I'm finding water starts with a large cammed sails can be energy sapping and frustrating. I've found that if you flick the cams down when the sail is in the water (ie cams rotated towards the water) it helps fly the sail as you pull the mast into the wind. Can you offer any more tips that makes life easier?

Thanks!

GusTee said...

I'm finding water starts with a large cammed sails can be energy sapping and frustrating. I've found that if you flick the cams down when the sail is in the water (ie cams rotated towards the water) it helps fly the sail as you pull the mast into the wind. Can you offer any more tips that makes life easier?

Thanks!

Thats interesting I would have thought youd need to flick the cams up..? so its set the right way & the wind can get under it..?

Its a bugger water starting big cammed sails. A pfd helps. Half the time when I'm using my biggest sail which is a North Warp 7.8m I use the uphaul to at least get the sail into the right position. However I do my damndest not to fall in with a big sail.

Were you sailing yesterday at Kyeemagh Gustee? It would have been good to catch up with you. I was sailing from about 3pm to 5pm with a Loft 02 7.4m and my big blue Tabou Rocket. It was a lot of fun.

Hello, Gus Tee,

Hope that there is enough wind for a water start, otherwise do an uphaul (possibly using an Easy Uphaul).

Agree with others that the cams should be facing up, not down. If they are down, hit/kick them to make them go up.

Manoeuvre board so that the tip of the sail faces into the wind.

Swim to the end of the mast and then lift the tip so that the wind can begin to get under the sail.

Holding the mast tip above your head, swim towards the boom, repositioning your upper hand each time on the mast.

When at the boom, lift it with both hands to present the whole sail to the wind.

Complete normal water start.

Hope this helps.

Windman, Trousers and Sboardcrazy- I must have misread what was being said about the cams. This is the way it currently works for me and I'm trying to improve it.

Originally, I was rotating the cams up prior to the waterstart, ie you push from the underside (the side that's in the water). In theory this made sense as it shapes the sail like a wing with flat side down to generate lift. However done this way, the sail wants to stick to the water, like a suction cup, very difficult to release. The wind also wants to blow over the sail, not under, forcing it onto the surface of the water. If I try to lift the mast in this position, sail usually wins, as I won't have enough buoyancy to lift it out of the water.

If I rotate the cams down (from above into the water), as I lift the mast up, wind is guided under the mast by the shape formed with cams and this in turn helps lift the clew out out of the water. Once I make my way to the boom and grab it, the cams rotate and face the right way for sailing. At this point, most of the hard work is done.

GusTee said...


If I rotate the cams down (from above into the water), as I lift the mast up, wind is guided under the mast by the shape formed with cams and this in turn helps lift the clew out out of the water. Once I make my way to the boom and grab it, the cams rotate and face the right way for sailing. At this point, most of the hard work is done.

right. so i think you're saying you leave the cams popped down to get the sail out of the water in the first place. i admit i still can't quite wrap my head around how it works.

i'm sure you know and probably do this, but if i really sink a big sail, i'll tend to fly it initially from the mast tip (roughly 45deg off the wind) and make my way down to the boom keeping the mast up with my upwind hand. it'll clear itself from the water before i make the boom, releasing the sail, and at this stage, the cams need to be popped in the right direction otherwise i'll not get the sail to generate lift.

Obelix said...

No help here, just venting my frustration.
My 8.1m with 2 cams is heavy and wide.
I use a lot of strength to handle it, and the far end of the sail is hard to pull out of the water.

Adding to your floatation helps a bit as you fight the water a bit less.
(a wet suit, a west?)

My wrist tendonotos suffers from it, and lately I'm getting a lot of pain in the shoulder side of my collarbone.
All from the waterstarting that sail, so I rather use it in the river shallows and avoid it on the sea.

I swear, I'll learn how to gybe and will never fall in again

Know the feeling..My biggest is a 6.6m & its a great sail but cetainly wears me out.My aim for this season is to improve my gybes enough so I don't fall in ( like I did in the 90's [}:)][}:)]) & can use my precious energy for more interesting things like jumps etc..I was on schedule but after a month off with injuries & flukey winds dont know..

If your board's tail is long enough use it to pop the sail up or even to rest the sail whilst you get the board at the correct angle. Saves lots of muscle.

Interesting. with an 8.5, 3 cams i only take out when the wind is low,
im having a nice dry sail then something goes wrong (but only slightly cos the wind is low) so I'm always left standing on the board groping for the uphaul.
Also (cos the wind is low and I'm maybe still dry) the last thing i want to do is jump in to waterstart
(especially if I gave up on a beachstart and uphauled to get going in the 1st place)

Now i think about it, i don't think I've ever even tried to waterstart it!

The angle of the sail to wind sinking the clew is news to me though, I'll look at that next time. I find its actually my smallest (4.7) sail that the clew sinks because its a crap old (porous) boom.

I also find it helps to get the sail out of the water asap. I move it around to rest the mast on the footstraps (the boom goes past the end) just to limit the amount of water that gets into the sleeve.

Also if I fall in body first I'll hold onto the boom with my arms above my head trying to fly the sail. My heads will be submerged intially but then I'll kick up out of the water or use the wind to pull me up.

I think it is easier to unstick the sail with cams pointing down but you will get much more lift with cams the right wasy up.

Sboardcarzy, sounds to me that you may be falling off windward so that the sail is downwind and then the wind will push your board in that direction whereby the mast will be forced underwater ahead of it. Try falling in the other side.

I'm no expert waterstarter but as I can't gybe I get a lot of practice waterstarting. I find it best to lift the mast from about 1m short of the tip. I have the cams in the sailing position. It doesn't stick to the water, quite the opposite, the cams hold the sail off the water, except near the tip. The clew usually clears the water as I move toward the boom. If it doesn't, I find even when I get the sail flying there won't be enough wind to lift me on the board without a light wind waterstart or a stronger gust. It is often easier to just wait in the water until that gust comes rather than tire yourself by treading water whilst keeping the sail flying