WINDSURFING
85
101:
NON-
PLANING
STEERING
WORDS: SIMON WINKLEY
PHOTOS: MILES TAYLOR WWW.PROTOGRAPHYOFFICIAL.COM
ILLUSTRATIONS: PETE GALVIN
GETTING TO GRIPS WITH EFFECTIVE STEERING IS
IMPORTANT AND IT IS LEARNED FROM THE EARLIEST
STAGES. FROM BEGINNERS LEARNING TO AVOID AN
OBSTRUCTION IN THE WATER TO THE MORE ADVANCED
TECHNIQUE OF CARVING THE BOARD BY FOOT-
STEERING IT’S AN INTEGRAL PART OF ANY SESSION
AFLOAT. There are far too many variations of non-
planing steering for the basic information here to
apply perfectly to all situations. The aim then is to set
the scene for steering by simply looking at what’s
going on when we are sailing slowly across the wind
(on a beam reach) to make a board change direction.
Understanding this elementary level of board and rig control on a beam
reach should form a framework of understanding to help with progression
towards other more specific forms of steering including tacking and gybing.
Throughout, whilst transitions will not be referred to, remember that
steering is indeed an integral part of turning the board all the way around.
Whilst this is done frequently at the end of short reaches I was once lucky
enough to experience blasting for over 30 minutes on one tack from the
Sinai deep into the Gulf of Suez. Yet even with that much water to spare I
had to use steering eventually to turn around and head back before I
ultimately became stranded on the remote shores of continental Africa.
A windsurfing rudder?
Let’s start by ‘putting the rudder on’. Imagine – if you will – an alternative
world where windsurfing has developed along traditional sailing lines since
the origin of the sport. Here windsurfers control power with their front hand
holding the boom of a rotating sail whilst their back hand steers by gripping
a long rod linked to a rudder bolted onto the tail. It’s hard to imagine
achieving very much on such a stand-up-sailing contraption! One of the
main challenges with dinghy sailing is avoiding over-steering the rudder
which makes the water flowing over it turbulent, causing it to act like a
brake. Luckily, in the real world, we can steer a windsurfer without relying
on a swinging chunk of wood/fibreglass/carbon at the back and this is what
can make our sport so smooth at the lower end of the wind/skills spectrum
and so radical at the top end.
uk
WIND
SURFING