[quote=jake]Beach launching is a bit of a fine art...racing through a beach launch is even tougher! I'm not that familiar with what kind of surf you get on the lake but I imagine it's probably a little faster and more frequent waves than an oceanic beach would provide. My surf experience is limited to the ocean but here is what I try to do with an onshore breeze and significant surf:
Prior to launching:
- determine if there is any angle between the breeze and the waves so you can choose the best tack to leave the beach on - obviously, you want the angle that allows you to sail higher into the waves with some power
- Next, set the jib for a close-hauled setting and leave it there. You need this to drive the boat and pull the bows down since your foils are going to be limited in their ability to help until you get to deeper water.
- Set the mainsail really loose. Traveler all the way down and put a good deal of twist in it. At least initially, you don't want the main providing any driving force.
- Rudders unlocked so they can float behind slightly submerged (or moved to a low position where they can get some traction in the water).
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Launch:
- Crew weight - you need to maintain at least a normal upwind crew weight position. If the waves are really serious and have a chance of capsizing you backwards, your crew will need to move forward accordingly. I've had days (on an I20) where the crew is laying on their belly on the windward hull with one arm on the spin pole at the forestay bridle for stability...and it still wasn't enough to keep a wave from flipping us backwards....but I wasn't very good at my last point at the time (see below). Crew weight position needs to be where you can survive the wave and power up quickly.
- Steering - Once you guys are on the boat, the skipper is going to steer mostly with the mainsail. With the jib set, you bring the main in to bring the boat up closer to the wind, ease it out to bear away (thanks to the jib). This is a coarse (not course) and somewhat slow reacting adjustment so be very careful about bringing the main in too fast...you could find yourself in irons and in a really tough spot if you do. Once I've punched through a series set of waves, I ease the main and get as much steering as possible out of the (floating) rudders to get the bow back down quickly so we can re-accelerate.
- angles. I'm trying to steer the boat square into the waves when they hit and turn back down as quickly as possible. You really need to watch the rudders here...keep them from getting deep in the water if the boat backs up so they don't hit the bottom and start breaking stuff. I also watch the foam going by the rudders to figure out if the water is moving forward or backwards (affecting which direction I should be steering).
Strategy:
When the surf is big, there are gaps in the waves and specific sets of bigger waves (usually in sets of three waves). Try to launch just after a big set of three have come through and be aware that waves sets never span the entire beach. They're not usually that wide and once you really start to see it (at least in the ocean stuff), you can actually see those sets down the beach and pick out holes between them. When this is the case, don't get caught into the idea of using a calm patch of water between waves to get further offshore but use that calm spot to accelerate and run down the beach to set yourself up in the next hole between wave sets. In other words, don't be so focused on getting through the surf that you do nothing but try to make ground toward offshore. Be focused on getting through the waves like avoiding the bigger moguls on a ski course. This last bit can make you look like an all star and once you get a feel for it, you won't ever sweat surf launching again.
As you get better and better, you'll find that you can bring the main in a little tighter initially which will allow you to get to speed faster. Just be careful because if you launch with the main too tight you will end up in irons and/or get tacked by the first wave set you hit...and that really sucks.<!-- editby --><em>Edited by jake on Jan 05, 2015 - 11:04 AM.</em><!-- end editby --> [/quote]
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