Hi I am hoping that someone is willing to help me with some advice.
I am new to windsurfing and have been spending 60-90 minutes weekly for a few months. I have been sailing at West Lakes (SA).
I am about 95kg on a Madd HiFly board (165L floatation). Today I used a 5.5M sail in about 10-15 knots. So far I have only sailed with this sail in much lighter wind than today. The sail was not overly flat.
My problem that I'd like help with is that in the wind today the board seemed to float less than normal and I realized that instead of moving forward as fast, the sail was pushing the board downwards. The board floated much better when the sail wasn't under any load at all. As soon as I was moving, the board was heavy and lower in the water. My assumption is that I have rigged incorrectly but I really dont know what it could be.
Any advice would be welcomed.
Are you hooked in when this happens ?
Assuming you aren't hooked in, I can only think you might be standing too far forward when you are powered up, or might be holding the boom too far back, which might be pushing the leeward rail (ie the side of the board) into the water. Best of luck.
I am not hooked in. Haven't gotten to that yet. Hopefully will soon.
I hold the boom as far back as I can but usually this is close to the mast (maybe 30 cm or so for the closest hand to the mast).
I have been experimenting with the mast base position as I was having trouble going downwind but that is getting simpler now. The mast base is close to the center of the track now and I'm still finding going upwind easy enough.
The sail I use is pretty full. I used to sail dinghy's and I would have made it flatter if it was on a dinghy. It is a tiny bit too long for my mast so it has more curve than I'd like in today's conditions. Not sure if that is part of the problem.
Sounds to me like oversheeting. You perhaps have pulled in towards yourself with the back hand and pushed the front hand away as it is windier
This causes a lateral drift and thus the bogging down feeling, not a forward pull from the sail
The mast should stay still just like a yacht and the boom sheets in. The only mast movement is fore and aft for steering.
Sail set is not that relevant for non planing on a big board, but just in case please tell sail, mast, and how you set it. Pics also is even better
Thanks Mark, I was wanting to make it fly today and did pull it in pretty hard. After you mentioned it and as I think back I remember the board digging in laterally and assumed incorrectly at the time that it was a balance issue so compensated.
My mast is a Neil Pryde 2 piece, 2.5kg, 430 cm "C30 Carbon" with average diameter 42.3mm.
My sail is an "Ezzy Wage, 5.5m2, luff 4.75, boom 1.75.
With my mast extension I can only achieve 4.65m. Today to partly compensate for the 10cm diff between mast and sail luff I twisted the top of the sail 360 degrees and this shortened it about 5cm. There was minimal impact on the sail shape. However the sail still cant be tensioned to the specified luff on my rig and this leaves it fuller than I want.
I have another sail that does fit my rig that is 4.7m2 but I have been a bit greedy for speed. In hindsight that is probably a pretty ordinary decision. I have been looking for a sail that is large but at a cheap price but haven't found something suitable yet. Sorry, I dont have photos of the rig yet.
Rigging a sail that needs 475, at 465, will make it baggy and shapeless with all lateral power and no forward drive. That will compound everything else. Please rig it right. For the first couple of hours on a board it doesn't matter, but after that it will matter, increasingly so.
It is not a yacht sail and can't be treated like one.
Floppy leech (twist) and mega tight luff / body - taut like a drum.
Sounds like you need a longer mast extension, 10cm short is an awful lot, the sail will feel and perform horrible.
You're right, forward power in the sail does drive the nose down. So as you get powered up, you need to move your weight backwards and rake the rig back as you go.
This decreases wetted area and gets you going faster so you can move back a little bit more, when the wind dies you have to move forward again to stop the tail sinking.
Thanks guys. Good advice. I'll move back to the sail that fits the mast until I get either a bigger extension or a sail that fits. I keep getting surprised at how my sailing experience keeps misleading me. I really appreciate your feedback.
I also started windsurfing after many years of sailing and found most things you need to do differently. I would say apart from the feeling of the wind direction and speed you should forget anything else.
