Today I went out and found myself downwind of where I wanted to be. I found it very hard to sail upwind and ended up giving up and just going in somewhere else. My board is a Bic Vivace slalom board so I know its not designed to go upwind and this is why I was having a lot of trouble but what are some tips people have about the technique of sailing upwind and how to best achieve this.
JP has a few handy vids.http://jp-australia.com/2014/es/media/freeride-videos-tutorials/
During the upwind part of the tutorial it says lean forward, look forward. You will notice the guys hips and upper body are twisted to look forward. This is very handy as it sheets the sail in nice and hard without loading up the back foot to hard.
Depress the windward rail
look upwind toward where you want to go
keep your back leg straight and drive off the fin (if planing)
have the weight in your harness pressing through the hip opposite your back leg (keep your body weight forward)
bend the front leg and roll the foot toward the small toe (weight forward)
back hand up against the back harness line
front hand way forward
In lighter wind change direction to upwind very gently
load up the harness and turn your chest and shoulders up wind to where you want to go.
Roll you toes up in the forward footstraps to load up the windward rail.
Having you straps as outboard as you can will assist.
Lean forward and try to sail off the luff of the sail keeping it as upright as possible giving maximum lift.
I used to race the vivace in the early 90's the 280 model and we did upwind course racing on it with a 38cm fin. 6.5 and 7.8 favored sails. They were a great all round board in the day.
Still if wanting to go upwind need to remember need power to burn, if under done it's not going to happen.
Keep at it and you will get results.
All good points above. One thing not mentioned which really helps heaps, is tighten your outhaul. It narrows the sail which allows you to sail closer to the wind.
Select to expand quotemuz720 said..
Still if wanting to go upwind need to remember need power to burn, if under done it's not going to happen.
Yep, power and speed will help the fin generate lift. Try and feel the load on the fin and keep it constant and smooth to avoid spin out. A quality fin makes a difference, it'll give enough lift upwind whilst being controllable off the wind.
Sail trim is tough to get, oversheet and you may feel like the rig is falling backwards and losing power. Undersheet and you won't have the power you need. I find I use the front arm a lot to trim rather than the back arm. Harness should do the sheeting and use the front arm to trim and keep the rig upright.
Wow I used to have one of those bics in 1993.
One thing that helped me go up wind was ditching that board and getting something a little more modern. Anything from the 2000 onward would be better
Thanks for all the replies, i'll try to remember this next time i go out.
And Yuppy, i've been trying to do this for a while, harder than i expected, one day soon i will!
