Last weekend I surfed on the Gouwzee with not much wind. Since I started speedsurfing all my lightwind gear was sold to pay the highwind gear. But BEFORE speedsurfing or before mid-2006 I had a lot of experience with big sails gusty wind and optimalisation crosswind speed. I am talking about speed in max 12-13kn wind!
I try to keep these things in mind:
- The fin should be big enough to rail&accelerate the board the same time
- Harnasslines should be short to sail comfortable
- Boomheight a bit higher due the wider board. If the boom is above your head it will give some people earlier planning. But I found a relative normal boomposition is giving a wider windrange, to get planning with a bit lower boomposition it is extremely important to be able to hang your weight into the sail or at least forward. When going to higher speeds the “normal” boomposition is getting a advantage
- Crosswind (90 degrees) till a bit downwind (110 degrees) is often the fastest it is a bit depending on the wavedirection.
Finetuning:
- I would try to put the footstrap in the most outside position, a small stance is also saving some energy
- I always use the same amount of downhaul of the sail
- With adjustable outhaul you could survive a few windgaps
