WindDoll

Thursday morning I snagged some instructions for the upwind 360 from Cribby and did it ever help! I’ve been having trouble getting the board to go downwind. Solution: Weight the front foot for that part of the move. I’ve been getting dunked when the clew needs to pass through the eye of the wind. Solution: Pull with your front hand and think about the mast crossing the eye of the wind. I made about 50%! Wahoo!
Friday morning I read Jason Voss’s instructions on going into a tack planing. (His instructions for the Backwind Tack don’t include the details about setting up.) I usually slow down and ride up into the eye of the wind before I change sides, which works in light air and smooth water, but it’s slow. I was trying to figure out why my sail is always raked too far back and I realized I could carve upwind with just my heels. Now my problem is that I step to the other side and I’m still weighting my heels, so the soon-to-be windward rail sinks and I get dunked.

Jason says to plane into a tack
1) Move your back hand back (I’ve been moving my forward.) so you can stay sheeted in and keep that planing power. Front hand down the mast hip high.
2) Unhook and step forward (lightly!), front foot in front of the mast, back foot just behind front straps. (This seems like a big reach for me with the back foot back that far.)
3) NOW turn upwind. (I was turning upwind then moving forward on the board.)
4) Step to the other side and pass the mast to your (old) back hip.
I can stand only so much falling in the water. When the wind comes up, I just wanna have fun!
I made a great planing tack today.