You mean when you are surfing down a wave? That's when the pressure on everything is at its lowest.Try to time the gybe ... when you are not surfing down the face of a wave.
Well, at least the boat pivots easier around its fore-and-aft axis thenLowering the daggerboard may help in giving the boat something to pivot around.
Here's a nice video (from Greece):Yes, the Laser certainly presents challenges. Still does for me after ten years!
I may have misunderstood, but if you ease the sheet on a reach the boat should slow down, unless you were closer to the wind.
I try to keep the boat flat on a reach, so that the rudder will 'listen'. If the boat starts heeling to leeward, I sheet out. Once the wind lessens a bit, I sheet in again. There must be video on the Internet, and you can always ask Mariet B!
With "oversheeting" do you mean sheeting tighter or looser than for optimal airflow? And why would you not want to go as fast as possible?How about oversheeting on a reach to reduce the speed
With "oversheeting" do you mean sheeting tighter or looser than for optimal airflow? And why would you not want to go as fast as possible?
It sounds like You are sailing it.Am I riding or driving this boat.
You really don't want to slow the boat down that way. If it feels more controllable, it's just an illusion. The boat may feel more stable but you're actually overloading everything and when the next gust hits you're in trouble. You might even break something.oversheeting means that the sheet is tighter than for optimal airflow.
The reason for reducing speed is to feel (more) in control of the boat
Hey there Duncan,
What you are going through sounds very much like what my "protege" Greg went through. Before he learned that "faster is better", we got caught one day over a mile upwind of the boat ramp when the wind really came up. After struggling to sail off the wind while not being fully powered up I had him fully luff up, sailed right up next to him and told him he just had to man up, bear way off and slowly bring on the power until his tell tales were flowing perfectly.
Well, he did it, got his weight way back and took off like a rocket. But as he expressed after we got back to the ramp, "Ya... once I was going full speed, everything got nice and stable. It was scary at first, but I really liked it. It was way easier."
This is due to what Lali was saying. That getting fully powered up on a broad reach brings your apparent wind well forward, you get your daggerboard working in balance with your sail (your underwater and above the water "airfoils") and a lot of the twitchiness in the boat goes away. It's the exact same dynamic with windsurfing. Ie, 3/4 to top speed is waaaaay more stable and easy than 1/4 to 1/2 speed.
Also, keep raising your daggerboard until you find the sweet spot. You'll know it when you find it. Suddenly your boat will go from wanting to heel all the time in the gusts... forcing you to sheet out... to having really nice manners. You just have to embrace the terror!
And regarding gybing in those kinds of strong conditions, here's a tip. Don't gybe. When you have to change direction, slowly head up while sheeting in. Then tack. Then slowly bear away on to a broad reach on your new tack.
Cheers,
- Andy