Lulls

What's your secret to handling them?

Had an awful sail, last night.  North wind from out of the city, all gusty and shifty with lots of dead patches of air.  Was running 16 knots with 28 knot gusts.  I was in a single handed hiker.

Obviously, watch the water surface, but I was hitting pockets that weren't showing clearly.

I'm okay with gusts - hike out, turn up, sheet out.  As well, you seem to have more time.  Boat can almost be sideways and still recover.  With a lull, a few inches and your backside is in the water.  A more inches more and you're inspecting for zebra mussel infestations on the lake bottom.  It happens too quick.

I tried the opposite to the gust techniques- turn down, move in, sheet in - but it really wasn't working for me.  In the end, cowardly me stuck near the centre of the boat, shedding much of the wind rather than playing it.  There's got to be a better way.

Just move quicker - and don't sheet in tighter - see the thread about leech tension.

I'd say your gust technique was a bit the wrong way round, too. Sheet first, then hike, to keep the boat flatter, as you can sheet faster than you can move. Others may have different advice...

buy a faster boat so that as they are more apparent wind driven so the lulls are damped out a bit...

Originally posted by Neptune buy a faster boat so that as they are more apparent wind driven so the lulls are damped out a bit...

Are you sure about that? My impression is that they are magnified. Sail fast enough into a big enough hole and your own apparent will backwind the jib and push the boat on top of you.

it depends on the gusts...sometimes they are big down-drafts, in which case the wind fans out as it hits the water, causing direction changes that are far more problematical than the changes in velocity.