If you are a lone sailor always tell someone where you going for a sail.at least that person knows if the inevitable happens.

Nice safety tip. Obviously the board doesn't go far when the sail IS still connected so easy to become complacent in the event of the unlikely.

I am gonna get red thumbed to death for this... But don't take candy from strangers take technique advice from strangers on the internet. You've never seen them sail, you have no idea how good they are. You could be getting sex advice from a virgin. Trust pros!

MikeyS said..
Get professional help. I mean, do a course with any of the really good instructors mentioned on the site from time to time.

Increases your skill exponentially from what ever level you are at.

Do this... and if you want to practice gybing with a future interest in racing, count down in your head and when you hit zero... turn and deal with whatever the ocean presents.

As the videos all say " where the head goes the body will follow"
top tip i would say,
personal experience works with tacks, gybes, loops, and my poor freestyle

Long harness lines

Sail with a bit of backhand pull. The back hand is like your accelerator!

sausage said..

N1GEL said..
Sail with a bit of backhand pull. The back hand is like your accelerator!

I have to disagree as I'm the opposite Nigel. I set my harness lines slightly to the rear of COE as the sail is in a much more powerful position and I can trim the sail much easier than if I had back hand pressure (this is of course for slalom / speed sailing). Each to their own I suppose. Only time I consider moving lines further forward (in front of COE) is if I'm going to do deep downwind runs as it's less tiring on the leading arm and body position is different as sail is sheeted out further than if normally sailing square.

Yeah, I used to sail with heaps of front hand because I hated feeling like I was going to get flung over the front when a massive gust hit. But, not that long ago, I was advised by a respected sailor to move my lines a bit more forward. I tried it with some reluctance, but it felt good after a few runs... I find it's much better with bare-aways, going deep off the wind like you say... it helps to sheet out. The difference between my front and back hand is pretty marginal (only a slight backhand bias), where as it used to be very heavily weighted on my front and I'd get crazy forearm burn. I find I can sail a lot, lot further now than I used to. I'm pretty sure Guy Cribb recommends more front hand though, so there you go. Everyone is different.

Sail as much as you can

N1GEL said..

sausage said..

N1GEL said..
Sail with a bit of backhand pull. The back hand is like your accelerator!

I have to disagree as I'm the opposite Nigel. I set my harness lines slightly to the rear of COE as the sail is in a much more powerful position and I can trim the sail much easier than if I had back hand pressure (this is of course for slalom / speed sailing). Each to their own I suppose. Only time I consider moving lines further forward (in front of COE) is if I'm going to do deep downwind runs as it's less tiring on the leading arm and body position is different as sail is sheeted out further than if normally sailing square.

Yeah, I used to sail with heaps of front hand because I hated feeling like I was going to get flung over the front when a massive gust hit. But, not that long ago, I was advised by a respected sailor to move my lines a bit more forward. I tried it with some reluctance, but it felt good after a few runs... I find it's much better with bare-aways, going deep off the wind like you say... it helps to sheet out. The difference between my front and back hand is pretty marginal (only a slight backhand bias), where as it used to be very heavily weighted on my front and I'd get crazy forearm burn. I find I can sail a lot, lot further now than I used to. I'm pretty sure Guy Cribb recommends more front hand though, so there you go. Everyone is different.

I'm pretty sure with Guy's setup you shouldn't be able to take your front hand off the boom..

Smile

N1GEL said..
Sail with a bit of backhand pull. The back hand is like your accelerator!

sorry but worst advice ever for somebody going down to a FSW or wave for first time. This setup requires backfoot pressure to acheive the backhand pressure and you will spin out all the time and struggle to plane or get upwind.