Difficulty going downwind

[kalaniwavo]

Well so far I haven't done much except crash going downwind except in the lightest conditions when it's easy to man handle the sail. Otherwise I'm just getting worked, but I think sheeting in will be the trick.

It took me a little while to figure out I couldn't plane with the board down so I've left it up recently and normally I've been trying to head about 45 degrees off dead down wind. When slogging downwind should the board be down? Does anyone put the board halfway down or a 1/4 way down?

Def have some new stuff to try out this weekend. Hopefully get a little wind out here in West Florida.

[NOVAAN]

When you put the dagger down you move the center of resistance forward to the center of the board not over the fin. This makes for easy up wind sailing in lite to moderate winds. If you have enough wind to get on a plane you should put it all the way up. This will keep you heading to much to wind when powered. At this point I would only use the dagger board down if You are down wind and need to get back to your launch....

[NOVAAN]

Post a picture of your rigged sail. Most new guys do not come close to having enough down haul in the sail. Mister Ezzy has great rigging and tuning video's on his site. Well worth a look...

[NOVAAN]

Another thought, When your up on a plane don't just point on a straight line.
Head off the wind, carve the board back up, have fun and learn where your board will go and how it behaves. Same with the sail. Play with sheeting in and out. Move the fast forward and back to see how this will effect how the board rides. If you don't already water start, put in the time to learn. Ask the guys at your sailing site for help. This will open up everything that is high wind windsurfing. Its easy!!!!

[kalaniwavo]

It took me a little while to see the indicator wrinkles in the sail and get comfortable putting that much tension on the downhaul. A local guy helped me rig it one day and I ended up marking the downhaul line with a paint pen for each setting. It has made rigging so much quicker.

On a side note too. I'm surprised more people aren't into windsurfing. I've been surfing (waves) for almost 20 years now. Just moved to the Florida Gulf where it's flat as a lake. I know kiting is the rage and I took some kite lessons a few years ago in Rio Vista, CA.. but the benefit of being able to go out in lighter wind and launch solo in a small area without worrying about decapitating someone on the beach with the kite is huge. and for me windsurfing just feels natural. Glad I "discovered" the sport!

[d0uglass]

Glad you're enjoying the Kona Kalaniwavo!

Planing downwind is a lot easier if you're in the footstraps. If you can't get both feet in the straps, at least put the front foot in. That helps keep you from getting catapulted over the front.

Also, it's easier to not get catapulted if you have the mast base set further back in the mast track. That allows the nose to ride higher and not "stuff" into the back of waves as much.

You extend your front leg in the strap, and lean the mast to windward to help push the nose downwind. At the same time you bend your back leg under you and use to help absorb the chop. If you're overpowered you can take your back foot out of the straps and put it between the back straps, or even into the opposite side back strap if you're really overpowered.

You almost always want the daggerboard fully retracted when going downwind. Even if you're not planing. Going downwind with the daggerboard in the water is a recipe for disaster.

Another tuning trick for downwind is that it sometimes helps to have the harness lines a little longer. In a really scary downwind situation you can even get out of the harness and just hang down on the booms like a squatting chimpanzee, but that's tiring.

[cgoudie1]

Hi Kalani,

I have a theory about Windsurfing that you might appreciate.
Surfers are a different breed, they have to wait for some pretty explicit
conditions before they can ride at all, and those conditions don't happen regularly anywhere (though more regularly some places than others).

Learning to surf and then progress requires some serious desire.
Windsurfing has similar issues with learning and progressing.

I guess what I'm saying is, coming from a surfing background predisposes you to be the "kind " of person who might enjoy windsurfing.

That might be why it feels more natural to you. I don't know a lot of Kite boarders who started out as surfers, usually they started out as wake boarders.

-Craig

[NOVAAN]

Yep... A lot of us did surf. It got pretty boring for me. Get out, sit and hope a wave comes. If your are at a really good spot, you might get a 5 second ride.
Lots of bad attitude in the line up to deal with. Most windsurfers are pretty cool. If your not a wind snob, you can pretty much sail everyday. Been windsurfing since 1981. This sport has taken me to tons of wonderful places. I have friends every where I go. I love blasting in waves or flat water.
That said, Its super fun to get out on my wind sup and mess around in lite winds. Keeps the high wind skills sharp. I'm packing right now for a month stay at South Padre Island. If its not raining L'll be windsurfing one way or the other...

[isobars]

[isobars]