36 COACHING FUNDAMENTALS
Above: Casually adjusting your boom height can throw your outhaul setting out, so any boom height change must
be matched by adjusting the outhaul
A way of visualizing this is to imagine a plank leaning against a
wall. If you take the plank and push it higher up the wall then
the lower end of the plank will move towards the wall therefore
the distance between the wall and the lower end of the plank is
reduced. Knocking the boom upwards from the middle of the
cutout reduces the boom length in the same way which
effectively pulls the anchor point for the clew of the sail closer
to the mast, which reduces the outhaul tension.
This works in reverse as well: if the regular sized guy (now
rested) takes the same rig from the tall lady when she comes
in (assuming that she attended to her earlier problem by
extending the boom and setting the outhaul correctly) and
then knocks the boom back down to the middle of the cutout
then he will effectively force the back end of the boom out
(like sliding the plank back down the wall). Now he will have
so much outhaul tension that even the five finger press
might be impossible and this brutally over-outhauled sail will
feel as flat and lifeless as Wile E. Coyote on a canyon floor
under an Acme anvil… and if your sail is flat like that it will
feel horribly twitchy. If you tune your rig in the order above
you will never have this problem but, if you do have to raise
or lower the boom for any reason after setting the outhaul,
you must re-check the outhaul to see if it needs adjusting.
Mastfoot position adjustments
Now that we have our mastfoot on the mark we made on the
mast track, we need to consider what circumstances might
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WIND
SURFING
require us to move it forwards or backwards from this
standard position. Well it’s a good idea to move the mastfoot
forward a centimetre or two when struggling to get going
because you are a bit heavier or are guilty of stomping
around a bit on the back of the board when learning to get
into the footstraps (especially the back one). If you do move
it forward then re-connect your rig and lean it over the tail
and you will see that the boom is now further forward than
your standard setting off the tail. So, to tune everything back
to normal, you will now need to put the boom up so it
remains on your standard, memorised setting from the tail.
And because you have moved the boom up you will need to
reset your outhaul.
Moving the mastfoot back can bring the board to life if it
feels sluggish at planing speed, especially when you are well
powered-up (as too much of the forward part of the board
was being forced into the water creating drag). And if you
move it back a little then that will require you to lower the
boom a little to align it to your standard setting off the tail.
And, once again, because you have moved the boom you will
need to reset your outhaul.
So, if you move your mastfoot you then need to adjust your
boom height and then reset your outhaul. These simple
adjustments are easy, take only a few seconds and tune your
rig right back to where it needs to be. Failing to make them
can de-tune your setup which may impair your technique
and, therefore, your ability to succeed and/or progress.