How to use swell to get going?

[Sailboarder]

I had a great day long session last Friday closeby on Lake Champlain. There was swell, maybe 3 feet top to bottom, and the wind was good. The wind got down for a while and I realized I could learn a thing or two about getting on plane using swell. Other riders were able to get going while I couldn't, and this only in one direction.

If you're still with me, I'll explain a bit further. The wind was coming from S, while the swell was SSE or maybe SE. While travelling toward the E, I could get on plane as fast as the other average sailors. I would aim for the flat section between the peaks, follow the valley and get on plane easily. My course was then slightly downind.

Travelling W, I had trouble to plane quickly. I tried different ways of setting my direction without success. Going slightly downwind would get me going but then slow down because I would have to climbe the preceeding small wave. I tried to get going that way and then turn in the valley but I would loose to much speed. And with less angle to the wave, I would just not go fast enough and then the wave would pass me. What is the preferred strategy?

[whitevan01]

I am sure others can explain this (and do it) better than I can, but to get on a plane try to go "downhill", or with the wave, as much as possible. You may be turning away from where you want to go momentarily, but as soon as you get planing, you can then head up to where you want to go. Sometimes you may have to turn very far away from your desired direction, but you will be able to head up after you get planing and there is lots of flow over the fin.

Maybe someone has the time to draw out your situation and give you more precise directions, but I need to get to my beach and go sailing now.

[isobars]

[techno900]

traveling east - in the trough/valley with no obstructions with a good angle off the wind. Planing is not too hard.

traveling west - running more down the swell, but then running into the back of the next swell, will stop you.

Solution - use the swell to get moving, but turn up/left immediately to avoid the back of the next wave and pump like crazy to stay in the trough until you get going. Or, if you can, turn downwind a bit to keep riding the front of the wave if you are losing momentum. No matter what you do, in this circumstance it will be harder to plane on a port tack.

[DanWeiss]

It may seem odd, but try moving your mast foot back a cm. Doing this should unwet the board heading into the chop going upwind. This assumes you would've had enough wind to plane comfortably without chop.

The suggestion to move to a bigger fin will work, too, but not so big as to drive the nose down. If unavoidable, move your mast foot farther forward while raising your booms to at least eyeball-height. That will help fly the nose with a powerful fin.

[xander.arch]

The fin pump / wiggle technique that isobars mentions is super helpful. Also, when you are on the top of a swell use a lot of mast hand pressure to weight the mast foot. This will get the board pointing downhill as whitevan mentioned which will enable slip you onto a plane by allowing the swell to push you forward and down the hill (as opposed to rolling under you). Remember you have three legs windsurfing, the two of your body and also the mast.

[bred2shred]

It takes a little practice to get things figured out, but as others have said, the trick is to aggressively point the board down swell and use gravity/the wave to give the board a boost of speed to pop up on plane. Having good pumping technique is invaluable as well. Then once you're planing, turn the board upwind so you don't loose too much ground. The part where the experience/practice comes in is in knowing when you will have enough power from the wind + swell + pumping to get up on plane, otherwise, you will end up losing ground if your turn downwind does not result in getting on plane. Also keep in mind that the act of turning downwind for extra power does not end after you've gotten on plane. The trick in marginal conditions is to recognize when you're approaching an uphill piece of swell and bear off if necessary to maintain planing. Then, when you regain power, turn back upwind to make the ground back up. You're constantly S turning your way through the swells. In marginal conditions, you'll find that staying upwind is something you will constantly be working on and staying on plane is critical to staying upwind. Sometimes going one sail or board size larger makes all the difference.

sm

[Sailboarder]

Thanks for the feedback. Reading them made me realize a few things.

I tried many ways to finesse out of the situation, but forgot about using more muscle. I got several time on a plane while going down but was losing it from turning to avoid the preceeding wave. I think pumping while going down would could have given me the extra speed required to stay on plane.

The tip about getting the nose up is also good. I was able to get going in the chop between "sets", and it would have been easier. I was riding with a lower nose than usual hoping to increase control while practicing jibes. It was detrimental to planing threshold.

I was also hooked in, which was maybe not the best in the situation. Because of that, I was possibly oversheeting when going downhill. I could feel the sail get lighter and was thinking that it was because I was gaining speed going down, with more apparent wind.

I now think that I was not overunning the wind , so I should sheet out to get more speed from the wind while going down, and sheet in (a big pump) while turning to avoid the preceeding wave. Does this makes sense?

[isobars]

Yes ... but I can't emphasize enough how much of that hassle can be avoided with bigger parts. I'd rather plane easily than futz with a smaller sail. The exceptions include already being on the biggest gear I'm willing to use and being in a temporary lull.

[DanWeiss]