leeward mark with gybe

[keenbean]

Hi All.

When the winds are up and I come to a leeward mark that needs a gybe to head back up wind I am losing a lot of ground. I am fine with the gybe but often end up luffing for a while and take too long to get block to block. What do you all do to round effectively and head upwind as quick as possible?

thanks

 

[PiersHS]

What I tend to do is give the mainsheet 3yanks and then one BIG one to get the boom round, this normally means i can leave the mark sheeted in fairly hard. It also works fairly well downwind if u let the main out after to do very quick short gybes. I was also just wondering how far a laser can point upwind when sheeted block to block as 1 minute i hiking hard and alot of speed then lose it very quickly.

 

[49208]

Hi All.

When the winds are up and I come to a leeward mark that needs a gybe to head back up wind I am losing a lot of ground. I am fine with the gybe but often end up luffing for a while and take too long to get block to block. What do you all do to round effectively and head upwind as quick as possible?

thanks

Rooster has some pretty good video on the right technique - check roostersailing.com and see what you can find (I know it's on his downwind DVD) - it deals with pulling in the sheet, using both hands in a hand over hand manner. It's pretty simple to do once you see what the technique is.

http://www.roostersailing.com/merchant2/videos/downwind.swf about halfway there is an overhead shot of a mark rounding where you'll see the technique. It's better explained naturally on his DVD

 

[gouvernail]

I sheet in early, put the vang down hard, gybe , catch my lifejacket on the boom, and dump face first into the pond as I turn too sharply.

 

[Kaiser]

i sheet in early, put the vang down hard, gybe , catch my lifejacket on the boom, and dump face first into the pond as i turn too sharply.

 

[laserxd]

Part of your problem might be starting your rounding too close to the mark. You should gybe when the mark is a beam and then head up while sheeting in quickly with both hands, finish the rounding close to the mark. You don't want the sail to luff or you will stall.

Here's a decent video of the 2007 ISAF world championship in Cascais that shows some of the top laser sailors gybing around the leeward mark.

 

[torrid]

You've got to plan your rounding a few boat lengths before you get to the mark. Figure out which boat owe you room, and the ones to which you owe room.

Get your board down and preset the cunningham and outhaul. Sheet in part way before you gybe. I leave the vang off, but put posiiton the end of the line where I can reach it on my expected tack upwind.

Enter wide and exit close to the mark, shifting you weight and gybing as you turn. After you gybe, sheet in like crazy with hand-over-hand motion. I then set my vang after I am pointing and settled down.