Hi, I bought a Starboard Formula 161 and a gun sails 10.9 a few months ago. Im 14 years old and weight like 70 kilos.
sometimes I can't go up wind as the others, do you have any tip to make this better?
Hey Rodrigo,
Have a read of this post www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Getting-upwind/
And this site I found - www.osterskarsvk.se/vindsurfing/teknikartiklar
Hi Rodrigo, when you say you can't get upwind as well as others, do you mean in relation to other people on formula gear? Or other windsurfers in general?
Steve Sylvester had a great article on formula sailing - it looks like it's been shortened and spread out across multiple articles on the windsurfingtour website.
www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=windsurfingtour&e=com
Here's a 10 page pdf of the article, it's a great read:
www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCQQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fxa.yimg.com%2Fkq%2Fgroups%2F1016226%2F996041532%2Fname%2FCeir%2520-%2520tecnica.pdf&ei=km5qVaGuMsLLmwWHhoDICA&usg=AFQjCNHr_COlKyqgIx1Rdy_pTv3QbHLMgA&sig2=Wc-E30XSpeVFCe4DvPEMPg&bvm=bv.94455598,d.dGY&cad=rja
Hi rodrigo,
Hard to give advice from a distance, unless you give some more information.
-do you have a problem with angle, speed or both
-do you have the problem in all conditions, or in low wind only (i.e. keeping the angle up even in light winds)
-what kind of find are you using
-what's your body length and what boom height do you use
I find it more difficult to keep the angle and speed in light winds. I use a Drake 70cm fin. I use the boom like at the half.
OK, must admit it's quite some time ago I raced formula, but I guess the basics stay the same.
Problems keeping angle and speed in light winds means you don't have enough lift to rail the board properly.
Boom height should be higher, about eyebrow. Long (looooooooooong) adaptable harness lines.
Try a softer fin. First borrow from a fellow FW sailor to see what difference a soft fin makes, because buying them is expensive as you probably know. Come back here and post your findings. If you find out softer fin really makes the difference, first get some good info on what brand etc - you do not need to buy a 1000,- Kashy there's less expensive alternatives.
