Hoping somebody might have some tips on setting harness line position and also harness line length. Just getting use to the harness/harness lines but I can't seem to find a comfortable setting. Is there a more precise method to finding harness line positions or is the best approach trial and error for your various sails sizes? Would the Cribb sheet be a worthwhile purchase? Is forearm length for harness line length a good starting point? Cheers in advance!
The Cribb method is basically to have the lines 1/3rd of the way down the boom, which is a pretty good rough estimate. But for each sail try and feel if you're using more effort with the back or front arm, and if it's the back move the lines back, if the front then move lines forward. As for length, buggered if I know - there seems to be such a variety of lengths being used I suspect it might be a personal thing dependant on sailing style, length of your legs as a proportion of you body height, the position of mars in relation to saturn, that sort of thing. I use 22 inch lines, and I'm 184 cm with long legs ,and a virgo.
Not trying to hijack the thread, but on a slightly different tack.
If you find that you keep getting "accidentally" hooked back in during a gybe, are your harness lines too long? or am I doing something wrong?
go with long lines!! i used to use 24s but tried 28s and never going back. im about 173cmish but 28s are sweet, the rig feels much more distanced and controllable especially in gusty conditions.
Cheers all.... I'm finding the longer length feels much better (I have the adjustable lines for the moment) but can't seem to find a good position on the boom. So a good starting point would be about 1/3 down the boom. Will give that a try and go from there.
check out this for some in depth detail.
www.guycribb.com/userfiles/documents/The%20Truth%20About%20Harness%20Lines.pdf
I've got adjustable....set them at max length, never found the need to adjust them in, although, my arms are reasonably long (not gorrilla long, but being 6'2", arms to match.
Full length lines give me enough to sail comfortably, but close enough to the boom to be in control when hooked in. Next time, 28fixed!
I don't think harness line length depends on your arm length but rather the height of your boom relative to your hook height. You want to be able to hook in by just standing tall, which means the bottom of your harness lines needs to be just above the height of your hook when standing in a normal non-planing position on your board.
Your harness lines should be anchored about 6 inches apart and close to a perfect U shape. Don't try to use longer lines and spread them wide.
I use very short lines (20-22) because I sail with a low boom and I'm very tall. As a result I tend to sail with larger sails than people of comparative weight and use my legs to extend my body weight a long way out to windward to counteract the pressure in the sail. By creating more leverage and being able to use a bigger sail, I find I'm invariably one of the faster sailors wherever I sail, even though I use wave gear everywhere.
It depends on the suppleness of the leather but the lines are usually attached to rings on the side and teathered to some sort of frame ....oh damn wrong forum again
I am 6'2" with a seat harness that puts my hook a couple of inches below my navel, and even with my boom at chin height, found that shorter lines led me to either spread my hands miles wide apart on the boom, which wasn't comfortable or intuitive. The alternative was to work with bent elbows, which resulted in some serious tendon discomfort on the inside of my elbows. (Took a couple of months to go away)
Yes, as an early intermediate I was probably pulling on the boom more with my arms than I should've been, but any arm input was through a very bent elbow which is not a good thing.
Getting away from the boom more gives you more room to move and react, straightens out your elbows without giving you a crazy wide grip, and also allows the rig to be more vertical when you're leaning right out against it.
I have adjustable lines now too, and have them set at their longest setting. Still a bit short I think, but miles better for posture and elbow comfort.
With regard to spacing between the lines on the boom, I have found that close lines make the sail much more responsive to changes in the wind, and you have to be much more active in your sail control. Widening them right out makes it really easy to sail, but you need to get them centred around the right place on the boom or you end up inadvertently sailing slightly over or undersheeted because you can't feel the pressure changes in your hands as well.
1/3rd back is a good start for your front line, and then the back line a couple of hand widths behind that. Depends on your sail trim though, so you have to experiment a bit, or just suck up the difference with your arms and for-go that poserish double hand drag nonsense 
A cammed sail is less prone to changes in the centre of pressure, so close is good, but a North Tonic (no-cams) that I sailed on one occasion almost killed my arms with the constantly shifting C of P before I widened the lines out.
It's probably one of those things that you find a happy medium and just go with that. 90% of the sailors out there (me included) will never notice that extra .02 of a knot that they're missing out on by not having 100% perfect trim, especially seeing as we are probably doing at least three other things "wrong" too..
As long as you're enjoying yourself and not causing any injuries or breaking stuff, I reckon that's nearly good enough!
