118 AUGUST 2019
RRD boards, wetsuits & softwear, Ezzy sails & Black Project fins sponsor Jem Hall. Get him live and direct on one of his highly acclaimed coaching
holidays, but be quick as they are selling out – check out his website http://www.jemhall.com for more details. You can also follow him on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram.TECHNIQUE
BOOM HEIGHT
This is very much a personal preference, so here I will just advise how to place
it at a consistent height and how best to measure this height.- Refer to the boom cut out as many sails have numbers on their cut out.
Be aware that some sail brands have high boom cut outs and some lower,
so find what works best for you. On my Ezzy sails I know position 5 is high,
3.5 is low and 4 is around medium. - You can also use the tail of board and see how many fingers the boom is off
the tail when the rig is laid down next to it with the mast foot attached. One
finger off or on the tail is low and a hand width or more is getting high. - You can also stand next to the rig on the board for a guide, with armpit
being low, shoulder being medium, neck height being high.
It is important to understand the effects of boom height on your sailing:- A higher boom or moving the boom up produces power and helps you get
planing. - A lower boom, or moving the boom down, gives you more control.
- Moving the boom down also helps with moves and wave riding, but will
challenge you more in your planing. - Note that if the boom is too far up, you won’t be able to bend the back leg
enough to get planing comfortably. - Boom heights, in general, have moved down.
- You would be surprised how much more control you have when very
overpowered if you move your boom down and also how just raising your
boom slightly will help you get planing in marginal conditions.
DOWNHAUL
Downhaul (DH) has a major effect on a sail’s power and control, so
adjustments to DH should be very small. More DH gives more control
as the sail is set flatter. Less DH gives more power as the sail is fuller and
produces more lift. Don’t be frightened to really experiment at the ends of
the spectrum. I have set my wave sails very very full for float and ride and very
very flat when maxed out. My own preference is a slightly flatter set sail as it
is better in moves and I compromise on planing with this, but get the benefit
of the sail being lighter through the air.OUTHAUL
I must admit I love tweaking the outhaul (OH) to get the best out of every
session. You can make your changes in the shallows, or out the back in a wave
break and benefit immediately from more control or power. With it being so
easy to adjust it is surprising how few people tune it. Often when coaching
we do a feedback loop and people say they were overpowered and I ask them
what did you do about that? Sometimes, if it is manageable, I enthuse them to
increase their outhaul so they can stay on the same sail if it is cutting up rough
and just tough it out and learn to be ‘comfortable with being uncomfortable,’
and often after 20 minutes of crazy times the wind drops back down anyway,
so a sail change would not have been beneficial.Therefore my main tip here with OH is to get used to changing your outhaul
on the beach, in the shallows and even in deep water. This stops you having
to change sails as much so we get more water time. It not only gives you more
control when you tension the OH, but it can also give you a big boost in
power if you ‘relax’ it too.Use the boom length,
or just under, that
is quoted on the
measurements.“GET USED TO CHANGING
YOUR OUTHAUL.”
In essence a well tuned
sail will have more
shape further down,
going to less shape and
flatter in the head. Too
much shape / fullness
in the luff tube near the
head often means not
enough downhaul.