The apparent wind can have a tremendous influence on the maximum speed that a windsurfer can reach. When a rider sails straight upwind or straight downwind, the effect of apparent wind is negligible. However, when you sail on a broad reach, the effect of apparent wind is far more pronounced. You can think of apparent wind as the force that acts to pull the windsurfer forward, whereas the true wind acts to push the windsurfer forward.
This is actually the basis for why windsurfers can sail faster than the wind when on the broad-reach. If this topic piques your interest, you can learn more by reading through my article Can a Windsurfer Go Faster Than the Wind?
The run presents the most difficulties for novice windsurfers because they have a challenging time controlling their sail and redirecting the board away from the pure downwind direction.
As aforementioned, sailing upwind is not a skill that you can pick up overnight. It takes time and patience to acquire this skill. If a windsurfer is lured downwind, novice windsurfers will have to swim their way back upwind instead of sailing back.
For this reason, we will take a look at a couple of different kinds of windsurfers and what the ideal point of sail is for them. It is recommended that windsurfing novices do their best to stay on the beam reach during their first few sessions on the water. This way, they get their fundamental skills down pat before challenging themselves with sailing upwind and downwind. Earlier, we discussed that sailing upwind presents a whirlwind of challenges because the windsurfer must have a thorough knowledge of wind direction and sailing angles to keep on the path of the close-reach.
However, what we did not discuss are the challenges of sailing downwind. Obviously, there is a greater likelihood of acquiring a great deal of speed while sailing downwind instead of sailing upwind.
This additional speed makes controlling the windsurf board much more difficult. Beginners should avoid this problem by sticking to the beam reach. Windsurfers that concentrate their efforts toward wave riding care a lot less about point of sail relative to other windsurfing disciplines because they follow the course set by the wave.
Their aim is not to generate the most speed or get to a certain destination. Instead, they want to combine surfing and sailing into one. With that being said, the direction of the wind affects how the waves pan out on the surf break. So although the point of sail in relation to wind direction is not nearly as important to wave riding windsurfers compared to windsurfing speed seekers, it is definitely a point to consider.
Point of sail plays a large part in the maximum potential speed that these windsurfers can attain on the water. As aforementioned, heading straight downwind is not ideal for generating linear speed on the water because the effect of apparent wind is minimized. So instead, these windsurfing adrenaline junkies should stay the course on the broad reach. This way, apparent wind can help power their board and aid them in accomplishing their personal windsurfing speed aspirations.
In short, the point of sail is an aspect of windsurfing that should not be overlooked. Although understanding the foundational elements of the points of sail is important, it is equally important to apply these concepts on the water by physically going out and experiencing how the different points of sail influence your windsurfing ride firsthand. This functions as an extra big fin in the middle for more stability and ease of sailing upwind and close haul.
Many windsurfers face the challenge of buying the right parts. Not only is it important to know which parts are required. A little more understanding of their function and how they cooperate can really help improving your windsurfing. Actually there is a lot to understanding windsurf parts and selecting the right ones. The board is the biggest part of a windsurf set. There is a huge variety in boards.
A few factors when choosing a board are: the level of experience, the type of conditions and the type of windsurfing one wants to do.
The Mistral Syncro 92Liter. A Freestyle Wave board. Boards are roughly categorized in wave, freestyle, freeride, slalom or race and formula boards. These categories have different shaped outlines.
Of course there are special beginner boards. There is a dedicated blog about them on this website. Waveboards for example have round edges at the tail to enable the windsurfer to make turns on a wave.
Formula boards are very wide to make them plane extremely early in lighter winds. Even within a category there are different models. Different models often can be bought in different volumes. A board with a larger volume provides more floatability.
That can be useful in lighter winds or for heavier surfers. For example the brand Fanatic Windsurfing offers two different freeride boards The Gecko is offered in five different volumes like L, L and L. Each with different characteristics. The L LTD version has an indicated weight of 6,8kg.
The webpage tells us that the HRS version weights 8,0kg. The lighter and more stiff a board is, the more fast it is likely to go. And often the moer expensive it becomes. The fin is a very essential element.
Without it, windsurfing is impossible. The board would just slide over the water. Most boards are delivered with a recommended fin s that comes with it when delivered. Waveboards often have a multifin setup. Either a thrusters, meaning a bigger fin in the center and two smaller fins at the railside. Or a quad fin setup: two in the middle and 2 ad the railside.
While single fins are known to be faster, the multi fin setup provides more agility. Personally I feel that the multifins feel as if they are less sticky to the water. That makes jumping easier. An entry level board for beginners with a daggerboard fin in the middle: At Naish Windsurfing the Kailua is presented.
Waveboard with a thrusters setup: The Dyno. Wave board that can be set up with both a truster and a quad setup: The Mako. Waveboard with a twin fin setup: The Nuevo. Race board with a characteristic long straight single fin:. At the Starboard website the Ultrasonic is shown. Foil: Foiling boards are the new kid in town. This website has a special blog about the difference between windsurfing and wind foiling. As soon as speed goes up a bit the board can start to bounce a little over small chop.
Footstraps prevent the feet from bouncing of the board surface. You tip the sail slightly forward, which puts pressure on your front foot. Robby Naish: the ultimate windsurfer and water sports icon. How to body drag in windsurfing. A new theory on sailing downwind faster than the wind. The physics of windsurfing May 4, Windsurfing. How does wind help propel a windsurf board and sail? Here's what happens when you get your windsurfing equipment on the water on a windy day. Wind: A Dynamic Force So why doesn't the board just go downwind?
So, what balances the wind pressure? To answer that, we have to look under the water. Here we will find the fin. As the wind blows against the sail, the fin receives resistance pressure from the water.
So again, the fin has a wide side and a narrow side. As we saw before, the wind causes a force on the sail downwind as well as across the wind. This allows you to pull on the sail again for the most power from the wind. Does the profile shape of the sail lift it upwind? We know that the profile shape of an airplane wing helps to provide lift. Naturally just a small angle of attack of the sail to the wind only offers very little surface for the wind to generate any sort of force on whereas too much surface from a too large angle of attack will result in too much drag.
We want to find the sweet spot between getting the maximum lift and generating only as much drag as absolutely necessary. So now we know how important it is to find the best angle of attack of the sail to the wind. As we start to sail we only have to take into account the true wind. If we combine these two wind components we get the wind we feel: the relative wind green arrow.
Depending on which course we are on and the speed we are going at we will get a different relative wind. I hope now you get an idea how to get the most out of your sail. Now a small change in how the sail is built to get the most out of the wind.
As you can see, the curve of the sail causes the air particles on the lee side to have a longer way to go than the ones on the windward side. Since the pressure acting on our side of the sail is greater than the pressure on the other side, lift is generated and we move forwards.
These two components of lift generation angle of attack and sail shape are what makes up move. Understanding this will help us get the most out of our sails in terms of speed and early planing. I hope this has explained how your windsurfing sail works.
For an fun video going through exactly this subject you can check out Surfertoday. Du hast recht.
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