Rig Tuning Basics

In keeping with summer, the high season for newcomers to windsurfing, we go back to basics this month and look at the fundamentals of rig tuning. Getting your rig to its optimal state is all about finding a base to work from and then tune, experiment and reflect from there. This piece is not going to disappear off in a haze of luff curve, flex response time and other fancy jargon, but rather provide you with the basics that I have seen benefit hundreds of people I have coached. The main areas we will cover are: harness line length, spread and position, boom height and the main trimming variables of both outhaul and downhaul.

- Jem Hall

3 CORNERS AND 3 SIDES

When I am coaching, I love to ask my people questions, engage them and help them become better at self coaching, so they can continue to ask themselves questions and the progression continues. One of my favourite questions is what are the names of the 3 corners and 3 sides of the sail?

For corners, the bottom corner is called the tack, the top corner is called the head and the back corner (where you look mid gybe) is called the clew.

For sides, the bottom side is called the foot. A freeride sail has a low foot to help keep power down low for blasting, whilst a wave sail will have a higher foot for manoeuvrability. The leading edge of a sail is called the luff, with the mast going in the ‘luff tube’. To luff can also mean head upwind or sheet out. Opposite the luff, is the trailing edge, known as the leech.

“ TUNE, EXPERIMENT AND REFLECT.”

HARNESS LINE LENGTH

This subject can be very contentious, but I advocate long lines so the sail can work with you and you are in a position that is fluid and in balance with the sail’s power. A greater distance from the rig in a straight line means you are more likely to maintain this in a move and so have a higher likelihood of completion. Longer lines also facilitate easy hooking in and out, which will smooth out your transition entrances and exits. Longer lines also get the rig more upright and therefore more efficient. The best way to embrace long lines is to sail one handed, as you have long heard me champion. Please note it is not too long a line that causes you to unhook, it is raising our hips and bending our arms in, a common ill in windsurfing.