When you go downwind, all that wonderful balance and manage goes out the window. With the wind straight behind, you need to stand going through the front of the board, counteracting the ahead pull of the sail. Any movement to the proper or left actually rocks the board — this stage of sail actually assessments your stability.
To start downwind sailing, comply with these steps:
one. Commence by sailing on a achieve. The wind is blowing throughout the board.
two. To bear off on a broader get to, tilt the mast ahead to turn the board down (away from the wind), continually shifting your ft and rotating your body to counteract the sail’s force. As the wind comes from far more lifeless guiding, the force on the sail could feel much more effective.
3. To counteract the drive on the sail, carry each hands nearer to you or get a phase or two again — therefore tipping the prime of the sail backward — till you experience like you can control the sail.
If you get hit with a enormous puff, you can always release your again hand (the hand closest to the clew, or again corner, of the sail) and luff the sail to keep from becoming pulled ahead into the water.
Bend your knees to sustain your balance.
When sailing downwind, you may want to try out a jibe. A jibe is a maneuver where you transform tacks by turning absent from the wind. Jibing on a small, high-efficiency sailboard can be downright thrilling — like carving a turn on a slalom drinking water ski or on a snowboard. But on a huge longboard (trainer sailboard), tacking about and then bearing off is considerably easier than jibing due to the fact the large board is difficult to flip.
The easiest way to jibe is just to unload the sail and revert to the basic safety position, keeping onto the mast close to the gooseneck.
Then tilt the rig and stroll all around to the “new” windward side to turn the boat until it is pointed on a cozy reaching training course. Then get going once again in the common vogue.
A cool, exhibition-fashion jibe maneuver is feasible on a longboard. Here is how to pull off a single of these maneuvers:
1. As you sail downwind, step aft (again) to sink the again of the board. If your board isn’t large and floaty, you can keep forward to keep the board from obtaining too unstable.
two. Rotate the sail (holding it entire of wind) so that the board turns onto the new jibe.
3. Speedily release your back again hand (closest to the clew) and pull in your front hand.
4. As the clew of the sail goes winging away from you, cross your outdated back again hand more than and grab the boom about a foot back on the new windward aspect. The momentum of the clew rotating all around permits you to grab the boom with your new back again hand.
five. Pull the boom in and go! All the while you might be performing this maneuver, you happen to be retaining your stability precariously on the board. If you will not drop in the water, be ecstatic!
Sailing straight downwind in anything at all but mild air is a ache on a longboard. So if I need to get to a downwind location, I sail on a broad attain throughout the wind, jibing (or tacking) every single time I want to zig or zag back the other way. If circumstances are windy, this strategy is a genuinely entertaining way of getting downwind, due to the fact your board results in its personal wind and flies across the drinking water.
