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Where did CarbonSugar go?

Posted: October 12th, 2008, 5:14pm CEST by Sean OBrien
Ceri Williams & the GP World Tour

Posted: June 1st, 2008, 6:04am CEST by Sean OBrien

The playground for the Formula Windsurfing Class has stepped up to a new level in 2008 with the creation of the Grand Prix World Tour; six events across two continents showcasing the talents of the world’s best windsurfing racers. Already, with a very successful first event under its belt in Sines, Portugal, the GP World Tour now moves on to the first of two events in Poland, beginning in Sopot in June and then combined with the FW European Championships in Łeba in July. The man chiefly behind this new tour is IFWC Class President Ceri Williams. CarbonSugar caught up with Ceri this week to find out about all things FW, event organising and the future of the class. Enjoy a short interview with Ceri by reading on …

Text: CarbonSugar
Text: Ceri Williams

> 2008 Marks the beginning of the FW Grand Prix World Tour. Could you explain to us how the tour came about and what you think it will mean for FW sailing this year and in the near future?

A world tour for formula has been an aspiration of mine since i became chairman; and only reflects the desires of formula sailors. The Grand Prix concept has been in existance for many years , but we could not put together sufficient events to call it a “tour”.

> The 2007 FW World Championships in Brazil last December, marked one of the first international events in a long time where the full maximum of 15 races were run. The success of this event has surely played a role in having 3 events of the FW Grand Prix World Tour in Brazil. Could you tell us how Brazil arrived on the map for hosting FW events?

Brazil hosted the 2001 Worlds, which was also a good event. Formula has a long history and is very popular in Brazil. That, combined with a respected and motivated organiser, was the catalyst to forge ahead with the 2008 tour. Wilhelm Schurmann (BRA-999) has also played a pivotal role in co-ordinating the project - being a vital link between the class and BRA organisers (Arrow Marketing and Wind Brasil)

> After 3 years of FW World Championships being held outside of Europe, do you think having the Worlds back on the mainland, this time in Portugal, will help boost the numbers attending the World Championships?

I am sure the numbers will be up for both 2008 in Portugal and 2009 in Spain. Both events are hosted by tried and trusted oranisers, in good locations, with enthusiastic sponsors. But it is important for any “international” class to ensure its premier annual event reaches all continents where formula fleets exist. I hope that we can take the championship to North America in 2010 or 2011.

> At a past FW World Championships, light winds made it difficult for some top sailors to achieve their normal results at the front of the fleet, and it was written on various forums that tour organisers were thinking of “money” first, before thinking about the ideal wind conditions to run events. Could you explain for us what exactly is looked at when a country puts forth a proposal to host a World Championships; what helps the FW Class decide on one venue over another?

Wind stats are important -but not the only consideration; yes we have minimum levels of prize money but also expect a certain level of service (benefits) for all competitors; and a minimm standard of organisational skills. Probably the primary consideration is to take the World Championships around the world- hence Melbourne (Australia) in 2005, where prize mone was not at normal levels.

I also believe that formula has to live up to its promotion as an exciting racing class that can plane in 6/7 knots and still race in 30 knots, with the minimum of equipment. We also have to race in the widest possible range of conditions -and not favour either low or highwind specialists. Top sailors are the most versatile!

> With the resurgence in popularity of Slalom racing once again, many National fleets have opted to run combined events whereby FW is run up to 20 knots, and Slalom thereafter. Many event organisers appear to be interested in Slalom (in Poland/Portugal for example); do you think we will see this format appearing on the Pro FW circuit?

I personally have doubts about combining disciplines - especially if it involves 3 times as much kit to compete in an event. For National events - involving less time and cost for travelling - maybe it can work. That is a decision for National Associations to make. For the FW World Tour I think it must be on FW kit only - that does not rule out downwind courses and the elimination format as a light wind option however.

> The Euro-Cup Series, organised by ChoppyWater GmbH, has been the crux of the FW events in Europe for the past few years, but so far they have yet to post a calendar for 2008. Has the FW Grand Prix World Tour taken its place or are ChoppyWater still involved behind the scenes in other avenues?

The Grand Prix (GP) World Tour is not restricted to European events and the requirements for hosting a class GP are more rigorous in many ways. I do not think The GP World Tour has been responsible for the demise of the Euro Cup; but I think it has replaced it as the focus of international (formula) competition in Europe. This development is also alongside the growth of regional tours (eg. the Baltic Cup); and the relevance of the formula world ranking calendar to many National Associations where an “open” event attracts wider attention.

> The PWA is regarded by sailors as being the pinnacle of the sport. With Jimmy Diaz (an avid FW sailor) still onboard as Chairman, could you ever see FW returning to the PWA and do you think that would benefit the Class or not?

I am open to any idea that benefits formula racers, and in so doing is good for the sport. Many PWA (slalom) racers are (IWA /IFWC) formula racers. I think it is important for events to happen - formula very rarely fails to deliver an event (on the water).

I do not forsee a change of course for FW at the moment - ie, I expect to see further and continued development of the current event stategy - Championships (World, Continental and National) , the Grand Prix World Tour; regional tours and other “open” international events.

Hopefully the PWA can be involved in some way!

> With the introduction of the 2-year fixed Board designs (which everyone has welcomed!), sail and board development has appeared to have settled down and it’s not always necessary to have the latest equipment to do well at events. The biggest question on most sailor’s minds is now the Fins. Do you think the availability and increased prices of custom fins has an impact on the sport? As well as the mentality that not everyone can be riding the same fins as the Top Pros are using?

I think this is one area that concerns everyone. I think costs will also stabilise as development slows down, and more fin manufacturers will come on board - increasing competition, and decreasing costs. Of course we need a healthy formula racing scene to sustain that notion - I hope, I believe, that with current policies that is achievable.

Thank you for your time Ceri!

THE 2008 FW GRAND PRIX WORLD TOUR

Sines, Portugal // 6th - 10th May
Sopot, Poland // 4th - 7th June
Łeba, Poland // 29th July - 3rd August
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil // 15th - 19th October
Sao Paulo, Brazil // 22nd - 26th October
Forteleza, Brazil // 24th - 29th November
To The Leeward Mark: Advanced Tactics

Posted: May 19th, 2008, 1:44pm CEST by Sean OBrien
Now that you’ve made it to the windward mark, you have reached the final section of the lap/race approaching the final drag to the finish. The downwind leg to the leeward mark is usually a fast-paced, sprint race with high tensions and lots of pressure for the lead boats as it is almost always the final leg to the finish. The speed at which FW boards travel makes tactical decisions more difficult as everything happens at a rapid pace. With the downwind leg only making up 15% of the total race elapsed time, there isn’t as many tactical decisions that need to be made however the few that do have to be an instant reflex response. This week we continue with the articles on Advanced Tactics by getting you from the windward mark to the leeward mark, looking at a few very important rules as well as some tricks you can have up your sleeve to keep your lead into the leeward mark.

When approaching the windward mark, always remember the three key rules:
- If you are lifted markedly heading to the mark on Starboard, gybe immediately on to port after the mark.
- If you are knocked markedly heading to the mark on Starboard, stay on the starboard tack to get the most out of the knock.
- The side of the course which is favoured on the upwind leg is generally the side to take on the downwind leg.
That shouldn’t be a “decision” on the racecourse; it should be a reflex. The only revision to the first two rules is if there is a favourable side of the course due to a geographic, tidal or other influence that creates this favoured side.
Knowing & Understanding Your Angles
The key to dramatically improving your downwindtime around the course: understanding what angles you can sail in what windstrengths. Simple huh?

Not exactly. Most sailors have a reference point on their boom, which is usually a perpindicular line to the mark (its easy to visual 90 degree angles) whereby when they see the leeward mark through their sail they will gybe when it lines up roughly with this boom reference point. I’m here to tell you that that isn’t specific enough and can allow boats in close proximity to gybe earlier/later than you and punish you into the leeward mark. A good way to combat this is to research the angles you can sail downwind in various windstrengths and then learn how to quickly gauge that particular angle by sight.

To do this accurately you are better off using a GPS unit to analyse tracks of your sailing in various windstrengths (something we will be writing about here very shortly). Here on the left is a chart I have made for angles that I can sail in relative windstrengths. Using about 3-4 months of GPS data from sailing FW in various windconditions, I have plotted the different downwindangles I have achieved against the wind speed on that particular day. Obviously, there are slight performance differences each session in the same windstrengthbut using a mean trend-line we can get a good estimate of what angle I can sail in what windstrength.

You only need to know a general group of angles, for example 8-12 knots, 15 knots, 20 knots etc. If you can learn what angles you sail in these windstrengths you can improve your downwind laylines immensely. For example, using my chart above, I see that I can usually sail downwind at 120 degrees with an 11m sail in 8-10 knots of breeze (see figure to the left for a visual representation of the Downwind Angles chart). I have a good idea of what 120 degrees (not to the nearest degree, but roughly enough that I can make an informed decision about where to gybe) looks like when I line the leeward mark up through my sail and I have a good idea of what 8-10 knots feels like when I sail my 11m. With that in information in mind, if you are the leading boat on the downwind, you can know that when you gybe it will be the perfect layline and that if the guys behind you have gybed any earlier, they are going to have to wipe off considerable speed to get down to the mark or to put in two extra gybes; you have protected your lead.
Protecting Your Lead
As Bethwaite states, a “boat with a small righting moment (like a Laser) cannot deflect wind too much, but a more powerful boat such as an 18ft skiff (or an FW board), deflects the wind an incredible amount”.

With this in mind, the most important weapon to protect a lead on the downwind run is to keep your pursuer always in your dirty air and disturbed water. If your pursuer attempts to pass you to leeward (that is, inside you), if possible you can bear off slightly and use your dirty air and wind-shadow to slow the passing boat. It is very difficult to pass on the inside unless the passing boat can sail significantly deeper than the lead boat as you have to sail through the worst of the air deflection from the leading boat, which harms downwind performance immensely. Should the pursuer try to pass to windward, it only requires the lead boat to luff him to windward and force him deeper in to the hopeless position.

In the case of several pursuers, as Manfred Curry would suggest: “one directs one’s chief attention, as on a beat to windward, to the one nearest”.

Know Your Competition / Force the Gybe:

The next tool in your downwind weaponry is your laylines. Get them correct and you’ve made it very difficult for the pursuing boat to pass you. Get them wrong andyou will find yourself sitting in someone’s dirty air at the leeward mark.

Everyone uses a different setup and may take a different fin and so it’s more than likely that in your fleet there will be some who are faster and can sail deeper than you on the downwind (if not, you have no excuses for not winning each race). To protect a lead it is important to have an idea of what angles the sailors behind you can sail. If you are in an unknown fleet, it should only take you one race or so to work this out. If your main competition can sail deeper than you at a similar speed, there are preventative steps you can take to protect your lead to the leeward mark.

Getting aroundthe windward mark first on the last lap, withonly the downwindto sail to the finish when the guy 10m behindyou is considerably faster than you downwind is a common and frustrating occurence (I’ve had my fair share). Despite the formentionedtactics above to protect your lead, withthe speeds an FW board travels at, blocking the sailor behind you is not always as easy as it would seem on paper as pursuing sailors can change positions from the hopeless position to a dominant position in less than a second in windy conditions and it is difficult to keep your eyes on the water ahead as well as on what your pursuer is doing. One of your few options to protect your lead in this instance is to play on your opponents mindset that he can sail deeper than you downwind…

The pursuing boat, knowing that he can sail deeper than you, most likely will gybe when the leading boat gybes and back his ability to sail deeper andfaster, hoping to use his better angle to pass on the windward side and use his wind-shadow on the leading boat as he controls the lead into the leeward mark. If you know your downwind angles in the particular windstrength, try gybing earlier than is possible to make the leeward mark. If the trailing boat is true to form, he may gybe when you do and both of you now will have to make an extra 2 gybes into the leeward mark. You know this before he does, so by heading a little higher out of the gybe you can put him into your dirty air and hold him in the hopeless position andforce him to have to gybe away to get clear air. This tactic is best when you are in a clear position with 1st/2nd together as it may allow the 3rd/4th boats an opportunity to gain if they are close enough and sail the layline correctly. If your pursuer does in fact gybe again to get away from your dirty air, you will both have the same amount of gybes to do however when you meet at the leeward mark you will be approaching on starboard to make your final gybe and will have right-of-way (provided you can fit your gybe in before he gets to you).

Gybing Strategy:

Once you’ve practiced enough, you should be able to gybe and keep on the plane all the way through on to the next tack. In winds over 12 knots (ie, when you are able to consistently plane out of each gybe), a good gybe takes only 3-4 seconds to complete and regain full speed. This is considerably less time than a tack and usually you don’t lose much angle as when you are pumping out the gybe you can point downwind much further than you can actually sail to promote a quick gain back to full speed. In 10 seconds a FW board travels about 80m so you are only losing 25m or so in each gybe. That seems like a lot but in a normal course using a 1.3km rhumb line (shortest distance from windward to leeward mark), 25m is a small disadvantage compared to the advantages made in sailing the correct course downwind rather than the one with the least amount of gybes.

Sailing in onshore conditions in consistent winds, usually the bulk of the fleet sails the downwind run on starboard, taking one gybe to the leeward mark. This happens even in international fleets. In most cases (FW World Championship locations like Leba, Poland; Gangnueng, Korea; Forteleza, Brazil; Melbourne, Australia all had courses like this) the single-gybe run forces the sailors to sail right to the beach where they gybe on to port tack andfollow the beach into the leeward mark close to shore. 9/10 times there is considerably less wind close to the shore as breaking waves, sand dunes, trees, buildings or the land/water temperature differences creates turbulence for the wind andoften forces the clear wind into the air (away from your sails) thus creating light spots along the beach. A sailor who sails into the beach andtakes a little longer to get on to the plane out of the gybe, coupled with the tight angle he will have to sail to get out of the shore-zone and back into the clear air will lose far more than 40m versus a sailor who put in the extra gybes and stayed in the stronger winds out to sea.

3 Gybes? Make It Count:

One thing to note is when you do gybe on to port around the windward mark (you have a minimum of 3 gybes to complete on a standard windward/leeward course now) you should always complete your second gybe earlier than the starboard layline to head towards the leeward mark. This allows you to take advantage of any wind direction changes or gusts (see diagram to the left for a visual reference). The difference in downwind angle in 1-2 knot differences of wind is substantial compared to the same wind differences and upwind angle (which is minimal). Approaching the leeward mark on starboard with a final gybe to put you back on to port to round the mark it is important to not oversail the starboard layline as having to head up to make the leeward mark gybe wastes all your advantage in having sailed a different course to the other sailors. You are going to have to gybe back on to port anyhow, so does it make a difference whether its 2m from the leeward mark or 40m?? Better to be safe and always sailing a deep downwind angle than to overshoot and have to head up (crucifying your downwind VMG).
Attacking From Behind:
Assuming two boats are equal in downwind speed, it is difficult but not impossible to pass the leading boat on the downwind leg. Your two options are to sail a better layline (gybe earlier/later) and get the advantage into the leeward mark or to pass the leading boat either to windward or leeward with superior speed.

Passing to Windward:

The generally accepted better side to pass on is the windward side, as passing on the leeward side you have to sail through the very disturbed air and wind-shadow of the leading boat which is difficult to do unless you have a fairly big advantage in board speed over the lead boat. Assuming you are always sailing as deep as possible on the downwind run, luffing a little will increase your board speed at the expense of angle. Often times, the increase in board speed allows you to keep your downwind VMG the same and can help you pass the leading boat on the downwind as he may be sailing slower to go the deepest angle possible. He may luff you to try and defend this attack but within reason you can continue to luff higher and higher and increase your speed to overtake; its very rare for a leading boat to luff you all the way to a beam reach; and this allows you an opportunity to try to scoot through on the leeward side while he is not watching. This tactic works best for heavier sailors as they are usually faster on a broad reach angle.

Passing to Leeward:

Although more difficult, there are times when this tactic should be applied. The main instance in when you are pursuing a group of sailors. Often times, many in the group will be sailing a slightly luffed course to keep themselves out of the dirty air of the boats around them. Provided you are at a safe enough distance to not be affected by their dirty air too much, sailing a very deep course allows you to get into a controlling position leading into the gybe, as you will be closer to the leeward mark if you gybe at the same time as the leading boats. Despite the obvious disadvantages in sailing in someone’s dirty air, if you can sail inside the leading boats you will get the cleanest air when you gybe on to the new tack and if you have sailed deep enough to leeward, you are actually closer to the leeward mark than the leading boats.

This technique of passing on the second tack rather than the first of the downwind leg is one of the best ways to pass a boat in front of you. The key for it to work is to gybe at the SAME TIME as the lead boat and to make sure you are on or close to the layline. If you make a good gybe you can quickly put yourself in front of the lead boat spilling your dirty air on them and they have no ability to do the same trick to you as you are already on the layline; sailing deeper will not help the former lead boat.

This technique allows lighter sailors to do this more effectively as they are able to sail deeper angles than heavier sailors on the same equipment.

Sail A Better Layline:

The easiest way to pass someone on a downwind leg is to sail the perfect laylines when they don’t. Easier said than done, but using the above techniques for understanding and knowing your downwind angles there is usually always an opportunity to do this in most races as a combination of nerves and pressure had by the leading boat can often times provoke them to sail a safe-layline (that is, to sail over the layline to make sure the leeward mark is made without an extra gybe). As the pursuing boat, you have nothing to lose by sailing an aggressive layline (gybing so early it is a tight run to make the leeward mark, and hoping for a slight wind heading to allow you to make the mark easier) and the lead boat has EVERYTHING to lose by messing up their laylines. Getting yourself into a good leeward position before you make the gybe will dramatically increase the chances of success in this instance.

End Note…

As always, there is nothing more beneficial to improving your racing than by GOING racing. The more courses you sail the more your laylines and tactics will become a reflex instead of a response and you will begin to assimilate the important sailing rules into your long-term memory, instead of your short-term one. Good luck.

Pro FW Desktop Wallpapers

Posted: May 6th, 2008, 7:59am CEST by Sean OBrien

Pro FW Desktop Wallpapers

A short while ago someone asked if there were any good images out there of Pro Formula sailors they could use as desktop wallpapers. A short scout of the windsurfing sites out there and it was quickly decided that there isn’t a single desktop wallpaper out there of anyone sailing Formula bar the small few available on Star-Board.com. In retaliation, I have compiled a series of 12 of the best images I could find of a few of the top Pro’s in Formula Windsurfing and made them available to download for FREE right here on CarbonSugar. Various screen-resolutions are available. Enjoy!

Obviously I haven’t made them in every single screen-resolution however I’ve targeted the most commonly used based on the user-stats of this website. I’ve also provided the screen-ratios so if you have a different screen-resolution you can find the appropriate ratio’d version and it should still display nicely. For example if you run a 1280×800 resolution, the Widescreen 16:10 version will fit perfectly on your screen.

Briefly, a quick thank-you to all the sailors who donated their photos for me to use for these wallpapers. I will add some more down the track as better images become available. To give credit where its due, the list of wallpapers includes:

Photographers include John Carter, Tam Hohnberg and John O’Brien however all images have been edited, airbrushed and otherwise touched-up by myself.

Enjoy.

Alberto Menegatti (ITA-456)

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Antoine Albeau (FRA-192)

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Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (ARG-3)

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FW Startline

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Sean O’Brien (AUS-120)

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Jesper Vesterstrøm (DEN-111)

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Chris Ting / Rick Murray / Murray Towndrow

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Steve Allen / Jesper Vesterstrøm

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Sean O’Brien (AUS-120)

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Jesper Vesterstrøm (DEN-111)

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Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (ARG-3)

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CarbonSugar.com

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Everything You Should Know About FW Fins.

Posted: April 16th, 2008, 3:48pm CEST by Sean OBrien
One of the single most important aspects to your FW setup is what is under your feet; fins. As a result, fins have been somewhat an aspect that people obsess about a little too much. As it stands right now, there are 4 mainstream fin makers in the World who’s fins are actively being used on the FW Pro Circuit (apologies to the smaller, lesser known fin companies who I have left out): Deboichet, Kashy, Select, Hurricane, whereby nearly 70% of those are Deboichet made. Each fin company makes a variety of foils in a number of flex stiffnesses, torsional stiffnesses, rakes and twist, which doesn’t make buying a new fin an easily made decision. Coupled with long queues on fin orders and high price tags, many people end up spending money on fins that aren’t helping them. Understanding some basic theory and terminology used in the fin-world might just help you make an informed decision before you part with your hard earned money. Understanding what the fin does to the trim of your board and what you should be looking for when you test fins against each other, might even be more useful. Here we will attempt to do both …

First and foremost, it is important to clarify a few aspects of terminology used when people talk about fins, as scouring the popular windsurfing forums over the past few years you will find a plethora of information where people are using terms incorrectly and are only adding to the confusion. Here are a few of the key terms used in fin-ology.
Rake:
Rake is simply the angle of the leading edge of the fin, relative to a line perpendicular to the bottom of the board. Everyone started thinking about modifying the rake of their fins in a more mainstream sense around the 2003 FW Worlds. As Deboichet represented about 95% of the fin market at that time, the ‘rake’ scale became popularised under a number system only applicable to Deboichet fins.

Deboichet uses a scale such as +4cm, +6cm, +8cm etc (where +11cm is vertical). Both Kashy and Hurricane use a scale such as 2 degrees, 3 degrees etc (where 0 degrees is vertical).

Deboichet: +8cm = 2.5 degrees = 30mm back from vertical.

Ps. Remember that MORE rake, means the fin is LESS upright (more swept-back at the tip). Because Deboichet’s scale is counting up as you decrease the rake, a lot of people have mistakenly written on forums about more rake when they are actually talking about moving fins from +6cm to +8cm, which is LESS rake.

Generally speaking, the more upright your fin is, the more lift it generates at the expense of induced drag. In light winds, people usually have relatively upright fins and in strong winds, some may have their fins with a little more rake to keep control of the board. Another important point to understand about rake is that by changing the rake of a fin, you are also influencing the twist.
Twist:
Twist is probably one of the least well understood characteristics of a fin. It is most commonly mistaken as being ‘torsional-stiffness’, when it is in fact, something completely different. When sailing, the righting moment of the sailor is countered by the side-force (or lateral resistance) of the board and the lift provided by the fin. Twist (or in aerodynamic terminology, “geometric twist”) is the result of the lift developed by the fin acting very close to 1/4 of the chord, back from the leading edge, while the neutral axis for bending is about 40% back from the leading edge; so there is a torsional moment when the fin bends. Simply put, as you flex a fin when you sail, this causes the fin to twist.

The geometric twist is more pronounced if you have a fin that is more swept-back (raked). So you will probably get more twist with an R13 at +4cm than you would with an identical R13 at +8cm.

Twist is important for the performance of a fin both upwind and downwind. Having no twist in a fin allows you to generate a better upwind angle but at the expense of becoming uncomfortable (or difficult) to sail downwind. This is probably because twist reduces the induced drag of a fin (or vortex drag from the tip) which is a significant portion of the total drag of a fin at the speeds a windsurfer travels. The induced drag is reduced when the angle of attack [aoa] at the tip of the fin is less than the aoa at the root of the fin (particularly for a fin with a planform of a tapered leading edge, such as an R13).

*I’ve tried to keep this article relatively simple, but if you’d like to read some more about induced drag and geometric twist, try these:
- [auf.asn.au]
- [en.wikipedia.org]
Many top sailors will talk about the performance of their fins downwind, as much as they talk about it upwind. To be fast around the course you generally want a fin that performs downwind just as well as it did upwind. If you talk to some of the Pro’s on the circuit about downwind performance in fins you might hear them say that their fin is ‘working’ for them off the wind and allowing them to ‘drive’ off the fin to go extra deep. Most likely they are referring to the twist in their fin, as the twist allows the fin to ‘depower’ to some extent and let you drive off it, deeper downwind, whereas some fins with no twist are creating too much lift downwind and force you to head upwind, giving you that ‘uncomfortable’ feeling downwind.

Similarly, it’s been said by some Pro’s that soft fins that twist are actually faster upwind in high-winds (despite what’s in your mind about stiffer fins being better in high winds). The twist in the fin can help it depower when you’ve generated too much lift in a gust and help to settle the board down. Having a board with a very wide tail (+81cm) will help with the control in high winds also.
Torsional-Stiffness:
Put a fin in your board and then grip the tip of the fin with your thumb and index finger. Twist the fin tip like you are unscrewing the lid of a Coke bottle. What you are witnessing is ‘torsional stiffness’ and although it is related, it is NOT ‘twist’ in the sense of how a fin manufacturer will be measuring it.

High torsional stiffness has been recently receiving more focus with the popularity of the Kashy fins on the market. Most of the better Kashy fins I have seen are more torsionally stiff than the majority of Deboichet/Hurricane fins and I believe this helps the Kashy fins retain a constant angle of attack which helps increase lift whilst maintaining good upwind speed.

The confusing thing about twist vs torsional-stiffness is probably because some people may assume that a softer fin is always going to have less torsional-stiffness and therefore more twist, but in actual fact that is not true. Both twist and torsional-stiffness are dependent on the planform, rake and most importantly, the fibre directions when the fin is layed-up during manufacture. As a result, a fin with extremely high torsional-stiffness can be built to twist a lot, or it can be built to have no twist at all. It is not possible to check twist with your fingers using the method above; it is possible however, to gauge torsional-stiffness with your fingers using this method.
Flex-Stiffness:
This is the stiffness you generally hear referred to when you buy a fin. A soft fin, a S–, an XXS, a 651; or so the lingo goes. Choosing the right stiffness of fin for the conditions you are sailing is very important, however the choices are about as individual as they come and depends heavily on your technique, sail brand, board brand and wind/wave conditions.

In flat water (eg. a lake), you put a more constant load on your fin when sailing upwind whereas on the ocean with swell and wind blown chop on the swell, the load on the fin is spiking as you go over waves or if you get slightly airborne over a chop. The other thing to consider is rider weight and sail size. A 90kg rider holding his 11m in 25 knots is most likely putting a considerable amount more load on his fin than a 72kg rider on his 9.8m in the same wind.
Selecting A New Fin
So you are going to go and buy yourself a nice new shiny fin. First, you should ask yourself a few questions about what you want the fin for.
- Light winds? You most likely want a soft, powerful fin.
- Light winds in shifty/flukey conditions (ie, if you sail on an inland lake, with fresh water or in off-shore winds)? You most likely want a fin that points super high, even if it is slow; pointing high allows you to get into the new wind quicker.
- Medium-strong winds on the ocean? It’s possible you might want a fin that travels faster, even at the expense of a little height, to be able to dodge between swells and help with your downwind speed.
Now What? Some Ideas on Fin Tuning
Now that we’ve covered a little bit of terminology and some super basic ideas to think about when selecting a fin to buy, it’s time to move over to how to tune a fin and what to think about when you are testing fins against other fins. It is quite difficult to explain what you are looking for when you tune any aspect of your gear, let alone fins. Tuning fins is about an intuitive feeling for going fast, pointing high or going deep downwind and this key skill that the Pro’s possess is something that mere mortals find difficult to grasp. Notwithstanding what I have just said, I still believe it is important that someone at least makes an attempt to explain what this feeling is, because that knowledge is one of the most sought after pieces of information in competitive windsurfing and probably something that most Pro’s will not want to give away.

On that note… here goes…

The approach I suggest you use when testing fins involves 3 stages:
1. Trying the new fin; understanding and learning its ’effect’ on the board
2. Testing the fin against the best fin you already have
3. Testing against a training partner
Stage 1: The “Effect”
The first thing you should think about when you try a new fin is its “effect” on the board; paying most of your attention to the ‘trim’ of the board. Most boards, generally speaking, like to be sailed with the nose riding high (lifting a little) and railing well upwind with even pressure between the front and back legs (or a little more pressure on your back leg if necessary). Some fins do this naturally (like a standard R13), but with other fins (even some that may be faster than an R13) you may need to work hard to develop this response from the fin.

There is no substitute for time-on-water. Just go sailing and get used to the feeling off your new fin. Forget about changing settings at this stage. Just sail your new fin.
Stage 2: Test the Best
To test any fin, you should always test it against the best fin you already have. Go for a run on your current best fin and find the setup that gets the most out of that fin in the conditions you are currently sailing (boom height, mast-track position etc). Now without changing any gear settings, go for a run on the new fin and pay close attention to how this fin effects the trim of the board (does the board feel stickier? sluggish? more responsive? lifting the nose too much and losing control?). If there is a difference, the first thing to try is moving your mast-track. I always suggest moving your mast-track in larger movements; 3cm at a time can sometimes be good to get a first impression on trim. When you are more dialled in to the feeling you can start moving it 1cm at a time.

If there is no difference in how the board sails/rails upwind then try moving your mast-track around anyhow. It’s possible, this new fin, even though it hasn’t changed the trim of your board, could have more control at the top end and allow you to run the mast-track further back than your best fin, which may be a faster setting on your fw board.

Downwind, mostly you want to find a fin that helps fly-the-fin, which is, excessively railing to reduce the wetted surface-area of the board. Traditional tapered leading-edge fins with a little twist such as an R13 or Hurricane 4a will rail the board almost with no concentration necessary. Some of the newer, softer fins with more torsional-stiffness, (such as a new Select R07 or some model Kashy’s) might require a slightly more upright stance or different mast-track position to fly-the-fin more efficiently. The fins that will do this the best will depend on the board/sail combination being used.
Stage 3: Race Your Buddy
Now that you’ve tuned your gear to compliment your new fin, go and test it against your training partner to check its performance. It’s important in this stage to have a consistent training partner of a similar speed and one who appreciates the rules of ‘2-boat tuning’ and doesn’t just put you in the hopeless position all the time. You need to swap positions regularly when you run to make sure your position isn’t affecting the other sailor’s performance and it is likely, with two sailors, that one sailor might point higher and the other might go faster on their current setups. Every so often on the run upwind, change positions from windward to leeward boat, to see if you can judge whether one fin is going better than the other.

It’s important to understand how much ‘better’ one fin is going in the scope of the original points that were mentioned “when selecting a new fin”. HIGHER is different to FASTER. Imagine those strengths/weaknesses if you were in a race. It’s not much good being excited your new fin is faster upwind than your friend’s if he is going higher than you - when you purchased this fin to sail in shifty offshore conditions on a fresh-water lake. He will most likely punish you around the course and you’ll be 300 euros poorer.

Don’t forget downwind performance!
That’s It, We’re Done!
This is a pretty ‘general’ write-up about tuning fins, simply because the variables in windsurfing are too great to write a decent article on this unless you are writing about using a particular sail-brand, on a particular board, for guys at a particular body weight sailing in particular conditions. What I hoped to achieve, is to create a reference point and lay-down a few important points about creating your own system to efficiently let you test fins (with or without a training partner/gps-unit analysis) and get people thinking more about “what fins do to your board trim”, rather than obsessing over what fin is Antoine using.

If you remember the few key pointers about fin testing and learn a little about the terminology of fins, it will help you get more out of the millions of forum posts out there on fins (ie, I suggest you Google anything that Boogie has written on a forum in the last 6 years).

Hopefully this article will help with the next fin purchase. Down the track we will attempt to write something more specific to boards as with the new 2-year lock on board shapes, we are stuck with the current gear for some time now … In the meantime, here are a few frequently asked questions on fins from various windsurfing forums around the world.

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Fins.

Q > I’ve read some Pro’s now prefer softer fins for high-wind; I thought stiffer fins were better for high-winds?
- [star-board.com]
I think you will find that statement to have been true about 3-4 seasons ago, but it doesn’t apply to the current gear. Since 2006, with the Starboard 160 (and now 161, 162). The tail-widths of the FW boards have increased dramatically; the same for nearly all board brands, not just Starboards. As a result, with even more power from the tail of the board we can run bigger and more powerful fins than ever before.

Although cutdown fins have been around a long time, they probably weren’t as mainstream back in the Starboard 147/158 days, but now look at the R19 (as a 76cm cutdown), which is the “standard” foil to come with a 161/162 board.

If you want more power in a fin, generally speaking, you make it bigger (ie, a cutdown) or you make it softer. So now we are seeing more people using soft fins in all conditions, not just lightwinds. And some (myself included to some extent), using one fin for nearly all conditions - the lightwind fin that works great in highwinds.

So with the extra control we now have with our wider tail boards and everyone using softer and softer fins, the brands have worked on the nose shapes, making them thinner and more boat-like (specifically on the 162 and Gaastra Vapor), which has allowed us to control these soft powerful fins downwind, where before it was uncomfortable with such power under your feet.

Another aspect that I suspect that plays a role is the “twist” in these fins. Hard to know exactly what happens with a fin under your feet, but I suspect the extra twist in the softer fins allows them to depower as they flex when you sail downwind and help with control, whereas a Medium fin would be trickier downwind and a Hard fin even trickier again as they can’t release the power and so end up forcing you upwind instead of allowing you the control to drive downwind.

Q > This new fin I have is making the board sail very flat, is this slow?

Probably. Depends on your board. As mentioned above in the tuning section, you are most likely sailing with one of these newer, softer and more powerful fins (a good example is a Kashy or what Deboichet is most likely trying to replicate with an R20). These fins create a small amount of vertical lift which in a sense, lifts the tail of your board which in turn, drops the nose of your board. I’ve read on some forums that with these fins the boards need to be sailed very flat, but I think you’ll find the fin is making your board sail flat (in other words, you don’t need to work so hard to get the optimum trim out of the fin; it is doing it for you).

Now go windsurfing!
Yes, I listen; something new.

Posted: April 7th, 2008, 4:37pm CEST by Sean OBrien

There’s been a number of emails received here about the contrast and clarity issues associated with a dark website with light text. As a result, I’ve decided to update the design to reflect the opposite; dark text on a light background. Please bear with me as I iron out all the new bugs associated with doing anything web related when all you really want to be doing is windsurfing!

And kudos to all the support and positive emails I have been receiving regarding this site so far …
GPS Training: Improve Your Tactics (Pt I)

Posted: April 6th, 2008, 6:25am CEST by Sean OBrien
One of the most difficult aspects of improving your time around the course is understanding and applying tactics. A plethora of fantastic sailing books have been written on tactics but the simple fact of the matter is you only get so good by reading; real world experience goes a very long way and most likely has a lot to do with why the best windsurfing racers in the World are all in their 30’s. Since handheld personal GPS units have become available and popular it has opened a whole new kettle of fish into how we can learn, train and critique our tactics around the course. In this article I am going to show you how to create GPSAR (GPS Action Replays) of your local fleet’s racing which will let you play back the races in real-time; a perfect way to fine tune your tactics to be ready for the second day of racing.

Since this will be a long article, I’ve decided to break it up into two parts. The first will be a tutorial on how to create a GPSAR (GPS Action Replay is a program designed to replay GPS tracks simultaneously for review) to review any race you have competed in. The second part will be how to analyse this data more efficiently and some tips on the easiest things to improve, now that you have a way of reviewing your racing.

For the record, GPSAR was brought to the forefront of the Formula Windsurfing public eye by Devon Boulon and Ian Fox at the 2005 FW Worlds in Australia. Unbeknownst to many at that event, a few of us in Sydney, Australia, had already be doing these replays for over 2 seasons and felt quite robbed by Devon taking the glory. In fact, some of what was done in Australia with the help of Jan (creator of GPSAR) has paved the way for the new version of GPSAR Pro.

To give you some examples of what I am talking about here, please visit the site below. This is a windsurfing club in Sydney, Australia, at which we have run our races for many years with the top riders using GPS units while they race. (You will require only Java Runtime Environment to view these files, see below for a download):
- www.storm-riders.com.au/gpsar/
GPSAR allows you to upload any number of GPS tracks simultaneously onto one screen, and even underlay that screen with a map of the location. With this program, you can change the speed and view of the race whilst you watch and then very easily see how everyone got to the finish line in the positions they did (whereas in reality, you can only see who’s within earshot of you on the racecourse). All you need to do is next time you go sailing, take your GPS unit and make sure a couple of rivals also have theirs. Record the tracks at the end of the day onto one computer then follow this tutorial…

So let’s begin the tutorial.
[Show as slideshow]

Please note, the pictures in this gallery are named accordingly with the STEPS in this tutorial to help you understand better. I have also included a link to each figure within the title of each step, to help us lazy people who hate scrolling back up anytime.
GPSAR TUTORIAL
To be able to make the GPSAR’s you will require the following software. I have done this by using FREE software rather than programs you need to pay for:
- GPSAR ver 3.3.3 (old “classic” version) – the new version is paid for.
- Java Runtime Environment
- G7toWin (used to cut the tracks into separate days etc, GPSAR can only work on tracks used for one day, G7towin can do +2 days. It can also handle various file formats and is needed to create the waypoints that sync the maps)
- Google Earth (used to create maps and it gives you the coordinates to place your maps)
- Microsoft Notepad (used as a html editor) - any text editor will work here. I actually use Dreamweaver MX but its paid for.
- Microsoft Picture Manager (used as a photo editor) - any photo editor will work here. I use Photoshop but again, this is paid for and I’m aiming to do this for free.
- NAVi users: GPS Results, GPSAR Pro, or RealSpeed. (please note, these are all PAID FOR programs and are required to convert the .sbn files to .gpx format. Sorry guys, why don’t you just buy a Garmin?)
For the record, I prefer Garmin GPS units for FW analysis. I apologise to all the avid NAVi GPS fans out there but in the time I’ve edited tracks of FW races to put into GPSAR’s, I’m yet to see a clean NAVi track. They seem to be more vulnerable to losing the signal in patches; despite what version software is used. The Garmin Edge/Forerunner series are flawless, everytime.

To begin, you require all the tracks from everyone who sailed that day who you wish to include in the replay. About 4-8 people is best, as more than this and the screen becomes cluttered and more difficult to view the tactics. Take the best 4-8 people in your fleet who wear GPS units.
STEP 1 (Edit the Files into One Day) [Figure 1]
GPSAR has a 24 hour clock inbedded and cannot handle multiple days of data. If someone gives you a track with 3 days of data (as everyone who owns a NAVi seems to do!), you need to use G7toWin to split the track into 3 separate days. The aim is to create files that have 1 day on them.

To edit, highlight the first line of the track to be removed, then scroll down until you find the next day of data and highlight the last of the first day. Right-click and select DELETE SELECTED TRACK ELEMENTS. Save this file as a new file with a name like ‘day1_aus120.gpx’.
STEP 2 (Manage the Files) [Figure 2]
Make a directory with each day’s racing and put the edited tracks into this directory.
- I suggest you come up with a nice and unified way of naming your files to keep it organised and clean. Something like day1_aus120.gpx (where I’ve used the sail number of who’s track it is and the date).
Open GPSAR and open each sailor’s edited track and give them a name (ie, SAIL NUMBER) and then a unique colour (think about what colour map you are going to use to pick colours, so that they stand out), then save the individual tracks again with this new information. To change the name and colour, click the NAME and COLOR buttons on the right hand sidebar underneath the Trajectories.
STEP 3 (Start/Finish Times) [Figure 3]
Pick someone who is in the top of the fleet (easiest to do with the winner). Open his track in GPSAR and using the scroll bar at the bottom, scroll through his track and find the times (roughly) where he starts the race and finishes. GPSAR can only cut the tracks to the nearest 5:00 mins so write on a piece of paper the nearest 5:00 mins before the start and roughly 10-15 mins after he finishes (depending on the level of your fleet who’s tracks you are using - ie, you want everyone to have finished within that 10-15 min window).
STEP 4 (Let’s do Race 1) [Figure 4.1] [Figure 4.2]
Clear GPSAR and then load everyone’s track one by one so all the data is on the screen. I suggest you load them in numerical order (just to be consistent and keep everyone in the same spot each race). Set the start time and finish time by using the appropriate items on the VIRTUAL RUN & STATS menu, then cut it using CUT TRACKS (WITHIN TIME SETTINGS) on the FILE menu. Save that as Race1.gpx. You are basically saving the entire race now.

If you want a shortcut to this step and you have a LOT of ram in your computer: load everyone in and then save all the tracks as one file called DAY1.gpx. Then using the start and finish times, cut it and save it as Race1.gpx. So next time you open it you can just open DAY1 instead of the individual tracks each time. This is quicker, but you would need at least 3-4GB of RAM to be able to handle this, otherwise your computer may explode!

Repeat this step for as many races as you want replays for. ie, Race1, Race2, Race3, Race4, Race5 etc etc…
STEP 5 (Create a Pirate’s Treasure Map) [Figure 5]
To create a map, take your original sailor who’s track you used to define the start/finish times. Take his FIRST race and save it as a file. Go into GoogleEarth and find the location of where you have been sailing, then do a screen dump [Print Screen button] of this location. Then take the coordinates (using your mouse hovering over the screen, you will be given longitude/latitude coordinates on the taskbar) from the very top left corner and bottom right corner of the screen.

Use any photoeditor (I like Photoshop) to edit the picture so you only can see the map, not the control panel of GoogleEarth. Save the edited map file as a .jpg file.
- TIP: put the grid on in GoogleEarth, to help you get your bearings, then take it off before you do the screendump.
Put the .jpg file of your map into a directory called /maps/ within the directory you have all your tracks in(needs to be smallcase).
STEP 6 (Calibrating the Map) [Figure 6.1] [Figure 6.2]
Open up the original sailor’s track you used in Step 6 in G7toWin and insert waypoints for the top left and bottom right corners of the track by using CREATE on the WAYPOINTS menu. [See Figure 6 in the gallery to make sure you’ve entered the coordinates correctly]. Save this file.

Open GPSAR and load the track (now with waypoints) and switch waypoints on (tick box on right sidebar) and load the .jpg map file using FILE ~ CREATE A NEW MAP. Zoom the scale out so you can see the map in its entirety and the waypoints (WP1, WP2) and then hold down the SHIFT and CONTROL keys and using your mouse you drag the waypoints over the map. This is explained on pages 65-70 on the GPSAR Pro Full Manual. Then save the map: FILE ~ SAVE MAPS.

The map is now calibrated.
STEP 7 (Setup the Applet) [Figure 7]
You need to make a new folder with these 9 files in it (for 4 races); the extra file is the gpsar.jar file. Here’s one I prepared earlier (download mine, because you MUST have all these files included):
- DOWNLOAD GPSAR Sample Folder (1.12 MB zip file)
I have included in their all the race files called race1.html etc. Use these standard files and edit it with your HTML Editor, making note of the screen resolution (you can put a nice heading in it as well) and then save it, like “Race 1 - Champion of the Universe Grand Prix”. In Figure 7 you can see highlighted in pink what parts of the .html file need to be edited.

Open the HTML file in your web browser. It should load the maps (it may ask for cookies or an ActiveX application, select yes). Make sure you remembered to install the Java Runtime Environment, otherwise this could get ugly…
STEP 8 (Optimising for Better Analysis)
You’ve actually finished by this stage, but to help you better analyse the racing here’s a few tips on setting up GPSAR to look nice and clean…

A) Compare Side-by-Side Performance:

Pick on the fastest guy on the course, centre to him by right-clicking your mouse on him. Select FOOTPRINTS on the View Settings panel on the right side. Wind the speed up to around x6 on the top bar and adjust the zoom scale to maximum.

B) Identify Tactics:

If you want to analyse the tactics, tide influences, wind shifts and course differences, adjust the scale to fit the entire race into the screen. Wind the speed up to around x10-15 and select NEIGHBOURHOOD on the View Settings Panel.

If you want, you can get fancy with Photoshop and put the buoys in… But I’ve noticed doing this that buoys actually drift further than you think over a day’s racing!!

That’s it.
The Learning Plateau and how to climb off (Part II)

Posted: March 27th, 2008, 8:21am CET by Sean OBrien
In the previous article we saw that the leaning curve for formula will have some plateaus and most likely if you spend some time analysing why this learning plateau has occurred, you just might find a few insights on how to improve. More often than not, it is the sailor, rather than the sails or having the right fin helping fuel these problems. This is not to say that having the best equipment and tuning worked out is not important, because in FW it very crucial, BUT most of us do not lose the race on account of not having the right equipment; far more do because our technique is not up to scratch. Not being able to quickly initiate planing out of the start or out of manoeuvres means you will always be sailing in the dirty winds created by others. Technique is vital for being able to get out of the pack and get yourself into clean air. Jan Witteveen (NED-22) continues his Learning Plateau articles this week, focusing on the training for gybes.

There are three vital aspects in technique training:
- Understanding the technique and theory behind how to do the manoeuvre
- Repetitive training of the manoeuvre and (if possible) getting feedback on the technique from an observer/coach
- Train, train and train until you can do the manoeuvre under stress in a variety of wind conditions
The fun of all this is that you can improve your sailing ability and thereby your results in competition through real training programs on technique. It still intrigues me why so many of us just go sailing and somehow hope to get better while they do not consequently work on their weaker points of sailing. Sailing combines the complications of strength, technique, tuning, tactics as well as the understanding of weather and difficult decision making processes. Why would you only train 40% of these when you could be training 100% of these aspects?

OK, I have to admit, I also make the same mistake over and over again: cruising around instead of specific training and constant testing if I’m faster than my buddy. Very rarely I take the time to train my manoeuvres and I know I lack consistency and lose a lot of time around the course because of this, so for me it is good to also write this article and get back to the real-deal; starting training with a goal in mind. I know that by doing so I will not only get better very quickly but on top of that I also will enjoy the process of training and fine-tuning my manoeuvres. Let us, this time, look at gybing:
GYBING (hands, hands again):
Are you able to gybe your FW board whilst maintaining planing? Can you do this in 8 knots as well as in 20 knots? Can you gybe the board any time you feel like it, or do you need to wait for that perfect swell to ride down? Do you know your own weak points on the manoeuvre? Have you been training the manoeuvre or are you satisfied with the 5 gybes you do every afternoon whilst training?! What is crucial in the technique?

Firstly, a good gybe is a quick gybe. But do not get confused, because a good gybe is a very smooth manoeuvre aiming to not disturb the momentum you already have before initiating the turn. Imagine yourself doing a perfect gybe on your FW board, what is it like? How does it feel, close your eyes and feel the manoeuvre. Let me tell you how mine will go:

I have great speed going downwind while my sail is very full with minimal outhaul applied. I have already thought about where I want to execute the gybe as this will give me the right focus leading into the turn. First I will move my backhand further backwards to create a wider grip. Almost simultaneously I get my back foot out of the strap and place it on the leeward side just in the middle of the footstraps. With this I start the curve and while doing so I push the sail with my forward hand while pulling the sail with my backhand. It is the same movement how you would start a laydown gybe on your slalom equipment. As soon as the turn is ‘locked in’ I move my forward hand all the way towards the mast. My grip is now at the widest and I have a lot of control over my sail. Before I go through the wind I change my stance which is directly followed by flipping the sail.

Still, I see a lot of guys flipping far to late, they wait until the board and the sail is through the wind and then start flipping. This is far to late. The board will stall and you are far too late to rebuild the power in the sail and maintain the momentum. Because of this you will stop planing and loose all you may have gained by using the most sexy new fin your money could buy…

Get your manoeuvre right. Start early when changing your stance from one side of the board to the other and flipping the sail. If you have your forward hand close to the mast the flip will be smooth and you will be able to easy cross over with your other hand and maintain the momentum. After the cross get your hand far back on the boom while stepping backwards on the board. Lower your butt and pop the cambers through a powerfull pull on the sail. You may feel stupid lowering your butt so much but it is the only way to fully be in control of the things going on. It will enable you to maintain the planing momentum and you can gain a lot of ground by this, so please feel a little stupid and overdo this lowering of the butt.

A few key pointers to remember whilst gybing:
- Always do a boom-to-boom gybe. Holding the mast at any point in time is inefficient
- The lower you can get your body after flipping the sail, the easier it is to sheet the sail in without getting pulled over the front
Ok, now the manoeuvre is almost completed. If you started changing your stance and flipping the sail on time then the board is still on a downwind course the moment you start sailing again on the new tack and you will be able to hook into the harness easily. Only if you started too late with the flipping and stance-change your board is on a halfwind course or even on an upwind course and you have no chance what so ever to maintain the planing mode, just read the most essential elements below and get in control of your gybing.
FW Gybing, Step-By-Step:
1. Plan ahead where and when to start the manoeuvre
2. If you go too fast then start by luffing a little just prior to the gybe; I call it the ‘S’ shape start of the gybe
3. Widen your boom grip by placing your backhand even further towards the back of the boom (close to your outhaul cleats even). You need to tuck the sail slightly by pulling aggressively inwards with your back hand and dropping the front of the sail away from you
4. At the same time, get out of the back strap and place your backfoot on the leeward rail, engaging the pressure
5. Lean forward and across your board. This helps with tucking the sail and keeping the rail pressure on the board which allows you to cut through any chop (without tucking the sail, you can’t as easily generate the rail pressure necessary to commit the gybe and you will struggle gybing in choppy conditions)
6. Once you are 60% through your turn (60% if you are already heading downwind when beginning the gybe), driving from your back leg (still on the leeward rail), pull the sail upright as well as forward, using both arms. Its an action like throwing a shot-put and you must aggressively force your hips with your back arm and actually PUSH the sail away from you - this is initiating the sail flip
7. Don’t just “flip” the sail. Push it away with your backhand. With your front hand, aggressively pull the sail towards you from a grip that is closest to the mast as possible. This pulling will help the sail flip quicker as well as using the momentum created by your hip-drive to keep the board moving
8. As you flip the sail, your back leg moves to the front position on the new tack. In windy conditions you can do a strap-to-strap gybe if necessary (ie, your back leg goes straight into the front strap to help you with control when sheeting in)
9. As the sail is flipping, you are still pulling with your current front hand and then taking a grip in the same position (close to the mast) on the new side of the sail with your old back hand. Your hands will cross over to do this
10. The board should still be on a downwind course when you have sheeted in on the new side - this will help keep the board planing
11. Take a wide grip on the boom (back hand close to the outhaul cleat) and lower your butt significantly, to be able to sheet in with another pump of the sail to pop the cams
12. Hook into the harness before you put your foot in the back strap
The Planing FW Gybing in 8 knots:
Yes it is possible. Having a bit of swell to roll down helps. The technique is very similar to the above however there’s a few key steps you need to do PRECISELY otherwise you will stall and some mug from 4th place will beat you to the finish line on that last downwind leg.
- The sail flip has to be initiated 60% into the turn. Later and you will stall. Earlier and you will crash. 40% works best if you are already sailing on a downwind leg, so therefore you only need to turn just over 90 degrees to complete the gybe (not almost 180 degrees like a slalom gybe). So in actual fact, 60% has already brought you through the eye of the wind.
- When making the sail flip, focus a lot on the sail upward-thrust of both the rig and your body. With a wide grip on the boom, use your hips to the extent you are even twisting your body with your hips (the same direction the sail is flipping) as you move. As you twist, push very hard with your back hand to “throw” the sail away from you as you pull hard with your front hand to pull the sail back towards you. This allows the sail to flip quickly.
- In light winds you can switch your feet to the new side of the board a lot earlier. Move your back leg to the new windward side of the board in front of the front strap (never IN the front strap). Move your front leg to the new side just in front of the back strap (never IN the back strap).
- On the new side of the board and with the sail still in the process of flipping you can begin to pump the board with your legs. Drop your body weight very low (bend those knees!) and with both legs simultaneously drive upwards, with the motion of pushing the board “forward” with your legs. This is difficult to explain on paper, but easily replicated on the board. You are pumping the board with your legs and not pumping the sail.
- Pumping the board with your legs a few times as you are sheeting in on the new side is the key to keeping the board’s momentum. Sheeting in on the new side with the board pointing very far downwind also helps as you can spin the board the last few degrees as you sheet in.
- Pumping until you are powered enough to hook in is also mandatory. If you have timed your gybe nicely to finish coming down a swell you can use the pumping of the board with your legs to keep the board moving down that swell and ease into pumping the sail more efficiently.
- Practice and practice is the key to this gybe. It takes a while to master.
Working on the gybing techniques it is important to visualise yourself executing this manoeuvre in your mind, imagining how the manoeuvre might feel like and if possible looking at videos where the manoeuvre is executed perfectly. Then start practising the technique on the water. Having someone watching you doing the manoeuvre helps you pin-point any mistakes. An easy way to do this is to train in pairs with each of you watching each other gybe from behind. Even better, have someone videotape the sessions so you can see yourself and evaluate what you are doing for better or worse. If you can perform it again and again at a good level then it is time to train the manoeuvre under stress…

Think of any form of competition in which the manoeuvre is key. In the previous article I gave one possible training option which you can also do downwind. Go with your friend (or in a group) and have the leader of the pack shout ‘GYBE’ or any other signal at which everyone has to execute the gybe right away. The idea of the training is to get downwind as fast as possible. A slowly executed gybe will get you behind others but also a fast gybe in which you change the stance too late and flip the sail too late, finishing pointing upwind too far, will lose you valuable ground to those who execute better and/or are better able to maintain downwind momentum. Keep training until you come out on top, do not rest until you have a solid belief in yourself that you can and will perform a great gybe any time you have to. Being able to execute a great gybe even when you are tired will help you in Race 4 for the day.

Other possible training options are up and downwind battles in which you as a group decide on doing at least 6 tacks and gybes on the up and downwind and then have competition who is best. Train under stress. Do not go sailing without focus. Get out there with the mentality to always perform your best, as there is no substitute for TOW (time-on-water). Do not miss any opportunity to grow, unless you are one of the lucky guys that live in Hawaii or similar exceptional places on the Earth: then you have all the opportunity’s one can dream of.

Remember that learning plateau’s seem to always occur, even at the higher levels. Only those who really examine the reasons behind them will find the learning curve going up again. There is no easy way but what the heck, there is no better place to be then on the water doing what we all love so much, go (formula) sailing and having the best time of your life. Please buy yourself free time to train rather then spending all money on the newest gear constantly (then I will do just that and hope it will outperform all your training!)

Jan Witteveen.
The Learning Plateau and how to climb off (Part I)

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 8:34am CET by Sean OBrien
In the early stages of formula racing you may be on a steady learning curve. You improve the trim/tuning of your equipment and you gain confidence in sailing around a race course and applying the tactics you have learnt through experience. And then suddenly it happens… You have arrived at the mystical learning plateau. Most sailors that have seen this happening to them begin to get a little frustrated because they are at a loss at how to improve their speed around the course any further. Some have money to spend and start buying all kinds of new gear, hoping that this will help them improve and others (heaven forbid) start critisising the formula format for being to hard. Either way it appears to be a factor in many sailor’s decision to stop competing in this great game of FW racing. Personally speaking, you yourself have not given up yet because you are reading this to improve right? Dutch windsurfer Jan Witteveen (NED-22) gives us this article outlining some simple aspects of your sailing you can work on to improve your speed around the course and climb off the learning plateau you’ve just reached.

Jan Witteveen has been racing formula since it began and has been a Dutch Champion in windsurfing way back in the Div II days before some of us were even old enough to hold an uphaul. He’s now heavily involved with organising the popular Regio Cup racing events in the Netherlands and an avid FW racer…

Let’s take a step back from your sailing and see what is happening on the learning plateau. All the big, early improvements have already happened for you. You are not making the really big tactical mistakes on the course anymore; your equipment trim is basically ok, as is your ability to sail around the course without dropping the sail. Now it is time to see what is holding you back and why you are on this plateau. There may be a number of reasons but from what I have seen in the past 20 years of competing it is mainly in the way we all going about our training. Most go straight to the water and begin sailing. Maybe tweak to some extent your downhaul and change a fin, but realistically, at the end of the day a couple of up and downwind sessions is all you have accomplished as has been the way with most previous training sessions. You need to step out of this groove and start thinking about what you need to improve on and get your training on to a new path…

In this article we will look at a common reason for being stuck on the learning plateau: when your technical skills are holding back further improvements.

Are you able to tack and initiate planing upwind quickly and effectively out of each tack? So that you can get out of dirty air and not find yourself in the hopeless position? Are you able to gybe your board and keep it on the plane even in marginal conditions? If not, stop and think briefly about some moments out on the racecourse where the leaders of the fleet are going through their manouvres. Whats the difference between the top guys and yourself? A really good manouvre can get you at least 10-20 meters closer/faster to the finish then a normal executed manouvre. Just imagine that your manouvres are not even on par with normal ?? Typically you may tack 4 times in a race. If you are 5 seconds slower than someone else in your tacks then you’ve already lost 20 seconds. A formula board travels at 8m/sec in medium winds. That means you’ve just lost 160m around the racecourse. Is that how much they are beating you by? Thought so…

The big question now is how to improve then?
- First look at your technique (tacking and gybing)
- Then work on this technique in your training sessions so you become used to how it is done correctly and fluently
- Then start training the technique under pressure against other sailors
Mastering Technique (hands are your friends):
A major mistake I often see in tacking and gybing is the way the boom is handled. The handwork is the most important aspect in both the tack and gybe manoeuvre. Most sailors perform their footwork very well but their handwork is so bad that they lose a lot of efficiency in these manoeuvres.
[Show as slideshow]

First lets focus on tacking [Fig 1]. The first thing to work on is bringing your backhand a little further to the back of the boom so you can sheet in very aggressively when initiating the tack [Fig 2]. Tacking should be AGGRESSIVE. With your hands further down the boom you can oversheet more easily and quickly force the board direction into the wind. With your feet you are first coming out of the back strap to help the board pointing into the wind and getting ready to move to the other side of the sail. As soon as the board is far enough into the wind (that the sails feels very light in your hands) and you are getting ready to jump to the other side of the sail, move your front hand to the very front of the boom [Fig 3] near the mast (on the SAME side as you are currently sailing on). This step seems to be missed often by sailors who don’t tack very well.

You should have a very wide grip at this moment, giving you a lot of control. Your front hand is right at the front of the boom and your back hand a long way back somewhere behind your harness lines. When you make the jump to the other side of the sail with your body, let go of your backhand first and cross over to the other side of the boom with your back hand. In the process of doing this, with large sails you can actually use your front hand to begin pulling the sail towards you and more upright [Fig 4] (notice I am pulling hard with my right hand in Fig 4).

As you jump around the sail, with your back hand, grab the boom at the front on the new side of the sail [Fig 5]. At this point the sail will most likely still be raked back from pointing so hard to windward to go into the tack. Use your new front hand to aggressively pull the sail back to the upright position and begin to reach back to a wide position with your backhand on the new side of the boom [Fig 5]. Now on the other side of your sail your new forward foot is as close to the mast as possible and your back foot is in front of the back straps but more towards the rail of the board than the centre. Try to grab the boom as far back as possible to get a powerful grip and lower your centre of effort by bending your knees a little [Fig 6]. Start pushing the board downwind wind to get ready to pump and into the new wind.

Push the board aggressively. Punish it. Hard. HARDER. Use your back foot to pull towards you and your front foot to push off downwind, forcing the board quickly into a beamreach position which will allow you to start pumping and get up to speed. As you start to pump you can manoeuvre your feet into the footstraps (wind strength will define how quickly you get into the straps - the windier it is, the quicker you want to be safe inside them).

Job done. Now you are cruising back upwind on the next tack. Relax and think what you’ve just done over before trying the exercise again.

The best way to train tacking/gybing is simply to drill it into yourself. Repeat this tacking sequence over and over in your head, visualising all the steps while you imagine and feel that you are perfroming it live. Do it on the water as well as in your chair in front of the TV. Practice the technique constantly. It is likely that you may first be worse on the tacks before you start to improve significantly. After practice the “training phase” must start. At best this can be done in pairs or a with a group:
Training Phase:
In your group (or pair) of sailing partners, one of the group is the leader. The leader decides when to tack by shouting “TACK” or any other signal for that matter. You all agree on this signal to tack immediately. You all need to get as quickly upwind as possible by performing quick and effective tack techniques. Be sure to make really short upwind legs before tacking again. The goal for everyone who takes part is to get as far upwind as possible and to tack faster than the boats around you. After twenty or so tacks you can stop and see who has won this leg. Really push yourself to perform the best tacks you can. By pushing hard you train in the same frame of mind (and exhaustion state) as if you are in a real race. Then sail downwind and start the sequence again with another leader. If you are lucky enough to not sail alone this is great for improving your tacks/gybing and in itself is also great for your windsurf endurance and strength.
- Extra Tip: If possible, it would be very beneficial to get your tacking/gybing technique on film so that you can examine and critique your technique afterwards.
This is really what learning and improving is about. Just give it a try. It may help you find those extra seconds around the course and find a new way to improve your racing - climbing off that learning plateau that has been punishing you and your motivation this season.

Next article I will talk about gybing to complete this series about handling the boom. Have some great TOW.

Jan Witteveen.
To The Windward Mark: Advanced Tactics

Posted: February 28th, 2008, 2:15am CET by Sean OBrien