When tacking, do you typically go into it with speed, or will you wait until you are stationary before going for it?

I know the technique is supposed to be as you head up wind, but curious what most people do.

Something I want to practice more of.

Cheers,

K

Some speed is good as it keeps the board a bit more stable.
Don't be afraid to step around the mast before you go too far into the wind - this helped my tacks heaps. It allows you to back wind the sail and keep things upright.
I now prefer to tack than gybe when its light and you dont loose ground down wind.
Practice is the go. Try on some flat water first, remember when its on the swell the wind angle changes. Just keep on trying and dont rush it.

Kurt, definitely not stationary. I've seen some go into it and beginning of sail transition still planing.

Edit - or what beermate said!

On a short board you definitely want to keep your speed up. If the board becomes stationary when you make your transition it will be far more unstable and and increase your chance of the nose sinking on you. If you watch a good wavesailor perform a a tack, they will move so quickly that they will be on the opposite side of the board and sheeting in before the board has stopped moving. Try to keep your body weight over the centre line by maintaining an upright body position when moving around the mast and try to minimise your foot movements to maintain stability. Hope this helps.

Thanks. Tricky bit is getting weight back enough after the foot and rig change.... very easy to sink the nose, but I guess this is why the speed is important going into it.

As soon as you switch to the other tack, throw the sail/mast forwards and backwind the sail to get your balance.

Select to expand quote

windaddict said...
As soon as you switch to the other tack, throw the sail/mast forwards and backwind the sail to get your balance.

Tacking has been driving me crazy lately, what I have found is that on flat water I could go into the tack with heaps of speed and get around say 50% of the time or better on a 96L board, but as soon as I get into the choppy stuff I seem to loose momentum.

A few times I have jumped around early and back winded the sail and its worked on flat water so keen to focus on that next time out in the choppy stuff.

Good topic K Dog