Downwind in Shifts?

So I'm wondering what y'all do to spot them, the shifts I mean.

Do those electronic gizmo things come into play?

I've not felt the need for them upwind, one thing the years on the board
does gift you with is a 'feel' for wind direction, it's deadened a bit sat
down and with the infernal wiggle stick bit, but it's still there just the
same.

But down wind it's not, or at least I haven't managed to totally spot the
more subtle changes that can help. Less so in the Blaze than the Alto, I
guess without the curly whirly kite to go by and I'm not totally convinced
the Blaze makes more ground fast enough to sail high angles, I think it's
more lazer like in that regard..

So what do you single handed folk do to judge which way to go and when.

I mean it's o.k. if you get an obvious one as you round the top mark, but
further down in a long leg in puffy stuff like we've had down here of late.

Any golden rules, pointers, do the gadgets even function downhill? (Don't
really know what they do uphill, guess they are compasses of sorts).

It's all about feel; you will develop it in time ... you probably havn't noticed subtle wind changes whilst flapping your air oar around ...

As stated above in a fast assy it's all about presure more than wind angle.

 

Originally posted by chrisg I dont think shifts are as important downwind, but gusts are....

Ooooooh... That totally depends on the type of boat you sail, and the prevailing conditions.

In a relatively slow assy boat like the 200 where you have to gybe downwind through relatively large angles, downwind shifts and gusts are very important, especially in dispalcement conditions.

A lift tends to announce itself by the pressure in the kite starting to fall when you haven't changed direction (compass useful to confirm that). As you want to sail on the headers downwind, that's usually a sign to consider gybing.

A puff will feel like a header as the apparent wind comes forward as it increases. You can sail lower until the boat has fully accelerated - then you might have to come back up close to the original heading.

In planing conditions, pressure is king. If the shifts are big, (such as a wind bend) they MIGHT come into consideration, but usually I'd choose pressure over the shifts in those circumstances.

EDIT - correction!

Edited by hum3

To answer your question I never look at the compass downwind.

Usually there are big angle changes with presure and they are pretty obvious to see/feel.

That footage is epic Grumph, not often duels like that get captured for their entirity.