upwind sailing

[mac33]

anyone got any secrets about pointing high into the wind. in light wind can be quite difficult getting back to place where first started from. rigging sail with tighter leech, stiffer larger fin, lower boom,using heals in footstaps to lift windward rail are what works best for myself. a large sail rigged on too small a board i find the hardest to point.getting weight in harness forward as much as possible to nose of board is probably best known technique.

Use a big sail and a big fin !!!!

[nonopr]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Use a big sail and a big fin !!!!

Qkito: Come on behave!

[Farlo]

Maybe you could try fitting boards and sails better. A baggy small sail on a wide board might be better upwind than a large sail on a needle, but still worse than the proper sail/board combination. Look at the fin selector [url]http://www.select-hydrofoils.com/en/selector/[url] for instance. I prefer to be well to a bit over- than underpowered to point upwind, but in offshore conditions you may think otherwise. Anyway as you learn tuning bigger sails you will gain confidence.

[Ken]

mac33,

What board or boards; what wind; planing or sub-planing; sailor skill level? There are different techniques for different situations and equipment.

From your post, I am guessing you are on a "short" board in planing conditions. If this is the case, it's pretty simple - You need plenty of power (speed) and a medium to large fin, then sink the leeward rail and "ride the fin" with most of your weight on the back foot. Wide boards don't rail over as much, but the concept still applies. If it doesn't work, you need either more wind and or a larger sail. A flatter sail is more efficient upwind, assuming you have plenty of power (large enough sail). A tighter leech will add a little more power, but will be un-forgiving in the wind gusts (backwinded and "splat").

If the power isn't quite stong enough or you hit a hole, hanging in your harness (putting weight on the mast foot) will help keep the board railed over in the right postion. If this won't keep you on the same line, then you have to bear off and re-gain speed and then head up again.