Phil.T wrote:Oops soory Gabriel! I was on nights so a bit bleary eye'd
Martin,
reaching in waves must be a bit hair but sounds fun. What are you using to measure you speed, do you find it helps which sail trim etc?
I use a Garmin Foretrex 201 which doesn't have a detailed map with just a simple course plotted in realtime, there are screens that show compass headings and speed (you can customize them) but does do race start timing in nice big numbers so easy to read at a glance. Also it has a wrist strap so I simply use it like a watch with some additional functions
To be honest after the race start I don't much look at it, except in light winds when it is useful to see if you are actually moving
, just look at it after the race to see the stats!
Reaching in waves gets a bit of getting used to and you soon learn how close you can push it.
For reaching accross the waves, I normally fly the windward hull to allow the wave to pass through without too much disturbance, also I head up slightly into each wave to ease its passing. But yep being perched top of a 5ft wave with a similarly deep trough is a tad interesting when flying the hull you can be 10+ ft above the water!
Reaching into big waves is extremely wet and you need to control speed and sail power since too much power and you'll pitchpole but too little speed and you won't be able to go smoothly through/over the wave.
Now running can also get exciting especially if the wind is blowing in the same direction as the waves.
Martin S.