Experience with the H2

Originally posted by iGRF I'm simply reporting a conversation

Originally posted by Alistair426                                                                                                Graeme, go on, have a couple of sails in an H2. If you venture as far west as the River Exe let Keith  or me know and you are very welcome to have a sail in my H2.

Honestly this place aside where my irrepressible wit gets mistaken for something else, there is nobody trying harder to get my chum in one, which was why we made this date weeks ago only for my idiot daughter to get a really good job and have to fly out unexpectedly the exact date we were due to go, then in the drama me to leave my bloody mobile behind so he went alone. He's a salesman and as everyone knows the easiest person to sell things to, but also left to his own devices will do what salesmen are trained to over come and that is find and voice sales objections.
So he gets let loose in front of the entire H2 sales prevention team and now I've got my work cut out all over, he didn't say everyone, he said quite a few were going over whilst he was there watching. We're windsurfers, we laugh when dinghies go over, as we do at each other. I mounted the windward mark on sunday it brought the house down, but equally we don't like being that person that often, so he doesn't want to fall out, he doesn't often fall out of the phantom.
That boat might as well be a Merlin single hander, it also has a high roach if you don't keep a grip on the kicker usage and how far you sheet out it is going to give problems, I only guessed it was folk sat on the tunnel that might have caused them to go over, I wasn't there how would I know?

Edited by iGRF - 10 Sep 18 at 2:18pm

Originally posted by H2 ]Anyone know any great coaches that can teach me to sail in waves please??

I wouldn't presume to coach in a dinghy since I'm still learning, but I'm probably as expert on a board as it gets and there are several transferable rules.

1)Don't sail in a straight line, you work waves, sailing 'S's heading up then bearing off, timing the wave with the lift of the stern. On a dead run work both ways, heading up sailing by the lee then bearing off can be very effective I've found.(You'll need the kicker right off to do this, but I've also found there are times it needs to go back on again at certain points of the reach something you'll probably know more about than me anyway, I'm still struggling to get to grips with the infernal thing.)

2) Never adopt a position where you cannot move fore and aft and side to side. (Go forward to initiate planing at the top of the wave, move aft whilst you're on it).

3) 'Feel' when to sheet in hard (or pump if it's permitted) and when to sheet out (before the ride ends so the sail is well full ready for the climb up the back of the next if necessary)

4) Don't waste energy trying to climb the back of waves slower than the wind, head high along the trough then as the next one comes along bear off down its face and try for a planing overhaul.

5) Make a judgement call as to wether the waves are going faster than the wind or slower, then make a decision as to wether being in them is worth it or not (If there are areas of the course without waves) this can be the case in tidal areas where the tide is stronger against the wind in some parts of the course (like Chichester harbour)

Do those things and it'll be a good start, I wish I could master all of them it's a damn site more difficult in a boat (even more so I've noticed with a trapeze involved and a squirrelly little short, stick in the trough, thing with a stupid small sail. ;-) )

Edited by iGRF - 10 Sep 18 at 3:19pm

No worries Gordon - when I was looking for a new boat it came down the a choice between the H2, Finn and Phantom. They have different strengths and weaknesses but all can carry the full-pie eating modern man ;-)

Great description of wave sailing tips grf - hard to put this into words but that's a great list.

I was in the H2 nats and the downwinds were a huge highlight. I've come from a 300 and a Farr and the H2 was a delight. Kicker off with that big roach allows you to go a fair way by the lee, the boat is tender enough to be really responsive but has great secondary stability. It has a long enough waterline length to provide speed and cope if the bow buries. As a 70kg lightweight I could still be (semi) competitive making up for a lack of power upwind. Looking forward to the next event