Sport Today

During the last few weeks the weather has turned from a summer like pattern
to a fall pattern.  What this means in the Gorge is you sail when the wind
is up and find something else to do when it is not.  

The last several times that I have been sailing, I have noticed that some
people rig much faster than others.  It takes the fast ones around 15 to 20
minutes from the time they park until they are on the water.  It may take
the slow ones an hour and they will probably miss the best wind in the fall.

My question is what makes the fast people FAST?

Here are two things that I have done to speed up my time to the water.

1.  Mark my booms on the inside to show where the harness lines should be
    placed for each size of sail.  This allows me to setup my harness before
    I get on the water.  By putting the marks on the inside of the boom they
    do not get rubbed off by the sand and dirt when the sail is laying on
    the beach.

2.  I have measured all of my sails and put the information on a sheet
    of paper so the boom length and mast length can be set correctly before
    putting the sail together.  This is especially helpful when you need
    to setup a second or third sail.  You can look at the sheet and figure
    out what works with what before trying a new combination.

There are people who still rig faster than I do.  What other tricks have
people worked out to make rigging FAST?

Rigging time is wasted sailing time.

                                            who do not know about windsurfing.

I also leave my booms adjusted; since I have two booms, I often find
that one of them fits the sail I'm going to rig.  

The only other thing is carrying stuff to the beach; with a board bag
with a strap, you can carry your mast and boom in one hand and put your
base and sail and mast pad in or on the board bag.  Wearing your wetsuit
and harness you get everything down to the beach in one trip.

Put the foot batten immediately after putting the sail on the mast makes
that easier.  I just crank the out and downhauls on my sails to the stops,
since I trust myself to have them setup properly; after tensioning the
battens I'm usually ready to go.  A stick makes the pulling process
easier and faster.

If you don't do any dweebing, 20 minutes from parking to air time should
be plenty, even at Doug's.

Rolland

While this is an excellent suggestion in general, I don't think it speeds
rigging time per se.  I can usually do a damn good job of setting up my
harness lines by eye and it doesn't take any longer than if I had marks.  Sure,
I may have to readjust the lines once in the water, but I'm assuming that you
might have to as well, depending on the wind.  

A faster method is to have one boom per sail.  I don't quite have that ratio,
but I will admit to having enough booms to cover my most used sails.  Decadent?
So is living at the Gorge, eh Wilton?  :-)

|> 2.  I have measured all of my sails and put the information on a sheet
|>     of paper so the boom length and mast length can be set correctly before
|>     putting the sail together.  

I also have a few bases :-)

|> There are people who still rig faster than I do.  What other tricks have
|> people worked out to make rigging FAST?

    1) Multiple preset booms and bases.
    2) Leave outhaul and downhaul lines attached to your most used sails.
    3) Minimize trips back to the car.  Be organized!  

In addition, some sails just plain rig faster than others.  Single camber sails
are going to be faster to rig than full cambered sails, etc.  RAF *may* be faster
or slower to rig depending on the luff design.

-joel

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