15
Harness Lines
Are your harness lines in the
wrong place?
Harness lines don’t just save your arms, they’re there to
sheet the rig in, back and down when blasting along. So get
them right! You should never sheet in with your arms, it’s
the body moving outboard and low that sheets the rig in!
Your harness lines could well be too
forward if…
1. You’re always heading into wind.
2. You’re slow to plane or feel sheeted out all the time.
3. You find it hard to head upwind and you’re always flexing
your front knee.
4. You’ve just raised your boom height or let off down or
outhaul.
5. You spin out a lot.
Your harness lines could be too far
back if…
How to set your lines perfectly on
the water…
On any given day on the same board and the same sail, you
could move your lines up and down on the boom by an inch
or two. For example, under-powered or heavily downhauled
on your 6m sail the lines would be further forward than if you
were over powered or under downhauled on the same 6m.
So yes, use our preset land ‘lifting guide’, but learn to adjust
on the water using our Windwise rear hand-rear harness
line touch point guide.
Run through this routine every time you go on the water.
1. Find a place out of the wind to hold and lift the boom
with very light touch/grip.
2. Adjust to find the balance point so that the boom is
horizontal when you lift it.
3. Fix your harness lines just either side of that point and
get out there – don’t faff!
4. This a guide! Everyone needs to fine-tune on the
water!
6. The mast arm is constantly pulling.
7. You spin out a lot.
8. You’ve just lowered your boom height or added down or
outhaul.
The Velcro fixings (see top photo) should be no wider than a
hand width apart, or narrower if you like a twitchy, very
sensitive ‘freestyle’ feel. You can argue all day as to personal
line length and don’t believe the ‘30 inch’ on the packet!
They vary massively from brand to brand. Also, don’t listen to
a pro sailor, coach or your mates saying you need 30-32-34
inch lines! You want them set for the length of your arm, not
someone else’s.
Place the very tip of your elbow in the line and tension it…
Waist harness (as per this shot): The line should be elbow
to the ‘pads’, blisters or ‘knuckles’ part of your hand.
Seat harness: The line should be approximately elbow to
‘thumb pad’ part of palm.
uk
WIND
SURFING