and catapulted...
I was sailing a 4.2,,,downhauled and outhauled to extremes..30knt winds( dont know what the gust were ),,,If I use a smaller board in these winds will it make sailing easier???
Also found it hard to totally commit to the harness with the big gusts..sailing back in i found myself almost standing vertical at times,,,sheeting right out??

Any help sailing in stong winds would be appreciated..cheers

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Originally posted by kodyn

Hey guys,,,chasing a little advice
being newish to this sport,,,and today being the strongest wind ive ever sailed,,I was wondering how much board size affects things with strong winds..
Im 84kg,,sail a 85L wave board,,,can comfortably sail with harness and footstraps,jump/ride waves,,,,,but had a hell of a time today with these awesome gusts. I actually got pulled from my straps once and catapulted...
I was sailing a 4.2,,,downhauled and outhauled to extremes..30knt winds( dont know what the gust were ),,,If I use a smaller board in these winds will it make sailing easier???
Also found it hard to totally commit to the harness with the big gusts..sailing back in i found myself almost standing vertical at times,,,sheeting right out??

Any help sailing in stong winds would be appreciated..cheers

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Hi, yes sailing in strong winds really sorts everyone out. Given your experience, 10/10 for just being out there.

There are three main aspects to sailing in strong winds. Skill/technique; Equipment; Psychological mindset

Skill technique, comes with experience, if you set your equipment up right, then it's about having a stance that means you can leverage against the power of the sail, and distribute this through the board and fin. I think, low and compact are keys, so if you get blasted by a strong gust, you might get stood up, but not catapulted. If you can't handle the gusts then often you don't have an alternative other than to sheet out, though this will upset all the trim, and you'll be stuck with too much power in all the wrong positions. When experienced, you learn to lean into the gust and go with it. As you get more confident, and that is something that builds with time, which can be built during a session, and built over the history of your sailing, and then this dvelops into a psychological mindset, in the end you have to have the "Go for It", mindset, though this will come at the cost of some pretty nasty wipeouts. Re: gear, 85 litre wave board and 4.2 sound about right for you, unless you got money to burn, then in those conditions maybe something around 70 litres would be better (How many times will you use it, if living in Gero then yes) Re sail I wouldn't go smaller than 4.2, (Unless living in gero then a 3.7). One mistake people make on windy days, is they put too much outhall on, which makes the sail very twitchy, yes heaps of downhall, but only use the outhaul moderatly, you need shape in the bottom of the sail, downhaly creates flop in the leach at top of the sail, which acts as the exhaust, but you need shape in the bottom for smooth power. Hope this helps, I'll let others respond.

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Originally posted by Poida

Hey Kodyn



Hey Hardie
I found my S1 severne is very twitchy with too much outhaul
it was nice to turn off the power though once I was on a wave

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Hey Poids,

Not familiar with the Severnes? Sounds like it worked on the wave face, which maybe what it was designed for. Twitchy never sounds or feels good though, IMHO i would definitely be trying to tune the twitchiness out of the sail, hard to get comfortable, which in strong winds is when you need a sail to feel comfortable. Ask around, other Severne owners might be able to help. Twitchy doesn't sound right though ????

Watch this video of the best in the world, when Finian Maynard passes the orange bouy on the left of screen he gets hit by two 60 knot gusts, watch how his compact stance allows him to hold, even though he gets stood up!!!!! This is technique at its best!!!!

ba0__

I think all windsurfers need to study this video, especially speedsailors, look for all the subtelties.

Hi everyone,

I'm about 65kg and when i go out in realy strong winds (i was told about 30 knots twice) i have a 100L Naish wave board with a 5m Core wave sail downhauled and outhauled to the max.

I know for a fact that the sail is way to big for me, So i just hang on and hope not to get hurt to much, but i've been trying to convince my dad the board is also prity big for me in that kind of wind. Am i correct here? We have a old fiberglass wave board (about 80L) sitting up in our rafters. With a good fin, would this be a better option for me?

Bubs

3.7 seems way to small. I thought more like a 4.0 - 4.5. For the amount i would go out in these winds it seems pointless to spend a lot of money. But i was hoping to take out this fiberglass board at some point. Would this be a better option? Would it handel a 5.0? Also what kind of fin would you suggest? Just the wave fin i used on my 100L Naish board. I recently bought a bigger fin for that. Going out sailing tomorrow.

Bubs

I feel fine taking out smaller gear. But when we first tried the board, my brother took it out and got stuck out realy far. Took him like and hour and a half to get back. Now dad wont take it anywhere. Problem is my brother didn't realise that he wasn't quite good enough to sail a board like that at his level.

Bubs

lol windy,,,thnx mate but i reckon if i buy anymore sailin gear this yr,,,,the mrs will pack her bags,,,lol..

went out today in 25-30knts,,,pulled a little more downhaul and let the outhaul out a bit,,felt heaps better,,,lots more control...just about done me back tryin to get more downhaul but ya get that,,,lol

cheers for all the advice guys,,,,now just to get thos bloody gybs