How to Windsurf - Lesson 2 - An Introduction To Steering And Turning Maneouvres
Once we have gotten the hang of sailing for a couple of metres, falling in, turning the gear to lay it out in the opposite direction and sailing back, we will at some point get bored and/or tired of always having to drop the sail in the water to head back to where we came from.
We might also have gotten tired of always drifting downwind and having to walk back to our starting point with all our gear.
The time has come to figure out how to windsurf in a specific direction and how to turn.
Steering The board will react to what the sail does, or more accurately, what we do with the sail.
We must keep this in mind at all times.
In Lesson 1 I mentioned that we must keep the mast vertical in the basic windsurfing position.
The reason for this is so the board moves about 90 degrees to the wind.
By leaning the sail forward or backward we steer the board to and away from the wind.
If we incline the sail forward (or the mast slightly towards the wind) and sheet in, the board will bear away from the wind.
That is to say start to turn so that we will sail more in the direction in which the wind is blowing.
If we lean the sail to the back of the board, we will turn so that the bow (front) of the board turns to where the wind is coming from.
It is important to note here that there is a limit as to how much we can turn into the wind and still move forwards without stalling.
So be careful as to how much to turn into the wind as you could come to a halt and suddenly have no wind available or even wind from the wrong side of the board if you turn too far.
Turning The are three basic ways to turn.
The 180 degree turn, the tack and the jybe (and their stylish variations of course).
In this article I will focus only on the 180 degree turn and write another article for the other two.
180 degree turn In the same way that we position and hold the board to be in the T-position, we can also lean the sail to the left to turn the board clockwise (when seen from above) and right to turn it anticlockwise.
Keep in mind that turning the bow through the wind may be a little bit harder but turning so that the bow turns through the downwind course will make us drift downwind more.
We might also have gotten tired of always drifting downwind and having to walk back to our starting point with all our gear.
The time has come to figure out how to windsurf in a specific direction and how to turn.
Steering The board will react to what the sail does, or more accurately, what we do with the sail.
We must keep this in mind at all times.
In Lesson 1 I mentioned that we must keep the mast vertical in the basic windsurfing position.
The reason for this is so the board moves about 90 degrees to the wind.
By leaning the sail forward or backward we steer the board to and away from the wind.
If we incline the sail forward (or the mast slightly towards the wind) and sheet in, the board will bear away from the wind.
That is to say start to turn so that we will sail more in the direction in which the wind is blowing.
If we lean the sail to the back of the board, we will turn so that the bow (front) of the board turns to where the wind is coming from.
It is important to note here that there is a limit as to how much we can turn into the wind and still move forwards without stalling.
So be careful as to how much to turn into the wind as you could come to a halt and suddenly have no wind available or even wind from the wrong side of the board if you turn too far.
Turning The are three basic ways to turn.
The 180 degree turn, the tack and the jybe (and their stylish variations of course).
In this article I will focus only on the 180 degree turn and write another article for the other two.
180 degree turn In the same way that we position and hold the board to be in the T-position, we can also lean the sail to the left to turn the board clockwise (when seen from above) and right to turn it anticlockwise.
Keep in mind that turning the bow through the wind may be a little bit harder but turning so that the bow turns through the downwind course will make us drift downwind more.
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