Hiking in gusty winds

K

kerschi

New Member
I have a problem when sailing in gusty and/or shifty conditions. When hiking hard I sometimes miss the end of the gust (on our small lake the gusts/lulls often can't be seen very well) . Instead of coming back into the boat my back is dragging trough the water, in the worst case I capsize to windward.

Are there any tips and tricks for moving back into the boat or at least for preventing the capsize?

;-) Markus
 
Hi,
your problem also happens often to me. Im about 95 kg, but I have not the muscles like "Arni" and this means, I´m often late, 2 late, 2 come back early enough in the boat in strong+gusty winds, if the blow stops suddenly....
I train 2 get faster and in the morning, this goes perfect, but after some hours sailing and capsizings, I become lame. Then I try the technique to catch fast the luffside grabrail with the (mainsheet-)hand, thats nearer to the bow and I don´t hike full outside the boat, but put the top my feets a bit under the grabrail of the lee side of the cockpit. I drive the Hikingstrap not 2 loose. Because I´m 195 cm, this way of hiking in the aftnoon works for my recreational sailings. Sailing the Laser often means not only be fast with the boat, it means be also fast on the boat.

Stay wet and servus
LooserLu
 
Have you tried tightening the hiking strap ? It's a tradeoff in that you may not get your weight out as far (unless you hike off your feet), but it allows you to use the get back in more easily.

If the breeze is steady, I sail with a looser strap, if it's very puffy/gusty, I'll tighten it.

The real answer is to strengthen the core muscles and work on flexibility
 
I dont know if this is what you should be doing but when i need to come into the boat due to a lull or huge header, insted of pulling my butt directly into my cockpit i think its faster to ark your upper body foreward or backwards to bring your body weight in and that buys u a little time to slide ur butt back into the cockpit. If anyone dissagrees with me id like to hear their oppinion and why other technique is better thanks.
 
Tighten the strap, so that you can sort of give the strap a sort of kick when you need to come in, you will bounce of the deck and it makes it easier to come in the cockpit, this is very useful as well when reaching in breez with gusty or wavy conditions that you steer a lot in.
 
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