Alright, so now that the season is under way and I'm trying to get on the water more often, I needs some tips and advice on improving (besides spending more time on the water)! So here goes:

Firstly, how the heck do you make sense of using foot straps on a raceboard! Freeride/slalom/everything else- easy, one strap for each foot. Raceboard... feels like a million options to choose from! HAHA
Whenever I get my front foot in all the weight goes on the windward rail and I turn up wind sharply and come off. haha! What foot straps should I be using? The front 2 foot straps are quite wide on the board, and your feet point straight across the board (not on an angle). Should I be using these foot straps?

Secondly, harness lines... I have never been able to find the best set up for the. I have adjustable lines, but my problem is that I think I either have then too far forward and I struggle to sheet in the sail fully, or I have them too far back, and I catapult forward in the gusts. How do you set them up properly? What does everyone else do? Should they be close together or further apart?

Letter C. Water starts... I'm getting better at them (albeit slowly). I'm 90kg and I think when I'm using my 6.5 sail it might not be enough to pull me up? Saturday for example I was out at Manly with Morgan and his crew (and everyone else) and shallow water starts were fine, but a bit deeper and I just got dragged along in the water with one foot on the back of the board! haha The other thing with it is when I lift the sail out of the water and use the sail to turn the board, my board only wants to turn up wind... frustrating.... lol

Hopefully we get some good advice here before the weekend when I hope to have another go at everything and improve my on-the-water-time to in-the-water-time ratio! HAHA

Thanks!

Select to expand quote

AntsC said..
Alright, so now that the season is under way and I'm trying to get on the water more often, I needs some tips and advice on improving (besides spending more time on the water)! So here goes:

Firstly, how the heck do you make sense of using foot straps on a raceboard! Freeride/slalom/everything else- easy, one strap for each foot. Raceboard... feels like a million options to choose from! HAHA
Whenever I get my front foot in all the weight goes on the windward rail and I turn up wind sharply and come off. haha! What foot straps should I be using? The front 2 foot straps are quite wide on the board, and your feet point straight across the board (not on an angle). Should I be using these foot straps?

Secondly, harness lines... I have never been able to find the best set up for the. I have adjustable lines, but my problem is that I think I either have then too far forward and I struggle to sheet in the sail fully, or I have them too far back, and I catapult forward in the gusts. How do you set them up properly? What does everyone else do? Should they be close together or further apart?

Letter C. Water starts... I'm getting better at them (albeit slowly). I'm 90kg and I think when I'm using my 6.5 sail it might not be enough to pull me up? Saturday for example I was out at Manly with Morgan and his crew (and everyone else) and shallow water starts were fine, but a bit deeper and I just got dragged along in the water with one foot on the back of the board! haha The other thing with it is when I lift the sail out of the water and use the sail to turn the board, my board only wants to turn up wind... frustrating.... lol

Hopefully we get some good advice here before the weekend when I hope to have another go at everything and improve my on-the-water-time to in-the-water-time ratio! HAHA

Thanks!

The front two footstraps are for going to windward with the centre board down and the mast track in the forward position. When I say to windward imagine the wind is coming from 12 o clock you would be sailing towards either 2 o clock or 10 o clock. All the other straps are for either reaching ( 3 oclock & 9 oclock) or broad reaching (4-5 o clock or 7-8 o clock). On a reach or broad reach the centre board would be in the retracted position and in planing mode the mast track would be towards the rear third of the track.

We are sailing longboards every Sunday at Lake Cootharaba Sailing Club.
We are also offering coaching.
Come for a visit and all your questions will be answered.
You need to see how it is done rather than a long explanation here.

Select to expand quote

AntsC said...

Secondly, harness lines... I have never been able to find the best set up for the. I have adjustable lines, but my problem is that I think I either have then too far forward and I struggle to sheet in the sail fully, or I have them too far back, and I catapult forward in the gusts. How do you set them up properly? What does everyone else do? Should they be close together or further apart

The closer the harness lines are to each other the more important it is to have them correctly placed. I have my lines elbow length and right next to each other. When setting up a new sail ill put both lines about 1/3 down the boom. Then when sailing, whichever hand has more pressure I'll move the lines closer to that hand. For finer tuning I'll sail with one hand, hooked in but my hand placed on top of the lines. Then you can tell through a slight difference in pressure whether to move them forward or back a bit.

Hope this helps.

Thanks cammd. I'll get in some more practice upwind and reaching using the right foot strap options.

Tonymatta unfortunately Sundays are no good for me (although I would be keen to get some coaching). is it possible to tee something up with someone up there another time other than Sundays?

alec95 I'll definitely give that technique a go before I sail. That seems like a good idea!

Thanks!

ill let you know how I go next time I'm out.

I will be at the club next Saturday if you can come. But couldnt do that regularly.
the raceboarders at RQYS sail saturdays. cammd maybe can arange something for you there.
There are also commercial coaches if you want. they are more flexible with times.

Select to expand quote

tonymatta said..
I will be at the club next Saturday if you can come. But couldnt do that regularly.
the raceboarders at RQYS sail saturdays. cammd maybe can arange something for you there.
There are also commercial coaches if you want. they are more flexible with times.

Cheers tonymatta. I'll see what pans out for the weekend.

Select to expand quote

alec95 said..

AntsC said...

Secondly, harness lines... I have never been able to find the best set up for the. I have adjustable lines, but my problem is that I think I either have then too far forward and I struggle to sheet in the sail fully, or I have them too far back, and I catapult forward in the gusts. How do you set them up properly? What does everyone else do? Should they be close together or further apart

The closer the harness lines are to each other the more important it is to have them correctly placed. I have my lines elbow length and right next to each other. When setting up a new sail ill put both lines about 1/3 down the boom. Then when sailing, whichever hand has more pressure I'll move the lines closer to that hand. For finer tuning I'll sail with one hand, hooked in but my hand placed on top of the lines. Then you can tell through a slight difference in pressure whether to move them forward or back a bit.

Hope this helps.

Thanks alec95. I think I have them set up wrong for sure. I've been watching a few vids and noticed now that most guys have their back hand on the harness line. My back hand is usually far behind the back harness line.

We'll guys, I went for a light wind sail this afternoon at Manly (yeah low tide. It what the heck- the walk in and out was good fr me!)...

I REALLY enjoyed sailing in 8-12 knots with my 7.8m on the Misreal One a Design.

Cameron, I was trying to rail up the leeward soaped of the board while going ki d of upwind. Not sure if I achieved it but was working hard on it. Had the mast tack forward the whole time and centreboard down while upwindish (2 o'clock).

when broad reaching (8 o'clock) I tried a mix of the centreboard up and half down but mast track still forward, but never really found the groove sailing downwind. Upwind was definitely easier and smoother.

Sailed from manly to the mouth of Lota Creek 3 or 4 times, really enjoyed it! Next time Wello and back!

realised now reading this again that my back had was still way behind the back harness line. Mental note for next time.

Might try Friday afternoon for another light winds sailing session.

We are sailing again tomorrow at Paradise point Panpacific games.
Should have time to sail with you after the morning racing.
Or you could try a lap or two with us. First race is 10am.

Select to expand quote

tonymatta said..
We are sailing again tomorrow at Paradise point Panpacific games.
Should have time to sail with you after the morning racing.
Or you could try a lap or two with us. First race is 10am.

Thanks Tony, I'm working today so might have to give it a miss.