VIC
129 posts
I have a 07 KA Kult 7m which I haven't used for a long time. After getting a new light wind board the other day I had the sail out for a spin. The sail felt like it really wanted to pull forward or catapult me the whole time. Rather than getting my weight outboard, to compensate for the forward pull I hung some of my weight back off the tail of the board which felt all wrong. I also had to have my sail raked back a bit to avoid catapult. Any suggestions? I'm used to sailing North Ice sails but this forward pull didn't feel right.
I'm pretty sure my downhaul was ok, I haven't really got into the finer points of outhauling sails.
WA
23647 posts
Really sounds like not enough downhaul - you'd have to have unbelieveably too little outhaul to achieve that problem on most sails
Wanted to throw you over the front in sharp gusts...... was it also hard to get upwind when only marginally planing?
VIC
129 posts
Yep, it did want to throw me in gusts. I' wasn't really trying to get upwind so I'm not sure about that. Looks like I might have the same sail out tomorrow so I'll give it a bit more downhaul and see what happens.
QLD
6491 posts
could it be that the wind was gusty, or that the wind was switching directions a bit? I sometimes experience this in those sort of conditions
generally a good yank over the front is a good thing and a sign your sail is working efficiently - pulling you forward to the nose of the board, rather than down wind and back handing you
NSW
9207 posts
^ Agreed. I'm finding I like a bit more power up high. Good for jumping, good for upwind.
However very likely what Mark said, add more downhaul. Go nuts with the downhaul next time and see how it feels. You won't break anything.
I've got an 7.2m '07 KA Koyote myself and it likes a lot of downhaul, or I like it with a lot of downhaul, or I like it when it needs a lot of downhaul. It's a powerhouse with little downhaul, and very comfortable and slippery with a lot. 2cm can dramatically change the feel (tipping point?).
...Come to think of it: It's very possible the printed measurements for luff are out by 2cm. I remember being told they forgot the wheels thingy whose name i've forgotten in the measurements. Come to think of it I've never had a sail rig exactly as per the specifications printed on it.
VIC
129 posts
Thanks for all the advice,
I took the sail out with an extra bit of downhaul and this made everything much easier. The wind was very light so I let a bit of downhaul and outhaul out after a while to get a bit more power. This was much more manageable than the severe catapult prone setup I had last week.
Cheers.
