Hiking or Wiring

If you followed evolution you'd all be Racing windsurf boards.

Having regressed myself to this sitting out lark I've decided to bin the idea for sea sailing and have recently ordered a little wiring steed for precisely the reason that long legs hiking are boring as well as mildly painful and require tacking out of the sunny side of the sail too often.

We shall see how effective it is compared to a harness on a windsurf race board, but I tend to wonder about the marginal bits in between, I guess you'll still be hooked in so your upper body weight supported on the wire wether your half sat on the side or all the way out..

I also wonder about hook height which makes a difference in both the other sports I pursue in harnesses, do you go for a high hook if it's windy and low hook if it's light, do folk adjust their hook heights even?

Edited by iGRF - 08 Feb 18 at 2:19pm

I don't know what current thinking is, but back in the day we were always encouraged to get our weight into the rig crewing 420s and trap off the centreboard casing as early as possible.  I could quite imagine new school thinking would buck that, focusing on agility and weight placement for the crew now rather than early wiring... so the helm just has to sit there and point it in the right direction/

BTW.

Edited by Do Different - 08 Feb 18 at 4:36pm

Originally posted by Do Different BTW. iGRF. Do I guess a Farr is inbound? I don't always agree with some of your particular conspiracy theories BUT I really hope you enjoy your wiring on what sounds an appropriate boat. Please though give some thought to this request, forget the rating number, just have fun and tell us how you get on. edit spelling.

Now I've committed I'll do whatever I can to make it as fast as I can, I've ordered a gantry for the rudder, from Andy at Bloodaxe, I'm having it wrapped in carbon to make it look quick at least, I shall probably go with Dyneema rigging once I know what the stainless stuff measures, it's got a carbon rig and I don't care about the PY, if I start winning they'll penalise me anyway, they usually do if I turn up with something new.
Fundamentally I just want an easier time of it on our quite long courses.

Getting back to the hook height it must make a difference as to how soon you can wire I mean a lower hook will have more weight than a high hook surely, I'm trying to get my head round it. The higher the hook height the lower ratio of body weight will transfer to the rig won't it?

Originally posted by iGRF Getting back to the hook height it must make a difference as to how soon you can wire I mean a lower hook will have more weight than a high hook surely, I'm trying to get my head round it. The higher the hook height the lower ratio of body weight will transfer to the rig won't it?

That is indeed the way it works. When I used to trapeze I would have a very high hook in light winds so that I was effectively walking around the boat whilst hooked in. As the wind strengthens, the hook got lowered.