Lee-Bow..... Windsurfers...etc (Dons tin hat)

Originally posted by 423zero Problem is, if posters of some years are wary of posting, new members won't post.

Originally posted by Hitcher I think the problem is that if people actively refuse to believe facts and continue to spout garbage, people with something useful to say lose interest.

The problem with alleged Facts, sadly even in higher mathematical circles sailing falls into the category 'miracle' and has been very problematic to define over the years. Try ploughing through a paper like This

I have struggled to gain an understanding as to what forms the basis of the 'facts' Mozzy so eloquently illustrates and run into equations that define VMG that in themselves define the 'True' wind as a derivative rather than a contributing factor to the fact imv when tide is present, this leads to me believe that the subject is still wide open for debate.

It appears that lots of what I find as confusing terminology has it's basis in technical algorythmic calculations necessary to provide instrumentation to assist big boat yotties in long courses and this appears to be reverse engineered to teach you how to sail dinghys better.

Terms like VMG without actual instrumentation to assist are I wonder in themselves a bit of a blind. Our world isn't always about velocity made good, it's about that and making it ahead of all the other craft and obstacles we tactically try to turn to our advantage in the swirling three dimensional chess game we're playing.

One thing I did glean from one of those articles was the difference in angles of attack between sails and centreboards (keels) the former requiring a lot greater than the latter, therefore, that margin of the foil in the current flow is much more effective in a narrow angle and would also help explain why we on our light windsurfing craft might gain more power from the move from neutral to positive or negative. I'm just saying.

Switching back to anecdotal which I know is hated in certain quarters, but the lower threshold for planing on light wind performance boards has always been circa 8 knots of wind speed and despite all the marketing blurb and innovation down the years it never seems to be physically possible to get over the planing hump in less than that. Unless of course there's a favorable tide running, then, with a 6 knot wind, and a 2 knot counter current a board can and does plane particularly with perhaps a little kinetic help on behalf of the rider. Then once the forward speed of the board introduces 8 knots created, something magical then does happen and the board planes at 12-16 knots something that must now be occuring in the foiling world of low drag.

So the moral of the tale if you've only got 6 knots of gradient wind and somewhere on the course there's two knots of favorable tide you could get on your lee bow, I'd still go for it.

Edited by iGRF - 02 Oct 19 at 9:25pm

Yes 

Originally posted by Hitcher I sometimes pinch upwind to "get the tide on the other side of the board" and then hop onto the plane. And then I wake up.

I'm still puzzled by how often you might be in the position to try the 2 degree pinch to switch sides on the board. Surely swirls and Eddie's in the water will vary much more than this. As for unicorns, they obviously exist. Narwhals are their submarines.