Bic 293od upwinds HELP

[TheAdmiral]

Used this board mainly to slog around,but as my skill level increased I found it easy to get up on plane,but hard to stop it from turning into the wind! Yesterday on the lake,7.5 retro,15-18mph,46 fin ,all it wanted to do was upwind!! Put the identical rig(28lines,shoulder high boom)on my 283 bic and sailed going wherever I wanted. My buddy also sailed the 293 and felt it was hard to keep off the wind. How do you set up this board to plane?? any helpwould be appreciated. Wanted to use this board as a low wind and user friendly for friends,but if i can"t figure it out it will be for sale soon Mark.

[techno900]

I haven't been on a 293, but I use to have a 283 techno. I moved to formula about 7-8 years ago.

Big boards with wide tails and long fins want to go upwind, but can be turned off the wind with very little effort. My first time on a formula board, I had the same issue. Try the following.

1. Move the mast foot forward
2. Raise the boom, especially if you are in the straps.
3. Hang more weight in your harness (more weight on the mast foot)
4. If beginning to head up, keep your front foot forward by the mast foot to push the board off the wind.
5. Footstraps forward will help initially, but later you may want to move them back.
6. Smaller fin?
7. Make sure you have good speed before getting into the foot straps. Too soon and you will sink the windward rail and head up.
8. After getting in the straps, push down with your toes to keep the board flat.
9. Be sure you are heading off the wind about 100-110 degrees while getting on plane or pumping to get on plane.

When you get comfortable, you will love the upwind capability and wonder why you initially had the problem.

Good luck, it won't take long.

[d0uglass]

Admiral-

I assume you know to flip the daggerboard up before you try to plane. Can't plane with the daggerboard in the water.

Other than that, go with techno900's tips and you should be alright. Key points to avoid rounding up are pushing the nose down and downwind with mastbase pressure (kind of like pushing a mop hard across the floor), and pointing your toes so you don't sink the windward rail.

Good luck!

-James

[dhmark]

Good tips from everybody. The forces are all slightly different. Everything is further away from the center line of the board, necessitating a much higher boom setting to feel right, but makes it very difficult to slog hooked it (lines not long enough), which I prefer to do since I am weak and lazy. You have to do it the "proper" way, get going underway before hooking in, even in the straps. dhmark

[dpsilver]

Being a relative newbie, I know this problem. A wise man (Elvis- really; anyone who has been to Bonaire should know who I am talking about!) once told me the reasons can include:

1. Mast not forward or windward enough (the way you are positioning the mast yourself, or how far forward you placed the mast foot)
2. Not enough power- need to sheet in
3. Board not flat (carving upwind)
4. Not enough wind!

Good luck!

[DanWeiss]

[quote="TheAdmiral"]Used this board mainly to slog around,but as my skill level increased I found it easy to get up on plane,but hard to stop it from turning into the wind! Yesterday on the lake,7.5 retro,15-18mph,46 fin ,all it wanted to do was upwind!! Put the identical rig(28lines,shoulder high boom)on my 283 bic and sailed going wherever I wanted. My buddy also sailed the 293 and felt it was hard to keep off the wind. How do you set up this board to plane?? any helpwould be appreciated. Wanted to use this board as a low wind and user friendly for friends,but if i can"t figure it out it will be for sale soon Mark.[/quote

Mark: 15-18 with a 7.5 Retro is plenty of power to easily plane the Techno 293OD. If you find that the board naturally guides itself upwind, you can move the mast track to the center position, but that really limits the speed and makes easy sailing more difficult.

I think you need to add more downhaul and drop some outhaul tension. This will move the draft forward and, especially important, reduce lower leach tension for a lot more twist. More twist will prevent the board from driving upwind and moving the draft forward will help push the nose off the wind.

Generally, raising the boom will cause the nose of the board to ride a bit higher but also can make the sailor feel more balanced by going upwind because high booms really load up the fin. So, rather than raising your booms, try using a less powerful fin. Or set the fin in the rear-most position. Either of these will reduce the power coming from the fin or at least make it easier to control that power and will help balance the board much better from beam reaching.

Hope these tips help.

[TheAdmiral]

First of all,thanks for all the great advise and tips. Again, I have limited TOW with this board and from what I"m understanding the width of this board makes it sail like a hybrid/formula. I had the mast track all the way forward (3 position track). As the board began to plane ,I rotated my body and probably sheeted in without the mast being into wind causing the CE to be over the centerline of the board. I was just getting up to speed and probably not enough speed!!Dan mentions more downhaul,less outhall and a shorter fin which are easy changes. (where should the mast track be???)Not much wind in N.H. so it"ll be awhile before I'm on this board. Now for the good news,be in Aruba next week and looks to be windy!! Be at Aruba Beach Villa (equipment so,so old)with friends from last year which make it a fun time!!Gybing is on my main agenda. Again, thanks for all your help, Mark

[winddave]

Search for the bic 293 web site and they have videos for set up for different points of sale.