Laser Downwind - High Wind

Roadie

Roadie

Member
Hey guys
I sail on a reasonable small and very gusty lake but we regularly get strong winds. I was wondering if you guys had any advice for running in high winds? We don't get any waves and there isn't enough room to sail far by the lee of very high onto a broad reach, nor do I have room to put in many gybes.
Any advice would be much apreciated as I am constantly capsizing to windaward and leeward :L
Cheers
 
Roadie said:
Hey guys
I sail on a reasonable small and very gusty lake but we regularly get strong winds. I was wondering if you guys had any advice for running in high winds? We don't get any waves and there isn't enough room to sail far by the lee of very high onto a broad reach, nor do I have room to put in many gybes.
Any advice would be much apreciated as I am constantly capsizing to windaward and leeward :L
Cheers
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Sheet in so your second batten from the top is less then perpendicular to the wind.Lock your body into the cockpit.Sheet in and bear off in the gusts.DDW is the most unstable point in the Laser.Sailing by the lee or broad reaching is the way to go. Sounds like you are sailing on a River ,if you do not have room to do either.
 
I sit crouched on the balls of my feet, sheet in hand. Makes it easy to move your weight around the boat to counteract rolls. Sailing by the lee and reaching really is the best option but if you absolutely have to sail downwind I find the best thing to do is sail with the sail sheeted in further than normal, this will depower it making it more manageable.
Hope that was a help!
 
Tillerman said:
Pray a lot.
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I do that too....

On a serious note you need to have a little bit more board down than 'normal' this helps the boat track better and reduces the rock and roll. Combine that by sheeting in a little and making sure you are locked in to the boat will help.

Also keep a good eye out behind you and watch for incoming gusts, try to prepare for them and anticipate them as best you can.

I too sail on a small gusty inland lake so I get plenty of practice, certainly did last weekend anyway!

The other thing is to be positive and try to keep the boat speed up during your gybes, the faster you are going the less pressure there will be on the sail when it comes across. You almost want to try and 'carve' out the gybe rather than let the boat turn too quickly (resulting in dipping the end of the boom which usually ends with a swim).
 
Any ideas on the amount of kicker? Some say having ots on stops you death rolling because the leach doesn't end up in front of the mast,others say it makes you screw up onto a reach when a gust hits?
thanks for the replies though, very grateful
 
Roadie said:
Any ideas on the amount of kicker? Some say having ots on stops you death rolling because the leach doesn't end up in front of the mast,others say it makes you screw up onto a reach when a gust hits?
thanks for the replies though, very grateful
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I generally sail with a little kicker on to try and prevent the leech blowing forward of the mast.

Sheeting in a little will also help with this as it will allow the leech to blow forward to release excess pressure without going in front of the mast and generating any turning moment (which causes the rather spectacular capsizes).
 
Also maybe sit further back. so when the gust hits the stern stays down and you get better steering response, I think daggerboard partially down also helps with steerage
 
Does sailing by the lee add anything else than manouverability? If the water was flat theoretically, as for a short run on offshore wind would it help to gybe to sail by the lee rather then to sail a broad reach? Is it faster or more stable by itself?
 
sailing by the lee or on a broad reach helps keep the boat a little more stable in high wind, if you have to gybe keep the boat moving and commit fully
 
Sailing by the lee can be very fast on flat water and useful weapon is sailing as part of a handicap fleet. It does take practice though, be prepared to get wet!
 
I find sailing by the lee with the boom within the 90degree is key to dryness and speed in heavy wind. also a good, simple tip from the instructors at weymouth; toe strap really tight, leeward, trailing leg locked around outside, windward front leg inside, shin pushing forward. good strong base that keeps your hands free, allows you to quickly shift weight.
 
laserxd said:
And here are some useful tips for 16+kts:
http://laserxd.com/downwind-laser-sailing-heavy-air.php
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As a beginner at this kind of sailing and not having figured out the dynamics here yet. "Setting the kicker so that the leech moves, up to one foot", is that referring to a dynamic movement of the leech while sailing downwind or to a movment while easing the kicker under the same windpressure and course at the mark rounding.
I also still find it hard to estimate twist in the sail when sitting in the laser.
 
it's referring to the dynamic movement while sailing downwind, as you'll see the leech kind of flaps back and forth

this is really good footage where you can see the downwind technique:
 
Sailing by the lee took me a little while to get used to, especially in high winds. I don't know how to describe it other than the dynamics of the boat feel different. The boat is going so fast you may THINK you are out of control, but you aren't rocking side-to-side like when going downwind and expecting a death roll.

The first few times I actually got going by the lee in a strong breeze were by accident during fouled up gybes, usually at the leedward mark. I'm trying to get the sail across so I can turn upwind, only the main fills by the lee and the boat just takes off. Fortunately there were no other boat close at the time.
 
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