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body weight and planing
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surfalex



Joined: 08 Aug 2008
Posts: 73

PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 10:27 pm    Post subject: body weight and planing Reply with quote

How much does your weight affect your ability to plane ?
Getting frustrated to watch my 165 ibs buddy getting rides on a 5.3 while I am still puffing along , not planing on a 6.5.
I am at 190 ibs so about 25ibs heavier.
Typically we are both on 125 freeride type boards. How much is skills and how much is just simple physics ?
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KevinDo



Joined: 02 Jul 2012
Posts: 426
Location: Cabrillo Inside

PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 11:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Going to say you're going to need one sail size up if everything was black and white.
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MalibuGuru



Joined: 11 Nov 1993
Posts: 9293

PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 1:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

25 pounds equates to about 10 liters of volume. So, you need a 135 liter board to keep up with your friend. (roughly) Board and fin are more important than sail. You will need a larger fin also.
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kevinkan



Joined: 07 Jun 2001
Posts: 1661
Location: San Francisco

PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 2:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Both sailor weight and technique matter. There are some guys who literally defy the laws of physics and can plane in lighter winds on small gear... most of these guys tend to be lightweights, but I do know several heavier guys who are very efficient and who can plane earlier w/ smaller gear compared to lighter riders with bigger gear. You can also tune your gear for power... or a proper mix of power and efficiency (low drag).
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jingebritsen



Joined: 21 Aug 2002
Posts: 3371

PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 4:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

in florida, we need every trick in the book to max our sailing time. gear, weight, venues and technique are all intertwined.

in order to wave sail one must learn how to sail unhooked quite a lot. both going out and wave riding require long periods being unhooked. pumping the sail and fin are part of this skill set. pumping out of harness takes practice.

i sail with various folks with widely ranging body types. if the wind is 10-15, i can pump up as soon as a friend that weighs 80 lbs less with both on the same gear. if the wind is 8-13, he beats me at hole shots. i pump, he doesn't. OTOH, another friend is within 10lbs more than me, and he needs a meter or more AND a larger board to plane. again, he does not pump to plane.

some gear won't allow planing off the fin. some does better than that than others.

venues that have stronger winds allow more lazy techniques to be considered "normal."

in a very few words, it's complicated.

another complication within skill sets. who can plane out of jibes, who doesn't? if one can stay planing, one has an apparent wind advantage.

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justall



Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Posts: 442

PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 5:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

... And if you'd like to see the relationship between board size, sail size, fin size, wind speed and sailor weight, have a look at J. Douglass' windsurfing calculator. I've found it to be a pretty good tool (nice of him to put it together). Here is the link: http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2010/11/updated-windsurf-calculator-online.html
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adywind



Joined: 08 Jan 2012
Posts: 665

PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 6:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Agree with everybody that there are many factors at play. But while some -like loosing weight, buying a better at early planning equipment, gaining experience are slow and difficult to achieve -fine tuning your kit and following some simple techniques are free easy and bring instant gratification. I don't want to bother you with unwanted advice or complicate this tread so I'll stop here. If you want some help with that you can ask here or start a new tread.
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LeeD



Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 1175

PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 10:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Point of diminishing returns?
Big guys can pump because their size overmatch the weight of the sails.
But when you go really small in sailor size, the weight and strength, besides the lack of need to practice, makes it harder for small people to pump effectively.
Possibly, from what I'm seen, the earliest planers are sailors between 145-210 for guys, and of course, lower for women.
I've seen cases where guys 275 lbs. can plane as early as guys 185 lbs., on the same sail and board. But that's the aforementioned skill and technique thing.
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PeconicPuffin



Joined: 07 Jun 2004
Posts: 1830

PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 11:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's overwhelmingly a skill issue. If you haven't yet been humiliated (as I have) buy a heavier guy on a smaller board or sail, who is a better sailor, that may be hard to believe. Also as your efficiency improves and you start to find yourself planing before others (and know what you're doing to cause that) it quite satisfying.

Efficiency comes from a number of subtleties. If your harness lines aren't perfectly balanced (or darn close) if your sail isn't well-rigged (don't make the mistake of too little downhaul thinking it will get you planing. You'll feel tug, but you won't plane) and if you aren't keeping your body still, you won't have the sensitivity to exploit the microgusts to get you going, or to compensate for the microlulls that drop you off the plane.

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westender



Joined: 02 Aug 2007
Posts: 1288
Location: Portland / Gorge

PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 12:06 pm    Post subject: Re: body weight and planing Reply with quote

It's a skill issue. Frustrated non planers point fingers but we all have bigger gear available and you'd be surprised at some of the uninformed comments on the beach. Sad

surfalex wrote:
How much does your weight affect your ability to plane ?
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