Sometimes when sailing in gusty winds, ie one minute 25+ knots and the next second 5 knots, I use a bigger board and smaller sail. This allows me to stay afloat when the wind completely dies and not overpowered in the gusts. I don't like sinking every time the wind drops away. Sometimes I'm able to plane through the lulls too.

You just described 90% of sailing I do south of Adelaide.

Like JSN folk said Floaty board medium sized sail is usually the go - my 5.0 is always the "not sure what to put up sail" - at some stage during the sail it will be perfect.

Scones and tea sounds like a good idea ikw777!

We get similar conditions here in Melbourne on our northerlies, or at least we did this year. I find a slightly floatier boards helps also but I think one of the worst things you could probably do is flatten of a small sail too much as it just makes them twitchy. Leave a bit of shape in and they feel heaps better IMO.

Iceman said...

I was out on Saturday and had one of the worst sails ever. The BOM site listed the average speed at around 15 knots and gusting to over twice that 32-33 knots. Not only that, the average speed was changing all the time as well.
I had a 4.2 m sail and a 90 l board working on the theory that you have a sail for the gusts and a board for the lulls but it was just too extreme.
I rigged the sail with a fair amount of downhaul, not extreme but more than I usually do and at one stage I used as much outhaul as I could but that just made the sail feel weird. I thought maybe a slightly larger sail but with all the down-haul I can muster????
Does anyone have any hints to make these conditions more manageable?

Sounds like our winter conditions..[}:)] If you can sail in flat water you can use a bigger board to ease the lulls. I do anyway but then just get bashed to bits..I hate slogging in the lulls!

Medium sized board, one which will float you, but not a light wind board, and a small sail with plenty of shape in it.

Iceman said...

I was out on Saturday and had one of the worst sails ever. The BOM site listed the average speed at around 15 knots and gusting to over twice that 32-33 knots. Not only that, the average speed was changing all the time as well.
I had a 4.2 m sail and a 90 l board working on the theory that you have a sail for the gusts and a board for the lulls but it was just too extreme.
I rigged the sail with a fair amount of downhaul, not extreme but more than I usually do and at one stage I used as much outhaul as I could but that just made the sail feel weird. I thought maybe a slightly larger sail but with all the down-haul I can muster????
Does anyone have any hints to make these conditions more manageable?

You may have answered your own question
Some times its just to extreme ,,,,,,

Carnt do anything more than you done but hey sometime .........HUE WINS
I guess you got to time it to sail the squalls and get in before it drops out
I.E
How far out the back you go and up wind.
Work the lifts and knocks.
Flicking out of that wave a bit earlier to aviod being caught on the inside.
Riding in on the last gust leting the wave do the work of the rig.
Running 1km up the beach before the next squall.
Watching the current or tides times as a strong incoming tide running with the wind can knock 10knots out of the wind strengtht of help it blow for longer.

Had a session i was keen on recently were it was 40 knots in a cyclone,
Got down the beach late, crew had been sailing it all day. On inspection the current was now flogging down the beach along with half the coast ,the waves had become choppy the wind was onshoreish. i new a 4m was a must but the wind was like a whaling banshee it would have been horrible at this time.

Mobydisc said...

Sometimes when sailing in gusty winds, ie one minute 25+ knots and the next second 5 knots, I use a bigger board and smaller sail. This allows me to stay afloat when the wind completely dies and not overpowered in the gusts. I don't like sinking every time the wind drops away. Sometimes I'm able to plane through the lulls too.

+1 use this sort of combo all the time big board smaller sail, can actually be great fun, surprising how much speed(gps) this sort of combination can crank out, on our lake it can be anywhere from 10-30knts