The Need for Speed:
Losing weight on the board
So you want to go fast. Well who doesn`t! Since the beginning of time man has had the yearning to go fast, from the first wheel to super sonic jets of today. Well windsurfing falls somewhere in between these extremes of the speed spectrum when its done right. The current world speed record for sailing on a windsurfer is 45.34 knots (84.01 kph/52.21 mph) set in San Marie de la Mar, France by Thierry Bielak on April, 14, 1993. This may not sound very fast when your typical cars top speed can be between 100-150 mph, but when its just you, your board and your rig ripping across the water at 52 mph it feels like you are going 200 mph. It is much more of an intimate experience with the elements than when you are strapped into a hulking giant of a rocket.
There are two sides to the speed equation, displacing and planing. In the displacing situation your increased wetted surface area will increase your speed. That is why course boards of higher volume and longer length will be faster in sub-planing or displacing conditions. On the flip side when you are in planing conditions the less you have in the water the better, henceforth you want to decrease your wetted surface area as much as you can. Of the two conditions it is probably apparent that planing conditions are faster than displacing conditions by virtue of less drag. The tips in this article are intended for when you are planing. They, however, may help you get planing as well as go fast.
With the science of it out of the way you are probably wondering, "Well, how do I go fast?" Well I`ll tell ya! Here are ten tips which I read about and have put to practice with outstanding results. I have gained about 20% in speed and want to pass them on to you so that you too can enjoy the need for speed.
- Keep your board flat by pointing your toes.
Many people keep a lot of their weight on their heels when they are learning. This may, however, keep you going up wind it doesn`t help your speed because when the board is railed that increases your drag, therefore, slowing you down. A flat board is a fast board. So point your toes, keep the board flat, and sail upwind by sailing off the fin like a dagger board, not your rail.
- Press against your fin laterally.
Once you are planing, start pressing with your rear foot laterally against your fin. This pressure produces lift and increases your speed. It is a lot like when you are water skiing outside of the wake and you catch up with the boat by pressing against the flow of the water causing you to be projected forward. The same applies to windsurfing, so press hard and you`ll go much faster.
- Hang farther from the rig by straightening your arms and rolling your shoulders.
By doing this you reduce the amount of weight on the board, committing more weight to the rig and this reduces the drag on the board. You might even want to roll your boom to your finger tips to get that extra extension you need.
- Keep your hands about shoulder width apart.
This relates to point #3 because this allows you to get more extended from the rig and you become more sensitive to the load on the rig. If you have a super wide grip you will be dogging it and going slow.
- Sheet in using your body, not your arms.
Rather than just pulling in your sail with your back arm, let the sail hold you up by lying out over the water. Don`t sit out over the water, lie back. This also gets your weight away from the board.
- Don`t pull the rig too far to windward.
Once you have gotten more confident in getting your weight out over the water there is a tendency to over do it and the rig starts to lean to windward. This has the effect of choking off your power. You want to keep the rig vertical as much as you can. You can accomplish this by extending your hips toward the sail by bending your knees.
- Shorten your harness lines.
If your lines are too long you end up sitting down and not lying back into your harness. When you sit you start re-applying that weight you lost by getting into the harness to the board again. By lying back the wind takes the load of your butt. You should be on your tippy toes to get into your harness not bending your knees. So shorten them up and go faster.
- Sail quietly.
A quiet sailor is a fast sailor. Basically stop adjusting your weight, sheeting angle, and direction every ten seconds. Once your heading in the direction you want to go, get into a stance and lock it in keeping your upper body stiff. Let your knees absorb the bounce in the board.
- Close the gap.
When closing the gap you will notice the biggest change in your speed next to getting your weight off the board and into the harness. You get the aerodynamic benefit of "end-plating". This tip goes with tip #5, when using your body to sheet in you will also be able to rake the rig back to close the gap the foot of the sail makes with your board. This has the effect of producing incredible lift in your board.
- Lift up in your foot straps.
This is very important once you are in the straps and is the ultimate in getting your weight off the board. If you can lift the front of the board, there is almost no weight on the board so therefore you are going fast. While you are leaning out in the harness, and in the straps, lift upward with your front foot and your board will feel like it is getting unglued from the water and you should be cranking.
Well there you have it. Just about everything you ever wanted to know about going fast but were afraid to ask. Going fast is not as simple as it might sound just by reading these tips. Notice, though, that every tip relates in some way to the basic idea of getting your weight off the board. You have to be really conscious of the conditions and make changes in your stance and setup to reflect these changes. Of course having the right equipment rigged for the conditions wouldn`t hurt either. So, get out there and practice these tips, lose that excess baggage on your board and I guarantee that you will be smoking your buddies at the beach the next time on the water.
Beach Starts and Water Starts:
When the going gets tough ...
If I had to decide on what is the most tiring part of windsurfing for the beginner, intermediate and advanced windsurfer, it would be uphauling the sail. If you are on a shortboard and have a fully cambered sail in choppy surf this compounds the problem. It can be downright exhausting trying to get the sail out of the water. Well, this is why the beachstart and the waterstart were invented. You don`t have to install sheet rock for a living to have the strength to beachstart or waterstart. It actually can be quite effortless when you know what you are doing and there is enough wind. Below I will outline how to beachstart and then progress into a waterstart because they are very much related.
- start in enough water to clear the fin.
- point the board away from the beach on a slightly broad reach.
- holding the boom near the mast, the clew should be down wind.
- grasp the boom with your other hand. You should feel the sail trying to pull you.
- place your back foot between the back and front foot strap. Do not step on the board just place it there.
- sheet in with your rear hand by bending your elbow, keep your front arm straight while tilting the rig forward. The sail should be REALLY pulling now. This applies mast foot pressure (MFP).
- while sheeting in, step forward, putting your weight on your back foot and push off with your front foot.
- once you`re up, sheet out so as to not catapult and now your moving.
Trouble-Shooting:
- I can`t get pulled up onto the board.
This is caused either by not enough wind to get going or you haven`t powering the sail up enough. Remember, to power up the sail means to sheet in by bending your rear elbow, keeping your front arm straight, and tilting the rig forward. Also, you may need to position yourself closer to the board so that when you fully extend your arms the sail will be flying higher and therefore pulling you more.
- I keep sinking the tail of the board.
You need to not step with your weight early on. Let the sail pull you up, committing your weight then, using mast foot pressure to balance.
- Once I get on the board I fall back on my butt.
You are committing too much weight to the rig too soon. If you are under powered, bend your knees more when you are on the board rather than leaning out over the water.
- I keep rounding up into the wind.
To avoid this, lean the rig forward and power up a bit. Do not stand straight up or lean toward the rig, ever!! Falling in backwards is OK. Falling in on the downwind side is inexcusable. Never do it!
When you fall (which you will do relatively soon) swim or walk the board back to shallow water and repeat the beach start until you feel comfortable with it. Once you have this down you are ready to learn the waterstart.
The waterstart is very much like a beachstart. The best way to learn to waterstart is to beachstart in a place that gradually gets deeper than knee deep. As you get better, just make your starts from deeper and deeper water until you are making them in water which is chest deep. From this point, learning to waterstart is really easy. Someone once gave me advice that helped a whole lot, they said, "Waterstarting is like pulling a sheet over your head, you have get really under the boom...". Think about this when you are at the stage of getting out of the water.
The first thing to do in a waterstart is to get your rig oriented properly. To this day, the one thing that takes the most energy for me is getting my rig into position for a waterstart.
The rig needs to be positioned with the mast perpendicular to the wind and the clew downwind. The board should be facing slightly downwind on a broad reach and the rear facing you with your back to the wind. This may seem easy to the untrained eye but it can be quite a pain. Here are some tricks to make it easier and always remember to let the wind do the work, not you:
- mast is pointing upwind.
Swim the rig so that the rig is perpendicular to the wind. Always swim away from your clew not towards it. Otherwise you will sink the rig.
- clew is upwind.
If the clew is upwind, you have to swim around to the clew and lift it. The wind will catch the sail and flip it over so that the clew is downwind.
- board is pointing upwind.
To get the board to point down wind grab the nose of the board and while holding the boom by the mast, push down on the nose and up on the boom. You can use your feet to finish the job by pushing the nose away from you
Now your board should be in perfect position and ready to start.
- clear the sail by lifting the boom and place it on the stern of the board so that the mast/boom connection will be resting on the rear of the board. If it doesn`t make it then lower booms and/or move your mast track forward.
- fly the sail by lifting up on the rig above the boom connection and pushing down on the rear of the board for leverage, so that the wind will catch the sail and fly it. Then grab the rear of the boom with your other hand and move your front hand to the boom. Fly the sail overhead, keeping the board on a beam reach and keeping the mast perpendicular to the wind.
- place your rear foot on the board in front of the rear strap and use your front foot to swim against the drift of the board. This will provide more lifting force for you to get on the board.
- while powering up the sail bend your knee so that you are closer to the board and the rig is flying higher. You should be moving a bit now. This applies mast foot pressure (MFP) and helps the board bear off.
- with your front foot kick like you are swimming and place more weight on your front arm as the sail pulls you out of the water and forward. You actually swing your weight forward, toward the mast base.
- once you are up sheet out and you are on your way.
Here are a few helpful tips to remember:
- Lower booms make waterstarting easier (shorter lever arm) but sailing more difficult. You may want to lower your booms a bit after you know how to sail pretty well and are just working on waterstarts. After you have waterstarts down, start moving them back
- A life vest makes sail handling in the water less tiring.
- Flat water makes EVERYTHING much easier.
- Rig with LOTS of downhaul to lock the draft forward in your sail. A poorly balanced rig can make all of the steps much more difficult.
- Rig to be overpowered, it will accelerate the whole learning process.
- Also, the trouble shooting tips for beachstarts also apply to the waterstart.
So now you think you know how to waterstart. Well each time you waterstart it will be different because of wind, the waves, or the sail you have rigged, so keep practicing in varied conditions and don`t give up. And don`t be too quick to throw away that uphaul line once you have learned to waterstart, when there isn`t enough wind to waterstart you`re going to need it to get home!
Getting into the Straps:
Your sailing position
Getting into the straps may be one of the most fundamental skills besides harness use to get the most out of your windsurfing experience. This not only will allow you to be faster but will also give you more control over your board in a variety of conditions. Getting there depends on two main factors, the wind and your sailing position. Your sailing position of course will help you get the most out of the wind conditions.
When trying to get to that optimal sailing position you are going to need to play with your set-up (mast position and harness position and length) to try to end up with your feet next to the straps. This means your back foot should be next to or on top of the rear strap, perpendicular to the board, and your front foot should be out on the windward rail next to (in front of) the front strap pointing forward (about 45 degrees). Once you can do this it will take minimal effort to slip into the straps.
Before any of this can happen you must be doing the following things to ensure success:
- Sailing fast enough on a plane to allow you to move back on the board.
- Sailing sheeting in enough to sail on a plane and leaning out over the water.
- Sailing with your weight committed to the harness so that your front foot can be on the windward rail and you are not rounding up into the wind.
With these three points, you will be ready to get into the straps.
Here are some common problems and solutions to your set-up:
- Sinking the tail when moving back into the straps. This is commonly caused by not going fast enough or on a plane. You must be planing or about to get onto a plane to get into the straps. If you`re not planing work on that, not getting into the straps. A common tip to get yourself planing in minimal conditions would be to pump and hang from the booms. If you are planing and this still happens you need to sheet in more so that you can commit more weight to the booms and not the board.
- Always rounding up when getting into the straps. This can be caused by having too much weight on the board and not on the booms. You will need to hang from the boom through your harness or your arms. Be careful not to put a lot of weight on the windward rail, this too will cause you to round up into the wind. Also committing more of your body out over the water while pointing your toes will reduce the tendency of the board to round up.
- The board feels like it`s out of control, like you are going to fly off of it. Well, my friends, this is a state that some people like and some people don`t. In this overpowered condition you can reduce your speed by either heading up a little into the wind or sheeting out by pulling the front of the boom towards you rather than pushing out with the back of your boom. In really powered-up conditions most people will move right into the straps and get there in a split second before coming up on a plane. This is because they know there is plenty of wind to get there.
The bottom line is not how to get into the straps but how to attain the correct sailing position. Once you`re there this will allow you to move your feet around the board while maintaining speed. If you`re hanging from the booms, fully sheeted in with your body out over the water, you should be flying and in the straps. Once you are in the straps you will be able to handle heavier wind and bigger waves. Your next step, chop hopping and jumping waves. So good luck and work on that sailing position.
Causes and cures
There you are, sailing along, powered up in some conditions a little beyond where you`ve been before, you hit a little chop and then
-- WHAT THE @%#*?! Did I break off my fin?! --
You`re still sort of on course, but the board is pointing about 45 degrees closer to the wind, and blasting along sideways. You`re still on a plane, but you`re not sure you should be.
Whoa. Now that you`ve stopped and jumped in the water and turned your board over, you can see that the fin is still there, and just fine. (Or not, in which case you need to look for the "busted fin" FAQ.) What happened?
You`ve just experienced SPINOUT.
That nice, smooth flow of water on either side of the fin that was providing the (sideways) lift to keep you on course, and heading a little upwind is not so nice and smooth when this happens. Your fin has "stalled," and at the new angle of attack, 45 degrees or so, there`s hardly any lift, but plenty of drag. What`s more, it`s a long way back to that smooth flow!
There are three causes of spinout, and even more ways to cure it. The actor in the scene described above has come to be known as "ventilation" and is the way most of us first encounter spinout; after going airborne off a wave, we lose it on re-entry. If air can get at the root of the fin, it can be drawn into the low-pressure flow on the windward side and lead to a stall. The turbulence resulting from chop and the landing helps this happen, as does putting the fin back in the water at the wrong angle - it needs to be pretty close to "on course."
The other term that gets tossed around is "cavitation," which is low pressure boiling. It`s a known and well-studied problem for propellors, and for hydrofoils at speeds above 40-45 knots. You probably weren`t going that fast, were you? Whatever the threshold, any nicks, dings and other surface imperfections will bring it closer, and increase speed-robbing drag as well.
The third cause is a fin that doesn`t match the conditions. Too small a fin for that big sail will do you in, as will too big a fin when the wind is blowing "small sails." (The latter problem is from loss of control as the vertical component of lift from your fin wants to make your board fly.)
How do you keep it from happening? Keeping those dings tuned out of your fin is certainly important, and better fairing (smoothing of the transition) between the fin and the board can help. Technique has a lot to do with it, too. Will Estes (westes@usc.com) suggests the fix I use:
- As soon as you spin out, try to remove all weight from the back foot. I find that in most cases this alone will allow the board to correct on its own. Usually the spin-out is initiated by too much weight on the back foot, and once the spin-out begins, weight on the back foot keeps it going.
As you get better, you will find yourself becoming very familiar with the sensation of the fin just as it is about to begin to spin out. There is a moment before the spin out when you can feel the fin lose force against the water. If you act quickly to remove weight from the fin just at the moment when the force of the fin is lost, the spinout will correct before it even happens.
- Learn to grab the board with the back foot and literally yank it toward you (to windward). The idea is to force the fin back to the direction you`re going and re-establish smooth flow around it.
The side force that you apply to your board and fin is what "drives" the fin. If you drive it too hard, or when it`s not completely in the water (or if you don`t have enough fin to start with) it stalls. In the worst case, you have to get out of the straps and move your weight closer to the mast to get it off the fin.
Paul Billings (pab@maui.com) describes a more agressive technique:
- You must absorb the bumps with your legs. When going over the top of the chop, let the sideways pressure off a bit (don`t push so hard with your back leg).
- If it happens, pull HARD with your back leg and push with the front. Actually it`s more of a jerk than a pull.
- And another approach is to just do a little chop hop to get the fin out of the water and situated properly while in the air. This assumes you can land without spinout, however. :-)
There are plenty of experiments in fin design going on, and you can certainly join in that fun. Hydrofoil designers have been working around cavitation for more than 20 years, and with the sailing speed record topping 50 knots, it`s certainly a problem for windsurfing`s "leading edge."
If your designer hasn`t made any gross mistakes (or found the Holy Grail), fin SIZE is the key parameter you need to pay attention to. If you can control your sail in the conditions you`re in, but you spinout easily, or can`t point as high as you want to, you need MORE fin. If the board is getting squirrely, trying to fly on its own, leaving you overpowered and out of control, you need LESS fin (and maybe less board, too).
Your Setup:
Finding your balance point
Having your gear setup up properly is very important for the ultimate control in all conditions. A poorly setup board and rig will perform badly as well as being hard to control. Some signs that you are poorly setup are spinout, tailwalking, difficulty staying upwind, difficulty planing, and if one or both arms are getting over tired from pushing and pulling on the boom While many of these signs can be attributed to other problems as far as technique and equipment but your setup can contribute greatly. Unfortunately sometimes it requires good technique to determine what the proper setup is for your board and rig. Lets assume for this article that your technique is good.
There are basically five areas that you can tune to get your setup set properly; fin, mast track, harness lines, boom height and strap position.
First you need to determine where you want to place your straps. For early planing and heavy weights it is good to place them into the forward position. For speed and tighter control in turns, place them into the rear position.
Once you have the straps into position you can place your fin into the fin box. The position of the fin is determined by the placement of the rear strap. It should in line with the rear screw of the rear strap. If you do not have any adjustability in your fin box then don`t sweat it and pop your fin in. The leading edge of the fin should never precede the rear strap screw, this can and will induce spinout.
Now it is time to set the boom height on your mast. A good starting point is to set it at the same height as your collar bone. This will cover about 70% of the conditions. For lighter wind, you can set them slightly higher so that you can put more weight on your booms for earlier planing, for heavier wind you can set them slightly lower. The boom height effectively determines how much weight is placed on the board, and should never be placed lower than the sternum and higher than your chin.
Your harness lines are probably the most important factor in getting everything in balance. While on the beach locate the center of effort of your sail by finding the balance point on your boom. Set your harness lines equidistant from this center point. This is a good start but will need some tweaking once under power. Sail with them in this position and feel the pull on each arm. The pull should be equal on each arm. If the pull is greater on your front arm then move the lines toward the front, if the pull is greater on your back arm, move the lines toward the back. The adjustment should not be more than an inch in each direction. In addition the harness line separation should be no more than shoulder width. The closer they are the more sensitive the rig will feel and you will be able to sheet it properly.
Harness line length has been a big issue of debate and all I am going to say on that subject is that they have to be long enough to not depower the rig to windward while under sail and short enough so that your arms do not get tired and your butt shouldn`t slap the water. The adjustment I use is about from the tip of my pinky to the tip of my thumb. Thats about right for me. Everyone else may be different.
Finally, once all else is setup you need to set your mast track. Your mast track should be set such that the center of effort of your sail falls at the midpoint of your straps. If this is set properly you should have equal pressure on both legs while in the straps. If your front leg has more pressure (called front loading) you need to move the mast track back, if your back leg is loading more, move the track forward.
Well now your are set and ready to sail. This may seem like a lot to do before sailing but do it once and you are set for the life of your equipment. If you get a new board or new sail you will need to do it all over again. Write down your adjustments for the different conditions and keep a log. It is the only way to truly find your balance point.
