I had a good session in 20+ knots yesterday, had the right sail and foil and everything felt groovy. I did however notice in the really big gusts the nose was getting pushed down. Does that mean I need more rake on the foil mast?? I anybody using shims under to mast plate to adjust rake? Or do I just need to shift my weight back a touch, I ride strapless?

Door number 3. The gust is adding extra downforce to the sail mast base causing the nose to dive. Shift your weight back. (I ride strapless too.) As a general rule, don't make a static adjustment for a dynamic event.

Sail mast base back

If I get that, I crank the sail downhaul, maxi plus

I only use front straps, so rear foot is free to make micro adjustments. Back foot at the rear of the board on the rail going hard upwind, slide forward towards centerline down wind. When I was using front and rear straps, I could swing my hips forward/aft to control pitch to a degree. The issue was hittimg a big lulls required removing foot from rear strap and get it to board centerline as quick as possible. It's just easier for me to have a "free range" rear foot with our conditions.

I also modulate MBP with sail trim especially jibing. Sheet in to drive the nose down etc.

Going strapless, would give lots of options I would think. I breifly rode strapless, but having a static front foot position removes one variable that worked best for me.

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tonyk said..
If I get that, I crank the sail downhaul, maxi plus

Spot on, TK. It is always a lack of downhaul. It forces the nose down, limits speed and makes the sail feel very backhanded. Let that leech flap!

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Boston! said..

tonyk said..
If I get that, I crank the sail downhaul, maxi plus

Spot on, TK. It is always a lack of downhaul. It forces the nose down, limits speed and makes the sail feel very backhanded. Let that leech flap!

Good Copy Gents, that makes sense. I was at the top of the range for that sail and I should have had a bit more downhaul on. Actually, I should have been on the next size smaller sail, but I don't have one ATM.

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WsurfAustin said..
I only use front straps, so rear foot is free to make micro adjustments. Back foot at the rear of the board on the rail going hard upwind, slide forward towards centerline down wind. When I was using front and rear straps, I could swing my hips forward/aft to control pitch to a degree. The issue was hittimg a big lulls required removing foot from rear strap and get it to board centerline as quick as possible. It's just easier for me to have a "free range" rear foot with our conditions.

I also modulate MBP with sail trim especially jibing. Sheet in to drive the nose down etc.

Going strapless, would give lots of options I would think. I breifly rode strapless, but having a static front foot position removes one variable that worked best for me.

My back foot is "free range" for sure, most here do similar.
I hear ya on the static front foot and one less variable. My front doesn't move around much but I would not want to lose the adjustments that I get from it. Basically, my front foot is rough trim, and back foot is fine trim and sheeting angle.
My thoughts when starting this thread is to find a way keep the feet still more often, reduce the number of things that I need to correct for. I remember an old post from WhiteofHeart that mentioned pitch change from gusts being caused by rake. Like you want the air to flow evenly over both the top and bottom of the board to maintain steady pitch in the changing apparent wind speeds. I think I remember he said if you drop in gusts add more rake to get more flow underneath the board.

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BullroarerTook said..
Door number 3. The gust is adding extra downforce to the sail mast base causing the nose to dive. Shift your weight back. (I ride strapless too.) As a general rule, don't make a static adjustment for a dynamic event.

I like that, don't make a static adjustment for a dynamic event. It simplifies or reduces the number of set up adjustments.
My thought is there might be ways to balance the dynamic event so no rider input is necessary. I was able to balance the down force with a subtle increase in back foot pressure. Ideally, I would not need too.