One of Britain’s fastest men,
with twelve national racing
titles, Guy Cribb sheds his load
on how to sail faster with a
little inspiration from the very
large Dave White, a world
speed record holder.
IS FAT FAST?
Just because Whitey is 130 kgs and can hang onto
huge ‘engines’ doesn’t necessarily make him fast, his
extra ‘horsepower’ comes from his technique. Given
two people of identical technique then yes, the larger
engine (and body to control it) will be faster, however
there’s plenty of lightweight sailors who are faster than
heavyweights, and for that matter plenty of heavy
weights who are earlier planing than lightweights. Yup,
it’s all down to technique.
The world’s fastest windsurfers are all big lads, Finian
Maynard, Bjorn Dunkerbeck and Dave White are all
well over 100 kilos, but are all very talented sportsmen.
Take Dunkerbeck for instance, who dominated the PWA
World Tour for 15 years and despite his 6’5” frame can
do a backward summersault from standing, without
using his arms and land on his feet. Or Whitey, who
despite his appearance has the dainty footwork of
Michael Jackson (he assures me the similarities
end there).
But rather than making this a technique article on how
to sail down a speed course, I’m going to keep it as
how to make you sail faster with the kit you have in the
real world, however fat you are and whether you’re on
a huge sail or not.
There’s a number of things you can do to go faster, but
the two main areas are developing your technique, and
sailing more tactfully.
SPEED TACTICS
The two best tactical tips for improving your
speed are:
1 Sail in flatter water
2 On a broad reach (as much as 130 degrees off
the wind)
FLAT IS FAST
Whether you’re in a formula one car, on a mountain
bike or windsurfer, you will travel fastest when the
surface you’re on is smoothest, hence the reason
why windsurfing speed record attempts are held
and achieved in a canal in France, where there’s no
fetch for the chop to build up. However, your
average day windsurfing will be amongst confused
wind blown chop, which is the equivalent of putting
a Formula One car on a gravel track. You simply
can’t sail fast when your board is bouncing around
and slamming into the chop, so you need to find flat
water amongst that chaos.
The speed difference between two pro racers on
identical kit in flat water is zilch, however the reason
why one could overtake another in rough water is
that they have found a section of smoother water.
GET INTO THE GROOVE
Between the peaks of the chop there’s smoother water
grooves. From an aerial view they look like a corduroy
pattern, with the lines at right angles to the wind,
blowing downwind. Getting into these grooves puts
your existing level of windsurfing into flatter water,
which makes you go faster. Longer smoother troughs
are the best ones to be in as you can sail faster
for longer.
To get into the groove you need to be comfortable
blasting in both footstraps so you can consciously
look around you and search for the grooves. When
you’ve found one that looks like it has a long stretch of
flat water ahead, stay slightly on the windward edge of
the groove so your board is always just on the
downhill slope.
The fastest way to get from A to B is to find the
longest sections of flat-water grooves. If the groove
you’re in is rough, move upwind a few grooves until
you find a smoother one.
As the corduroy pattern/ grove is moving downwind
all the time, to sail in the grove you’ll find you are
sailing on a broad reach.
BROAD REACHING
Sailing on a broad reach is faster than a normal
reach. A broad reach is anything from 100 to 140
degrees off the wind. The optimum angle for sailing
faster on normal kit is about 120 to 130 degrees.
Once you’ve sailed on a broad reach a few times,
after some distance you’ll probably find the sail size
that you were struggling to control on a reach, feels
more manageable, or even underpowered on a
broad reach, hence the reason why speed sailors
use rigs two or three times the size of normal
blasters.
In the majority of venues where the surrounding
shoreline is relatively straight (without headlands)
the grooves will be at right angles to the wind, but
travelling downwind. So when you sail in the
groove, you are naturally sailing on a broad reach,
at around 110 degrees off the wind.
When sailing on a broad reach your back leg
should be bent and your front leg straight (sailing
upwind is the opposite, with your back leg straight
and your front leg bent).
Turn onto a broad reach by tipping mast slightly
downwind and banking the board over by pushing
through your toes.
Tactical sailing for speed, key points:
• Broad reach
• Get in the groove
SPEED TECHNIQUE
The key points to sailing your kit faster are:
1 Positioning the rig as efficiently as possible.
2 Trimming the board totally flat to reduce friction on the water.
Rig Position
With your harness lines positioned correctly (using a Cribb Sheet,) it will be
easy to sail faster since the lines will do literally all the work for you, sheeting
the sail in off your body weight rather than your strength and allowing the mast
to be distanced from you to the correct angle.
Improve your speed by firstly sinking much lower into your harness. Then push
your arse out, pushing the base of your back against your harness as hard as
you can, partly by extending your legs, to maximise the tension in your lines,
saying “Arse!”
The extra line tension will allow you to ease all the tension off your hands to let
the rig position itself correctly- with the mast going away from you and the sail
sheeted in, 90% off the harness lines and 10% off your back hand.
The increased line tension makes an efficient transfer of power from the engine
(rig) through your body (chassis) into the wheels (board).
Another way of getting more tension into the lines, strangely enough, is bending
your arms, as this sticks your arse out more, increasing tension to the lines (so
long as your arms are relaxed), rather than the old school technique of
straightening your arms and shoulders back, which brings your hips closer to
the boom and thus reduces the line tension! (Get pro coaching, not amateur old
school baloney!)
If your arms are bending, always point your elbows downwards. Further reading
at guycribb.com/magazine articles/low down and dirty
Board Trim
Trim the board as flat as possible (so that neither rail is dragging) by gripping
with your back foot – trying to push down onto the deck with your heels and
toes of your back foot.
Try this now by gripping the ground, imagining your foot is a fist, clenching it as
firmly as possible. Increase the tension in your calf and thigh muscles until they
hurt! This is how you should be blasting. (NB- Anders Bringdal (former PWA
racing star) did some strength tests with the British Olympic Cycling Team and
was found to be 30% stronger in his legs than the boys in lycra. Yes - sailing
fast needs strong legs!)
Pressing down into your back foot
like this prevents the board from
rocking from side to side, improving
control and preventing spin out,
especially on sub 100 litre
boards or when using a
single back footstrap.
Push down with your
back foot and grip
with toes and heel
SPEED TUNING
Tuning for dedicated speed is a whole other article, and this one is more about
how to sail faster with what kit you’ve currently got. But here are a few tips to
consider that will make you go faster-
• Correct harness line position.
• Low hook (push your waist harness down to below belly button)
• Slightly lower boom for more control.
• Outboard footstraps.
• Bigger sail (more power)
• Less outhaul (more power)
• Stiffer mast (more power on broad reach)
• Smaller fin (less drag)
• More pies (more weight to hold bigger sail)
Tuning your kit right will give you the control you need to travel fast. Check out my
previous articles on harness lines
SUMMARY
To sail faster:
• Broad reach
• Get into the groove
• Efficient rig position
• Gripping the tail
• Sinking down and out into the harness.
Do you think a Cribb Sheet wont help? Or are you one of hundreds who’re
loving their easy-to-rig kit? Get one online at guycribb.com/shop
Recent Cribb Sheet quote by email:
“Hi Guy
Many thanks for the ‘cribb sheet’... it arrived fairly quickly through
airmail! And the best bit - it bloody works!
I must confess I wasn’t open about using ‘the bit of plastic and
stretchy string’ with other windsurfers around and did some tests -
marking the boom from my two sails ‘on the quiet’ (Neil Pryde - Excess
6.4 & Supernova 5.5).
Your magazine articles online were invaluable in helping me get my head
around some basic issues. Now I have my boom at the correct height
(about 3 inches higher than I had it previously!), have plenty of
downhaul and finally have my harness lines where they should be set. Now
I was ready for a sail...
We have a strong northerly that cranks-up with the colder months coming
on... and the day I went to test all this black magic was a real pig of
a day. The wind was fluctuating from 20 - 30 knots with strongs gusts.
Typical of a northerly so this was not a day to be experimenting. There
were a few people out having a sail so I wasn’t worried about being
swept out to sea.
From the moment I got on the board - I felt locked in place. Everything
felt radically different... but really good. The sail wasn’t fighting me
and my arms didn’t have to struggle or wrestle the boom as I did
previously. It felt damn cruisy. Gusts of wind were soaked up in this
new found position and it was a joy to sail. Boomshakalam!
So... the middle finger salute to anyone that says ‘Cribb Sheets’ are shite!
cheers, Steve
P.S. Now if only I can convince my wife of an Intuition Holiday:)
S.R. (Australia)”
Speed Challenge
On this years INtuition UK Tour with JP and Neil Pryde, Cribby will be giving
guests speed tips and measuring their speeds with the NavMan speed units.
The fastest time of the year wins a NavMan waterproof speedometer!
